Very nice, Rudy!So, today was my first day back in the shop, just to see how I can "handle" it to make a brush or two.
It was actually not as bad as I had feared, but still have to be careful what I am doing.
Here is the product of today's day in the shop.
Made a handle from Lemondrop and set one of the new Oumo Sparrow knots in it.
I have only a 30 and 32 mm drill bit, so I used the first one and then opened up the the knot hole with sand paper.
This is the 29 mm knot. These knots are quite short. Here it is shown at the max loft 52 mm and the knot is a bit over 30 mm at exit from handle. Tomorrow I will use this for my shave, update with my findings will be posted here.
View attachment 1598563
OUMO Sparrow S-1 Synthetic Knot
- Thread starter rsp1202
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Very nice, Rudy!
Congratulations!!!
Today the first use of the Oumo Sparrow knot in my first made handle after surgery.
I do not like it!! No splay whatsoever. It is surely soft and very dense. If you like to paint the lather on, then it is fine. But I am a badger guy and like splay of my brushes. This one really resists to splay.
I believe the loft is way too short for this dense knot. My favorite synthetic is the 25 mm Muehle STF set at 54/55 mm at the 25 mm size.
I think the Sparrow - 30 mm at exit - would need to have a loft of at least 58-62 mm to be effective. Unfortunately, these knots are made with a way too short loft.
I will use it a few more times, and also will use my STF and the CH2 I have.
I am disappointed with this knot.
My experience is what Leverspro already stated.
I do not like it!! No splay whatsoever. It is surely soft and very dense. If you like to paint the lather on, then it is fine. But I am a badger guy and like splay of my brushes. This one really resists to splay.
I believe the loft is way too short for this dense knot. My favorite synthetic is the 25 mm Muehle STF set at 54/55 mm at the 25 mm size.
I think the Sparrow - 30 mm at exit - would need to have a loft of at least 58-62 mm to be effective. Unfortunately, these knots are made with a way too short loft.
I will use it a few more times, and also will use my STF and the CH2 I have.
I am disappointed with this knot.
My experience is what Leverspro already stated.
Good to know. It’s definitely not a Wald replacement then, at least not for a 29mm size knot. Maybe a smaller brush could still be made with the Oumo fibres and it would perform differently. But I suppose that would mean re-making the knot to some extent. More so for a less dense version, I assume.
I am put off by the comment about ‘springiness’ too because I really dislike synthetic brushes that have this tendency and feel like they are constantly fighting back when you try to splay them. The Omega 2.0 knot is like that for me and it spoils the brush entirely.
Unfortunately no. This was the max loft I could do. As I said, these knots are very short. Mine is set at about 51.5, I tried if it could be set higher, but no. As I said, these knots are pretty short. The 27 seem to be a bit longer.@Rudy Vey I wonder if the knot is redeemable with a higher loft. Mine was set with silicon, so I could quite easily pull the knot and reset it. Or throw it away and put a nice boar in.
The two I have are 66 and 68 mm total height. To hide the glue area, it needs to be about 11 mm in the handle. The 29 I have left is 65 mm tall, maybe the resulting loft could be 54 mm or so. I did drill the handle so that the glue plug is hidden in the brush.
I just checked the Wald site and his A1 brushes are only 53mm loft (bulb) and 51mm (fan) for a 29mm knot, so actually the dimensions aren’t really different. But the Wald splays as effortlessly for me as any badger, and much more easily than any other synthetic I’ve tried, and there is no springiness.
I wonder why. Can there really be such a difference in the fibres - I guess they’re made from the same material? Visually the Wald and Oumo knots look to be similar density and fibre thickness. What else is there that Jannik could be doing?
Is it possible that the Sparrow's fibres have more taper?
You might be right. I’m not certain. Here is Rudy’s great photo again, together with a couple of my Walds - both from the side. My photos (iPad camera with available light) aren’t as sharp as Rudy’s but you can see fibres.
What do you see? If I expand the photos to a similar size on my screen it does appear to me that the Wald fibres are a little finer, but not by much. From the top it is hard to tell them apart, so that might imply a taper on the Oumo that isn’t there as much on the Wald.
There is definitely something weird going on with these ultra short knots, I do wonder how deep the fibres go into the Wald handle. The reason I say this is that Oumo looks like a UHD vesion of my G5C(different shape), but my G5C splays as far as I can tell. Compared to my G5A with it's short height, I tested it before setting it and nothing affected the inherent resistance to splaying that it has. Maybe the longer based knots are glued in a way that allows the fibres to move some? This all makes want to understand more about how other people use their brushes so I can understand the problems they are experiencing with synthetic knots. I used to hate these things myself, but I guess I picked well the last several I have purchased because I didn't really understand what people meant by resistance to splay and springy. All I can do is pick up a badger and compare, but that falls apart pretty quickly because synths are just their own thing.
I had a similar thought; maybe the Wald's are set just deeper in the handle, so the effect of the glue plug is limited or eliminated.
For the short depth the Oumo is set into the handle, this may be the cause for the bad splaying. I also may set the next one into a slightly wider opening, this may aid the splaying a bit more.
The Wald site does say the fibres he sourced for the A1 knots are extra long, so you’re probably right.
I find my G5D knot is the easiest splaying synthetic I have, apart from the Wald. The Mühle STF and Blackland knots are also good but not quite as good as the G5 for splay. I prefer them overall, though.
I find all synthetic knots to be very hard to splay until they are filled with wet lather. Then it gets much easier - at least with the good ones. So when I use a shave stick, for example, it’s hard to get going with a synthetic.
I can't find the reference, but I think the G5D is closest to the G5C with a bulb shape. That would explain why we have the same experience, but the STF 23mm is still a mop in comparison. I think the Blackland has less splay because of it's density, it's visibly more so than my G5C. That is a good point about having the knots filled with wet lather when comparing and is a more 'real world' method. Also interesting about the shave stick as I finally tried my new brush with a hard puck yesterday and was a bit disappointed, though not surprised. Some people like to say that badger picks up soap better through some mechanical means(scrub), but I like your explanation about water retention better since synthetics don't hold water in the fibre like badger.
So Your Mileage May Vary, But Within A Certain Range, Assuming Conditions Are Equivalent. YMMVBWACRACAE?
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My 24mm MiG hybrid knot has a short overall length. It's loft is set to approx. 49mm, as high as it will go due to the metal collar surrounding the glue plug. It will splay with little pressure, though I'd prefer an extra 2-3mm loft. As is it's at the extreme limit of what I want to deal with. In comparison, the Oumo never made it out of the starting gate.
I have several APShave knots and quite like the G5C fan for its big fan shape and easy, soft splay. I used the Sparrow again today and still find it a very different experience from any other brush. I thought being so dense and stiff that it would pick up soap out of a bowl really well. Not so. Seemed difficult to load. Tried face lathering again and it wasn't easy due to the dense springy knot. Tomorrow I'll try bowl lathering, making the brush splay in the bowl and load the lather in the brush rather than try build on face.
Perfectly stated. I am also trying out a different new synthetic knot and keep finding myself comparing it to my G5C. I don't know why I don't get a second one set higher, it actually works fine for bowl lathering! Sorry to hear that this one isn't quite working out as expected.
Today I bowl lathered the Sparrow and used it as a painter on the face. Vast improvement over face lathering with this brush. The brush filled with lather in the bowl and flowed nicely on to the face. Still wondering if the brush might change a bit with use.
Largely overcoming my initial negative first impressions of this brush. Once it's filled with lather in the bowl it behaves fine on the face. Very soft with no flop.
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