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MAW London (S. Maw, Son & Sons) black glazed pottery shaving brush circa 1930

I came across a small shaving brush in an antique store today, to give you an idea of the size i guess its about as big as a Wee Scot.

The handle is quite heavy for its size and might be black glass or onyx and is printed with "MAW of London" "British Major" "Hog Hair"

The knot is in poor condition and i am wondering about how i would go about reknoting a glass handle before i go and buy it. I'm still considering buying it anyway just 'cos it looks cool

Thanks,
 
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This is all that I could find on the interweb about Maw's shaving brushes

Two Sides to the Question of
Shaving Brushes

Out of consideration both to your customers and to yourself, you will do well to seej:hat
the shaving brushes you sell are made by the House of Maw. Maw's shaving brushes
embody all the qualities that the discriminating customer will demand, and conform to all
the conditions required by the chemist who has a careful eye on profits and reputation.

Points for yaw Customer .

1. Every Maw's shaving brush carries a printed Guarantee of quality.

2. Every Maw's shaving brush is sterilized by an improved process which
removes all risk of infection.

3. A Maw's shaving brush cannot shed its hairs. The hair runs right down
into the handle, and a special process of cementing is used which fixes
each hair with rock-like security for all time.

4. Maw's shaving brushes are the product of a firm of actual manufacturers
with a splendid reputation for quality to sustain. Skilled handcraftmanship
and painstaking supervision are employed in every stage of their making.

Point 8 for You.

1, Maw's shaving brushes are made in a wide variety of patterns which
enable you to please all your customers.

2. When you sell a Maw's shaving brush you know that you must, because
of the splendid quality of the brush, give complete satisfaction to your
customer and thus enhance your goodwill.

3, Maw's shaving brushes are supplied at a price which allows you to meet
competition and still secure a fair profit.

4. Maw's brushes, by virtue of the selling arguments mentioned above, are
easy to sell. A Maw's shaving brush is a really good article which merits
your strongest recommendation by its appearance and performance.



When you order shavers — order Maw's.
S. Maw, Son & Sons Ltd

Aldersgate St.. London
and Barnet.

https://archive.org/stream/b19974760M2369/b19974760M2369_djvu.txt
 
Pics might help. If handle is glass and per point #3 above, the knot is hard to remove, restoring this could be quite a challenge.
 
Thanks for the reply. I guess I will just have to purchase the brush because photos are required here. That’s my excuse anyway and I’m sticking to it.

However it will have to wait till after the new year because if I buy anymore shaving items before Christmas SWMBO will either murder or divorce me
 
Right here it is.

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I was wrong about the size its a bit bigger than a Wee Scot, this brush measures 50mm handle height and the same for the knot.

The knot was easier to remove than I thought it would be. The knot was loose and the hair crumbled it was that old and brittle. There was a bare minimum of glue/epoxy/resin at the base of the knot and some fine wire.

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I was wrong on several fronts it is a pottery handle!

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It has a internal lip so it looks like whatever knot I replace it with I'll be able to get a bucket of epoxy around it.

Whatever the golden label was that was on it under the 'British Major' text just rubber off.

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So advice please:

What do I use to clean out the rest of the resin &
What parts do I need to measure to work out the dimensions of the new knot
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I am in two minds about the new knot. Do I go with the text on the handle and stay original with a boar bristle knot or do I put a nice badger into it?
 
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That handle sure looks pretty cool. Can't advise you anything about the restoration as it's not my turf (at least till now).

As for the knot type, it will be totally your decision. Good luck with the restoration, and don't forget to post pics after it's done. :thumbup1:
 
Right I have cleaned the last of the epoxy out of the handle and the dimensions are as follows;
$clean 2.jpg$clean.jpg
Height: 50mm
Diameter: 32mm
Hole diameter: ~18mm (I don't have callipers to measure it, a 19mm spade bit will not fit through but only just, so I force fitted a gran corona cigar tube and then measured the deformed tube which was 18mm)
Hole depth: 28mm

Now where to for a Knot? I really don't mind either Badger or Boar as long as there is plenty of backbone (cant abide floppy) - but its not really about what I believe would feel best on my face but what is going to be the right 'fit' to make this restored brush look great.

I do not want a synthetic, I don't believe it would do the handle justice.

I really am leaning towards a boar and have had a good look on the interweb but cannot find a supplier of an 18mm boar knot that is sketched/dyed and a natural or bleached one just does not look right.
$Boar.jpg

Mucking around with some images of badger knots
$badger.jpg

So gentlemen do I need to borrow my brothers dremel and try to enlarge the hole without chipping the glaze? Has anyone had experience doing this with pottery handles?

Or do I find a sketched boar brush and destroy the handle for the knot and take a chance that it might fit?

I should be able to easily source a Badger knot to fit but if I'm going to do this then I will chose the knot to suit me: lots of backbone, not floppy, skritch is fine I like the feel when face lathering. Suggestions?
 

Mike H

Instagram Famous
I would buy a 20 mm board knot and dremel the plug until it fits. That is a nice looking handle!
 
Thanks Mike,

Will reducing the size of a knot cause it to look verticle? what I don't want is it to look mismatched like the old knot where it was worn away from hair loss

$P1060041.jpg

If I need to destroy a brush to get a knot what are peoples suggestions? Omega, Semogue or something else?
 

Mike H

Instagram Famous
I see TGN sells a 16, and Virginia Sheng sell a 19 mm.
http://thegoldennib.com/wet-shaving/badger-hair-knots/boar-knots/16mm-boar.html
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6pcs-boar-b...869?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23383dd9a5

I understand what you are saying, unfortunately, I have only done minor sanding to get the plug to fit, but I have seen some threads where members did it, and they looked fine. I generally will enlarge the hole before messing with the plug.

Also, a 19mm knot will not fit in a 19 mm hole. While the glue plug is usually +/- 0.5 mm, the hair rapidly expands once it exits the glue plug, I think they call it a tuft or something. In my experience, you need a hole 2 mm larger than the knot. On a recent restoration, I had to open the hole to 4 mm larger than the knot to get it seat fully in the hole.
 
I borrowed my brothers Dremel and callipers and purchased a diamond bit ($20).

Before I started to grind I measured the internal diameter of the lip and found it to be 18.7mm

After I ground the lip down I measured it and it is now 20.03mm this is as far as I go with removing material from the brush.

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The diamond bit was excellent for removing the excess pottery and did not chip the glaze (I did use a very light touch)

Now I need an 18mm dyed boar knot
 
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Great job on restoring the handle, it looks great! I've never come across a pot handle before so this was a good read, just in case I do find one myself. When it says what kind of badger knot on the handle I always feel obliged to reknot it will the same but I'm thinking a finest knot would look great in the handle. A short bulb knot maybe?
 
Thanks Wazza,

do you have a suggestion for a supplier of a Finest Badger

what I forgot to say in the last post was that I practiced on a black coffee cup for a while with the dremel and diamond bit before moving it anywhere near the veteran pottery handle
 
I'm thinking that you will need an 18 mm or 19 mm knot. A 20 mm will likely be too tight and may not settle in at the floor of the bore.

The source that seems to give Finest the most love here is The Golden Nib (TGN).

A Whipped Dog High Mountain would also look nice in that handle, but the smallest they offer is 20 mm. That likely would not fit without opening up the top of the bore some more.

You might find one on ebay from either ACE or Virginia Sheng, but it may not be quite as nice of a knot and they may or may not have anything that small. Don't get me wrong, I have finest knots from both of them, but I think you want something special for that handle, and those two don't have really special Finest knot (in my opinion).

If you decide you want a Silvertip, then TGN offers knots in that size, and probably in at least three grades of Silvertip. If he offers it in the right size, you would probably be happy with an ACE too. The one Virgina Sheng 18 mm knot I have is slightly scritchy so I would have a hard time recommending it. I have had good success with ACE Silvertips.
 
Thanks Jim I had a look at TGN and the smallest Finest is 20mm I also checked out Shavemac.

I'm uncertain about the knot dimensions quoted on their web sites. Shavemac states a minimum hair length (loft)
of up to a maximum of 52mm for a 20mm knot. TGN however lists theirs as 20 X 60mm

Where are they measuring from? does Shavemac exclude the glued end?

I'm also giving serious thought to destroying a Semogue 1305 just for the knot. I may have to order one just to try out the brush, well that's what I'm going to tell SWMBO anyway.

Talking about plug depth I will need to build this up for whatever knot I get because its 27mm deep. What's the best product to use to build it up?

$dimensions.JPG
 
The diameter of the knot is measured at the bottom, the disc of glue at the very bottom.

The loft of the knot before it is installed in a handle is from the bottom of the disc to the top of the knot.

The normal starting place to set the knot into the handle (that is the depth of the hole) is generally 10 mm. Drilling deeper will lower the installed loft. So a 20 mm x 60 mm knot would end up at 50 mm installed loft (knot above the handle).

Personally, I like a lofty brush, but I seem to be in the minority here.

PS
You might check with TGN to see when they expect to have 18 mm knots again. I'm sure I have seen them on their web site in the past.
 
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Cool handle.

I also would do my best to re-knot with a boar knot, but a crazy idea I had while reading is one of the knots from the new Omega S-Brush.

Not sure if they make any that small to use as a donor, but the idea of synthetic boar to me would be quirky but sort of accurate (super hog hair).

I also like the look of natural boar hair but I see what you mean about the dyed band looking more fitting with the dark handle.
 
Stacking coins is the best way to build up the floor. I'm not sure but I think a nickle is the right size for a 20 mm hole. Tonight when I'm home I'll grab a caliper and check.
 
Thanks Jim, I'll have to grind down ten cent pieces. Nickles are a little scarce down south
 
Right so after a bit of digging I'm going to place this brush as having been made in the 1920s and probably closer to the start than the end.

The silvered wire binding on the bristles circa 1910-1920s was there to stop bone handles from splitting and the term 'Sterilized' started to be used early 1920s
 
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