Folks, what I would like to do is take you on a short step-by-step to restore a Vintage Horn shaving brush from 1900. I bought the brush on *bay for $37.50 shipped from France.... I took a bit of a chance as the photo wasn’t great and I don’t know french.... so I rolled the dice! This is what I got:
The brush has a beautiful beehive shaped handle and wasn’t in bad shape. I thought it could be brought back to life. The badger hair was brittle and falling out, if you touched it the hair crumbled and broke off. The handle was dirty with old soap scum and had several small chips, but hey it was real horn.
The bottom has lath rings from being turned, soap scum and a couple of chips here too! As I was checking out the knot and it’s stability in the handle, I tried to twist it a little and something moved..... but in the handle? I took a closer look and the bottom --- unscrewed! Cool, this is looking like a better and better purchase. The underside of the knot could be seen and the glue holding the knot, but the threads and inside were in great shape... You could see the light through the horn too! Wonder What they did with the space? Hide stuff or was it just used for installing the knot? Seams like a lot of delicate work for a very good craftsman to cut male and female threads in these two pieces of horn and risk breaking or cracking the horn in the process.... If anyone knows why the French maker did this back in the early 1900’s I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. I know other makers did it as well on brushes in the 10940’s & 50’s, like Ever-Ready, but why?
Anyway, over the next few days I will try and transform this brush back to it’s former glory. I will; replace the knot, clean and polish the handle and smooth the small chips. I will need to build a shelf inside the top half of the handle for the new knot to sit on and I want to retain the space underneath it for the small hiding place.
Stay tuned!
The brush has a beautiful beehive shaped handle and wasn’t in bad shape. I thought it could be brought back to life. The badger hair was brittle and falling out, if you touched it the hair crumbled and broke off. The handle was dirty with old soap scum and had several small chips, but hey it was real horn.
The bottom has lath rings from being turned, soap scum and a couple of chips here too! As I was checking out the knot and it’s stability in the handle, I tried to twist it a little and something moved..... but in the handle? I took a closer look and the bottom --- unscrewed! Cool, this is looking like a better and better purchase. The underside of the knot could be seen and the glue holding the knot, but the threads and inside were in great shape... You could see the light through the horn too! Wonder What they did with the space? Hide stuff or was it just used for installing the knot? Seams like a lot of delicate work for a very good craftsman to cut male and female threads in these two pieces of horn and risk breaking or cracking the horn in the process.... If anyone knows why the French maker did this back in the early 1900’s I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. I know other makers did it as well on brushes in the 10940’s & 50’s, like Ever-Ready, but why?
Anyway, over the next few days I will try and transform this brush back to it’s former glory. I will; replace the knot, clean and polish the handle and smooth the small chips. I will need to build a shelf inside the top half of the handle for the new knot to sit on and I want to retain the space underneath it for the small hiding place.
Stay tuned!
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