Reknotting a Duke 1 with a 24mm knot
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Then it's just a matter of switching to a drum sander or cylindrical grinding stone and opening it up to the desired depth and diameter. These brushes have 19mm knots, but have an ID of 21mm, so not as much of a change is needed as you'd think.
Modern resins are nice and easy... they grind out at low speed in a powder that's the exact consistency of magnesium carbonate (gym chalk) Older brushes can be a lot more trouble.
This one's been roughed out to 23.75mm to 24.25mm ID with a 22mm deep shelf, just needs to be cleaned up, rounded off and dry fitted once the knot is here, then add the adhesive and set it.
I think it'll fit a 24mm quite well... didn't lose any real height. 26mm would be a stretch, but maybe doable. I wouldn't try 28mm.
Modern resins are nice and easy... they grind out at low speed in a powder that's the exact consistency of magnesium carbonate (gym chalk) Older brushes can be a lot more trouble.
This one's been roughed out to 23.75mm to 24.25mm ID with a 22mm deep shelf, just needs to be cleaned up, rounded off and dry fitted once the knot is here, then add the adhesive and set it.
I think it'll fit a 24mm quite well... didn't lose any real height. 26mm would be a stretch, but maybe doable. I wouldn't try 28mm.
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Before and after...
Look forward to seeing the finished brushes.
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Then vendor promised my knots would ship next week so hopefully early June? I've been building a stockpile of handles for them, ready to go.
Cool, thanks for showing us your process. Looking forward to viewing the finished restoration.
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It's going to be a 70/30 Finest/Boar Fan from Oumo. I'm buying a bunch of them and am going to make a set at a bunch of different lofts for when I feel like differing levels of scrub. Probably going to run 46-52mm lofts, but it's gonna depend on what the knots I get are like. Given the size of these handles, they're gonna be for the lower lofted ones, so it's not this tiny handle with this massive bloomed knot (the 24mm 70/30 fans get pretty huge bloom @ 50mm)
Useful info, thanks. If I don't put a better knot in my Duke 1 it's never coming out of the box.
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The knots were softening up quite a bit after using them, you may want to give yours a lather and rinse every other day for a month and then try it and see if you like it better. These two handles had one knot fall out and the other was shedding so much I drilled it out. I'm pretty happy with the performance/feel of the brushes in use (Considering they were less than $20).
A.E. confirmed they don't sell the the vendor these came from, but couldn't say for sure if the knots were authentic or fake beyond that. At this point I'm going to keep trying with my remaining two and see if they stop shedding and figure these two were just $17 handles.
A.E. confirmed they don't sell the the vendor these came from, but couldn't say for sure if the knots were authentic or fake beyond that. At this point I'm going to keep trying with my remaining two and see if they stop shedding and figure these two were just $17 handles.
Great photos!! Thanks for the blow by blow!! 
Wasn’t worth it to me. I’m not a prickly-badger fan, so I’d never even have used it enough to get it to soften up or see if it was salvageable. I have a nice mixed-hair brush that I like to use on days I need this kind of feel.
I ground out the crappy knot with a flat grindstone in my Dremel, and I steamed the knot out of the Century 7090 I’ve been using to see if it might work in the Duke. It’s a wonderfully soft brush but just a bit too floppy as currently set up. Turned out when I got it out that the Century knot was set just 11mm deep. Unfortunately I damaged the Century handle, but no loss, it was imperfect when new and I have more. The Century knot was combed out and went into the Duke handle, set 14mm deep, and it looks like this. After the silicone finishes setting I’ll give it a try and see how it behaves. This is a 22mm knot, so it took very little sanding to get it in tight, which I hope will also contribute a bit of backbone.
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And the answer is: No good. Much too floppy, and the knot was too tall for the handle.
Last night I pulled out the knot (this is why I use silicone) and ground another 8mm out of the handle to reset the knot. It's now 22mm deep into the handle, with a 43mm loft that looks much more in keeping with how a Duke 1 ought to. And it was much better behaved in the test lather today. Now it can be a rotation brush.
It’s the same knot but the lighting is different so the silver in the tips doesn’t show off here.
Last night I pulled out the knot (this is why I use silicone) and ground another 8mm out of the handle to reset the knot. It's now 22mm deep into the handle, with a 43mm loft that looks much more in keeping with how a Duke 1 ought to. And it was much better behaved in the test lather today. Now it can be a rotation brush.
It’s the same knot but the lighting is different so the silver in the tips doesn’t show off here.
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Just made #4 in another handle with 1 hr set epoxy @ 45mm loft, so that'll be today's brush.
With these knots most of the handles I'm trying ~45-50mm LOOKS like the sweet spot. But I've got plenty of knots and handles so I can experiment and find the absolute perfect loft.
With these knots most of the handles I'm trying ~45-50mm LOOKS like the sweet spot. But I've got plenty of knots and handles so I can experiment and find the absolute perfect loft.
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Used it for today's shave... Total cost: ~$40 plus a bit of work... truly a fantastic brush. I'd stack it up against any "HMW" or "Manchurian" or "UltraMegaBadger" brush and trust it to come out on top. These mixed knots are magical.
Great looking brush! Nice refurbishment and thanks for the step by step.
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