Inherited a new brush!

[Hineas]

I recently traveled to go to my grandmother's funeral (she was so ill and had horrible dementia, it was a relief when she died). Her second husband, who she married a few years after my grandfather died, wanted to give away some of her possessions so we could remember her. There were a few nick-nacks that I always loved as a kid, so I took those. My parents stayed behind to go through some old boxes. The next morning my mom brought me an old shaving brush and said, "I thought you would appreciate this more than anyone else." I recently started wet shaving and straight edge shaving about 2 months ago, and that is why they gave me the brush.

Come to find out, this brush was my grandfather's brush. For some reason, my grandma kept the brush. My mom said she remembered seeing the brush when she was young, and always wished her dad would use the brush for the shaving cream. I was pretty pumped to inherit the brush since it is from family. I wish I new how long it has been in the family. My mom said the brush looked old and beat up when she was young. I wonder if it was his father's brush before he got it? I'll never know, but I would like to think it was.

The brush itself isn't anything special when I glanced at it. It looks to me like it was a nylon brush. It is a wooden handle that was painted, but most of the pain has chipped off. I don't have the brush with me (packed in the car) to see if I can tell the brand or any other identifying marks. But I'm excited to restore the brush. I think I am going to sand the handle down and stain it and put a silvertip badger knot from TGN or WhippedDog in it. I'm stoked to have a brush from the family that I am going to restore! I'll post pictures soon.

 

[packersfan117]

That sounds awesome!! I'd love to see some pictures, before restoration, during, and after. The best shave products are the inherited ones and the ones with stories!

 

[theretroshave]

I also look forward to seeing your brush as you take it through it's restoration. This brush sounds truly worthy of our attention.

 

[Mick]

Please post some pics before so that you have a reference.

 

[Hineas]

Here is a picture of the brush. I don't know what type of bristles they are as I have only one badger brush at home, so nothing to compare it to. There aren't any other markings except for what is in the picture.

It has to be from at least the 1950's since my mom remembers it as a kid. But it is likely older because she said it looked this old when she was a kids and the paint this chipped....

One question. How do you polish the black area? And how do you polish it without removing the white lettering? I'll post more pictures when I get home and can use A real camera and not my phone.

 

[Hineas]

I found a piece of sandpaper in the garage. I Spent 10 minutes sanding the handle. That is it for tonight, it is late. I Need to buy some making tape to finish sanding the handle so I don't scratch the top part....

 

[Hineas]

Ignore my typos in the above posts, I'm on my phone....

 

[dpm802]

To polish the black part of the handle, rub it with a microfiber cloth. You can find these in the cleaning supplies section of most stores, or even at auto-parts stores in the aisle where they sell waxes and polish. Don't use any chemicals on it, just rub it with the cloth and it should come clean and leave the white lettering intact.

Before you go and pull the knot out, give it a few runs as-is. Its looks like boar bristle, and it appears to still have plenty of life left in it. All it might need is a good bath and a few test lathers and it should bloom out nice and pretty.

 

[GDCarrington]

It is a boar brush. As DPM802 stated above, clean it with a mixture of mostly water with a little shampoo, borax, and vinegar. Work the brush in the mixture and create a lather, rinse and repeat once and see if it the knot is clean. Then give it a try.

 

[Hineas]

Sounds good! I'll try the knot as is for now.

 

[FL shaver]

Several coats of tung oil to protect the wood handle?

 

[Hineas]

I spent many hours sanding the handle. The brush must have been well used. Even after a few hours with 100 grit paper, there where still stains in the wood. I kept working until the stains weren't too dark. Then I used increasingly fine grit paper until nice and smooth. I figured a few stains would add character to the brush. I then applied some oil based stain and let dry overnight. Then applied a glossy polyurethane finish to protect it and add sheen.



I did a few test lathers with the brush, but the bristles were brittle and I broke quite a few bristles. I decided to remove the knot. After taping the brush handle, I put a rubber band around the bristles and cut them off at the base with a dull razor in my shavette (didn't want to waste a sharp blade!). Worked like a charm.



Then I drilled a few holes with my dremmel.



Then I ground out the rest of the knot with the dremmel. Good thing I taped the brush, I would have scuffed the black area....



I'm not near deep enough yet. I opted to go shallow and drill deeper as needed. The diameter of the hole is about 20 mm. I think I am going to go with a silver tipped badger from TGN (I wanted a whippeddog one because I enjoy working with him, but Larry is out of silver tips right now).

I have to drill deeper. The hole is only 6-7 mm deep. I assume when people say to put the knot down 7 mm, they mean 7 mm of bristles need to be below the handle? In other words, put the top of the base 7 mm below the rim of the handle?

If I get a 20 mm knot with 65mm loft, how deep should I seat the knot? I want a moderate amount of backbone. Not too stiff, not too fluffy....

 

[Grimakis]

I would say you want to set the bristles between 16-20mm deep. This will leave you with a loft of 46-50mm. Just keep going deeper until you feel that the brush has the correct loft.

 

[catherix]

I would wait until you have the knot in hand before you drill out the handle too deep. There can be quite a bit of variance in the lengths of the knots. Once you've got it you can measure the knot yourself and determine how deep the knot bed needs to be in order to achieve a specific loft. Somewhere in the 46-52mm range seems to fit many people but its all preference.

 

[blzrfn]

I too would hold off until you have the knot in hand. A 20mm silvertip knot should measure around 22mm coming out of the handle and would probably have sufficient backbone for face lathering at around 45mm of loft. Use a tiny amount of silicone adhesive to start with and set the knot deeper after a few test lathers until you get it dialed in. Other than functionality you may consider the aesthetics too, a 45mm loft may look awkward on such a long handle so play around with it until you are satisfied.

 

[catherix]

Still haven't tried the silicone trick. I should really buy some for my next restore.

 

[FL shaver]

You did a fine job on the wooden portion. Depending on the grain, some areas of the brush take on less of the new stain. As you said, it adds character, and you've certainly protected the handle from water damage.

 

[Hineas]

I ended up buying a 20mm super silver tip from TGN. I had to drill deeper. It was hollow for about 5mm below the original knot, which I think turned out to be the perfect depth. I temporarily glued the knot in with a small dab of hot glue to try out the depth. I have done three lathers and shaved once. I really like it so far!

 

[MeanGene]

That looks very nice. I like how "natural" the wood looks, opposed to a real dark or overpowering stain. Excellent restore!