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My next restoration - Black STAR

My next restoration project just arrived from an eBay seller...an all-black "Star" brush. Unfortunately the condition of the handles wasn't quite what I expected (and what was shown on the auction page). The bottom of the brush is a separate hexagonal plate and was almost completely disconnected from the rest of the handle. There was a small (about 1/2") crack in the lower part of the handle, and since the handle appears to be filled with plaster, moisture caused the plaster to swell and push the base plate off the handle. I was able to cleanly remove the base plate, and I'm in the process of sanding down the plaster that's bulging out from the bottom so I can reglue the base plate back onto the handle. The old badger knot was already very loose and came out easily with a pair of pliers (the knot was fixed into a metal base, which once squeezed with the pliers, was easy to slide right out. The entire upper section is hollow (like a globe), so I'll probably fill that space with epoxy when I put a new knot in.

Here's a couple of photos:
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I'll probably try to fill that crack with some kind of pigmented glue or filler and reglue the base plate on to the handle. Does anyone have any recommendations for a glue that can glue that plastic base securely onto the handle (and the plaster filling)?
 
I'm still thinking about how I want to do this restore. As I mentioned above, the globe-shaped top half is completely hollow, so I want to fill in the space with something. I'm going to need to build up a platform of some sort to raise the knot to the correct level (I might just epoxy in a slice of a wine cork for that), but I want to fill in the space on the sides. If I just fill the whole thing with epoxy, it's going to ooze up and out into the knot hairs, so I want to try something that I can put in there that will stay in place and harden, but still leave a cylindrical hole for the knot.

I hope I'm describing what I want to do clearly enough...does anyone have any suggestions for a way to fill this void? Maybe a putty of some sort?
 
I used some water proof silicone sealant to fill and ever ready handle when i set a finest knot. The silicone will also hold the knot well, as well as fill the handle.
 
I used some water proof silicone sealant to fill and ever ready handle when i set a finest knot. The silicone will also hold the knot well, as well as fill the handle.

Perfect...that should do the trick.

I've got a couple of more old brushes in-transit, so as soon as I figure out what knots I need for those, I'm going to have to place another order with TGN.

This is becoming a little bit addictive...:lol:
 
I'm still thinking about how I want to do this restore. As I mentioned above, the globe-shaped top half is completely hollow, so I want to fill in the space with something. I'm going to need to build up a platform of some sort to raise the knot to the correct level (I might just epoxy in a slice of a wine cork for that), but I want to fill in the space on the sides. If I just fill the whole thing with epoxy, it's going to ooze up and out into the knot hairs, so I want to try something that I can put in there that will stay in place and harden, but still leave a cylindrical hole for the knot.

I hope I'm describing what I want to do clearly enough...does anyone have any suggestions for a way to fill this void? Maybe a putty of some sort?

I've used the Milliput putty I linked to above for this, which is partly the reason that I suggested it. The fact that it is available in black so that you could use it to fill the crack was a bonus. You could either fill the whole void with it then drill or sand it out once hardened, shape a cylindrical hole in the putty whilst still soft then allow to harden and fix the knot with standard epoxy or push the knot into the putty whilst it is still soft.
 
I set the knot (20mm TGN Finest Badger, extra hair) into the handle tonight. I used a small slice of a wine cork as a spacer, and RTV Silicone adhesive to fill the void and glue the knot in place. Loft is set at about 50mm. I'll let the glue set up for 24 hours before using it, but I think I'm going to be quite happy with this one.:001_tt1:

Here's a shot from a few minutes ago. I'll post a post-bloom photo later.
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I set the knot (20mm TGN Finest Badger, extra hair) into the handle tonight. I used a small slice of a wine cork as a spacer, and RTV Silicone adhesive to fill the void and glue the knot in place. I'll let it set up 24 hours until I try using it, but I think I'm going to be quite happy with this one.:001_tt1:

Here's a shot from a few minutes ago. I'll post a post-bloom photo later.
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Very Nice!:w00t:

Great job!
 
That is one great looking brush, you did a fantastic job. How did you fix the crack, inquiring minds need to know.
 
That is one great looking brush, you did a fantastic job. How did you fix the crack, inquiring minds need to know.

I just used clear epoxy to fill the crack (and to reglue the bottom plate once I ground down the swollen plaster that was pushing it off). I sanded it down even with the plastic and polished it up. It's still noticeable, but it's not real obvious.
 
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