Thread: Do any of you Make? Hand lay up THE knots? or buy from China?

Originally Posted by DoughBoy68

That would be very unique and possibly a one of a kind........Black Bear Gonnad Hair Shaving Brush!

Not sure I want gonad hair on my chin!!!!

Yeah..........I would say brush knot making would be hard if you don't have the right equipment or supplies! Just buy a quality badger knot from China and save yourself the time of skinning some bears nether region!

I've made a few boar knots and they weren't that hard to make. I didn't get enough hair into the first couple, but by the 5th attempt I had it down.
I used a 1" pvc pipe coupler as a hair stacker. Jammed as much hair into it as I possible could. Slide coupler up to get the height you want. Trim the extra. Secured the top with a rubber band. Slide the hair about half way out of the coupler and add another rubber band. Remove hair completely from coupler. Wrap base (about 1/2") with fishing line using whip finish knots. Dip base end (about 1/4") in epoxy. Let epoxy dry and the repeat epoxy dip two more times. Remove the excess fishing line. Set knot in handle.

Like all things it just takes time, patience, and practice.

Cool, Thanks Chris, you sound like me in the Methods department, use what is at hand.

Originally Posted by FAL

Cool, Thanks Chris, you sound like me in the Methods department, use what is at hand.

I'm sure someone sells a hair stacker just for brushes - it's probably a pvc coupler that costs $50.
I purposefully chose the fishing line for it's strength to diameter ratio, it's waterproof, and I have it readily available.
Rubber bands were chosen to control the end of the knot because it's the same way I control my wife's hair when she asks me to braid it.
Whip finish knot was chosen because it is the best knot I know of to tie off a bundle like hair.
Epoxy was chosen for its strength. I considered using sealing wax, shellac, lacquer, and superglue as well. Epoxy was just easier for me.
So there is a method to my madness.

It really just takes practice to figure out how to get the right amount of hair into the brush.

I think criswilson10, that you should make another, take lots of photos and upload a tutorial. It would certainly be an interesting one to see.

Speaking pragmatically, I would think the value of a grizzly hide with some guard hairs removed would be reduced by much more than the value of the brush made from those hairs.

I was going to share this with a complete "how to" with knot and handle tutorial but since we are on the subject:
Found this extra nice bristle paint brush that came as part of new machine at work (actually was to be used as a simple box flap holder).It didn't need to be as nice as it was for it's purpose but i guess they send you the best when you pay 1.8 million for a machine. Any way as a class A scrounge with nothing but the next shaving related project on my mind i was immediately attracted to it's nice soft tips and thought "wow, that would make a nice shaving brush". with permission from my supervisor it was mine to keep. As i didn't want to trim the nice split tips i had to figure out a way to shape it without trimming.

. after much trial and error i found that stuffing it into a 1 inch piece of PVC was the easiest way to go. this allowed me to shape the top by pushing in on the bottom.

i lashed it with nylon string and a wire tie (which was a mistake as it made a lump in the knot) i should have used just string to shape it. i soaked it with super glue and then removed the string.

this is the knot after one hand lathering trial(couldn't wait till i had the handle made). it lost a number of hairs but hopefully will taper off with use. it did start to bloom nicely and felt rather soft.

Originally Posted by wayne394

I think criswilson10, that you should make another, take lots of photos and upload a tutorial. It would certainly be an interesting one to see.

I'm not the greatest brush maker, but I'll try and kill a boar this week and take pictures of making a brush next weekend.

I personally,have never made a knot,but this thread has piqued my interest. I may have to deconstruct one of my badger paint brushes and give it a shot. The second stacker used,appears to be of a slightly smaller diameter and obviously has a profiled bottom insert to produce the desired contour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSmpcZOtthk