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Boar to Badger brush conversion, a work in progress

So I recently made the switch to a badger brush from a boars hair brush. The boars hair brush I have is an Omega 10005. The brush was great and I enjoyed using it very much, that is till I tried a friends pure badger brush for a week. When I had to give back the pure badger brush and return to the Omega, it just didn't do it any more. I found it didn't make a nice rich lather, it was floppy, and all in all just not as good as a lower end badger. With that I jump in with both feet and ordered a super badger brush.

I had originally planned on making the Omega my travel brush, but the thought of having to use it, just didn't fill me with anticipation. I could have given it away, but it was 6 months old, and if I didn't like it I wasn't going to burden it on someone else. While I was looking for brushes I stumbled onto The Golden Nib, and they sold all sorts of knots,. With that floating around in the back of my head, I got the idea of converting my old brush into a badger brush.

With the new brush in hand, and having used the pure badger brush, and the Omega in its original state I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted. I knew the handle on the Omega was beechwood and it looked pretty good for a $15 brush, but for some reason I thought that it had a 22mm knot. With my misinformed information I ordered up a silvertip badger knot with 65mm of loft. The day after I got my shipping notice I found out that my Omega was actually a 24mm knot:eek: Well not being one to be put off by a little miscalculation I just decided to remove the existing knot find or make a plug for the 24mm hole and bore it out to the proper 22mm size.

So on to the work in progress now that I have my long winded intro out of the way:biggrin1:

This is what I started with, this is a picture of a new one in unused condition

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The first thing I did was soak the brush in boiling water to see if that would loosen up the epoxy, but it didn't work. Then I just took a Olfa knife and cut the knot right at the edge of the plastic ring and grabbed a 1/2 drill bit and hand drill. Drilling at slow speed as close to the middle of the remaining knot as I could, I went till I saw wood chips.

Well I didn't see any wood chips the drill just suddenly sank in an extra 1/2 so I stopped and looked to see what I had. There was a nice gap under the knot. With the drilling out of the way I took a small chisel and started working out small pieces of the knot moving towards the plastic ring. With about 1/4 of the knot removed the epoxy let loose and the remaining knot came out with my fingers.

Time for a measure with a digital vernier caliper to see what the actual measurement was. It turned out to be 22mm with the plastic ring/sleeve still in the handle. Perfect I wasn't going to have to plug the hole and re-bore it:thumbup:

I then lightly sanded the handle to remove the Omega graphic, and wanting to keep this conversion on the cheap I gave it a few coats of mag wheel clear from dupli color I had laying around. It is meant to withstand the elements, so life on a shaving brush should be easy.

Here is what the handle looks like now

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No more Omega emblem, or pure bristle written on it. Really high gloss, that I have tested with a wet soapy hand. I also trimmed down the plastic ring/sleeve a couple of mm so the total set depth is now 17mm. That means that when I set my new knot my loft should be right around 48mm. The super badger I bought has a 53mm loft and a 23mm knot, so this one should have a touch more backbone, but the silvertip is softer so they should be pretty close on overall feel.

Now all I am waiting for is the new knot,

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and I am ready to epoxy it in. For epoxy I am going to give West Systems a try. There is a place in the city that I can get sample sized containers and that should be more then enough for the brush and a knife.

I will update this when the knot gets here, should be between today and Wednesday, with the installation of the knot, and the first use of the new Omega 10005 silvertip brush.
 
The Omega 10005 is my favorite brush for use with a DE razor. I usually use it with a shave stick (Irisch Moos).

When I use a straight razor I prefer the badger.

An excellent boar brush that has the characteristics of a nice badger brush is the Semogue 830. I didn't believe there was a boar brush that could perform like this, but this one really can. The one I purchased cost between $20 and $25 if you want a back-up brush.

I really like the looks of the beechwood handle after you fixed it up.
 
The handle has really darkened up over the last six months of daily use. When I first got it it was light like the one in the first photo
 
While cringing at the destruction of a nice brush, I am sure it will be nicer when you are done. That finish looks excellent.

Phil
 
While cringing at the destruction of a nice brush, I am sure it will be nicer when you are done. That finish looks excellent.

Phil

IMHO it wasn't that nice of a brush at the time when I took it apart. I admit to having abused it a bit when I first started because I just didn't know any better:blushing:. It was shedding like crazy and didn't have the feel that it should have any more.

I think in the end it will be a much better brush and now that I am a little more in the know, it should last many years to come:thumbup:
 
I am about to do similar retro-fit of new badger knot from the Golden Nib. Please do post your comments after you glue in the new knot and let us know how it performs after being set. Also interested in reading how the new finish works on the handle. Thanks for taking the time to share what you are doing.
 
you will probably get you knot before I do, thats all I am waiting on right now. I am up here in the frozen wastelands call Winnipeg and sometimes it takes longer for packages to arrive then stated in te estimated shipping times
 
Unfortunately, not yet. I am still waiting for the knot to be delivered. Everything is sitting waiting to go as soon as it gets here


*UPDATE*

Still no knot:sad: it is somewhere in transit, but it has been for 9 business days now. I was kind of hoping it would have been here by now.
 
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So the new knot finally got here today, but I figure after 2 weeks stuck in an envelope I should let it relax a little bit before stuffing it in a handle. I will be gluing it up tomorrow and post some pictures one its in. Then after letting it cure for te proper amount of time I will use it and post a couple more pictures and give my views on what I did.

I lied, I couldn't wait and I set the knot tonight. It had returned to its original shape so I couldn't see waiting

So here are a couple of comparison pictures with the Fendrihan Super Badger brush I got 2 weeks ago

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The TGN brush looks taller but the top of the handle is 2mm higher then the Fendrihan, the black ring throws the visual off. I originally wanted to go for less loft than the Fendrihan brush but after using it for 2 weeks I am really liking it as is.

A view from the top, cant wait to see how big this one gets when used the first time. that will be around this time tomorrow night.

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So just finished my first shave with the new Omega/TGN brush, my verdict? What a great brush:w00t: It bloomed wonderfully, lathered great, held enough lather to do 5 passes with more in reserve and thats not counting what was still in the bowl.

Right now it is drying out so in the morning I will take some post shave pictures. As great as I find the new brush, I now appreciate the Fendrihan brush even more. It performs almost as well as the silvertip, cost less, and I didn't have to make it.
Where the TGN silvertip really out shone the Fendrihan is scrubbing on the tips. It just seems to have more backbone allowing it to stay on the tips better. Give it a little push or switch to paint brushing it becomes a cloud of lather. The Fendrihan just doesn't do that, its always soft and doesn't scrub as well. It is not a huge difference but I can feel it. I can't say that the Omega/TGN will be my go to brush but I will say it will get used every other day, one drying one being used

I have another boars hair brush that I am going to convert in the new year, that or I am going to just buy a smaller knot and handle to make a travel brush. :thumbup:
 
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So as promised, here are the pictures of the two brushes side by side. The Omega/TGN is on the right in both pictures

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Both brushes are very dense and the TGN knot bloomed nicely:thumbup:

The Wilkson dish in the background is just what I keep my L'Occtaine soap in:blushing:
 
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Awesome looking.

I need to order a knot from them(TGN), but the budget says it has to wait till after New Years.

Phil
 
Works real good too:thumbup: When you think about it they are really quite affordable too. I paid $16 Cnd for the Omega brush and $21.90 for the knot. I haven't seen to many $40 silvertip brushes floating around, I paid more then that for the Super brush from Fendrihan, and the TGN brush just feels better to me.
 
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