My First Effort | Thater Beehive Handle | Broken Knot | Seeking Advice

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Used the newly constructed 70/30 brush a little while ago.



You can see ^ how much the knot changed as a result of being exposed to water and soap and just one shave. Pretty amazing isn't it. Blooming like crazy it is. As I'd hoped.

Here's a link to my shave report from the first shave with the brush. It also outlines my cleaning process (which was unnecessary I think).

Just looking at the never exposed to water knot, even knowing better, I was a smidgeon worried the knot was set too low. Not worried much of course with it set in silicone.

Now, I think the depth of the well and the loft and all that are fine. I'll give it a few shaves before I decide for sure, but I like what the knot did so far in the blooming process. I also expect the prickly stuff to go away for the most part, hopefully entirely. I like "good scritch" but I don't like bad scritch and prickliness.

So, bottom line, I'm right pleased.

Without your help I would have totally hosed this project. I'm very appreciative to all of you gentlemen who gave me advice, tips, pointers, and helped me assemble the kit and confidence to proceed with this project and get it done.

Spoiler

Had to do it. Sorry.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I've acquired a new disease: Handle Acquisition Disorder.

Never heard of it until just now. Obviously it's a novel virus or something although there are rumors it's been around for awhile.

 

[GAW9576]

That looks great. Congratulations.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

That looks great. Congratulations.

Thank you.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

This brush with the 26 mm 70/30 Maggard knot (the subject of this thread) is breaking in nicely. I wouldn't say that 100% of the "bad scritch" is gone nor that the break in process is finished, but the knot is today shockingly softer than it was. It seems to have made a quantum leap since I used it a couple of days ago but perhaps that's my imagination.

It wouldn't have worked out nearly so well without your good advice and helpful tips.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[GAW9576]

View attachment 1097887

This brush with the 26 mm 70/30 Maggard knot (the subject of this thread) is breaking in nicely. I wouldn't say that 100% of the "bad scritch" is gone nor that the break in process is finished, but the knot is today shockingly softer than it was. It seems to have made a quantum leap since I used it a couple of days ago but perhaps that's my imagination.

It wouldn't have worked out nearly so well without your good advice and helpful tips.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Looks sweet. I look forward to further reports on the break in. That's a knot I have considered but not yet tried.

 

[SliceOfLife]

How's it coming along, softened up any more?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

How's it coming along, softened up any more?

Yes.

I used it on Saturday. Then, again on Monday, yesterday. It's a lot softer than it was initially (at the tips I mean) but still somewhat prickly. Not bad prickly. Getting there.





How long it'll take to truly break in (soften the boar) is beyond my crystal ball reading capacities, but it's certainly a useable brush now, and I expect it will continue to soften. It's moved a long way in that direction already.





It's going to have to soften more for me to think of it as a favorite. Still, I like it already. My only other mixed knot is the tiny Omega Mixed Midget. The Mixed Midget is okay but I like the 70/30 better.

Thanks for all your help with this, particularly for telling me about the knot.

Probably be using the 70/30 again tomorrow.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[never-stop-learning]

Really nicely done, Jim!

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Really nicely done, Jim!

Thanks.

 

[Straight up]

Interesting journey, I'm in the same boat.

I ordered a Maggard Badger knot for the restoration of my first brush handle (formerly boar). I also ordered Hardman Silicone Adhesive from them expecting they know what works best, and for $1.50 how wrong could it be?

I'm still waiting for it to arrive, suspecting it got stuck on the docks with the shutdown going on now. I contacted Maggard and they were great, saying they have a policy of re-shipping the order at their expense if greater than 26 days. So now I wait and read about what others are doing.

 

[SliceOfLife]

That's a bad policy to have right now. I've had two ebay sales in the past two months randomly take 4 weeks to arrive... everything else, totally unaffected... just random packages they decide to sit on for weeks at a time.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

The Maggard 70/30 knot I installed in an old Thater handle thanks to the advice and help given in this thread is working out well. Not entirely broken in yet it's enjoyable and effective. I like it.





Today's two enlargeable thumbnails show the knot. I think the photo on the left also shows how this is not the most shapely of knots. To me it looks a tad deformed. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but I have no other deformed knots.

I'm thinking of perhaps removing the knot. That means I'll have to find out exactly how to do so. The knot is held in place now with Silicone adhesive as discussed in this thread.

If and when I remove the knot I'll likely reinstall the same knot but with an epoxy.

Is the knot's deformity something I should address in some way?

I'm in no rush to do anything as I like the brush. Maybe I should leave well enough alone?

Thanks for any advice, help, and comments.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[GAW9576]

I have a few knots that aren't perfectly symmetrical. I think it's jist do to natural fibers doing there own thing. Like a bad hair day some jist have a mind of there own. I can't see minor irregularities having any real effect on performance so it doesn't bother me. It could also be that the knot is jist a little off center in the hole so it's pushing on one side more than the other.

 

[Big Jim]

It's likely the knot. It may be less noticeable when in bloom.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

A week or so ago I decided the the 26mm Maggard 70/30 knot after about thirty or so shaves was still not comfortable according to my standards.

It had too much prickliness to it. Now, to be accurate the bad scritch was noticeable only when pushing the knot into my skin softly; it was not noticeable when the brush was splayed nor when the knot was used for painting.

I've taken the brush offline and out of my rotation and will continue putting it through wet to dry cycles to see if I can get rid of the prickliness as more bristles break in.

I sure hope this happens as I otherwise love the delicious scrub of the knot and other aspects of the brush and its knot.

I'm in no rush and probably will continue the process for about a month before another test shave with it.

In the meantime I have a few other brushes. One in particular is of great current interest, the Semogue SOC Mistura (which is still breaking in).

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[GAW9576]

Could you describe the wet dry proses for breaking in. Is it simply getting it wet and letting it dry?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Could you describe the wet dry proses for breaking in. Is it simply getting it wet and letting it dry?

Yes.

I actually go about it in several different ways.

• Sometimes I soak the knot in a mug for a few minutes and then hang it knot down to dry.
• The knot can be up or down. I don't think it matters at all, but maybe it does.
• Sometimes the knot is soaked, but then towel dried, and then air dried. Sometimes it's just air dried.
• I might soak the knot for hours before drying it, but it's always soaked at least several minutes.
• Occasionally the knot is soaked for several minutes before being loaded with shaving soap and then used to palm lather. After a good rinse, it's then dried. Usually I don't lather the knot but only soak it.
• I have in the past soaked knots in the refrigerator, taking the knot out every 24 hours to towel dry it before putting it back into the cold water. That system does not employ air drying.
• Currently I might dry the brush for 20 hours or two days.

There're numerous ways to go about it. I'm not sure one works better than the others. The main thing as I understand it is to put the knot through wet to dry cycles. Simply get it good and wet and then let it dry well.

In my experience some boars don't need to be broken in, but most will develop split ends either via a formal break in process (as described above) or just by using them. Some boars are very easily broken in. Some take a very long time to break in (for instance my Semogue SOC boar took months and months). Occasionally I'll run across a boar which never breaks in (meaning I give up on it).

The brush I'm currently working on is a mixed knot - 70% badger & 30% boar - thus I'm targeting the boar bristles in the break in process. Some folks say badger hairs don't break in at all or don't break in much. In my experience some badgers break in to a very considerable degree. I'm not saying all badgers break in. I can only report on my experience (and what I've read). Maybe it depends on the type of badger hair, or the grade, or how much or how little it's been chemically processed.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Hydguy]

The Maggard 70/30 knot I installed in an old Thater handle thanks to the advice and help given in this thread is working out well. Not entirely broken in yet it's enjoyable and effective. I like it.


View attachment 1111426View attachment 1111427


Today's two enlargeable thumbnails show the knot. I think the photo on the left also shows how this is not the most shapely of knots. To me it looks a tad deformed. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but I have no other deformed knots.

I'm thinking of perhaps removing the knot. That means I'll have to find out exactly how to do so. The knot is held in place now with Silicone adhesive as discussed in this thread.

If and when I remove the knot I'll likely reinstall the same knot but with an epoxy.

Is the knot's deformity something I should address in some way?

I'm in no rush to do anything as I like the brush. Maybe I should leave well enough alone?

Thanks for any advice, help, and comments.

Happy shaves,

Jim

I wouldn't worry about the shape of the knot. Several of mine, including synthetics, look a tad lopsided, and they are all from the manufacturer that way.

 

[Hydguy]

Here is a lopsided knot in an expensive brush.