Soliciting knot suggestions

[pdieten]

Hi all

I have another 20mm vintage butterscotch catalin handle I need to fill with a knot. (I am shamelessly stealing the seller's photo to share.) It's a Made Rite 750C, minus its original pure badger knot.

I am seeking suggestions for what to put in to it, with the following guidelines:

I face lather only.

I already own a super badger, a mixed badger-boar, and a SilverSynth in this size. All are set to around 52mm loft. I don't want to make another one of any of these three.

The super is very comfortable and has almost exactly the right amount of backbone, maybe it's 5% too little backbone. The SilverSynth maybe has a little too much backbone. Something like a Tuxedo will be too stiff.

I like lower-density brushes with flow-through. Not a fan of dense knots.

Badger or synthetic only.

I don't want to make the hole bigger than 22mm.

Budget is limited; even a pure Shavemac in this size will cost more than I really want to spend and I don't want anyone's pure badger knot anyway. The mixed-hair knot works fine for any purpose I'd put either a pure or a boar to.

Knot will be set with silicone so I can replace it if I am of a mind to someday.

I've given myself analysis paralysis trying to figure out what to put in it. Anyone out there think of anything I might not have?

Appreciate the help. Thanks much

 

[Suhrim21]

What about a cashmere knot

 

[MntnMan62]

What about a cashmere knot

+1

 

[old_school]

20mm 2-Band or 22mm 2-band

They come in fan too if your a fan - fan.

 

[ddillas]

Stay true to the handle, I'll admit I'm not a fan of synthetic knots.... With that being said I recommend you check out a Maggard SHD 2-Band Badger... I just put a 24mm bulb into a Wolf Whiskers Bishop handle and an amazed. Not a cheap knot at $32.95 for the 20mm... but so nice! Incredibly soft, structurally they look amazing with great shape and symmetry. An incredible knot for a classic handle.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

 

[BigJ]

Given your preferences and budget, I vote for a good synthetic!

 

[pdieten]

Good suggestions. Research on these tells me that a cashmere knot might be the right thing for me but I’d also like to try a natural knot in this handle and I’ve never used a 2-band. I find Shave Forge can supply both at good prices for 20mm so I’ll grab one of each and see how it works out. Thanks!

 

[Suhrim21]

Good suggestions. Research on these tells me that a cashmere knot might be the right thing for me but I’d also like to try a natural knot in this handle and I’ve never used a 2-band. I find Shave Forge can supply both at good prices for 20mm so I’ll grab one of each and see how it works out. Thanks!

I have a horse hair knot from shave forge and it's the best horse hair knot I have used. I would assume their other knots are good as well.

 

[Demolition]

I’ll grab one of each and see how it works out.

This is the B&B-approved method, of course!

 

[Steve_in_CT]

I recently re-knotted a Made Rite with a Maggard 20 mm 2 band knot. It is my favorite badger brush, even though it's the smallest and least expensive.

 

[pdieten]

My knots arrived from Shave Forge a couple days ago and I set them in handles last night using silicone for easy replacement. The 2-band in my butterscotch handle, and the cashmere in an old ivory plastic Rubberset 103 handle I had kicking around empty. I was a bit nervous when feeling the knots dry. The badger in particular seemed a bit prickly and they both seemed stiff.

Then I test lathered them. Now I have to say these are great knots for me, especially the 2-band, and *especially* at the price I paid (my bill was $21 delivered for the pair.) They both moved lather to my face quickly without hogging lather, which I like. The badger loaded soap in a hurry, had no prickle at all and just the right amount of backbone. Bloomed perfectly too, not too big and not too small. This one is going to get used a LOT.

The cashmere is super soft at the tips and has good backbone too although it seems I’m not as good splaying synths as natural brushes. I would use a brush with this knot. The only thing with it is that I think it’s going to feel undersized for me as a 20mm, which frankly is saying something. It is compact, like something that wants to be fit into a travel brush. For daily use I think I would want this as a 22 or 24.

Coincidentally I have a butterscotch Made Rite 54 coming next week, complete with travel tube. If its knot turns out to be shot, it has a good chance to be the right permanent home for the cashmere. We’ll see how it goes. But either way I definitely have a new rotation brush that’s punching way above its weight for the $23 I have invested in it. Thanks all for the suggestions.

 

[pdieten]

Silly me. Almost forgot the obligatory photo.

 

[Suhrim21]

Glad you like the knots. I have the cashmere in a 24mm I believe. It does not splay like natural hair but I do love using it. Dont get me wrong I love the 2 band knots and SHD HMW knots for face lathering, but sometimes I want something softer when face lathering. I also find I grab the cashmere more for soft soaps like proraso. I lather on the soap. For me personally if I use the 2band on the proraso in the tub I overload the brush and end up wasting a bunch of soap. The cashmere because of its softness doesn't pull up soap as quickly in my opinion on soft soaps. On harder stuff like Tabac or even stirling they both work great. I also like the cashmere for traveling since it does dry quicker than badger brushes, again in my experience. But all in all both knots are great and both have their positives and negatives in my opinion. My biggest thing is I enjoy all of the different knots I have. I've learned which soaps I have that tend to work best with each knot and I enjoy changing up all the time. Just as I have learned which straight seems to work best with which strop. Now I'm sure in actuality it doesn't matter as the strops I use are all high quality, in my mind though there is a difference. it's just all part of the joy of wet shaving.