Knot Question regarding an uncoperative knot

[Fat Larry]

Hi Guys,

Question..

I have a knot from a major Chinese knot maker that shall remain nameless at the moment. It's the highest badger offering they have and the plushest and plumpest badger knot i've seen and i cannot get it to work at any loft. It's 26mm and I've tried it at 55mm, 52mm and now 48mm and it is still useless. Its actually is so bad face lathering that it isn't useable. It has marginally improved as i've set it deeper but it still cannot make a thick lather.

Did i get a dud? Anyone else experienced a knot this bad? Anything i might be able to do to get it to work (set it super deep?)?

 

[naughtilus]

I believe it will improve with use. My 27.5mm Zenith Manchurian was rubbish lathering at first, but it became stellar after 20 shaves.

Meanwhile try to load more product, it helped me to go through the initial break in. And when I say more, I mean MORE.

 

[global_dev]

more soap and more water.

 

[Graydog]

Larry what makes it bad ?
Is it the flop or it won't hold lather ?

 

[Fat Larry]

Larry what makes it bad ?
Is it the flop or it won't hold lather ?

I believe its the flop. It struggles to build any lather due to the tips seeming to be uniformly spread out and not in contact with my face.

 

[Graydog]

Larry try using a rubber band instead of pulling the knot and changing the loft .

 

[Fat Larry]

Larry try using a rubber band instead of pulling the knot and changing the loft .

To get it to stand up more? Do you think it'll ever come right without a super short loft?

 

[Graydog]

How dense is it ?
If there is not enough hair it might not .
The rubber band will restrict the loft from splaying to much possibly

 

[Fat Larry]

It's pretty dense, in fact I'd call it a beautiful knot. It's a little wet here. The loft is 50mm in that handle.

 

[global_dev]

looks great. can you take some pics if the knot while lather that just isnt doing what you want?

 

[Graydog]

It's pretty dense, in fact I'd call it a beautiful knot. It's a little wet here. The loft is 50mm in that handle.

Looks like a great knot Larry. Did you wash the knot out with anything ?
Have you tried it with a bowl ? just to see how it works that way .

 

[Fat Larry]

Looks like a great knot Larry. Did you wash the knot out with anything ?
Have you tried it with a bowl ? just to see how it works that way .

I've tried it in my hand, but not a bowl. Yes I've washed and left a lather in it to help with the funk.

 

[ajkel64]

Nice handle and knot. I hope that you can get it to work for you.

 

[Big Jim]

Looks like a beautiful knot. My larger brushes need a big mug, but I don't face lather. I build lather over the puck in the mug, and when using a large brush use a very big mug. Large diameter short height is best.

 

[Fat Larry]

Looks like a beautiful knot. My larger brushes need a big mug, but I don't face lather. I build lather over the puck in the mug, and when using a large brush use a very big mug. Large diameter short height is best.

Hmm maybe it's just too floppy for a face brush.

Here it is in Action. Showing a dreadful lather from a tub of tallow and steel that i loaded hard from for 20 seconds. Yes that's my cheek in the first shot, after a usual time of swirling and painting.

I suspect what is happening is that there's no soap towards the center/roots of the brush, which is what is in contact with my face when I apply even a small amount of pressure. As you can see in the shots its very floppy and the mass of the hairs gets bunched and pushed aside very easily taking the soap with it.

I think too make it work the way I want I might have to try setting it super deep like 40mm loft or something but it may just be too floppy for me to use.

 

[Big Jim]

After looked at your pictures I would suggest that you make sure the entire knot is wet before you start building lather. I don't mean sloppy wet. Dampen or even soak the whole knot, then shake or squeeze out most of the water. then dampen the tip quite a bit more then start lathering.

If the knot is not wet in the middle, soap doesn't like to migrate there as you build lather. At least that's my experience and as always YMMV.

 

[naughtilus]

Long handle and zero backbone. That's undoubtedly an ideal bowl lathering brush for creams. It's not picking up soap so all you get is wet suds.

 

[CigarSmoka]

Long handle and zero backbone. That's undoubtedly an ideal bowl lathering brush for creams. It's not picking up soap so all you get is wet suds.

This gets my vote. The brush seems too floppy for soaps, squeeze an extra large snurdle of cream into a bowl and see how it does. A knot that large is going to hold a good amount of water even after shaking the bejebus out of it, you’ll need to make up for it with extra cream. I would think a lower loft would maximize the density rather than a higher loft letting it bloom out to where it’s too floppy to load soaps, or perhaps even incorporating too much air when whipping up a lather. It is a dang nice looking knot though, and so is the handle. I hope you can get it to work to your liking.

 

[GAW9576]

I like @Graydog s suggestion of testing with the rubber band to simulate a deeper set. I tried that with one of my old brushes before putting the knot in a new handle and it helped determine where I liked the loft.