Time for an experiment.

[Foyle]

I know we all say that it doesn't matter whether or not we hang our brushes to dry or if we leave them standing up on end to dry. Way back when I first joined B&B, I asked about this, and Gary Young commented saying, "Badgers stand up on end. Boars hang to dry." So, I followed that advice. A couple years later, I got a combination brush/razor stand and began hanging my badger brushes.

7 months ago I got a Savile Row, and it became my daily brush. Recently it began to shed, and it was promptly replaced by Charles at QED. I got to thinking about why this brush began shedding. Then it occurred to me that perhaps hanging kept the brush from drying well. I figured that when water evaporates, the vapor rises. So hanging a brush may just cause the water vapor to stay trapped in the knot and not dry as well.

This thought occurred to me because when I got my Muhle STF, I noticed that it took much longer to dry if I hung it than if I stood it up. Standing it up allowed the brush to dry almost completely in about an hour. Hanging left the brush damp several hours later.

I'd really like my replacement SR to last more than 7-months. So, I'm going to try standing it up on end to dry from now on.

 

[mistercitizen]

Interesting observations. I hang all of my brushes upside down the same way.... badger or boar. But I recently acquired a rather tall brush, the Thiers-Issard 26mm, and I noticed that when I hang it upside down in the rubber stamp holder that I use to hang my brushes on, the tips of the hairs come down and actually touch the surface of my wood dresser where the stand sits. I noticed that after hanging on the stand for some time like this, the tips in contact with the top of the dresser are still wet, while the rest of the hair is dry. I may have to stand this brush up on it's base, rather than hang it if I want the tips to dry out adequately.

If I had to guess, I would say that the Savile Row brush you had that started shedding was faulty in some way..... and probably didn't start shedding as a result of how you were storing it between uses. But, I'm no expert. It'll be interesting to see in 7 months time how your new SR brush is holding up. Until then..... we wait .

Ben

 

[Ashley Rosser]

This topic comes up frequently, the general consensus is that it doesn't matter which way you store your brush.
Now here's the but...... I have found that my Kent dries quicker hair down than standing on it's handle hair up, couple of hours if in it's stand and two days standing on it's handle.
I get the same results with my boar hair brush also so I don't know what to tell you.
Kent suggest a stand amongst other controversies with there brushes so I stick to their suggestions; as usual YMMV.