My first attempt at a brush restoration

I just got this in the mail today. I'm going to attempt to restore some old shaving brushes. I figure this is a cheap way to get a new brush or three without paying heaps.
I bought this Cavalier brush from ebay. When I got it, it was a little stained and had ratty old boar bristles. Before I thought about taking any photos I attacked it with a pair of sharp scissors and a drill to get rid of the old knot. It was no where near as deep as I thought it would be. The handle still has a few scratches, but I'm not sure if I should bother to polish them out or not.
Now I'm waiting for the knot to arrive and I'll be able to put it all together. Just hoping that the hole is big enough. I don't like the thought of having to enlarge the hole. Anyway, here are a few pictures of my progress so far.

That's a nice looking handle. Where did you order the knot from? I'm a big fan of the knots from Golden Nib, I have three so far and fully intend to get a few more.

Thats the place, Golden Nib. I thought it would be a lot more expensive. I have two more handles coming soon, but I want to finish this one before i make any mistakes on the others.

If the knot is only slightly too big you can use a small file - I used a nail file - to make the base of the knot fit.

Golden Nib are great for prices and shipping is very affordable too, as the knots are obviously very light. They are also *ahem* customs friendly. :w

I'd keep the scratches & dings in the handle. They make it look like the antique that it is. If you sand it down & re-finish it, you might as well have used a new handle, & where's the fun in that?

Too late. It's nice and shiny now. I guess I can't be trusted with polish. However, it still has it's original lable. I'll take some more pictures tomorrow to show the progress so far. All I have to do now is wait for the brush to arrive. Waiting is the hardest part.

Good on you. I restored acouple of brushes a little while ago. The golden nib brushes I got really benefitted from a nice long soak in some warm water.

I also ageed that you should leave the antique look to the brush handle.

I got the brushes from TGN today and now they are in place with the epoxy setting as I type. With the Cavalier the hole was a little small and had to be widened just a little. This was easily done with a diamond file. I also have an old Eveready which even though the hole was a little small, when the brush was in place, it wanted to settle off to one side. This was because the hole left from the old bristles was a bit deep. This has been filled in with epoxy and the brush is being supported in place with a tube made from a piece of paper. I'll take some photos to show you all as soon as I charge the batteries for my camera.

Could you post the link for the knots. Now I have to hunt worn out brushes. Is the epoxy waterproof? Found Golden Nib on eBay

Here is the link for The Golden Nib. Be careful, this site could become addictive.
The epoxy glue you find at the hardwear store should do the job. It should say that it is water proof. If it is clear and intended for out door use you should be fine. You can find old brushes for cheap prices on ebay, or you might be able to find some in antique stores.

Here are some pictures of the finished product. The first one with the wooden handle is an Ever Ready handle with a silver tip badger brush. To seal the handle I dipped it in polyurathane outdoor floor sealer. Just one dip gave it a great finish with no drips. The only problem is that it filled in the stamp. I'm going to do the next wooden handle slightly different. I also used epoxy to fill the void in this one an when I put in the brush knot I ended up with some unsightly dribbles.

The next one is a Cavalier handle with a silver tip badger brush. This has to be my favorite one so far. Again I filled the void with epoxy but I let this one cure before I glued in the brush. So this one is in great shape.

The last one is just marked USA sterilized 7. It has a silver tip badger hair brush knot. At the hands of one of its previous owners, probably a barber, it had sat in warm lather that was re heated to a point that made the plastic bubble in the area where the brush met the handle. This had caused some unsightly bubbling and cracking. It also had a definite ring where it had been worn against a lathering mug. I filed this down as best I could to try to give it back some of its original shape. This revield the cracking under the surface. Then I sealed it by dipping it in the polyurathane floor sealer. Now the cracks make a nice artistic feature.

Hello Nathan,

Nice work and good pointers. Could you explain what you mean by void in more detail. What size knots are you using? I have my eye out for some handles but so far I have not found any cheap enough to cut the brush out. I might turn a handle. I just have to finish my sewing project

One of my TWA friends moved to Chaing Mai. He has been married twice there.

Jay

With many of the older brushes the handle is not made out of a solid piece of material. There is a recess where the old knot was glued in and underneath that there is a space between that recess and the base. These handles can feel a little lite, so filling this void makes the brush feel more solid. Also, it can be benificial to remove the bottom of the knot recess so that you can set the depth of the new knot as shallow or deep as you want.

What size knots are you using? If I turn a handle what size knot would you recommend?

The two larger ones are 22mm and the smaller one is 18 mm. The diameter at the top is about 7cm. I found that this is a great size, not too big, not too small

I know this is an older thread, but thanks for the pointers and details! I'm searching for just the right handle to restore and hit TGN for my knot, so your pictures and details are very helpful.