Some Plisson Transplant

[Rudy Vey]

Here are a few pictures of my latest transplants of Plisson knots into a new handle. The L'Occitane/Plisson synthetics have a wooden handle and in some cases the wood will eventually swell, show bumps under the paint (like mine after two uses) or the knots are falling out. Some of my customers just do not like the handle and have the knots removed and then put into a custom handle.

 

[rodmonster]

Rudy,

Do you have a source for the Plisson synthetic knot, or are you removing them intact from the Plisson brush?

 

[AngryGreek]

Also can you lower the loft in the new handles?

 

[BSAGuy]

Wow. Those are fabulous. Very nice work!

 

[Rudy Vey]

Rudy,

Do you have a source for the Plisson synthetic knot, or are you removing them intact from the Plisson brush?

Most of my customers buy the brush and ship it to me. I do have some of the brushes just bought from L'Occitane before my vacation, so I have a few in stock to harvest the knots from.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Also can you lower the loft in the new handles?

No! The knots are set into a metal cup. I have not attempted to remove the cup as I fear that the knot will be damaged and then one will have issues afterwards. I also have not heard of someone who did this. Personally I do think the Plisson knot has way to much loft and is quite floppy and feels to me like a wet mop. Setting it about 4-6 mm deeper would be perfect for a face lather brush - but, this is just my opinion, as I know the majority of users of this brush love it.

 

[AngryGreek]

Damn.. I agree with you Rudy, wish I could lower the loft so it wasn't so floppy. I strictly face lather anymore. I'm afraid to try the other synthetics because I hate the springyness that I've experienced in the past. This is the second time I've bought this but will probably sell again.

 

[Riyame]

No! The knots are set into a metal cup. I have not attempted to remove the cup as I fear that the knot will be damaged and then one will have issues afterwards. I also have not heard of someone who did this. Personally I do think the Plisson knot has way to much loft and is quite floppy and feels to me like a wet mop. Setting it about 4-6 mm deeper would be perfect for a face lather brush - but, this is just my opinion, as I know the majority of users of this brush love it.

Have you thought about carefully cutting away the lip on the metal cup so that you can set it lower? I do not know how tough the metal is but it would solve the problem of not wanting to remove the up itself and allowing it to be set deeper.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Have you thought about carefully cutting away the lip on the metal cup so that you can set it lower? I do not know how tough the metal is but it would solve the problem of not wanting to remove the up itself and allowing it to be set deeper.

Last night I took one for the team! I was looking at my Plisson brush and thought the handle is already showing bubbles under the paint, so I would have to transplant the knot soon anyways. So, I took it out and said to myself, "lets remove the metal sleeve".
I carefully used a very fine toothed metal saw and cut through the sleeve on one side, making sure that I did not cut into the knot.
Then I used a fine screw driver to very carefully pry the metal sleeve open. It worked, but a the hair is directly glued into the sleeve and a lot of hair got stuck on the metal. I think I lost about 1 mm thick layer of hair around the sleeve. I pulled all the loose hairs away and then glued the residual knot into a handle. I set it around 50 mm loft, which seems to give a fine loft for face lather and all the floppyness is gone now. Later today I will use it and report back how it is.

Note: I would definitely advise against doing this. The knot can be easily destroyed if one is not careful!!

 

[tclobaugh]

Nice job, and thanks for the experiment. Too bad it didn't turn out to be an easy change.

 

[ackvil]

As usual, beautiful brushes.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Today I took the re-planted Plisson knot for a spin on hard soap - Pen's EF tallow - and it work super. Enough for four passes with about 15 seconds on the puck.
I can now call this a brush that is usable! The loft is exact 50 mm, before it was over 56 mm. I had called this brush before extremely floppy, a wet mop, which for my way of face lather was not usable. Now it is a very good face lather brush - not more so extreme floppy and moppy...If it only would be easier and less time consuming to remove the metal. I am looking for some other ways to make this a usable brush with shorter loft.

 

[Riyame]

It is unfortunate that it is glued solidly to the cup. If mine ever pops out I will try filing off the lip and setting it deeper that way.

 

[Rudy Vey]

A picture of the modified Plisson knot in the new handle:

50 mm loft!

 

[Skinny Rogers]

A picture of the modified Plisson knot in the new handle:View attachment 545354

50 mm loft!

I think ur on to something Rudy.......

 

[alfredus]

Excuse my ignorance, but wouldn't it be possible to set the knot including the metal disc deeper into a handle?

 

[OkieStubble]

I think ur on to something Rudy.......

+1 When you decide how you want to lower them Rudy, I have two I would like to send to you.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Excuse my ignorance, but wouldn't it be possible to set the knot including the metal disc deeper into a handle?

Not really. The metal ring is a good 4 mm wider than the "hair" is, so one would need a hole of 26.4 mm to get the metal inside. The knot size is only 22 mm. I doubt one would get the effect one expects when setting the knot deeper - a less floppy, moppy brush and more backbone with much less splay.

 

[Blueskye09]

Those are beautiful, great work Rudy.

 

[GloryUprising]

Not really. The metal ring is a good 4 mm wider than the "hair" is, so one would need a hole of 26.4 mm to get the metal inside. The knot size is only 22 mm. I doubt one would get the effect one expects when setting the knot deeper - a less floppy, moppy brush and more backbone with much less splay.

Would we be able to shave off the extra 'lip' to be able to set the knot lower?

Are you planning on offering the transplant service to the general public? I have a backup brush but would be interested in retrofitting it into a new handle when the time comes.