English Leather Wooden Cap Brush

[Borderboss]

Today I received a 16oz bottle of Mem English Leather All Purpose Lotion to add to my stash of vintage aftershaves. The wooden cap was disconnected from the plastic cap, so it was loose. I was about to toss it out when I thought "this could be one interesting shave brush handle".

Here are the various dimensions:

• Length: 70mm (2.75")
• Diameter at middle: 67mm
• Diameter at each end: 51mm (2.0")
• Hole diameter: 32mm
• Hole depth: 20mm

The photos are below. This is a really large diameter cap, as you'll see below with the tape measure in the photos. It's heavy as well, making me think that this is either oak or ash. I will probably need to score or somehow roughen up the outside to make it less slick.

As to the knot, the 32mm hole should be perfect for a TGN 30mm badger. They have them in both Silvertip (my personal favorite) and Best Badger grades. The knot has a 67mm loft, which should yield a 48mm-50mm loft when set in the handle.

What are your thoughts or suggestions? Am I missing something? Thanks!

 

[Graydog]

Before I would invest the money in the Badger I would buy a less expensive synthetic to see the fit and feel.
How would you treat the wood against water ?

 

[Borderboss]

Before I would invest the money in the Badger I would buy a less expensive synthetic to see the fit and feel.
How would you treat the wood against water ?

Good thought on the test knot.

For treating the wood, I'm thinking the clear spray i used on the barber pole brush in my avatar.

 

[DCRIII]

Funny, I was thinking of turning the cap to a recently finished bottle of English Leather into a handle for a travel brush. The cap I have is smaller though.

 

[Borderboss]

I wanted to give you an update on this project. It turns out that this cap is definitely a solid hardwood, likely maple. It's amazing that MEM put that kind of money into the cap back then. Since I have basically no skill and no tools, I asked Jim Roe to do the work for me. I wanted the finished version to have a vintage look. I now have the finished product in my hands, and it turned out fantastic. Photos are below.

The knot I chose was a 30mm Premium Silvertip from TGN. This turned out to be a bit of a problem because the hole in the cap was closer to 32mm. Jim ended up shimming the hole with a piece of vinyl to narrow it down somewhat. It's set somewhat deep but I wanted it that way to make sure there was plenty of backbone with the big knot.

The handle fits my hand great even with the large size. It's really similar in shape to the Ever-Ready C40 that I have in my collection. I'm looking forward to the first shave with it tomorrow.

 

[ajkel64]

Good job, it came out well. Great looking brush.

 

[Shave_Rat]

That came out awesome! Great idea, as well.

 

[DCRIII]

Turned out quite nicely!

 

[CigarSmoka]

The shape is very nice and matte finish looks great.