Jimmy, did you ever try anything else but hair? I have been using "hairs" off a synthetic brush. Rationale: They are machine made, and will provide exactly the same resistance to cutting each time, no matter which way I hold the "hair". Granted, synthetic fibres are not quite as close to human bristles as badger hairs, but the idea is to get a benchmark. And synthetic fibres, being pretty much completely uniform, offer that.