Knot sizing??

[Pmaynard19]

Hello, I was wondering how do you know what size knot a handle will take? I know it can be measured by hand, but if I’m picking up handles online that have no knot size info like an old Everready 79, how do I know what size replacement knot to order? Are there any tricks or “rules of thumb” to know? Thanks.


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[Big Jim]

There is no shortcut. you need to understand the nature of knots and how irregular they are. Start by buying a caliper to aid in fitting.

When buying a handle seldom are the diameter of the hole exactly as described. Measure the hole yourself. If you are reknotting a handle measure the hole after the knot is removed. Be prepared to enlarge the hole with a Dremel sanding drum AFTER you have the knot in hand.

There are two diameters that need to be considered. Knots sizes are generally described as the diameter of the base glue disc. Most of the time, they are actually slightly smaller than described, typically about 1/4 of a mm. Sometime more and occasionally much more. However, a given knot size usually will not fit a hole of the same size. The knot "swells" as you move up so that roughly 3 mm to 5 mm above the base disc it is much wider, often as much as 2 to 3 mm. The amount of swell is inconsistent, and thus the need to finish up the fitment by hand once you have a knot in front of you.

I recently bought handles described as for a 20 mm knot. A 20 mm knot was too small and a 22 mm knot fit beautifully. Another set of handles describe as for 22 mm knots needed to be opened up gently for a 22 mm knot.

Enjoy your adventure.

 

[Pmaynard19]

There is no shortcut. you need to understand the nature of knots and how irregular they are. Start by buying a caliper to aid in fitting.

When buying a handle seldom are the diameter of the hole exactly as described. Measure the hole yourself. If you are reknotting a handle measure the hole after the knot is removed. Be prepared to enlarge the hole with a Dremel sanding drum AFTER you have the knot in hand.

There are two diameters that need to be considered. Knots sizes are generally described as the diameter of the base glue disc. Most of the time, they are actually slightly smaller than described, typically about 1/4 of a mm. Sometime more and occasionally much more. However, a given knot size usually will not fit a hole of the same size. The knot "swells" as you move up so that roughly 3 mm to 5 mm above the base disc it is much wider, often as much as 2 to 3 mm. The amount of swell is inconsistent, and thus the need to finish up the fitment by hand once you have a knot in front of you.

I recently bought handles described as for a 20 mm knot. A 20 mm knot was too small and a 22 mm knot fit beautifully. Another set of handles describe as for 22 mm knots needed to be opened up gently for a 22 mm knot.

Enjoy your adventure.

Great info! Thank you for your time. I’ll keep all this in mind. I have a caliper so I can use that for sure. I think I may just order a few different size knots (inexpensive ones to start off with) to keep on hand and try to stick with looking for handles that appear to be close in size. I have a few restore brushes on my watch list so hopefully I can snag one or two.


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[Pmaynard19]

Hello, Another question

I won these on eBay today and hopefully they will be on their way soon. They will be my first shots at brush restoring. The red and white one is an Ever Ready, the green is a Made rite and the black is an opal. I’m not sure what size knots or which material to go with yet. I would like to go with as close to the original as I can. I do realize I’ll need to work on size by hand as has been suggested, but out of curiosity and an attempt to restore to close to original, is there a way I can find out what the original knot size and material were? I’ve been looking but I’m not finding much, maybe I’m looking in the wrong places. Thanks.


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[Big Jim]

The Every Ready has plenty of room to open it up for a larger knot. It would look really good with a 20 mm knot. The other two would have limited opportunity to open up.

 

[Ice-Man]

The knot size's I keep at all times are Silvertip and 2 band badger 18,19,20,22,24,26, and one 28mm and one 30mm that way I have all bases covered.

As the first 3 are normal in the older brushes, and if you have some wiggle room to open them up to your covered. Same with boar knots but I only carry up to a 26mm knot.
I'm lucky I have 5 Rubberset 400's that I got over time and I have put each knot type in those.

 

[Pmaynard19]

Thanks everyone for your help! I’ll keep everyone in the loop on how it goes.


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