Where did the 18mm brush knots go??

[Rayotech]

Have a couple of brushes I need knots for. Looking for 18mm knots.
Looking for a pure and a two band.

Did they quit making them or am I looking in the wrong places? Not having any luck.
Years ago they were all over the place, now they have disappeared. What gives?

Neither one of these brushes will take being opened up for a 20mm knot. The star is thin walled with a steel ring 1/8th an inch below the opening, and the ever ready has the plaster insides and fragile thin plastic upper portion around the opening.

Any ideas?

 

[Sando]

Those are nice handles. I’ve had luck buying an oversized knot and reducing the plug to fit the socket with sanding drums and hand files. Some hairs may go but I never had problems with shedding.

 

[Ugmug]

The Golden Nib has an 18mm "best" badger knot and an 18mm boar knot available now. They also have a three band and two band in 18mm which are currently out of stock.

 

[jaro 101969]

The bay also has some that are boar of badger and synthetics also... One of the common ones I see on there are 18 or 19 and are extremely cheap priced...

 

[KW Driver]

TGN, the golden nib had pures I think, and good silvertips a couple years ago.

Maggard’s might/should?

Shavemac does 18s as well

 

[Alum of Potash]

Have you noticed the sizes of brushes being sold these days? They're enormous. For example, I recently visited the Shavemac site with their brush configurator and was quite disappointed to see that they now sell nothing smaller than 20mm, depending on the knot, and in other cases nothing smaller than 22mm or even 24mm! Wish they would go back to selling smaller knots and brushes like before, but I know they will say, "They weren't selling."

 

[Rudy Vey]

TGN, the golden nib had pures I think, and good silvertips a couple years ago.

Maggard’s might/should?

Shavemac does 18s as well

TGN used to sell their two-band finest in 16 and 18 mm size, and their Silvertip Grade A in 18 mm. Not sure if they still do.
Shavemac starts at 20 mm in all grades. However, I think they will make you any smaller size if you order a certain number of knots (maybe a minimum of 5 or so), they will not make a single knot. I had many years ago very small knots in the Wee Scot size made, I think they were 14 mm or so.

 

[KW Driver]

TGN used to sell their two-band finest in 16 and 18 mm size, and their Silvertip Grade A in 18 mm. Not sure if they still do.
Shavemac starts at 20 mm in all grades. However, I think they will make you any smaller size if you order a certain number of knots (maybe a minimum of 5 or so), they will not make a single knot. I had many years ago very small knots in the Wee Scot size made, I think they were 14 mm or so.

cool, and I'll defer to your experience with Shavemac, and Alum of Potash's statement. last time I looked he had 18s in his configurator. and the Wee Scott is a 14mm as I recall as well.

a couple years back when I bought some TGNs I didn't see 2-bands, just silvertips in 18mm.

The TGN's offerings for the OP. I've been happy with the 18mm Premium Silvertip I got. soft, good splay, good enough backbone to thoughtlessly face lather with off a stick or hard puck without feeling scrubby. there was some light break in shedding and not one since.

 

[Big Jim]

Ace has 19 mm in High Mountain (Two Band Finest). They probably have them is Silvertip too if you hunt through their site. I have bought both from them in the past. I'm about ready to order some 22 mm knots to fill some handles I have.

Ace currently sells through AliExpress under the store name of ABCRE Store. I have probably used more knots from Ace than any other source over the years. Probably in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 knots. I have always been pleased with them.

I don't know if the link will work but here it is.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801338061757.html?gps-id=pcStoreJustForYou&scm=1007.23125.137358.0&scm_id=1007.23125.137358.0&scm-url=1007.23125.137358.0&pvid=0d7a47e2-80ad-48e9-a9a5-7ac77eb612f1&_t=gps-id%3ApcStoreJustForYou%2Cscm-url%3A1007.23125.137358.0%2Cpvid%3A0d7a47e2-80ad-48e9-a9a5-7ac77eb612f1%2Ctpp_buckets%3A668%232846%238108%231977&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000016464623326%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%2213125%22%7D&pdp_npi=2%40dis%21USD%2116.99%2116.14%21%21%21%21%21%402103222016646619302952572e1a43%2112000016464623326%21rec&spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.smartJustForYou_113855283.0&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa&_randl_shipto=US

 

[Rayotech]

Update: Found a best badger 18mm at the Golden nib. Set and ready to try it out. Love the looks of this particular brush.

Thank you all for the leads on the 18mm's. Going to check out a few of those places for a few more brushes I'll be redoing here soon.

 

[Alum of Potash]

Looks great!