First attempt at brush restoration

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

I have an Opal 304 (clear/black) and a Strong Set (yellow) brush - both of which came in a purchase of a shaving cabinet. I've had them for over a year and finally got the nerve to attempt the knot removal (steam method)

I'm pretty sure the Opal (clear/black) needs a 19mm but the Strong Set (yellow) seems like a 19mm might be just too big? Anyone with experience have suggestions?

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

Some pictures of the process

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

Ready for new knots

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

Also - any vendors you all recommend.

Don't want to spend tons of money on knots but also don't want something I'm going to end up not using.

 

[Big Jim]

I buy most of my knots from ACE but they don't seem to have a presence on ebay or AliExpress currently. Virginia Sheng seems to have equivalent knots and they are still on ebay and / or AliExpress. TGN (The Golden Nib) has some exceptional Finest Badger knots as well as others. Maggards also has some really nice knots especially their Two Band. Must not leave out Whipped Dog with great High Mountain knots and Slivertip knots.

You can clean up the inside of the socket and even enlarge it a little with a Dremel (or similar) with a drum sander attachment. From your picture you could easily open it up to a 20 mm knot.

Nice looking handles.

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

I just ordered a boar for the Strong Set and a mixed boar/badger for the Opal from ShaveForge (saw them recommended by someone else on here with reasonable prices and shipping costs).

After reading several thoughts on epoxy vs silicone I've decided to go silicone since this is a first try and if I mess up it'll be easier to fix or replace.

Anything special needed? I can get GE GE284 Advanced Silicone for less than $4 delivered. Or does it take a special type of silicone?

 

[Straight up]

I'm in the midst of restoring my first brush and ordered epoxy from Maggard. $1.50 for Hardman silicone. I ordered it along with the knot expecting it's the best adhesive to use.

 

[camoloc]

I just ordered a boar for the Strong Set and a mixed boar/badger for the Opal from ShaveForge (saw them recommended by someone else on here with reasonable prices and shipping costs).

After reading several thoughts on epoxy vs silicone I've decided to go silicone since this is a first try and if I mess up it'll be easier to fix or replace.

Anything special needed? I can get GE GE284 Advanced Silicone for less than $4 delivered. Or does it take a special type of silicone?

RTV silicone can usually be found local. this is what i used with a TGN boar knot.

camo

 

[ajkel64]

Interesting handles. I really like the black/clear handle. Interesting shape indeed.

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

Got 20mm brushes from Shave Forge but they are too big. I could make the hole bigger but TGN got back to me and they have some 18mm ones I'm going to get - then use the 20mm for some Ever Ready's I just got in the BST

 

[GAW9576]

I've used the GE silicon on several knots. Haven't had any issues.

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

Well the knots I ordered were too big for these brushes (I’m going to order smaller ones for those).

But the knots were perfect for a couple of vintage brushes I got. I tried the old knots - one was awful, the other wasn’t awful but could be better so today I started the process.

Using the drill and sand method to remove these knots.

Here’s the F40 de-knotted and with the mixed badger/boar knot dry fit into it.

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

The 100 was much more of a pain. The glue was rock hard. Drilled, dremeled with several different tips and finally got it.

Here it is dry fitted with the boar knot

 

[GAW9576]

Very nice. I particularly like that F40.

 

[ajkel64]

Looking good. Thanks for sharing your process with us.

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

Smaller knots from the Golden Nib arrived today and look great in the dry fit. Hopefully this weekend I’ll get them all set in!

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

Well the knots have been added and the silicone is curing. Had to remove the two smaller ones - the first one I didn’t put enough silicone in (clear and black Opal) and the other (yellow Strong Set) seemed to be sitting on the shelf when I fitted the knot but seemed wobbly and I took it out and added a couple of dimes and it seems much more stable.

The two Ever Readys should be ready to enter the rotation starting tomorrow and the other two in a couple of days.

I’m planning to reknot the Ever Ready 153 I got in the mail today as well - but I always like to give them one try with the original knot.

However I was able to polish it up a little tonight and add some white paint to the lettering. After the paint cures I’ll do some touch up polishing around the lettering.

Before:

After:

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

First use of my restored Ever Ready 100 (still have a little touch up to do around the painted areas but want to let it cure a little more first).

Decided to put the mixed knot in this one instead of the F40.

Was very nice - my first time using a mixed knot and it was nice. Definitely had the backbone of a boar but also had a nice soft feel to it. Definitely needs to be broken in a bit - just a hair (pun intended) of scratchiness to it but not bad.

And it definitely had the wet animal hair smell to it - not overpowering and probably wouldn’t have been quite as noticeable but I used some vintage Williams so I could use my new shaving mug and it’s not got much scent at all.

Overall I’m very pleased and I think I have a total of about $10 in the thing.

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

So I apparently have BAD now

This arrived today

Cleaned up well

Will use it once as is then likely take out the knot and replace it

Thinking I might go synthetic with this and the Rubberset that came yesterday.

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

Well, I tried out the Rubberset and Made Rite knots this morning and they are definitely getting new knots - the Rubberset wasn't awful but sheds a lot and the Made Rite was the worst performing knot I've used to date.

As though I wasn't already aware, clearly I've caught the brush and brush restoration bug because I currently have bids on 3 other vintage brushes, am watching another, and just pulled the trigger on a Buy It Now on this beauty:

Ironically, as I got into wet shaving last year I completely understood RAD and SAD but never quite got why people got BAD but I've fallen down that rabbit hole now!