I have been using shaving brushes for about 50 years, and never before have I dropped a brush. But today, for whatever reason, my Yaqi 26mm Moka two band took off. It flew out of my hand and landed several feet away on the tile floor. It's a shame, because I really enjoyed using that brush, and I thought the handle was great looking. Fortunately, it was easy to remove the knot without damaging it from the portion of the handle that still held it. I don't think Yaqi sells that handle without a knot, so I'm looking for suggestions for handles for a 26mm knot. Interestingly, the knot was set quite deep - about 17 or 18mm. As I've started looking around, most handles are not drilled nearly that deep so I'll need to either buy it from someone willing to deepen the opening or else drill it myself (which I'd really rather not do).
Beware of Flying Brush!
- Thread starter Steve_in_CT
- Start date
Rudy Vey or Bob at Elite Razors could set you up... I'm guessing AP Shave Co could too. As I'm sure you know, all three have B&B Vendor stores.
For the cost of the repair you’re probably better off just ordering another brush.
- Thread starter
- #4
I've ordered a handle from a fellow on Etsy. I'm OK with playing with the loft and then epoxying the knot into the handle. I expect it will be a tight fit, as the Yaqi knot is listed as a 26mm knot, but the actual diameter of the base is a bit larger than that.
What Tomo said.
At least you broke only a brush, my sink broke when a brush slipped out of my hand when flicking the water out and it hit the sink hard- handle was fine (a RV Shaving one....), but the sink needed replacement - definitely more expensive than most brushes out there...
If you are willing to tinker with it yourself, 26 mm handles are not hard to come by. The Golden Nib has or has had a reasonable selection. DS Cosmetics (found on AliExpress) has a nice selection. I'm sure there are others. You may need to tinker with slightly enlarging the hole or drilling it deeper so you may need to invest in a Dremel with a drum sander to enlarge the hole and a Fostner bit to drill it deeper.
Anyway, you have options.
Anyway, you have options.
- Thread starter
- #8
I received the handle from Bob at Sun Soaps on Etsy. At $12 for a hand-made, natural wood 26mm handle, it was hard to go wrong. And the handle was every bit as nice as the photos on the website. In an email exchange with Bob I had asked him to drill the hole a bit deeper than his standard, as I wanted to match the loft from the original Yaqi Moka handle, which had the handled drilled to 17mm. He did deepen the hole, but the Yaqi 26mm brush has a rubber like casing around the base of the knot that is decidedly wider than 26mm. Bob had warned me that might be the case, but he though that my suggestion that I simply use a Dremel sanding drum to enlarge the hole would be a workable solution.
Sure enough, the knot would not even start to fit into the hole. So I started sanding. It didn't take too long, and I tried to do it as evenly as possible. I am quite pleased with the results. I have now epoxied it in place, and I'll let it sit until my Friday morning shave. I'm tempted to try it tomorrow, but I like to give epoxy a solid 24 hours to set. I'm not sure that I like this handle more than the original Yaqi Moka handle, but they wouldn't sell the handle separately, and at least if I drop this one it's unlikely to break apart.
