My first restore

[shm]

My first try at restoring a brush, and I'm starting from the top with a butterscotch.

The brush is now standing 91.5 mm high with a loft of 56.5 mm. Knot is a 18 mm TGN Silvertip grade-A.
But boy did it hurt to cut of the old hairs, the end result was worth it though

I have a hard time waiting for the glue to cure, but it says 48 hours to fully cure and I'm not going to take any chances.



And now the important part, photos of the process:

 

[spanx]

Gorgeous.

 

[PaulL]

Beautiful indeed.

 

[fidjit]

Excellent job Soren

You really didn't want to damage that handle did you? Trussed up like a mummy

Make sure you post in the Butterscotch Candy Shop....a worthy entry !!!!!

 

[shm]

Excellent job Soren

You really didn't want to damage that handle did you? Trussed up like a mummy

Make sure you post in the Butterscotch Candy Shop....a worthy entry !!!!!

Way ahead of you there

And thank you Gentlemen, I'm quite pleased myself.

 

[Legion]

The handle looks super shiny even in the first pic. Did you polish it up before you started taking photos or did you get it like that?

 

[GoldenBacon]

That looks great!

 

[Darjeeling Express]

Congratulations. Tell us your methodology, how did you get the knot out. What did you use to drill down. What did you set the loft at, 50mm? What kind of epoxy did you use. Fabulous, gorgeous restore. 3 cheers!

 

[grump]

Looks very nice.

 

[alexo]

Congratulations. Tell us your methodology, how did you get the knot out. What did you use to drill down. What did you set the loft at, 50mm? What kind of epoxy did you use. Fabulous, gorgeous restore. 3 cheers!

 

[prophetic_joe]

Beautiful first go man. You should definitely be proud.

 

[shm]

Thank you very much Gentlemen


How I did it:
When I received the brush I didn't know what to do with it at that point, so I just cleaned the handle in dish-washing detergent and then buffed it with a cotton-wheel on my power drill - no polish just the clean cotton-wheel. So the first picture pretty much show the condition of the handle upon receival

For the restore I cut of the hairs with a pair of scissors and a knife to get as close to the base as possible.

I then took a 3 mm drill bit and drilled a series of holes into the knot-base. Then a Dremel (-like) tool with some sanding heads (I don't know the English term for these, but they are quite hard and come in a variety of shapes) and sanded out the base and old glue.
Safety remark: I had a vacuum-cleaner running when I sanded out the knot to take the dust, otherwise a mask is highly recommended, it is not healthy to breathe in the dust.

Then I polished the handle with a very mild polish called Slipoline (made by Akzo Nobel) and finished off with a car-wax treatment (Turtle Wax).

The new knot was set at 56.5 mm (any lower and I would have had to drill out the hole and I didn't want to).
For glueing it to the handle I used Plastic Padding Repair Extreme as it states it can withstand vibrations, water and temperatures up to 120 °C (~ 248 °F) so I thought it would be perfect for this.
I can't even take the above conditions, what I can withstand is; a deep armchair, Port wine and 25 °C (~ 77 °F) in the shadow

I am very interested to see if the loft is set too high when it bloom and be too floppy, but as it stands now the knot seems quite firm.

 

[thunderball]

Awesome! That handle is a gorgeous color.

 

[ssultan]

Gorgeous brush and a fantastic job with the restore!!! The loft definitely looks balanced on that handle...hoping to see some post-bloom pictures soon!!! CONGRATS!!!

 

[SjhC]

Absolutely beautiful. I'm building up the courage to have a go at one myself, and enjoy reading about everyone's different approach.
Let us know how it performs once you lather it up, please.
My hat is off to you; nice restore.
Scott
(SjhC)

 

[Greyfox]

Very nice job!

 

[djh]

That is one beautiful brush! Congratulations on a great job.

 

[shm]

Thank you Gentlemen.


I couldn't resist, so I sent the sister through the beautification as well
Although it looks as if the hairs are okay on this one, they had no backbone. I used it once, and it was simply too floppy.

Same procedure as the first - don't change a winning combination.

This brush stands 94 mm high with a loft of 50 mm.
Knot is once again an 18 mm TGN Silvertip grade-A.

 

[shm]

And after the first shave.

She is nice, and sooo soft

 

[NostalgicinSC]

Beautiful job Soren. You should be proud of the job on both of those.