Quote Originally Posted by bluesman7 View Post
This is what I'm hoping I can do. I guess since I'm making the handle I can make the fit as snug as I like. Maybe I will do a quick and dirty out of a large dowel to verify the taper of the hole. I'm thinking that as deep as I think I want to go I will want to taper the hole so that the brush can bloom a bit. Yeah the dowel sounds like the ticket.

Great minds think alike! I picked up a faux horn blank at Woodcraft yesterday.
Interesting idea that tapered hole. I don't think I have reknotted a handle that had a tapered hole from the factory.

The usual advice I have seem from knot suppliers is that the hole be drilled 1-2mm larger than the size of the knot. That is because the knot size is given as measured at the glue plug. The knot bulges out slightly above the glue plug and that needs to be accommodated. If the knot is fitted too snugly it may lead to the handle cracking over time when the knot swells a bit.

That happened to a custom reknot I had ordered with the loft reset lower than the factory brush. It was fixed at no charge by the custom maker and has not cracked since the new handle was made to fix the problem.

Faux horn should make a great looking handle.

Bob