First retore attempt...any/all input appreciated

[geonjay]

Hello Gents. I picked up a pewter handled boar brush a year or two ago and I've been toying with the idea of restoring it...but haven't. The boar hair was thin and smelled HORRID. The base is really heavy and stamped "CONCORD Pewter" "Made in England". The base is almost 2 inches tall. I read up on the wiki and in this forum before touching it...but I really need advice. I cut the hair down as far as I could, then used a dremel to get the rest of the plug out. The plug only went about 1/2 to 1/3 into the handle, which surprised me. The next surprise was just how much glue (I'm not sure exactly what this is) was in the base. I was dremeling for a while before I thought "Why the heck am I drilling this out - why not just leave it as a base for the next knot...duh". I hit the edge of the metal a few times with the dremel, and even though i was using a very soft bit...well, pewter is even softer. The hole is exactly the size of a penny, which the wiki says is 18mm and it gets a little smaller just inside the rim. Now, there's an oddity which can be seen in the picture - there seems to be some kind of collar/insert that's made of a very soft metal - almost like thin tin or thick aluminum foil. It seems like I could probably pull it out, but I'm scared I'll cause some kind of irreparable harm...of course, the dremel caused some harm already, so I guess that ship has sailed. I just want to get it cleaned up properly. I appreciate all input. I'd like to get a nice TGN knot in here.

 

[inspiringK]

Doesn't sound like you will be able to secure the new knot in there with that rickedy rim. If it is something that you can pull out, go for it, then take another picture.

Pewter may make a nice brush handle yet

 

[geonjay]

Ok, I pulled the collar off. The opening of the handle is 22mm, but chokes down to ~15mm about 4mm past the neck. What do ya think?

 

[Mike'sWorld]

Since you have access to a dremel, it should be easy work to square up the bore so that the diameter is 22mm down to a depth of about 15 or 20mm. Order a 22mm TGN knot of your choice and wait until it comes in to decide on your final loft. Also be prepared to ream out the bore a little if you have to. One of the nice things about doing brush restores is customizing with a knot of your choice and size and placing it at the loft you like.

 

[geonjay]

Just for fun I took a few more pics. The mass of this thing is 88g/3.1oz and it's 5cm tall exactly and the base is 3.5cm wide. Think there's a lead slug under all that epoxy? It's definitely weighted on the bottom.

This is the stamp at the bottom of the handle


Here's a pic of the side and the rim without the collar

 

[inspiringK]

+1

You will have to clear out a bit before you can drop a knot in there. Both the golden nib and whipped dog sell their knots at something like 60 or 65mm high, but you only want about 50mm of that to be exposed. So, you need to make sure you have a bit more clearance before setting the knot. The fit doesn't have to be perfect either, the epoxy can make up for extra space and some abrasion can add more space as need be.