I've destroyed the plastic surround, I couldn't wait. I was terrified! Hack saw, chisel and big hammer are required. In case anyone finds this useful, this is what I did: I held the plastic brush up to the light and marked where the knot ended, you can see it through the handle. I cut the bottom of the handle off. The cream plastic handle; the black plastic collar and the knot base are not glued together. They do fit incredibly tightly though. I used a wide chisel, flush up to the bristle, placed across the collar and handle and hit it with a hammer a few times.
There seems to be an awfully big gap around the knot's base. Is this normal? I have to drop the knot quite a long way into the ferrule, before the bristles hide any gap at the top, which cuts down a bit on the length of the brush. Perhaps this is as it is meant to be.
Panic you 'knot'. I've done it. What an almighty mess I got into with the white silicon sealant; I didn't have any other. After the first failed effort, I spent twenty minutes cleaning everything with white spirit ready to try again. I think the knot is sitting straight. I've never done that before. It's going to cure for 24 hours, then we'll see.
Sometime you just gotta jump in and Do It! 7mm thick glue bump. 18mm of space above the threads. Knot pushed in & masked to minimize mess. I had experimented with the feel of set shallow vs. set deep. Compromised with midway. Centered the knot , a small gap equal all the way around. Fresh tube of the best silicone available. Waiting overnight! Looking good this morning.
Here is a side by side of my brushes. The one on the left is an Omega10049 67mm loft. The one on the right Omega 10066 58mm loft. Mind you I had to open the ferrule up to accept the 49. Tom Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For it being all new materials that one is about as close to a NOS unit as I've seen. Beautiful craftsmanship Tom!
Thank you, it does compliment the B-400 well. I think I'll take it for it's first lather today. I'm still going to put a new Omega #10049 knot in my Rubberset 400. I want that Big Ole Boar brush look and feel.
The 10049 knotted B-400 is my favorite brush. The tips are just starting to split nicely. Another 20 or so and it will be good to go. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
What's going on with the paper, around the knot. Can you explain how it's wrapped, please. Did you fill the ferrule with silicon and the sit the knot in it, from the top? That would seem quite sensible. I held the brush and ferrule upside down and filled around the edges. I got in a heck of a mess. There was lots of cleaning up.
The knot I used is a 24mm. So with the knot to ferrule fit being quite snug I didn't have problems with silicone seeping around the 1/2mm gap. I did apply blue masking tape to the bristles in case there was any silicone that might get passed.With the new knot pressed firmly into the ferrule it was snug and secure. I applied silicone to the gap around the edges, and across the bottom of the knot. Not sure how much went in the 1/2mm gap, so I used a large wooden matchstick and stirred the silicone around. None leaked out of the top. The ferrule on Tom's B-400 is 25mm. He also sent me an oversized bored out 27mm to use with an Omega #10049. Below left to right are Rubberset 400, B-400 25mm, and B-400 27mm. The Rubberset ferrule is 25mm at the top, but 27mm just past the upper inward curving lip. This restriction can be carefully reduced to allow a larger diameter knot to be installed. In the photo below note the restriction is only at the very top edge of the ferrule. This could allow adhesive to seep around the edges of the knot.
I finally got 2 of my 3 brushes the other day. I promised to post "before and after" pictures so below is the "before" shot. I literally spent 3 minutes with a dab of Flitz just to see what would happen (see the shiny handle on the #4 brush). It obviously didn't take away the scratches, but it did bring out the shine with no effort. I recently purchased a "no number" so the series will be complete when it arrives next week. I ordered a tuxedo synthetic for #3, and a Silvertip Premium from TGN for the "no number". Not sure what to put on #4. I thought about leaving the knot as is, but as you can see - it's pretty brittle and not all the same length so it will need to be changed out. Any suggestions? I'll probably buy a new brush and break out the knot like some of you did in previous posts in order to bring it back to it's original state (or at least as close as I can get it). Will post the "after" shots when I'm done.
Before you knock out that original knot - try hair conditioner! I don't remember details, except that someone had restored the flexibility to an original brush by soaking the bristles. If you use an inexpensive brand (Suave?) it won't cost much and you might be able to keep the original.
A few chaps have used the knot from an Omega 10066 brush. It comes with a cheap plastic handle but the boar knot is really superb. I highly recommend it. I shaved with mine last night for the first time. It was brilliant. It knocked spots off my Semogue boar.
