Recently I won a bid on e-Bay for some shaving brush handles. Three of them to be exact. They were maple handles and one of them was walnut stained.
The next photo shows the three brush handles from the seller and then the walnut stained handle in closer detail.
For the walnut stained handle I chose a 22 mm Silvertip knot which had a loft of 61 mm from the base of the knot. I took the handle and drilled down some more to provide room for two nickels for ballast and to reduce the loft down to reduce the potential for floppiness.
After boring out the hole, I applied an additional coat of Minwax® polycrylic on the outside and two coats on the inside to completely seal the handle.
While allowing the handle to dry, I took the knot and washed it in M·A·C Cosmetics Brush Cleanser which provided an excellent cleaning of the knot. A large amount of brown residue was removed from the knot with this first cleaning. This preparation allows the knot to be clean upon insertion which should mean a head start in the break in process and no brown residue on the soap. The M·A·C Cosmetics Brush Cleanser is also a disinfectant which is good for cleaning older brushes.
http://www.maccosmetics.com/product/135/307/Brush-Cleanser/index.tmpl
Once the brush handle and the knot were completely dry, the nickels were bound together using J.B. Weld epoxy. After about 20 minutes, the nickels were epoxied onto the brush handle on the interior bottom shelf. After an additional 20 minutes, the knot was epoxied into the handle (on top of the nickels). The brush was allowed 24 hours to cure the epoxy per instructions.
The following picture shows the completed work with the final loft at 54 mm.
Later on I will break in the brush to see how it lathers.
The next photo shows the three brush handles from the seller and then the walnut stained handle in closer detail.
For the walnut stained handle I chose a 22 mm Silvertip knot which had a loft of 61 mm from the base of the knot. I took the handle and drilled down some more to provide room for two nickels for ballast and to reduce the loft down to reduce the potential for floppiness.
After boring out the hole, I applied an additional coat of Minwax® polycrylic on the outside and two coats on the inside to completely seal the handle.
While allowing the handle to dry, I took the knot and washed it in M·A·C Cosmetics Brush Cleanser which provided an excellent cleaning of the knot. A large amount of brown residue was removed from the knot with this first cleaning. This preparation allows the knot to be clean upon insertion which should mean a head start in the break in process and no brown residue on the soap. The M·A·C Cosmetics Brush Cleanser is also a disinfectant which is good for cleaning older brushes.
http://www.maccosmetics.com/product/135/307/Brush-Cleanser/index.tmpl
Once the brush handle and the knot were completely dry, the nickels were bound together using J.B. Weld epoxy. After about 20 minutes, the nickels were epoxied onto the brush handle on the interior bottom shelf. After an additional 20 minutes, the knot was epoxied into the handle (on top of the nickels). The brush was allowed 24 hours to cure the epoxy per instructions.
The following picture shows the completed work with the final loft at 54 mm.
Later on I will break in the brush to see how it lathers.
