Thread: 30mm Manchurian Knot has Arrived!

SO, I actually found a supplier of badger knots that is in China... His prices are insanely cheap and I was nervous about the purchase at first... then the knot arrived. The 30mm wide knot has a loft of 80mm and is absolutely massive. I've taken some pictures beside my Rooney Heritage size 3 "Super Badger" whose knot is 26mm to compare the size of this monster.

The tips of the brush are slightly darker than the Rooney's. The tips on the no name knot are also slightly longer while the black band seems fairly comparable in length. The Rooney is nicely broken in and feels slightly softer right now but it's still a tad damp from my shave this morning.


All this arrived in about a month for..... $18 Canadian. If it turns out it's good, I can't see a better price!!

Looks nice. Can't beat the price. What will the loft be after it is placed in a handle ? Personally 50 to 52 is about maximum for me. Of course that is a very YMMV thing.

It's hard to tell but I'd say it's a little less dense than the Rooney. This might not be a bad thing as the flow through on the Rooney sometimes makes it want to hold onto the lather rather than apply it to my face.

Just a couple more pics to give you the idea of the size.


Also, how it's bonded at the bottom.

Looking good so far. I can't imagine what a 30mm knot with an 80 mm loft would be like to use. That seems big enough to lather the hind end of a horse! Don't get lost in all that fur. Are you going to put a longish handle on it?

Bob

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Looks nice. Can't beat the price. What will the loft be after it is placed in a handle ? Personally 50 to 52 is about maximum for me. Of course that is a very YMMV thing.

Jimmy, I'm hoping it turns out great! I've contacted someone on here to give me a price as I love his work so we'll see. Also, I don't really know much about the loft but maybe you can explain why 50/52 is the max you like to go?

Originally Posted by BobH

Looking good so far. I can't imagine what a 30mm knot with an 80 mm loft would be like to use. That seems big enough to lather the hind end of a horse! Don't get lost in all that fur. Are you going to put a longish handle on it?

Bob

Bob, I'm was thinking something along the lines of the Simpson Chubby styled handle. I absolutely love the feel of the Rooney in my hands and don't think I want to go much taller than that. Unless someone can show me something that might change my mind!

Also, if anyone is interested, PM me and I'll send you the link to the supplier, he's got a wide range of products at crazy cheap rates! If you're interested in a 'beginner' brush knot or you turn your own handles, they might be worth a shot!

I guess the length of the handle would depend on whether you predominantly bowl or face lather. For bowl lathering I do appreciate a slightly longer handle than for face lathering. Then again with a knot that generates lotsa lather a longer handle keeps you away from getting lather on your fingers too.

If you have a brush with similar type of badger hair (the Rooney?) check the knot diameter to loft ratio. If you like the feel of what that brush is giving you you might be able to use that as a ballpark base for setting the knot depth. You go with a shorter loft you likely get less bloom, more backbone and more scrubbiness and vise versa. That is just guessing on my part though. Shavemac made their Variable Loft Brush (VLB) at on time and an handle like that would be interesting to help determine what loft you really like for a particular knot. Sorta like a Try-Gun used to custom fit a shotgun to an individual.

Bob

The overall knot is 80MM would be a real funny looking brush set at 80mm loft
Setting these large 30s is much differant that setting the smaller knots,to get a loft of 50mm you would need to bore the hole 30mm deep.that inturn compresses the hair above the base so that the knot will be real stiff and never be able to bloom.
JMO, the 30s are great at 55mm.

I looove the feel of the Rooney just wish it had a little more bloom/flow through so I'll most likely go with a 55mm(ish) loft.

That VLB sounds like an awesome little tool!!!