Thread: Recycling a brush?

So I have my grandfathers old matching granite shave set (brush, mug, and stand). Its actually quite a beautiful set and something I remember from when I was little. My question for you gentlemen is if there is any way I can get the old boar bristles out of it and replace them with badger bristles. I have a pure badger brush but I cant stand it at all. Its to floppy and scratchy on my face and most importantly it doesnt match the rest of the set. I wouldn't mind leaving the boar bristle in because it is very soft on my face and I like the springiness I guess you would say backbone but its getting really brittle and I'll notice that their are individual bristles left on my face after I lather. If I had to guess an age for the brush I would say anywhere from 20-30 years if not older so I think it would be time to replace the bristles.

I found an old brush I just had to have...not only because of the design but because of the name, "Pro-phy-latic".
It probably had horse hair in it but I wanted badger.
I took a pair of scissors & cut the horse hair as far down as I could, then got my drill w/the largest bit I had (3/8?) & drilled the rest of the hair out being careful not to hurt the edges. I then sanded the inside smooth, got some Gorilla glue epoxy & put about 1/8" in, put in the new knot from TGN, lined everything up & let it sit for 24 hours.
If I can do it, anyone can.

Yes the bristles/knot can be replaced. There are many threads about doing this.

The bigger issue is do you know for certain what type of knot you want in your heirloom handle?

Jonathan

No I'm not sure which not I would like. I know I need to measure the not but I am not sure where I should measure it from. Should I measure the inside diameter of the handle. Thats what, at least to me, makes sense. JGK, that seems like an easy enough way to go about it.

Yes the interior diameter of the handle is the maximum size of knot that will fit. Usually you want a little difference between the knot diameter and the brush hole diameter. The depth of the recess in the handle will affect how much you can vary the loft of the finished brush.

Jonathan

i restored my first brush (an every-ready) using the steam method to remove the old knot. Not a good idea. melted the whole thing. Just a word of caution, though i'm sure granite won't be effected the same way.

Any pics of the Granite set?? sounds interesting

I'm looking forward to the before and after pictures! Throw a silvertip in it

yeah I'm not very computer literate but I'm sure my wife will figure out how to put pictures up I will try today. I haven't yet had the time to put a knot in it yet. I am thinking about putting a High mountain white from TGN in it, but I need to save some money first. Any specific brand of glue to use.

Originally Posted by cosperryan

yeah I'm not very computer literate but I'm sure my wife will figure out how to put pictures up I will try today. I haven't yet had the time to put a knot in it yet. I am thinking about putting a High mountain white from TGN in it, but I need to save some money first. Any specific brand of glue to use.

any two part epoxy,I use loctite,just do not use to much.