Lucite Handle Restore

[seizure]

My girlfriend purchased an old lucite brush off the bay for me to restore, and for her to eventually use (she's pretty amazing).

It's an Ever-Ready "Badgen-lyon" - the knot was rather appalling. It had a white nylon core, and brown (almost natural horse hair in color) badger hair on the outside. Looked like roadkill. I steamed it out, threw it away, and refuse to pull it out of the garbage to take a picture.

Anyway, I steamed the knot out, and set to polishing the lucite handle... but I can't seem to get all the tiny spiderweb cracks out. I have extensively polished with lapping film, polishing compound and a dremel, and have capped it off with car wax. It is very shiny... but when I tilt it just right, I can see all the little cracks. Is there anything I can do to get rid of them? I'm nervous about removing too much handle material. Here it is in its current form:



I think if you look closely, you can see some of the tiny cracks I'm talking about. I can't feel them with my fingernail, so they're really shallow, but again, I'm fearful of removing too much material.

Next question is what knot to put in. The hole is a very tight 22mm - I'm not sure a legit 22mm knot will fit. I want a super soft, think Thater soft, knot to put in. I would love to get some suggestions. Currently I'm looking at a TGN Silvertip Grade A, and will ask them to select an oversized 20mm knot for me.

 

[Mike H]

Looks great! Was there a model number on the bottom?

You can try a sanding progression 600, 1000, 1200, 2000 then the polishing routine you described.

A 20mm TGN Grade A sounds good.

 

[seizure]

Looks like Model 750. I've tried to avoid polishing the bottom much to preserve the branding. It's faint, but still visible.

Do you think it's possible to get all the cracks out, or is that just something that is unrealistic at this point? I have no idea how it was stored and where...

 

[shipr]

Its crazing, some chemicals will cause Lucite to craze pretty easily so be careful what you use.
It really depends how deep the cracks are, but they can probably be sanded out with a progression.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

I have a few of these Lucite brushes and I absolutely love the way they look. I have also had a similar spider cracking issue that turned out to be cracks below the surface. Unfortunately there is nothing you can really do if that's the case. I would say keep the brush as is and use it, considering how old it is, its in good shape.

Regards
Dave

 

[seizure]

Dave, thanks for the input. I was nervous about something exactly along those lines - if they were subterranean, if you will. I don't want to spend hours sanding the handle down to a shell of its former self, especially if the cracks are there to stay. I feel like I could possibly get some more cracks out, but the risk has me hesitant to do more.

I ordered a super-soft TGN knot last night, and I think I will just mount it as soon as it arrives.

I have a few of these Lucite brushes and I absolutely love the way they look. I have also had a similar spider cracking issue that turned out to be cracks below the surface. Unfortunately there is nothing you can really do if that's the case. I would say keep the brush as is and use it, considering how old it is, its in good shape.