Thread: Travel Brushes and trouble

You can make any brush you have a travel brush by simply popping it in a case to protect the brush when travelling. From there you can go to brushes specifically designed for that purpose if you want to. No matter which way you go there are compromises to be made in weight, the volume of space it takes in your travel kit and size of knot. If weight and volume are of no concern simply take your full sized brush, pop it in a container and you are good to go. Easy peasy. If you want to shrink the size and weight of your travel brush there is more to think about.

In this pic from left to right are an SOC badge full sized badger brush, A Simpsons Chubby 2 synthetic in a home made travel tube, A Simpsons Classic 1 synthetic in a Simpsons travel tube and a Muhle synthetic travel brush in it's self storing condition.



In the this pic they are out of their containers.



In this pic you can see the difference in diameters of the brush handles.



Lastly the two Simpsons brushes with their containers.



All the brushes pictured will work. Personally I prefer synthetic knots for a travel brush because they dry very quickly. The Muhle was my first travel brush and does well. The draw backs are that being constructed of chrome over brass it is heavy and it needs a bit of assembly/dis-assembly to use and restore. It feels like it weighs as much as the Chubby 2 full sized brush. I then tried the Simpsons Chubby 2 synthetic and enjoyed a full sized brush by simply popping it out of and back into its container but the penalty was bulk and weight. Lastly I got the Simpsons Classic 1 synthetic which has the advantage of being less bulky, lightest in weight and easy to use, no assembly/dis-assembly needed. The down side is a handle tending to be small, 40mm height and smaller diameter with a knot also tending to the small side at about 22mm.

The Simpsons Classic 1 synthetic is about as far as I would want to compromise to gain the maximum benefit of the least amount of bulk and weight in a travel brush. Again the easiest course of action is just to take your favourite full sized brush. If you want to shrink bulk and weight there is a bit more to think about in the combination of compromises you are willing to make to avoid being disappointed.

Bob