As many of you saw, over the holidays last year, I reknotted 3 Ever Ready green handled brushes for me, my dad (southernscribbler), and my son. Well, I have a brother who is a traditional wet shaver and I recently discovered that he has never tried a silvertip brush. The only badger he has used is The Dridecker I sent him last year. Having found this out, I just had to restore a brush for him. I also have been wanting to try a horse brush myself.So I Went back to PC Woodcraft since he had a horse knot and got a 24 mm horse and a 24 mm finest silvertip. So I traded away my Rolls razor for a pair of Ever Ready handles that were in really sweet condition. This made the actual restore part a cinch, all I had to do was overbore the hole the knots came out of. I actually found a really good and easy way to do this for these two which got rid of a lot of risk and variability. I used a series of different sized deep-well sockets with sand paper wrapped around them tightly and just graduated the size up until the knot fit. Way easier than the Dremel and without the opportunity to screw up so fast and so unrecoverable. Filled the handle of mine (horse hair) with dimes and epoxy, used nickels for my brother's. This is going to be a surprise for him So without further ado, have a look at these beauties. The smaller of the two is the horse. Horse: 54 mm loft, 108 mm overall Finest silvertip: ~55 to 56 mm, 112 mm overall
Thank you all! As any of you who have restored a brush know, this is a real treat and knowing my brother is going to get his first "nice" brush from me makes it even more of a treat.
Ohhhhhh he is going to love that one! Great work, son. I am most interested in your thoughts on the horse hair.
Great Job....Your brother is going to love that true 'labor of love'.... And I bet you are so going to dig the horse.....Let us know in detail.....
I'm hours away from getting on a plane so I'll have to take some post bloom pics when I get back Friday. Haven't even gotten the thing wet yet.....wanted to let the epoxy cure a solid 24hrs.....
Great job on the brushes. I've just got to ask, you said "Filled the handle of mine (horse hair) with dimes and epoxy, used nickels for my brother's." Why is that? Does it give the added weight? I ask this question at the risk of sounding like a total novice but in the case of brushes, I am. Thanks,
That is why this is done. It gives added weight, especially to very light handles, and can depending upon the placement also change the balance (center of gravity) of the brush. Some brush handles are so light that when they are loaded with lather they become more cumbersome to hold because all the weight and balance is at one end of the entire brush, the knot. The ballast (nickels, pennies, dimes) will allow the restorer to change both the weight and balance for a better fit and feel in the hand.
