Going to attempt my first rehab.

[Rocklock]

I'm normally the type that leaves vintage stuff the way I find it, other than a good cleaning. I got a nice Solid Set brush that I really like, or at least I like the handle. It's a nice red and cream color and I find it comfortable to hold. The hair in this is all crooked and curled up, and to make matters worse, it's a shed-o-matic. I can figure out how to get the old hair out, but after I clean up to old glue, where do I go from there? I know I will need to measure for the knot size. Will this old USA made brush be in SAE or Millimetric? Who offers quality knots in the USA? What is the easiest glue to work with setting in a new knot. And just exactly what does the term 'loft' refer to and how does one set it to a certain height?

And one final question for now. Is there any unspoken rules for restoring vintage shave brushes?

 

[CigarSmoka]

Measure the hole in mm because that’s how knots are measured, and get one that’s around 1.5-2mm smaller than the hole itself. Pay attention to the overall loft of the knot too. Subtract the depth of the hole from that and you’ll know the final loft after setting. This can help when deciding between a knot with an overall loft of say 65mm vs 67mm, and 2mm can actually make quite a difference in firmness and how much it blooms, especially after some use. “Overall loft” is the knot length from the bottom of the plug to the top of the hair, “final loft” is the length of the visible hair from the top of the handle to the top of the hair. I like The Golden Nib for two band finest badgers, IMO they can’t be beat for the price. Their boar knots are a good deal too. Maggard’s knots also seem to get a lot of love.

 

[ajkel64]

We require photos of the whole process as well.