Looks good thus far!
The Three Amigos! Triple ER200 Restore Project
- Thread starter bastimret
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- #22
Okay, time for another update. Started working on sizing the Red for the 24mm TGN XH Fan this evening. Took a dremel sanding drum to it and widened the hole to about 27mm. I wanted to give this one a little more breathing room when it was set to allow the XH knot to bloom a bit more than the Butterscotch 22mm bulb did, so I went 3mm wider than the knot on the hole. Sanded it down and polished up the top again.
Then I started sizing the shelf for a 48mm loft. For this one I used 2 nickels for additional weight and a cork from a wine bottle for the height. Put one nickel on the bottom, followed by the cork, and another nickel on top. Cut the cork to size and then used Gorilla Glue Epoxy to set them in place. Here is a shot of the handle and the knot:
And a shot of the shelf as the epoxy is curing:
Then I started sizing the shelf for a 48mm loft. For this one I used 2 nickels for additional weight and a cork from a wine bottle for the height. Put one nickel on the bottom, followed by the cork, and another nickel on top. Cut the cork to size and then used Gorilla Glue Epoxy to set them in place. Here is a shot of the handle and the knot:
And a shot of the shelf as the epoxy is curing:
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- #23
Set the knot in this morning. Should be good for its test lathering and post bloom pics in T-minus 24 hours!
Wow widening that hole up makes such a difference! Looks very good!
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- #25
Yea, the knot base wouldn't even fit before I started. It was about 21-22mm wide. Had to sand through the entire wood(?) part that the shelf and surrounding hole are made from and into the black plastic to widen the hole enough. It came out well, though the hole is a little lopsided. Hard to widen the hole by 5mm evenly by hand with a dremel. But with the knot in place you don't really notice it. This way, the hole isn't overly compressing/squeezing the knot in the handle.
I found that having the hole only a little larger than the knot in the Butterscotch, combined with ~15mm of the knot sunk into the handle (the TGN finest 22mm knots are ~65mm in height), created a nice snug fit for the knot but also kept it more compact after the break-in. It still performs great for bowl and face lathering, but for face lathering it takes a little more pressure than I'd prefer to get it to splay. For the TGN fan I wanted it to be used mainly for face lathering so I wanted something that could splay a bit easier and have good flowthough. Looking at the design of some of the Shavemacs/Chubbs/etc with denser knots it seemed that they tend to have a wider hole closer to the width of the lower half of the knot rather than the actual solid set base of the knot. We'll see how it feels come tomorrow morining.
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- #26
You know what time it is? It's Business Time, baby. Aww yea! Time to see how Dusty performs.
Jumped out of bed this morning and grabbed the brush on my way into the bathroom. Soaked the brush for a bit while taking my shower and then proceeded to give it an initial break-in lathering with some EJ Sea Buckthorn. Loaded it up, whipped it in a bowl, palm latherd a few passes, and then rinsed it out.
Having now primed it, I took out my container of Vitos Extra Super for my shave with my R41 and gave it a bit of the ol' Marco's Method. Low and slow, 100 swirls, and then took the brush to my face. Wow! Gobs of lather started forming. The brush splayed wonderfully with a bit of pressure and felt very comfy, the 24mm knot covering my entire cheek when splayed (I don't know how people use those massive 30mm+ knots like in some of the Kents, they must be HUGE!). Here are a few pics of the lather from each pass.
Initial Face Lathering 1st Pass (I took the excess lather from around the base of the knot dripping down the handle and scooped it back ontop of the knot):
Second pass (same thing, scooped excess ontop):
Third Pass (last shaving pass, and not much excess at this point, so I left it as it was):
Done with my shave (first time nick-free with the R41 as well, so the stars must have been aligned this morning) I decided to see how much lather was left built up in the knot, so I lathered up for a 4th pass quite successfully. After rinsing my face off I then squeezed the excess lather out of the knot and was shocked by how much there was! I would have taken a pic, but my hands were covered in rich creamy lather. That 24mm XH knot can hold quite a bit!
After rinsing up and soaking the brush in some clean water for a few minutes, I shook out the excess water, gave it a few swipes on a towel and then . . .
Bloom Baby!!
Awwww yea, that's the stuff. Here it is next to its Butterscotch brother, the 22mm TGN Finest XH bulb.
Jumped out of bed this morning and grabbed the brush on my way into the bathroom. Soaked the brush for a bit while taking my shower and then proceeded to give it an initial break-in lathering with some EJ Sea Buckthorn. Loaded it up, whipped it in a bowl, palm latherd a few passes, and then rinsed it out.
Having now primed it, I took out my container of Vitos Extra Super for my shave with my R41 and gave it a bit of the ol' Marco's Method. Low and slow, 100 swirls, and then took the brush to my face. Wow! Gobs of lather started forming. The brush splayed wonderfully with a bit of pressure and felt very comfy, the 24mm knot covering my entire cheek when splayed (I don't know how people use those massive 30mm+ knots like in some of the Kents, they must be HUGE!). Here are a few pics of the lather from each pass.
Initial Face Lathering 1st Pass (I took the excess lather from around the base of the knot dripping down the handle and scooped it back ontop of the knot):
Second pass (same thing, scooped excess ontop):
Third Pass (last shaving pass, and not much excess at this point, so I left it as it was):
Done with my shave (first time nick-free with the R41 as well, so the stars must have been aligned this morning) I decided to see how much lather was left built up in the knot, so I lathered up for a 4th pass quite successfully. After rinsing my face off I then squeezed the excess lather out of the knot and was shocked by how much there was! I would have taken a pic, but my hands were covered in rich creamy lather. That 24mm XH knot can hold quite a bit!
After rinsing up and soaking the brush in some clean water for a few minutes, I shook out the excess water, gave it a few swipes on a towel and then . . .
Bloom Baby!!
Awwww yea, that's the stuff. Here it is next to its Butterscotch brother, the 22mm TGN Finest XH bulb.
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- #27
So now that two of the Three Amigos, Ned and Dusty, are complete that leaves Lucky, the Green ER200 w/ the Shavemac D01 3-band knot left to do. Won't be for awhile though as it looks like that knot is ~ 2 weeks out from being in my posession. So I might be a little light on updates between now and then. But you never know, maybe something else will sneak in here in the meantime...
Really superb restorations! I have to give the fan shape consideration in my next restore.
You did an awesome job! I'm bookmarking this thread to review when I get around to restoring these:
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- #30
Those both look like they'll clean up great. I wonder what color that 101a's base is? Is that just a really stained green? With the other handle I'd see if you can sand down that seam on the upper black too to make it more uniform. Definitly start up a thread when you begin working on these guys.
The base on the 101a is more of a caramel color. Good point about the seam on the left. Until I read through this thread I didn't realize just how much one could clean up these old brushes.
^^ You dont want those floppy old brushes 5savages, they'll only ruin your shaving experience...you should send them to me
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- #33
Ooo, I bet that's gonna look nice cleaned up.
And just ignore Nex, you should obviously send them to me.
I have a couple of these waiting for me to restore. How idi you do the repainting?
Here they are with a first coat of paint applied to the letters and a wipe down with a paper towel. I'll give them a second coat later after this one sets and then start widening the hole on the Red for the 24mm TGN knot. Then they'll get another cleaning and polish.
Red took the paint great, the letters were still nice and deep. The first Green (left) worked well also, but obviously the lettering was not as pronounced due to all the sanding to remove the prior damage. Even moreso for the second Green (right), which honestly could use some additional sanding on the upper. However, I didn't want to risk loosing the lettering due to oversanding, so I left it as was shown in the after pics above.
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- #35
I use a white paint pen that I got from Walmart, like this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0027AEB3I
Just trace over the lettering do it fills in, then wipe off excess with a paper towel. Usually do a couple coats since sometimes the paper towel will wipe off some of the paint I want to keep.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0027AEB3I
Just trace over the lettering do it fills in, then wipe off excess with a paper towel. Usually do a couple coats since sometimes the paper towel will wipe off some of the paint I want to keep.
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- #36
Ahh, thanks to Rudy (and Bernd) this little beauty showed up at my door today, just begging to be put into a handle 
Sooooo dense
Time to get to work....
Sooooo dense
Time to get to work....
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- #37
Pics from this morning after setting the knot. The shelf was assembled last night, same fashion as the red, nickle at the bottom, cork cut to height, and a nickel on top for the shelf. Let the epoxy set overnight and then installed the knot this morning so it could set and be ready for a test run tomorrow morning.
Final loft is right between 46-47mm, and it's a 21mm D01 3-Band Shavemac knot. Bloom pics tomorrow.
With it's brothers:
Not bloomed yet, but nice density:
Final loft is right between 46-47mm, and it's a 21mm D01 3-Band Shavemac knot. Bloom pics tomorrow.
With it's brothers:
Not bloomed yet, but nice density:
Very nice work!!
Those look great, very nice restorations.
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- #40
Ahh, time for the money shots! Post Bloom! Here's Lucky after today's first break in hand lathering with some EJ soap and then a face lathering with some DRH Windsor soap. Obscene gobs of lather were made. It was a sensual experience. My wife was jealous.
Yea, that's not a stand. Nice firm bristles for a 3-band silvertip.
The Three Amigos together at last! Lucky, Dusty, and Ned.
I am very happy with the results in all three brushes, but as you can see in the picture above, though the handles are very similar, even including the two grooves along the top, the Red (Dusty) with the Made in USA on the back has a slightly different shape than the other two. The top is not as rounded and the black portion is less tapered. I didn't notice the differences much until having the other two next to it.
Either way, it's a great handle and brush, the TGN Finest XH fan does a great job lathering and is very comfy. After having used it for a couple weeks now, I do wish that I had made the hole a little smaller, by a mm or two, but it's not a major impact to the performance. I'll probably start keeping an eye out for another red handle that matches the other two 200's exactly. Should I find one, I'll probably replicate Dusty again with another TGN knot just cause I'm totally anal retentive and now desire that it matches the other two handles exactly. That and it now gives me another handle to obsessively hunt after
Yea, that's not a stand. Nice firm bristles for a 3-band silvertip.
The Three Amigos together at last! Lucky, Dusty, and Ned.
I am very happy with the results in all three brushes, but as you can see in the picture above, though the handles are very similar, even including the two grooves along the top, the Red (Dusty) with the Made in USA on the back has a slightly different shape than the other two. The top is not as rounded and the black portion is less tapered. I didn't notice the differences much until having the other two next to it.
Either way, it's a great handle and brush, the TGN Finest XH fan does a great job lathering and is very comfy. After having used it for a couple weeks now, I do wish that I had made the hole a little smaller, by a mm or two, but it's not a major impact to the performance. I'll probably start keeping an eye out for another red handle that matches the other two 200's exactly. Should I find one, I'll probably replicate Dusty again with another TGN knot just cause I'm totally anal retentive and now desire that it matches the other two handles exactly. That and it now gives me another handle to obsessively hunt after
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