Originally Posted by
Stubear
Something you could do is call Lynn and Don directly and speak to them about the sort of brush you are after and ask them to pick you one out. Every time I have ever called them, they have gone above and beyond to help me out and their advice is first rate..!
As to what to go for, its really personal preference! As you have a brush now, I'd use that as a starting point for where to head next.
The questions to ask yourself are, do I want a bigger or smaller brush than the one I have now? If yes, you'll want a larger knot and if not a smaller knot. The knot size is the diameter of the brush at the handle end.
Do I want more or less loft than I have now? This is the length of the hairs.
Do I want firmer or softer bristles than I have now? The finer hairs are the silvertip ones, so if you want a fine haired brush you may want a silvertip brush. Best and pure badger hair brushes are slightly coarser hairs than silvertip. Boar hair is very coarse.
From playing around with the brushes at Trumpers, I found that the hair can really vary. So some silvertip brushes can be quite scrubby, and some best badger can be quite fine. Its like human hair, it varies from person to person. Or badger to badger in this case..! So its worth asking for heavy, medium or fine hairs, and seeing what the guys recommend as they have the brushes in front of them and can test how they feel.
My brush is actually a best badger, and I picked it because it had a good mix of fineness and firmness of the hair. Some of the silvertips were just too fine, and some felt quite thin, but this particular brush felt well packed and scrubby.
Once you find a handle design you like at SRD, call the guys there and ask them to pick out a brush for you that has the characteristics that you want.
Good luck and keep us posted!