Rubberset 153 project

[Janitor]

I just picked this up a couple days ago on the bay to use as fodder for my first restore. If I beat you out of it ... I apologize. If I bought it from you, thanks much for the insanely quick shipping.

At this point, I'm fairly sure that I'll be trying to de-brush with a knife & pliers.Heck ... I've even got a skeltool like the one Ian used.

I still need to do some research to try and sort a couple things out so this may be slow getting out of the gates.

 

[brucered]

i did a similar one (you can see my progress here) and love it.

i chose to sand out the mold lines, gives it a much sleaker look and nice and smoother. easier to polish too. widening the knot was easy with a dremel and sanding drum attachement. knot came out easily (as should yours) as they are so old and dry. i cut it down to the hole, then pulled out with pliers and drilled a few spots with my hand held drill to get a few tough spots out (using a forstener bit). mine became a 24mm and I couldn't be happier with it's appearance and performance.

painting the letters is easy. fill it in, then wipe clean.

use a cork as a shelf to set your knot...but test it at a couple different heights to see what you like.

bottom line, have fun, enjoy it and i'm sure you'll be hooked after this one...it looks like you picked a beautiful handles for your 1st restore.

keep us posted on your progress and if you have any questions, ask away (not that i'm an expert by any means, but many are)

 

[Janitor]

Brucerd - no lie - in one post you just answered the majority of the questions I had. Hah!

Thanks very much.

 

[brucered]

No worries. If you need any more in depth explanations or want to know what I used and/or how I did anything with my similar handle, feel free to PM me.

oh yeah:

- take it slow, don't rush the sanding. start with a very fine and work up gradually, don't skip sanding steps or make huge jumps in grit.
- if you have them or can buy them, use those sanding pads they sell (mine are for pen makers, sold at Lee Valley) and use them wet. makes it easier to sand and seems to work better.
- tape the knot opening when you are pulling out the old knot
- it's your 1st restore, it will likely not turn out perfect...but if it does, BONUS. i've wrecked a few knots by doing dumb stuff, skipping steps, rushing etc, so have learned to SLOW DOWN and not rush it.

Bruce

 

[Janitor]

No worries. If you need any more in depth explanations or want to know what I used and/or how I did anything with my similar handle, feel free to PM me.

Bruce

I'm sure I'll probably be taking you up on that before I'm done. What I meant by "the majority of the questions" was really "the majority of my questions I had tonight."


ETA: That 203 you rebuilt is seriously nice.

 

[Janitor]

After about 10 minutes with the Skeltool last night -

I needed something more serious than the Skeltool -

After about five minutes -

Looks like I need to get a little more out of this -

From here, the next step will be to get rid of the shelf and open the hole 3mm or so. Guess I'd better make a decision on the size of the knot I want to use for it before I get too carried away.

After that it'll be on to smooth the rough bits and get rid of the mold lines, possibly followed by filling the lettering again on the front.

Then while I hope to be waiting for my knot to arrive ...

 

[brucered]

Looking good. The knot came out nicely, no damage to the handle, so you are off to a good start.

a word of advise. Order the knot you want, I'm guessing 24mm will work with a little widening, but.....

don't widen the opening, until you get the new knot. if you make it to big, you are screwed.

work on the sanding, polishing, lettering while you are waiting for the knot. then when you have it in hand, you will knot exactly how wide you need to make the hole.

 

[NexlevMM]

Coming out really clean so far!

 

[Janitor]

Well ... I went ahead and ordered a TGN 22mm two band finest.

I'll be wanting to set that to around 48-50 loft, which means dropping it about 15-17 mm down into the handle. I figure I'll need a 23mm-24mm opening to get that to work well. I'll sort that out once the knot is here.

 

[GDCarrington]

Be sure to provide some ballast in it. It really helps the feel of it in your hand.

Here is one I did some time ago.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...een-Butterscotch-with-Black-Swirl)?highlight=

 

[brucered]

By ballast, do you me shelf for the knot to sit on, or extra weight?

I found i did not have to add any weight to the Rubberset, just a cork and some silicone filler that was perfect for a shelf and easily adjustable by shaving some off the bottom of the cork. (but my handle is a bit different).

if you do add weight, I'd highly recommend somehting like I did with my omega-ever ready restore. Do not just add it to the bottom and then fill with silicone, as it will be bottom heavy. When i did my omega-ever ready, a washer to the bottom, then some silicon, then a washer, then some silicone...all the way up, so it was evenly balanced all the way thru the handle. Feels like a turned handle now.

On a side note, I used my Ever-Ready restore today and was again amazed how well it feels and performs.

Looking forward to seeing yours.

 

[GDCarrington]

By ballast, do you me shelf for the knot to sit on, or extra weight?

I found i did not have to add any weight to the Rubberset, just a cork and some silicone filler that was perfect for a shelf and easily adjustable by shaving some off the bottom of the cork. (but my handle is a bit different).

if you do add weight, I'd highly recommend somehting like I did with my omega-ever ready restore. Do not just add it to the bottom and then fill with silicone, as it will be bottom heavy. When i did my omega-ever ready, a washer to the bottom, then some silicon, then a washer, then some silicone...all the way up, so it was evenly balanced all the way thru the handle. Feels like a turned handle now.

On a side note, I used my Ever-Ready restore today and was again amazed how well it feels and performs.

Looking forward to seeing yours.

The ballast was extra weight as seen in the photos in the thread I attached.

 

[cat4025]

Good stuff, I just acquired the same brush. I'll be starting a restore on it for a winter project. Please pass along any pointers you run across in your project.

 

[Janitor]

Well ... I'm still waffling on whether or not I'm going to add weight to it. The hole into the bottom half isn't even large enough for dimes, much less nickles. I had thought of washers but then remembered something. I reload ammunition - hence there are tools like calipers hanging about. The hole in the bottom half is about .595 or so easy-peasy.

If I end up wanting to weight the brush, the current plan will be to use plumbers epoxy to fill the bottom up to where the slug will be projecting part of its length into the top and epoxy it in place (in the bottom).

There will be photos.

 

[brucered]

...There will be photos.

there better be

 

[GDCarrington]

Well ... I'm still waffling on whether or not I'm going to add weight to it. The hole into the bottom half isn't even large enough for dimes, much less nickles. I had thought of washers but then remembered something. I reload ammunition - hence there are tools like calipers hanging about. The hole in the bottom half is about .595 or so easy-peasy.

If I end up wanting to weight the brush, the current plan will be to use plumbers epoxy to fill the bottom up to where the slug will be projecting part of its length into the top and epoxy it in place (in the bottom).

There will be photos.

You can always use BBs (as in pellet gun BBs) along with epoxy to add weight.

 

[Janitor]

You can always use BBs (as in pellet gun BBs) along with epoxy to add weight.

Yup. But then I'd have to buy some BBs.

there better be

 

[MaxP]

TGN Finest knots are quite nice. I expect you'll be pleased.

 

[brucered]

TGN Finest knots are quite nice. I expect you'll be pleased.

i just bought one (10 min ago) a 24mm Finest XH Fan for my Vulfix 404 reknot project

 

[wizard]

Adding to what brucered said. The only down side I've found when I added weight is if you put your brush (like I do) in a sink full of water the handle sinks which in turn pushes the brush hairs out or on top of the water. When the handle floats it forces more of the hair down into the water. Obviously if you use a cup or small bowl this wouldn't apply.

I know hollow handles can be more of a cost thing, but since encountering this I've often wondered if older brush makers just left the air space in the top of a handle for this reason, especially when dealing with boar hair. Just my thought!

Well ... I'm still waffling on whether or not I'm going to add weight to it. The hole into the bottom half isn't even large enough for dimes, much less nickles. I had thought of washers but then remembered something. I reload ammunition - hence there are tools like calipers hanging about. The hole in the bottom half is about .595 or so easy-peasy.

If I end up wanting to weight the brush, the current plan will be to use plumbers epoxy to fill the bottom up to where the slug will be projecting part of its length into the top and epoxy it in place (in the bottom).

There will be photos.