Help me out setting the loft!

[DavidN88]

Hello, everyone!


I decided to build my own custom brushes. Being a face foam, I find that the sweet spot for me is 26mm knots in synthetics, and 24mm in badger brushes.

Last month, I made the move to purchase 2 knots from Oumo:

- 26 mm silksmoke synthetic,

- 25mm Finest Two-Band Badger Bulb EX (EX means it has even more density than the SHD knots).

Now the problem is set the lofts correctly. As far as I know, the bulb knots should be set with the double of it's size, so, the synthetic should be at 52mm and the badger 50.
The synthetic has a monstrous backbone with 52mm loft, seriously...I doubt that I could even use it for face lathering. If I set it with 57/58mm loft, looks a bit easier to splay, and pleasant to use.
On the other hand, the badger knot is so dense that I'm afraid to set it too deep. The standard loft is 53, and it looks ok/a bit floppier maybe (?).

This how they look with the knot full depth (53 vs 53):

And this is how they look with the loft that I think it would be fine (53vs57):

Once this is my first time doing this kind of stuff, I would like to know your thoughts, and have some tips if I needed to.

Have a great day,
David

 

[Rudy Vey]

Not quite right, fans are normally set about double their size at exit from handle (for midsize brushes), bulbs are set a tad higher - for badgers that is. The badger in your picture does not show much of a difference.

 

[NorthernSoul]

PAA uses around 55-56mm for their 26mm synth knot of similar type. The 24mm knot uses around 53-54mm loft. Those settings work quite well. I think you are pretty close to that.

 

[Steve_in_CT]

I'm a big fan of trial and error when it comes to loft. Take a guess, and set it temporarily with some silicone. Use it a few times to see how it behaves. I have a Full Moon synthetic, for example, that I set in an old Duke 2 handle. I had posted on this forum that I was very disappointed with the knot, and another member suggested raising the loft. It is now my favorite travel brush.

 

[Brad P]

I'm a big fan of trial and error when it comes to loft. Take a guess, and set it temporarily with some silicone. Use it a few times to see how it behaves. I have a Full Moon synthetic, for example, that I set in an old Duke 2 handle. I had posted on this forum that I was very disappointed with the knot, and another member suggested raising the loft. It is now my favorite travel brush.

I have, in the past, used a quality two-sided (double stick) tape to test out the loft height before permanently setting the knot. I expected to get 1 to 3 test lathers before it fell out and then, I could try a different height. I was happy with the loft I started with and I have gotten a few dozen shaves out of it! If I decide that I want to pull it out at any time, I know that alcohol will break the adhesive bond on this tape. Eventually, I will need to do a more permanent bond, but for right now- "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Hope this might give someone another option for testing loft heights on brush knots