Thread: $17 silvertip brush

20mm Turchetta silvertip knot (Golden Nib) $15
Hand turned (by yours truly) cocobolo ($2 bottle blank from Rockler)
46mm loft
64mm handle length.


Pre-bloom.


Lovin' it!

shouldn't this be in the classifieds?

or are you taunting us? Nice grab!!

Keep your eyes peeled, this may appear in the classified section for a mere $250!


Hey, if Plisson can sell theirs for that much, why can't I?

It was pretty fun to make. I'll give it a shave tonight....

That's awesome! Great job...I'll have to bookmark golden nib if you think the knot is worthwhile. I'll look forward to a review of its performance!

I also love your turned handle - great shape for a brush!

Mark

very nice brush. but as I'am workcrafts challenged I opted for taking an old eveready C40 brush that the bristles were so bad I wouldn't use it to wash my shoes, I just cut off the old hair, drilled it out and used the ole trusty dremmel on to get the opening cleaned up and enlarged, then did a dry fit to check for stuff I may have messed up and then marine epoxied a 24 mm silvertip knot from the golden nib and now have a new brush from the old one. Grand total price about 25 bucks or so. It's a great brush for creams but not so hot on soaps as the brush is very soft. For soaps I use the old trusty shavemac. Great weekend project.

I ordered two 20mm Golden Nib silvertip knots. One was mounted in an aluminum handle, one in cocobolo. The only other difference is the depth I set the knot into the handle. By setting the knot deep into the handle, it gives a shorter loft and greatly increases the density.

The aluminum brush has about 55mm of loft, the coco, about 45mm .The new cocobolo brush has bloomed into a cool little tight lightbulb shape.




As you can clearly see the density of the low loft coco brush is outstanding. It actually looks to be about as dense as my Alibaba! (Pic #2-Alibaba, cocobolo, aluminum).


The new cocobolo brush is now a soap lathering machine that shares some of the characteristics of the Alibaba. It really scrubs at the Tabac puck, but with the increased density, it also sucks up and holds onto the lather like an Alibab too! I found that interesting, as the longer loft aluminum brush lathers in a rather "standard" fashion. Increased density alone can greatly affect the whole lathering process.

Now then, I won't be selling off my Alibaba, because this new brush is not of the same absolute quality as that. The Alibaba has a lot more backbone and spring to the bristles, and the tips of the Alibaba are extremely soft with no scritch whatsoever. The cocobolo brush has a short loft, but the bristles do not have the same springyness, and they do have a bit of pricklyness at the very tips.

Pic #3 shows a comparrison of shmooshing the brushes down on a surface to show the difference in tip splay, and face contact size caused by the difference in loft. The angle doesn't really show it so well maybe from this perspective. The brushes aren't just sitting on the tips, but are pressed down onto the towel quite firmly. 10mm difference in loft for the same 20mm knot makes a big difference.


As said, I won't be throwing out my Shavemac 21mm, nor my Rooney Alibaba. Those two are still the reigning champs of the shave den! However, the aluminum handled brush has been usurped, and is now going to make a nice Christmas present for my brother!

I am really liking that aluminum and wood brush. Way cool!


-Rob

The coco brush looks much better post-bloom. It looked kind of sickly in the pre-bloom state. I'm definitely going to get some of these after I get my lathe un-buried this winter. Making brushes looks fun.
What did you use for epoxy?

Originally Posted by Utopian

The coco brush looks much better post-bloom. It looked kind of sickly in the pre-bloom state. I'm definitely going to get some of these after I get my lathe un-buried this winter. Making brushes looks fun.
What did you use for epoxy?

Yeah, pre-bloom I was a bit afraid I'd put in in too deep, as it stuck pretty much straight out. Also I had not oiled the handle, so the wood didn't have any richness to the color either.

I used Gorilla glue to pot the knot.

Unbury that lathe! It is indeed fun to turn your own brushes. By spring you'll probably have 37 different varieties....

I've used that for basic woodworking joinery but assumed I'd need some kind of waterproof epoxy. You wouldn't have used it unless you had faith it would work but I guess I'll check back once it's time to set my 37 knots!