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More Bestshave

Further to this http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/242202-Bestshave

I thought anyone who had not seen these brushes may be interested in a look-see.

I bought six. One is in my bathroom :001_smile, another in bits !:001_unsur

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For scale

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From the top

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The quality of the handles leaves a little to be desired :wink2:

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I didn't buy them for the handles, having said that. I wanted some reasonable horsehair knots to play with.

On that basis, I took one of the brushes apart to see what was what.

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It looks like the collar is slipped onto the hair, then the handle filled with an epoxy type cement. Not pretty, but it does hold things together :001_unsur

The one that I have used didn't loose a hair during an initial wash, then a shave.

I'm planning on going ahead and re-handling a couple of these. I'll give them away and see how they hold up.


Steve
 
you know,what you plan on doing is time consuming and specialized work,if you are going to put so much effort into it,why not get the best horse knot available from vie-long ?
 
you know,what you plan on doing is time consuming and specialized work,if you are going to put so much effort into it,why not get the best horse knot available from vie-long ?

I have contacted Vie-Long, but they will not supply knots. I am ordering one of their brushes to see just how good the knots are.

Vie-Long brushes are , of course, more expensive, but not over the top, by any means. If I end up buying their brushes just to use the knots, so be it.

Bare in mind that I am not trying to earn my living making shaving brushes. I think that they compliment the other things that I make, using the same materials ( other than the knots :wink2: ), and techniques.

All good fun


Steve
 
I've bought a few myself - 1 is in use, 1 is being PIF'ed to a friend who wanted to try DE shaving, and the third was being subjected to some experiments... I'll post pics of it in a bit. It lost a lot of it's handle in the process...

oh, and yours seem to have a nice black stripe, mine didn't.

so what are your thoughts on the hole on the bottom of the brush? Mine had them too and I was wondering
 
I've bought a few myself - 1 is in use, 1 is being PIF'ed to a friend who wanted to try DE shaving, and the third was being subjected to some experiments... I'll post pics of it in a bit. It lost a lot of it's handle in the process...

oh, and yours seem to have a nice black stripe, mine didn't.

so what are your thoughts on the hole on the bottom of the brush? Mine had them too and I was wondering


The hole in the base is the centre hole from the turning process, I would say.

Steve
 
Hey Steve,
Actually, I meant the off-center hole that you see in the OP's pictures - mine had them too and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they were there...

and for those interested, I posted a new topic showing my mod of the bestshave horse hair brush
 
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I have contacted Vie-Long, but they will not supply knots. I am ordering one of their brushes to see just how good the knots are.

Vie-Long brushes are , of course, more expensive, but not over the top, by any means. If I end up buying their brushes just to use the knots, so be it.

Bare in mind that I am not trying to earn my living making shaving brushes. I think that they compliment the other things that I make, using the same materials ( other than the knots :wink2: ), and techniques.

All good fun


Steve

there is another horse brush co. in spain,less well known ,"tres claveles" (3 carnations) ,I would email juan at giftsandcare.com and just ask if he can supply you with knots from j&m ,tres claveles or another manufacturer ,tell him you are from the b&b forum...
 
there is another horse brush co. in spain,less well known ,"tres claveles" (3 carnations) ,I would email juan at giftsandcare.com and just ask if he can supply you with knots from j&m ,tres claveles or another manufacturer ,tell him you are from the b&b forum...

Many thanks for that.

Well worth a try !


Steve
 
Hey Steve,
Actually, I meant the off-center hole that you see in the OP's pictures - mine had them too and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they were there...

and for those interested, I posted a new topic showing my mod of the bestshave horse hair brush


I think that the off-centre hole, which is quite shallow, is where a nail/pin of some sort was used to hang the handle when it was varnished.

That's my best guess :wink2:

Steve
 
Hey again Steve,
ah, that makes sense... I also wanted to ask - how did you cut the handle off so cleanly without affecting the knot? Careful use of a table saw?
 
Hey again Steve,
ah, that makes sense... I also wanted to ask - how did you cut the handle off so cleanly without affecting the knot? Careful use of a table saw?

No such luxury as a table saw in my wee workshop mate :wink2:

I didn't actually "cut the handle off".

Holding the brush upside-down in a vice, I cut down from the base, towards the knot, with a Japanese "pull saw"

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If you are not familiar with this type, they cut on the back stroke and produce a very fine cut surface. Interchangeable blades, so I used the "Rip" to cut with the grain.

Once I had cut almost to the collar,before I reached the knot base (hopefully :wink2:), I split the last wee bit by inserting a screwdriver blade into the saw cut and giving a slight twist.

Hopefully, this is what you were asking :confused1

I'm not trying to teach Granny any new "egg tricks" :001_unsur

Steve
 
I've used a few of the knots in vintage handles. IMHO, They are well worth the price. I personally do not find the Vie Long horsehair brushes superior to the Turkish. They are different though. Vie Longs use some tail hair in the knots and are much softer when new. The Turkish brushes are stiffer when new but after a few months of use become very soft with great backbone.
 
Hey Steve,
Actually, I meant the off-center hole that you see in the OP's pictures - mine had them too and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why they were there...

I had to find out :001_smile

I cut down through the off-centre hole :

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Unbelievably bad pic :sad:

but my theory looks a strong possibility.


Steve
 
I've used a few of the knots in vintage handles. IMHO, They are well worth the price. I personally do not find the Vie Long horsehair brushes superior to the Turkish. They are different though. Vie Longs use some tail hair in the knots and are much softer when new. The Turkish brushes are stiffer when new but after a few months of use become very soft with great backbone.

Thanks for that.

Useful to know .


Steve
 
Yes, I think you're right about the hole - probably some nails or something put in there as they're drying the heavy topcoat they put on these things!

Ah, a dozuki blade! Great saws, I should have thought of that as I have one... somewhere. It would have been much easier than the crosscut saw I used >.>
 
Here's a couple of quick restores (a little sloppy with the epoxy) I've done with the Turkish HH#6. I think they give a nice vintage look to the handles.
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