Knot recommendations

[paules]

Dear B&B

I just picked up a couple of vintage Ever Ready brushes and want to undertake my first restorations.

Both brushes have openings of 21mm and both are hollow.

Ideally, I would like one brush for face lathering and the other for bowl lathering with creams.

I would appreciate your recommendations on (a) type of knot and (b) loft.

Thanks in advance
Paul

[SliceOfLife]

Get a cheap dremel and a grinding drum, use it to expand the openings just enough that you can force (with lots of effort) the following knots into them.
TGN SuperSilvertip 22mm @43mm
TGN Finest 2 band Xtra Hair Bulb 22mm @ 44mm

One of those would be my recommendation for the face latherer. I don't bowl lather, but between the two, I'd say the second would be better.

[SpartanFan]

Whichever knot you end up going with just make sure that you set it deep enough to get enough "backbone", I think that each type of knot kind of needs a different loft to reach that perfect stiffness for face lathering. I have a couple in the works and am just using my best guess on what will be a good loft. Maybe somebody can chime in here with a good loft range that they use for face lathering brushes.

[Loric]

Get a cheap dremel and a grinding drum, use it to expand the openings just enough that you can force (with lots of effort) the following knots into them.
TGN SuperSilvertip 22mm @43mm
TGN Finest 2 band Xtra Hair Bulb 22mm @ 44mm

One of those would be my recommendation for the face latherer. I don't bowl lather, but between the two, I'd say the second would be better.

+1 on both of these. Though if you wanted one to be more a bowl lathering cream brush I would set the Super Silvertip a touch higher I had mine set at 48mm for a while and it was exceptionally soft at that loft, though a touch floppy. I rest it down to 44mm and its a very nice soft scrubby face lathering brush now, not all that dissimilar to the Simpson Eagle G3 in very general terms.

[paules]

Thanks for the great advice and recommendations.

Have ordered the 22mm Finest and 22mm Silvertip from TGN.

Looking forward to undertaking my first restorations.

[alabamalawyer]

Make sure you post some pics of the brushes after you finish with them.

[spindlecone]

take into consideration that TGN knots have extra filling and are very dense.
have used no less than 50 of Tonys knots with great results, I set face lathering brushes at 45mm,Bowl brushes at 48/50mm,28/30mm knots at 55.

[paules]

Make sure you post some pics of the brushes after you finish with them.

I certainly will. Here they are before I removed the knots. I bought them as a lot of three but I am only intending to restore the two Ever Readys.

[paules]

take into consideration that TGN knots have extra filling and are very dense.
have used no less than 50 of Tonys knots with great results, I set face lathering brushes at 45mm,Bowl brushes at 48/50mm,28/30mm knots at 55.

Thanks for the advice.

I was intending to set one knot at around 45mm and the other closer to 50mm. Which knot, Finest or Silvertip, do you recommend setting higher?

[spindlecone]

Thanks for the advice.

I was intending to set one knot at around 45mm and the other closer to 50mm. Which knot, Finest or Silvertip, do you recommend setting higher?

Would set the finest a tad higher as i feel it's a bit stiffer than the S.T and grade A.s,JMO

[wimbouman]

Thanks for the advice.

I was intending to set one knot at around 45mm and the other closer to 50mm. Which knot, Finest or Silvertip, do you recommend setting higher?

That depends on the effect you want to achieve.

For a real Duke like experience you could also consider setting the Finest (which is a great knot, by the way) a bit deeper. That one would be perfect with soaps.

You would then end up with a high loft Silvertip which is perfect for cream and bowl lathering.

I do usually the other way around, though.

I prefer the Silvertip to be set below 5mm. My New Forest 2211 is just that, actually a suggestion by Fido and it is perfect that way for me: combining the softness of the tips with the firmer backbone provided by a deeper setting.

[paules]

I have just completed my first brush restorations.

In the Ever Ready C40 (red & white) I put in a 22mm TGN Silvertip Grade A set at 50mm.

In the Ever Ready F40 (blue & white) I put in a 22mm TGN Finest set at 45mm.

As you can see from the pictures the Silvertip has bloomed nicely but the Finest has hardly bloomed at all. Is this normal? While I was expecting a smaller bloom as it is set lower I thought it would bloom more than it has.

I really enjoyed the restoration process and am looking forward to doing more.

[TMH478]

I have a 23mm and 25mm and I think I have determined those sizes as my sweet spot!

[staxchipswell]

I have just completed my first brush restorations.

In the Ever Ready C40 (red & white) I put in a 22mm TGN Silvertip Grade A set at 50mm.

In the Ever Ready F40 (blue & white) I put in a 22mm TGN Finest set at 45mm.

As you can see from the pictures the Silvertip has bloomed nicely but the Finest has hardly bloomed at all. Is this normal? While I was expecting a smaller bloom as it is set lower I thought it would bloom more than it has.

I really enjoyed the restoration process and am looking forward to doing more.

Yes, I am sure your next restoration will be very soon...May I suggest a TGN 22mm in best. This is a wonderful knot...I like it more than my TGN 20mm silvertip and my 18mm grade A..I know I will try some different knots from TGN in the future,but so far the 22mm in best is the winner for me. Great job on the restorations.