My next restoration project just arrived from an eBay seller...an all-black "Star" brush. Unfortunately the condition of the handles wasn't quite what I expected (and what was shown on the auction page). The bottom of the brush is a separate hexagonal plate and was almost completely disconnected from the rest of the handle. There was a small (about 1/2") crack in the lower part of the handle, and since the handle appears to be filled with plaster, moisture caused the plaster to swell and push the base plate off the handle. I was able to cleanly remove the base plate, and I'm in the process of sanding down the plaster that's bulging out from the bottom so I can reglue the base plate back onto the handle. The old badger knot was already very loose and came out easily with a pair of pliers (the knot was fixed into a metal base, which once squeezed with the pliers, was easy to slide right out. The entire upper section is hollow (like a globe), so I'll probably fill that space with epoxy when I put a new knot in.
Here's a couple of photos:
I'll probably try to fill that crack with some kind of pigmented glue or filler and reglue the base plate on to the handle. Does anyone have any recommendations for a glue that can glue that plastic base securely onto the handle (and the plaster filling)?
Here's a couple of photos:
I'll probably try to fill that crack with some kind of pigmented glue or filler and reglue the base plate on to the handle. Does anyone have any recommendations for a glue that can glue that plastic base securely onto the handle (and the plaster filling)?