Good overall badger knot for my first restore?
- Thread starter nsl
- Start date
I'm doing the same thing with a couple old brushes that I won in an Ebay auction. I went with a 20mm Silvertip from WhippedDog, and a 20mm finest fan from the golden nib. Either way, neither is horrendously expensive, so I won't feel too bad if I mess one up. Good luck with the restoration. I think we should meet back in a couple weeks to share pics and tips/tricks on our restores.
I would purchase an ACE Best Badger in 20 mm. Great all purpose knot to start some restorations with.
22mm TGN Finest. Good backbone, a little bit of scritch but still soft. It's my knot of choice. http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/339462-Four-New-Restorations-(PIC-HEAVY)
Does Ace have an online store that you can order directly through? I see their lots on eBay but surely they have more selection available than what is there.
Whipped Dog 20mm silvertips are really nice. For my Ever-Ready restores, I've been partial to the 18mm Silvertip Grade A from The Golden Nib (works well on soaps and creams, great size for face lathering), and lately the 18mm or 20mm Finest from TGN, which has more backbone for hard soaps than the Grade A.
Which handle? Pic? Don't forget the TGN best badgers. Plenty soft at the tips with a little less backbone than the finest.
They do not have an on line store that I am aware of. They use a portal in China like e-Bay but the prices (and selection) are the same and the shipping is higher in price.
You are better off with e-Bay than the Chinese portal. I have discussed selection with them size wise. They issued some more knot sizes after my first inquiry with them about 2 months ago. They say that they are working on that issue but I don't know when more will be available.
I like whipped dog silvertips set a little deeper, and TGN finest/best set a little less deep. If I had to reduce my brushes to 2, it would be my first brush with a TGN 20mm finest (I don't have a measurement), and a 24mm whipped dog silvertip at 49mm. I think my ideal brush would be a 22mm WD silvertip, but I haven't built one up yet. I am finding myself preferring the smaller brushes better than the larger ones, and find them to be easier to work with, and I use less soap.
TGN Finest all the way. I like it much better than all of the high end brushes I have tried. YMMV of course
How does the ace best compare with the ace finest? I am trying to decide between the two. I have used the tgn finest and best and like them both, but I do prefer the finest. The tgn best I have is a bit of a lather hog and has a bit too much glue bump.
I really like TGN Finest knots. They are very densely packed and you get a really full knot. They are soft with a little scritch so it's not like shaving with a cotton ball. Overall, a very good knot. I have multiple ones.
ACE Best is more like 3/4 of a Silvertip. Soft at the tips but good backbone. This is a really nice general purpose knot. Excellent value.
ACE Finest in my opinion is better than TGNs version in terms of softness at skin contact with just a small amount of scritch.
Problem is the ACE Finest is only in 24 mm. I have made a request for ACE to introduce this in 22mm and 20 mm.
My first restore was a 22mm(if i remember correctly) tgn finest in a everready handle. Its still my go to brush. I highly recommend it.
+1. If not that, 22mm whipped dog silvertip set to 49mm.
Just be aware on the ace knots that they may not be sized very well. I bought a 24.5mm that had a glue lump in it above the glue disk that measured 28.5mm across. It was impossible to set it in my handle aside from to the bristles, or to get a handle with a 1 1/8" hole in it. Customer service was lukewarm at best. Needless to say, I'm not a fan at all.
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+1 on the TGN Finest. I've made many posts on how much I like these. 4 restores thus far with TGN Finest ranging from 20-26mm. Just be careful with the knot-to-loft ratio. For a combo brush, I'd recommend either an extra hair fan knot with a 1:2 ratio or an extra hair bulb with a ratio around 1:2.15
Can really comment on the ACE knots at this time. Just ordered 2 24mm Finest knots, not because I needed them but because they only sell them in pairs from what I saw, but won't have those until the end of April.
Good Luck!
Can really comment on the ACE knots at this time. Just ordered 2 24mm Finest knots, not because I needed them but because they only sell them in pairs from what I saw, but won't have those until the end of April.
Good Luck!
