I had seen a few Rubberset 600N brushes before, but after seeing a Rubberset 600N restored by JaxJim, I was inspired- I needed to get one. After a few weeks, I found one for a great price. When I received it, it was quite nasty, as vintage brushes often are prior to restoration.
You can click these images for more "before" images and the full gallery
After chopping down the nylon bristles, it was off to work on the seated portion of the knot. This was my first time removing nylon, and I have to say- it was not a fun material to remove. It gets hot, melts a little. Then you have to stop boring into it, and clear your bit of the nylon that has filled the ridges of your bit. I actually snapped the tip off of my favorite boring bit, but I knew that would happen eventually. After I had bored through enough spots in the glued portion of the knot, and had pulled each stubborn piece of the knot out, I was greeted by some pretty substantial gouges in the Lucite portion of my handle. Having worked with Lucite before, I knew this would present a problem when it came to painting, and decided I needed to do something about these gouges before proceeding with my restore.
The following shot is the first shot taken after I started my gouge removal. I thought I had taken a shot of the gouges, but hadn't.
So, what to do? I started searching for a solution to this issue, as I was certain that there had to have been others who had come up against gouges in Lucite in the past... I found nothing in the community for removing gouges inside a Lucite handle. I did however find some DIY projects that inspired me to make a disc sanding mandrel for use with a Dremel or other rotary tool.
Check out the how-to for Lucite gouge removal here.
The final result of my gouge removal
After I cleared the gouges, I had to search for, and wait for paint. I'll skip the details of spending $13 to order paint online, only to finally find some locally for about $3.50.I proceeded to tape the entire body of the handle, and paint the inside of the handle with a rich teal colored paint (Rustoleum Lagoon Satin spray paint- this is the best example of the color in use, and the project that helped me decide to use this color).
After the interior paint dried, I removed the tape, cleaned up the top edge of the hole (widening it for the 22mm knot), and painted the bottom side lettering with red enamel. The first three shots are before my final coating of paint in the lettering.
As can be seen in the post interior painting, there are no air pockets between the paint and Lucite due to gouges or scuffs.
Finally, the finished brush in a recent Shave of the Day shot
Pre bloom
Post bloom
You can click these images for more "before" images and the full gallery
After chopping down the nylon bristles, it was off to work on the seated portion of the knot. This was my first time removing nylon, and I have to say- it was not a fun material to remove. It gets hot, melts a little. Then you have to stop boring into it, and clear your bit of the nylon that has filled the ridges of your bit. I actually snapped the tip off of my favorite boring bit, but I knew that would happen eventually. After I had bored through enough spots in the glued portion of the knot, and had pulled each stubborn piece of the knot out, I was greeted by some pretty substantial gouges in the Lucite portion of my handle. Having worked with Lucite before, I knew this would present a problem when it came to painting, and decided I needed to do something about these gouges before proceeding with my restore.
The following shot is the first shot taken after I started my gouge removal. I thought I had taken a shot of the gouges, but hadn't.
So, what to do? I started searching for a solution to this issue, as I was certain that there had to have been others who had come up against gouges in Lucite in the past... I found nothing in the community for removing gouges inside a Lucite handle. I did however find some DIY projects that inspired me to make a disc sanding mandrel for use with a Dremel or other rotary tool.
Check out the how-to for Lucite gouge removal here.
The final result of my gouge removal
After I cleared the gouges, I had to search for, and wait for paint. I'll skip the details of spending $13 to order paint online, only to finally find some locally for about $3.50.I proceeded to tape the entire body of the handle, and paint the inside of the handle with a rich teal colored paint (Rustoleum Lagoon Satin spray paint- this is the best example of the color in use, and the project that helped me decide to use this color).
After the interior paint dried, I removed the tape, cleaned up the top edge of the hole (widening it for the 22mm knot), and painted the bottom side lettering with red enamel. The first three shots are before my final coating of paint in the lettering.
As can be seen in the post interior painting, there are no air pockets between the paint and Lucite due to gouges or scuffs.
Finally, the finished brush in a recent Shave of the Day shot
Pre bloom
Post bloom
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