Whipped Dog

[Krona Kruiser]

I had a dilemma a few weeks back concerning another brush purchase but I opted for Plan B, make a brush. I ordered a 22mm XF finest knot from TGN and a 22mm black resin handle from Larry's. The knot and handle came within a day of each other. The fine knot is pretty one for sure. I was also pleasantly surprised with the handle (great bang for your buck!). One thing I noticed though, the knot is about 21mm in diameter and the hole in the handle is about 23mm. It wasn't completely loose standing on it's own in the handle but the knot had room. I could have waited and gotten a 24mm and put it but my SBAD anticipation filled it nicely with marine epoxy. I should also note that I like the depth the hole on the handle has (about 10-12mm deep). Well, the epoxy set in nicely and I took it for a spin!

 

[Krona Kruiser]

The finest knot is quite nice. No hype on this one. It's plenty soft but not so that it feels benign like some silvertips. It feels great on the face and I didn't find it to be scritchy at all. It was nice for scrubbing with but it shined when I used painting motions with it. Flothrough is great on this knot and the handle is ergonomic and handsome to boot.


I've been lucky to take a Shavemac and blonde M&F on a ride (thanks Taco8slo!). I've been spoiled the denseness and amazing backbone on these brushes. My little restore doesn't match in that regard but it's not that much behind.

 

[taco8slo]

Looks really good Krona! I like the black handle combined with 2-band hair, very classy, seems like a great addition to your den, plenty of variety.

 

[NexlevMM]

I agree with taco8slo, it reminds me of a classy AOS brush, without the crazy price tag. Nice! Did that gap fill in pretty well between the handle and knot after it bloomed??

 

[rxonmymind]

Nice job. Black always looks good.

 

[buma]

Looks like you have a winner there on your hand. I've been eyeing a finest knot to go into a handle I'm preping at the moment - thanks for the review of it!

 

[buma]

I have two pure blacks from WD - one seems to be breaking in nicely, a 22mm, and the other is still in the process, an 18 or 20, I can't remember offhand. The 22mm did soften up after a few weeks of use, but it's nowhere near my WD Silvertip of the same diameter. It's scritchiness in the black has subsided a lot however, and may continue to do so. I'll go experiment with it more and report back any findings.

 

[Big_OC]

Nice job Sam. Next one you should do is a 24mm Finest. The increase in density is very noticeable and feels oh so nice.

 

[Krona Kruiser]

I agree with taco8slo, it reminds me of a classy AOS brush, without the crazy price tag. Nice! Did that gap fill in pretty well between the handle and knot after it bloomed??

It did fill in well. I made sure to add enough epoxy on the bottom of the hole so when the knot was set it rose high enough to fill in any gap.

Nice job Sam. Next one you should do is a 24mm Finest. The increase in density is very noticeable and feels oh so nice.

That's what I was thinking.

Looks really good Krona! I like the black handle combined with 2-band hair, very classy, seems like a great addition to your den, plenty of variety.

Variety is what it's about. I gotta try the Grade A knot from TGN.

 

[ronwell]

This doesn't really answer your question, as I've never used the WD pure, but I do have a WD silvertip set to a relatively low loft, which provides a nice combo of backbone and softness. In other words, if you want the softness of the silvertip without sacrificing backbone, you could always set it a little lower.

 

[QuarkVI]

mmm - I do have a silvertip in transit that I plan on setting at about 46mm - haven't decided yet. Want to see what I dense low loft silver tip feels like.

Probably going to just order one of the 20mm pure knots and put it on a 3 month trial and see what happens.

 

[Jack-in-the-Green]

Has anyone compared the WD black with the TGN black? I really like the TGN, but find it to be a bit of a lather hog.

 

[buma]

I just used my brush with the WD pure badger knot the other day and it has indeed softened up quite a bit but there is definitely still a bit of scritch there. As a comparison, I shaved this week with my WD silvertip and the two are worlds apart in feel. Maybe after more use, the pure knot will soften up more, but only time will tell!