Thread: Making a Shaving Brush

Just curious which knot you went with from TGN, I just received an old brush handle in the mail I plan on drilling out and replacing the knot.

The diameter to use is the diameter of the knot itself. You want that to be as tight a fit as possible. Use marine grade epoxy to secure since you don't have air or UV to cure it. The depth depends on how much loft you want; The deeper the more dense the brush will be.

I used a 24mm knot here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...ned-brush.html
I set the knot within half a centimeter of the edge and got a more relaxed loft on it.

Originally Posted by claytor

The diameter to use is the diameter of the knot itself. You want that to be as tight a fit as possible. Use marine grade epoxy to secure since you don't have air or UV to cure it. The depth depends on how much loft you want; The deeper the more dense the brush will be.

I used a 24mm knot here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...ned-brush.html
I set the knot within half a centimeter of the edge and got a more relaxed loft on it.

claytor,

When you say the diameter of the knot itself, do you mean the base, or somewhere up the tapered part?

So in the pic below, my terminology is the base is the brown/tan part holding the bristles together. That for my knot is a 26mm.

Thanks for the information.

David

I have drilled undersize and with a little whittling and a bit of filing on the base created a very tight friction fit with two brushes I made. This way there is no glue squeezing out which looks just awful imho.

I determined the size bit by direct comparison eyeballing

Originally Posted by kevint

I have drilled undersize and with a little whittling and a bit of filing on the base created a very tight friction fit with two brushes I made. This way there is no glue squeezing out which looks just awful imho.

I determined the size bit by direct comparison eyeballing

Ok, I'm with you so far, but how far up the knot beyond the base do you sink it into the handle. Some of the pics I saw on The Golden Nib website show a handle hole diameter that looks quite a bit bigger than the knot base being sunk into it.

What we're saying is you don't actually measure that part, you fit it in...
Drill, fit, drill, fit, until you get it where you want it, is is actually an adjustment for the brush stiffness... The depth is variable just so long as you sink the base completely otherwise it looks like crapola...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

What we're saying is you don't actually measure that part, you fit it in...
Drill, fit, drill, fit, until you get it where you want it, is is actually an adjustment for the brush stiffness... The depth is variable just so long as you sink the base completely otherwise it looks like crapola...

Glen,

Ah, thanks. So now I have to figure out how deep I want it based on performance and asthetics.

I would imagine that the smaller the hole and the deeper you sink the knot, the stiffer the brush will be. And of course, that is why the suggestion for a pre-drilled test board as seen below.

And the e-poxy will just fill the hole out up to the top of the handle but below the knot.

And of course, there is always the requirement to avoid the result looking like crapola!

BTW, Golden Nib sells a mandrel for turning the handle. It is about $5.00 and so I bought one. I don't know you would turn the whole handle without it. You can see it installed in a handle in the second and third pics below. It is just the mandrel, not the chucks or tap.

David

I've made a few... what knot did you get (usually have to drill out 1 or 2mm plus or minus the knot size as they are not exact), and what do you have in mind for the handle, and how firm do you want your brush to be (this will affect your knot hole and depth).

Originally Posted by timmy

Just curious which knot you went with from TGN, I just received an old brush handle in the mail I plan on drilling out and replacing the knot.

Hi timmy,

I bought a 26mm silvertip badger knot.

David