Thread: Looking for a tutorial on brushes

I'm trying to understand some of the lingo used when brush qualities are being discussed.

I was reading a fellows evaluation of a brush that he'd purchased and I don't know the intended meaning of terms he was using.

What is "knot"?

What is "backbone"?

These are the type of words I need defined...

The knot is the hair part of the brush. Normally when a knot is discussed it's normally about the size of the knot. Given in millimeters taken from the base of the knot inside the handle. Or if the knot is preset then the diameter at the top of the handle.

Loft is the height of the knot from the top of the handle to the top of the hair.

Backbone is how stiff the hair is. There is multiple factors that contribute to a brushes backbone: type of hair(boar, badger, horse or synthetic), loft and how deep the knot was set.

Hopefully this helps.

Sent from my phone using some app

GarnerPW gave a nice answer.

A longer answer can be found on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shave_brush

Evaluating a brush involves preferences shape feel.
Cost, type of shave soap or cream, local water quality, habits, whiskers.

Some of the terms are the same language that an artist would use
to describe brushes for oil painting, water painting, painting a house.

Thanks guys!

I appreciate the definitions, and the Wiki was excellent!

Check out our brush forum and the first couple of sticky posts. One is a tutorial.

The most important thing to know about natural hair brushes, especially if you have an expensive badger, is not to apply too much pressure. You shouldn't splay the brush. Many people do, though it will break tips on some types of hair and cause a hole in the middle of the brush with others.

Here is a link on caring for your brush:

Avoid Brush Damage and Maximize Your Investment

To the left of the page is a search box. Search on the word tutorial and it will come up with links for everything you can imagine. Make sure to check out some on how to get the lather correct if you are new.

Yeah, thanks for that.

The first place I looked when these questions popped into my tiny head was in the brush forum. Naturally, I missed the one sticky that might apply.

So, at your kind direction, I located said sticky, read it, and, while it is quite informative, it did not answer my buck-toothed squint-eyed questions amounting to "What's that mean...?"

But it was educational, and you have my gratitude.