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I picked up a Vulfix 44 best badger brush at an auction. The price was less than ten dollars, but the brush is terrible soft. It really has very little backbone. It is big and pretty, but it doesnt want to whip up a lather. I will have to try it with shaving creams instead of pucks or my go to Proraso. (As an aside, I did get two things of proraso pre shave and one proraso after shave for Christmas!)
I've got a couple brushes,like u describe. I found they work very nicely, with creams, and glycerin, soaps.
Won't do squat, with tallow pucks.
You could try loading soap with a fairly dry bush to start off with add a little water and load some more. Repeat as necessary and then lather up. You could also try blooming the puck first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4zESTQWDuw
Bob
since you didn't pay much for it , it might be worth steaming the knot out and drilling the hole deeper to give it more backbone. I've done it with a brush that i won and it worked well. Might be something to consider, JMHO
All good ideas and comments. One more to think about. With your fingertips reach all the way past the handle and use your fingertips on the base of the knot. This will also give it more backbone.
Or raid the wife's hair ties and put one on the knot right where the hair is at the handle. Try two. But remember to remove it when drying.
I have one very soft badger brush that works great for face lathering with a cream and not so great building a lather from a puck in a bowl.
My hypothesis is that when face lathering, the excess water in the bristles just rolls down my face, but it just pools in the bowl making the lather too thin.
Interesting, I have a quite cheap Q Shave badger brush but i don't like it because although it looks nice it has no backbone and just kind of splays out and goes soft and annoying when I use it.Quote:
Originally Posted by tintin
How much deeper should I make the hole or how should I decide because i don't want to overdo it.
This is quite exciting, I get to use my new forstner bits on something real instead of finding things in the house that needed a hole (I got in a lot of trouble for that).
Before you yank out the knot and drill, try soaking in vinegar and washing with shampoo.
Then measure the knot at the base with a pair of calipers. You can buy an inexpensive pair of calipers for under $5 or use a compass and measure the distance between the points. If you have trouble measuring a soft knot, run a wrap of masking tape around the base of the knot.
Buy a thick O-ring just a bit smaller than the knot size. You can experiment with the placement of the ring or with different thickness of rings. Use it with the O-ring or if you want to drill, you will know how deep it needs to be.
Washing a brush with vinegar will do wonders for any brush, I soak and wash my brushes a couple times a year. Some soaps will clog a brush faster than others.
If you use an o ring or hair tie as a general rule only move from the handle up.
If you move it to high start over from the handle up.
Messes the bristles up.
The o-ring or hair tie will let you know how much more deep it needs to be.but some knots are just too soft and floppy. This means that if you set it in more it might not lather worth a damn. This is why I think you find the lump shape of epoxy inside some low cost knots. The limp holds the hairs up and gives it a little stiffness. A low cost, floppy brush is just not worth any efort in fixing unless you really like it. Otherwise, just buy better quality next time.
I bet I have 10 to 12 brushes I dont use because they dont make me happy for one reason or another.
I have some really nice brushes including one with an elephant ivory handle I rarely use because they have a business end that is like a marshmallow. yea I could replace the hair but I have too many other brushes I like already.
I understand what your saying, apart from this useless badger which I only paid $15 for and could just bin it for that price, I also have a cheapo synthetic for the same sort of price. That one has so much backbone that it won't splay and is very hard to use, almost hurts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gasman
There is a lesson about cheap brushes here and I reckon I have learned it.
Saying that, because my badger was so cheap and because I could just bin it, it is a good learning opportunity to play with it and see if it can be improved. What have i got to lose?
That is true Steve. Another thing to try, if you're going to play, If the knot won't steam out then drill it out. This will leave you a handle to set a knot in later, of better quality. That is if the handle is to your liking.
Good luck with your project.
BTW, I counted the top row of brushes. 14 of them I don't like for some reason or another. :shrug:
14 you don't like Jerry? My goodness I don't own 14 brushes - YET:hmmm:Quote:
Originally Posted by Gasman
I always make sure to get another brush when I have a new soap so that they only have the one smell to them, I get separate wooden beard combs for the same reason. I already have a comb for the soap I won ready for when it arrives and plan to use the brush that's coming with it.
The handle on my cheapo is just beige wood, I'm sure it's not pine but it's almost that colour.
If I had to drill the knot out i would probably just bin it because I only bought it because it was cheap, my plan was not to tell you all I had bought cheapo stuff if it worked for me:ziplip:
Saying that, some of the prices for shaving brushes makes my head swim, lucky I prefer Boar and they are less expensive.
While a stiff brush can make making lather on some soaps easier, do not lose sight of the goal.
The purpose of lather is to keep your face and beard wet longer. Too often new guys get caught up on thick, stiff lather, (a few years ago “Uber Lather was all the rage), then complain that their lather dries up before they can finish a shave.
Each soap or cream will respond differently to different brushes. It is just like most things in this pursuit, a matter of experimenting to understand how a particular brush will work with a soap. My experience is a thinner wet lather shaves better than thick lather. Also, as you shave. You need less lather with each pass, my third ATG pass is pretty thin, but wet.
Generally, if you want richer lather, use more water, adding a little at a time. Also, clean you brush. A vinegar soak and shampoo are an easy fix to making lather, even, especially with a new brush.
I shaved for my first 10 years with a cheap boar brush, that was pretty floppy and thin, had lost a lot of bristles by the time I retired it. I just learned to make lather with the soaps I used.
You can make good lather with a floppy brush, and you don’t need thick lather to get a good shave.
I've always used an o ring at the bottom of the knot where it meets the brush handle to simulate the knot being set deeper without having to reset the knot..fixed a couple of floppy brushes that way without having to do anything else....