Thread: New Brush that is kind of disappointing

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.

Originally Posted by tintin

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

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.

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.