Well I got a chance to use my BB9 today. It's funny. The vintage bakelite (Cheap) Kent I bought has this wonderfully soft knot. This fancy schmancy Ivory travel brush has one of the prickliest Badger knots I've ever used. It must be that days version of "Pure" or even "Black" badger. It's disappointing, the knot is in decent shape and I might replace it just because I'm so unimpressed with it.
BB9 Ivory travel brush with original knot.
- Thread starter SliceOfLife
- Start date
More pictures Ian...are you going to polish that ivory? Sorry to hear about that knot...I have a vintage simpson in pure and it's softer than today's 2-band variants...perhaps mine was used extensively by the previous owner while this never 'travelled' !!!
- Thread starter
- #3
I've got to leave for work in 6 hrs, so I'm gonna hit the hay, but I'll charge up my camera and take some snaps tomorrow evening. I'll probably polish the ivory a little, or at least give it a good cleaning sooner or later.
Yeah...I'm keen to see some pictures. Would love to have a brush like that but doesn't seem likely. They're hard to find!
Since there's no butterscotch issue with this one, a polish should make it gleam!
Since there's no butterscotch issue with this one, a polish should make it gleam!
- Thread starter
- #5
Pics may be a bit. I took it down to polish it and noticed that a crack in the part holding the brush had expanded a great deal due to hair swell from the water. So I spent a lot of time loosening and unscrewing the bottom of the brush. Then I chiseled away at the knot base. It looked like charcoal, sand, and ruby fragments and was VERY brittle. I have no idea what it was. Finally I was able to shift the knot up and down in the handle and with some work finally removed it. The hair was not tied or in any way bound together at all. It basically looked like they had filled the base with the anchoring mix and then just shoved the hairs directly into the handle. I saved the knot in a ziplock because I can't bring myself to throw out antique badger hair. This brush is old. Real, real, real damn old.
Now I've put some cement in the crack and clamped it shut to set. Then I'll start looking for a possible replacement knot. It is 15mm, so I'm thinking maybe shaving down a 16mm knot to fit in there. Worse comes to worse I'll contact a few brush makers and see if any of them offer any knots in 14-15mm that I may like. I can always snag a Wee scot as a last resort.
Now I've put some cement in the crack and clamped it shut to set. Then I'll start looking for a possible replacement knot. It is 15mm, so I'm thinking maybe shaving down a 16mm knot to fit in there. Worse comes to worse I'll contact a few brush makers and see if any of them offer any knots in 14-15mm that I may like. I can always snag a Wee scot as a last resort.
