Thread: brush knot size...?

Hi all,
I get relatively useless and often unrelated results when trying to do searches on this. I see brushes that are 21mm, 23mm, etc. What exactly is the impact of the knot size?

thanks.
allan

ps - should this have been a beginner question...?

The knot size is the diameter at the base of the knot of hair. The larger it is the bigger the brush and usually the thicker the fill. So it's a matter of if you like big brushes. Also you have to consider the loft of the brush and how thickly the hair fill is. It can all vary and sometimes small brushes have more hair than larger one and shorter lofted brushes can also have more hair.

What are you using now? My VDH boar is somewhere in the neighborhood of 20mm x 60mm.

Originally Posted by kaiyen

Hi all,
I get relatively useless and often unrelated results when trying to do searches on this. I see brushes that are 21mm, 23mm, etc. What exactly is the impact of the knot size?

thanks.
allan

ps - should this have been a beginner question...?

The size of the knot bounds the number of bristles in the
brush. The more bristles cutting bubbles in half the quicker
or bigger a pile of fine lather develops. A big brush also
holds more water too.

Because of geometry a slightly larger knot brings a lot more
bristles to the game than first blush expectations.

My two badger brushes are about 21 and 2mm and are a
lot of brush. Anything bigger and I would need a
soup bowl to lather in.

I do have a soup bowl so some day...