Originally Posted by
Utopian
Glen, I grew up on a farm and "cut" a lot of barbed wire that way. I thought of that even before I wrote the above but was trying to understand the logic of the brush vendor. Don't worry, I was not arguing for Robin!
Anyway, while still trying to come to terms with what the brushmaker said, the breaking you described is only accomplished when you are focusing the bending at one specific location rather than along the entire length. I envisioned the issue had to do with pulling the end of the hair out of the knot rather than to a breaking of the hair somewhere along its length.