Thread: Brush Stand or no Brush Stand

Gentlemen:

I rest my brushes in the acrylic stands with the bristles down.

A long time ago I had inexpensive brush with wood handle that always rested with the bristles up. It was my favorite brush. Well, my only brush. Eventually tiny drops of water seeped into the wood and cracked it. Half of the bloody handle just peeled off. After a while I grew tired of lathering up with what looked like a bearded skeleton. I threw the brush away and bought another one — and promised myself not to ever rest a brush on its tush.

Regards,

Obie

For about 25 years I used cheap boar brushes. I used to go through one every 1 to 3 years because the knot would fail and release large numbers of bristles until the brush was no longer usable; and I have explored the lower limits of how many bristles are required to make a lather even with patience. I found that I could make them last about twice as long by storing them bristles down in a stand. Until finding SRP, I did not know of the existence of badger brushes. Since using both types of brushes, I have come up with my General Theory of Razor Brush Moisture Relativity Due to Gravitational Orientation.

It is as follows.

Boar brushes require brush stands for bristle down storage, while badger brushes do not.


Here is the explanation:
Badger bristles soak up quite a bit of water, so they have the capacity for capillary action. Boar bristles soak up very little water, so they have limited, if any capillary action. When you are finished with a either type of brush, the ends of the bristles dry quickly by evaporation. In a badger brush the drying of the ends leads to a constant redistribution of the water along the entire length of the bristles until they are uniformly dry, thus the knot is also dried. This capillary action is independent of gravity so bristle up or down storage is irrelevant for a badger brush.

In a boar brush, the ends also dry quickly by evaporation, but because of the lack of capillary action, the parts of the brush nearer the knot are not exposed to much air so they dry at a much slower rate, thus the knot remains wet much longer. This leads to the eventual breakdown of the boar knot. Storage of the boar brush in the bristles down position allows gravity to aid in the transfer of water away from the knot, getting it to a region exposed to more air where it can evaporate faster.

Neither. We have a sliding mirror from medicine cabinet and I wedge the handle in it.

Originally Posted by Utopian

For about 25 years I used cheap boar brushes. I used to go through one every 1 to 3 years because the knot would fail and release large numbers of bristles until the brush was no longer usable; and I have explored the lower limits of how many bristles are required to make a lather even with patience. I found that I could make them last about twice as long by storing them bristles down in a stand. Until finding SRP, I did not know of the existence of badger brushes. Since using both types of brushes, I have come up with my General Theory of Razor Brush Moisture Relativity Due to Gravitational Orientation.

This seems very reasonable to me. Probably means I should find a stand to hang my boar brush. Either that, or invest in a 'good' brush...