I just finished my first brush restoration, and it didn't turn out half bad. Let me begin by saying that I'm no handy man, but I do own a Dremel. Seriously, if I can do this anybody can!
Here are the before and after (pre-bloom) photos:
Post Bloom:
I did a lot of research and tried to put a lot of thought into my restoration (probably more than was really necessary). For those like me who have no clue how to begin or how to end, below is a ridiculously long and drawn out account of my restoration.
The final stats:
Handle: Ever Ready 300
Knot: 24mm WD Silvertip
Loft: 50mm
Background:
I was inspired by Mike H's ER300 Restore (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/261321-Ever-Ready-300-Restore), where he put a stamped copper Ever Ready man on the bottom of his shelf. It looked pretty nifty, and I thought "I can do that!" To add some local flare, I used an old Boston Subway T token.
In hindsight, I wish I had picked an easier brush as my first. Having the T token at the bottom of the shelf made things a bit more complicated. It wasn't difficult, but it added more steps and required more thought, care, and time.
Handle finish and preserving patina:
I'm a big fan of cleaning things up but keeping them as original as possible.
The handle was in pretty good condition, but I noticed that the finish on the black top was bubbling and peeling in a few spots. Maybe it's some type of varnish or coating? Underneath the bubbling layer is more black, so I had no worries about removing it with some sandpaper. On the spots where I had to remove the bubbling, it kind of left a slight pock mark on the handle (kind of looks like what happens when you do a poor job scraping paint off of a house and then paint over it).
The lucite part of the handle was in great condition, but had some deeper scratches on the front. I used 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper (found at the local auto shop), and gently removed these deep scratches. I kept the sandpaper wet. If you do this, be sure to sand in 1 direction only (no circles!), otherwise, you'll end up with swirls that are a pain to remove (trust me, I did it). I then used an auto polishing compound (just some basic Meguiars that came in a detailing kit) to remove the sandpaper marks (rub across the marks left by the sandpaper) and return the shine. It's amazing how crystal clear and shiny the lucite can be. I really liked working with this material. Aside from some compound polishing, I left the other sides of the lucite alone, preserving the minor dings and dents that give it character.
I waxed up the handle using Meguiars auto wax.
Removing the old knot and shelf:
1. I used a pair of scissors to cut the knot hairs as short as possible.
2. Starting from the center of the knot, I took a pair of pliers and pulled the hair out. This wasn't too hard. Be careful to pull straight out (not at an angle) with the pliers, or you're likely to dig into the rim of the handle. Yes, I did this. Yes, more than once.
3. The hairs were removed, but at this point, the depth was only 8mm, so I needed to drill out some of the glue. I used a high speed cutter bit (http://www.acehardware.com/product/...dremel+high+speed+cutter&searchId=54396140674). The bit cut through the old knot glue pretty quickly, but then I hit the old shelf. The shelf was kind of like hard plaster, and pretty sturdy. I turned up the speed and applied some pressure. The bit cut through the shelf to reveal some empty space between the shelf and the lucite. I was lucky that I didn't push the drill down into the lucite. I then used the bit to expand the hole until the shelf was removed.
4. The handle hole was 23.5mm, but the 24mm knot I purchased from WD was 24.25mm at the base, and closer to 26mm a few mm above the base. Again, I broke out the Dremel and attached a sanding barrel. At a low speed, I went around and around until the hole expanded to my desired size (about 27mm). Surprisingly, the hole was still a circle and not some unfortunate oblong shape.
Note: If you're using a hand drill and don't have a clamp, just hold the handle tight while wearing a pair of decent leather work gloves. I didn't have any problems with the handle jumping around. Also, the Dremel made it easy to remove the shelf and expand the brush hole size, but I'm sure any drill would have worked.
Building the new shelf:
I've seen folks use a wine cork as a shelf, but since the handle hole was so big, I decided to go with a champagne cork. I measured out my desired shelf height and went to work with my Leatherman, shaping the cork into a shelf. I ended up with a decent sized cork disk about 10mm high and the diameter of a quarter. I painted it black.
I wanted to set the T token into the shelf, so I busted out the old Dremel and used the high speed cutter to dig out a spot in the bottom of the cork to set the token. I then used marine epoxy to glue the token into the shelf. Unfortunately, I was a little off center, but it doesn't look too bad.
Here's the shelf and the T token:
Selecting a knot grade, size, and loft:
On the knot grade:
I've only used 2 types of brushes so far: the tiny AOS badger brush that comes with the $25 starter kit, and VDH boar brushes from Rite-Aid. I really like the VDH brush because it has great backbone for picking up MWF. Before having tried any other brush, the boar tips seemed soft enough to me. I was split between the TGN Finest and a Silvertip, but I went with a Silvertip because I thought it would look best with this handle. I've got a few other handles that I think would look better with the finest. Reviews for Larry's WD Silvertip were good, so I went with him.
On the size:
The original handle hole was 23.5mm. I had read on the TGN site that his actual knot sizes tend to run .5 to 1.5mm below the stated size. I figured the same was true for WD and ordered a 24mm, expecting it to be 22.5 to 23.5mm. When I received the knot, the base was actually 24.25. D'oh! Lesson Learned: Talk with the folks selling you these knots and ask a few basic questions--they won't bite! Not to worry, I just expanded the handle hole.
On the loft:
Having no experience with a badger brush, I really had no clue on what loft I wanted. Before I primarily face lather, but I still wanted a brush with enough loft to bowl lather. I mostly use hard soaps (MFW) but I also wanted a brush that would work well with creams. Anywhere from 47-50mm seemed to be the consensus, but I was still unsure since I had no guiding experience. I just went with 50mm. After having used the brush for almost a month, I'm really happy with how it looks, feels, and works at 50mm.
Overall comments on the knot:
$16 (shipped) for a 24mm Silvertip seemed pretty good to me. I ordered the knot on a Wednesday morning, and it was delivered to my office in MA on on a Friday morning. FAST! Added bonus: Larry included in a sample of Oxyclean and a small sample of Bald Frog soap. The knot was dense, and only shed maybe 10 or so hairs during the initial cleaning and test lather. In the month or so I've been using the brush, I've probably lost 5 hairs at most.
Setting the knot:
I did a few dry runs to make sure I could get the loft right. I have calipers for measuring, but dang, trying to get the exact measurement of the loft is tricky. I used Devcon 2 part marine epoxy (the kind that sets in a few hours--not 5 minutes) from Home Depot. It was pretty thick stuff to mix up and get into the knot. I've heard of people filling handles using the epoxy, but I would find it hard to do based on how thick this stuff was. Oh, and do make sure to get clear epoxy. I mistakenly picked up white epoxy. D'oh! I mixed in a few drops of black paint with my epoxy and had no problems.
A note on cleaning up epoxy: the epoxy packaging recommended using rubbing alcohol to clean up any unwanted epoxy. Lucky me, I got a little dab of it on the handle while trying to set the knot. I put some rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball, and removed the epoxy quite easily...though cotton ball came back black from the finish of the handle. D'oh! Thankfully, I didn't ruin the finish, and I can't tell that some of the color came off.
Final thoughts:
This was a fun project, and as a testament to that, I've got 5 more handles waiting for knots.
Thanks to everyone before me who posted their restoration experiences!
Here are the before and after (pre-bloom) photos:
Post Bloom:
I did a lot of research and tried to put a lot of thought into my restoration (probably more than was really necessary). For those like me who have no clue how to begin or how to end, below is a ridiculously long and drawn out account of my restoration.
The final stats:
Handle: Ever Ready 300
Knot: 24mm WD Silvertip
Loft: 50mm
Background:
I was inspired by Mike H's ER300 Restore (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/261321-Ever-Ready-300-Restore), where he put a stamped copper Ever Ready man on the bottom of his shelf. It looked pretty nifty, and I thought "I can do that!" To add some local flare, I used an old Boston Subway T token.
In hindsight, I wish I had picked an easier brush as my first. Having the T token at the bottom of the shelf made things a bit more complicated. It wasn't difficult, but it added more steps and required more thought, care, and time.
Handle finish and preserving patina:
I'm a big fan of cleaning things up but keeping them as original as possible.
The handle was in pretty good condition, but I noticed that the finish on the black top was bubbling and peeling in a few spots. Maybe it's some type of varnish or coating? Underneath the bubbling layer is more black, so I had no worries about removing it with some sandpaper. On the spots where I had to remove the bubbling, it kind of left a slight pock mark on the handle (kind of looks like what happens when you do a poor job scraping paint off of a house and then paint over it).
The lucite part of the handle was in great condition, but had some deeper scratches on the front. I used 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper (found at the local auto shop), and gently removed these deep scratches. I kept the sandpaper wet. If you do this, be sure to sand in 1 direction only (no circles!), otherwise, you'll end up with swirls that are a pain to remove (trust me, I did it). I then used an auto polishing compound (just some basic Meguiars that came in a detailing kit) to remove the sandpaper marks (rub across the marks left by the sandpaper) and return the shine. It's amazing how crystal clear and shiny the lucite can be. I really liked working with this material. Aside from some compound polishing, I left the other sides of the lucite alone, preserving the minor dings and dents that give it character.
I waxed up the handle using Meguiars auto wax.
Removing the old knot and shelf:
1. I used a pair of scissors to cut the knot hairs as short as possible.
2. Starting from the center of the knot, I took a pair of pliers and pulled the hair out. This wasn't too hard. Be careful to pull straight out (not at an angle) with the pliers, or you're likely to dig into the rim of the handle. Yes, I did this. Yes, more than once.
3. The hairs were removed, but at this point, the depth was only 8mm, so I needed to drill out some of the glue. I used a high speed cutter bit (http://www.acehardware.com/product/...dremel+high+speed+cutter&searchId=54396140674). The bit cut through the old knot glue pretty quickly, but then I hit the old shelf. The shelf was kind of like hard plaster, and pretty sturdy. I turned up the speed and applied some pressure. The bit cut through the shelf to reveal some empty space between the shelf and the lucite. I was lucky that I didn't push the drill down into the lucite. I then used the bit to expand the hole until the shelf was removed.
4. The handle hole was 23.5mm, but the 24mm knot I purchased from WD was 24.25mm at the base, and closer to 26mm a few mm above the base. Again, I broke out the Dremel and attached a sanding barrel. At a low speed, I went around and around until the hole expanded to my desired size (about 27mm). Surprisingly, the hole was still a circle and not some unfortunate oblong shape.
Note: If you're using a hand drill and don't have a clamp, just hold the handle tight while wearing a pair of decent leather work gloves. I didn't have any problems with the handle jumping around. Also, the Dremel made it easy to remove the shelf and expand the brush hole size, but I'm sure any drill would have worked.
Building the new shelf:
I've seen folks use a wine cork as a shelf, but since the handle hole was so big, I decided to go with a champagne cork. I measured out my desired shelf height and went to work with my Leatherman, shaping the cork into a shelf. I ended up with a decent sized cork disk about 10mm high and the diameter of a quarter. I painted it black.
I wanted to set the T token into the shelf, so I busted out the old Dremel and used the high speed cutter to dig out a spot in the bottom of the cork to set the token. I then used marine epoxy to glue the token into the shelf. Unfortunately, I was a little off center, but it doesn't look too bad.
Here's the shelf and the T token:
Selecting a knot grade, size, and loft:
On the knot grade:
I've only used 2 types of brushes so far: the tiny AOS badger brush that comes with the $25 starter kit, and VDH boar brushes from Rite-Aid. I really like the VDH brush because it has great backbone for picking up MWF. Before having tried any other brush, the boar tips seemed soft enough to me. I was split between the TGN Finest and a Silvertip, but I went with a Silvertip because I thought it would look best with this handle. I've got a few other handles that I think would look better with the finest. Reviews for Larry's WD Silvertip were good, so I went with him.
On the size:
The original handle hole was 23.5mm. I had read on the TGN site that his actual knot sizes tend to run .5 to 1.5mm below the stated size. I figured the same was true for WD and ordered a 24mm, expecting it to be 22.5 to 23.5mm. When I received the knot, the base was actually 24.25. D'oh! Lesson Learned: Talk with the folks selling you these knots and ask a few basic questions--they won't bite! Not to worry, I just expanded the handle hole.
On the loft:
Having no experience with a badger brush, I really had no clue on what loft I wanted. Before I primarily face lather, but I still wanted a brush with enough loft to bowl lather. I mostly use hard soaps (MFW) but I also wanted a brush that would work well with creams. Anywhere from 47-50mm seemed to be the consensus, but I was still unsure since I had no guiding experience. I just went with 50mm. After having used the brush for almost a month, I'm really happy with how it looks, feels, and works at 50mm.
Overall comments on the knot:
$16 (shipped) for a 24mm Silvertip seemed pretty good to me. I ordered the knot on a Wednesday morning, and it was delivered to my office in MA on on a Friday morning. FAST! Added bonus: Larry included in a sample of Oxyclean and a small sample of Bald Frog soap. The knot was dense, and only shed maybe 10 or so hairs during the initial cleaning and test lather. In the month or so I've been using the brush, I've probably lost 5 hairs at most.
Setting the knot:
I did a few dry runs to make sure I could get the loft right. I have calipers for measuring, but dang, trying to get the exact measurement of the loft is tricky. I used Devcon 2 part marine epoxy (the kind that sets in a few hours--not 5 minutes) from Home Depot. It was pretty thick stuff to mix up and get into the knot. I've heard of people filling handles using the epoxy, but I would find it hard to do based on how thick this stuff was. Oh, and do make sure to get clear epoxy. I mistakenly picked up white epoxy. D'oh! I mixed in a few drops of black paint with my epoxy and had no problems.
A note on cleaning up epoxy: the epoxy packaging recommended using rubbing alcohol to clean up any unwanted epoxy. Lucky me, I got a little dab of it on the handle while trying to set the knot. I put some rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball, and removed the epoxy quite easily...though cotton ball came back black from the finish of the handle. D'oh! Thankfully, I didn't ruin the finish, and I can't tell that some of the color came off.
Final thoughts:
This was a fun project, and as a testament to that, I've got 5 more handles waiting for knots.
Thanks to everyone before me who posted their restoration experiences!
