Help, Please! What's up with this handle?

**shavervinnie** · 07-03-2012, 02:18 PM

Here's an Erskine brush I picked up recently to restore. I've already cleaned it up with Fitz. Please observe the shaded ring below the name. It's sort of amber colored like the top of the lucite (?) bottom. (not sure what it's called) The bottom is a cross between a lime green and lemon yellow but seems to turn amber at the top. And the shaded ring seems to be a continuation of this color. Like they say on SNL, "OOOOWWEEE..WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?" Is that shaded ring by design? I've never seen that before. I thought it would come off with cleaning but it won't. Do you guys think it looks cool? I guess I'll just leave it as is and finish the restoration. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

**buma** · 07-03-2012, 04:39 PM

heck, I think it's darn sexy looking like that. If you end up hating it, I know someone will take it off your hands

**QuarkVI** · 07-03-2012, 11:58 PM

Interesting seems like whatever it is has bleed into the yellow of the handle as well - maybe a chemical reaction from the glue used affecting both ?

I love the handle though.

**hig789** · 07-04-2012, 04:01 AM

I am sure it's a chemical reaction with the glue. It might not even be glued though. Have you tried to unscrew the bottom? I have had many like that the the bottom just unscrewed and made it much easier to restore.

**shavervinnie** · 07-04-2012, 05:24 AM

Originally Posted by hig789

I am sure it's a chemical reaction with the glue. It might not even be glued though. Have you tried to unscrew the bottom? I have had many like that the the bottom just unscrewed and made it much easier to restore.

Haven't tried that. Not sure if I want to. If I did I wouldn't want to try to force it and break something. I'll probably just leave it alone. Just re-knot and clean it up a bit more. Maybe work on the lettering a bit too. Thanks for the suggestion.

**echotron** · 07-04-2012, 05:33 AM

Character ... yep, character ... re-knot it and enjoy!

**willwhatyoudo** · 07-09-2012, 12:37 PM

It's possible that the off coloring on the cream top is only superficial. You might be able to remove it with a more aggressive compound and/or some wet sanding. No promises, but there's a chance.

I just restored a handle with the same shape as yours--it's perfect for gripping!

Best of luck with the restore!

**inspiringK** · 07-09-2012, 01:08 PM

With age, the glue used to hold the two sections of the brush together turns to that dark red colour. Here is a picture from one of mine with the red still in.

Then after I removed the glue, but before putting the handle together again.

It seems like the red has bled into your clear handle. Is there any chance at all that the colour is mostly from reflection and will diminish if you get rid of the glue inside the handle?

If not, it actually looks pretty nice as is

**shavervinnie** · 07-09-2012, 03:01 PM

inspringK,

Thanks for the input. I actually think it looks pretty cool as it is now that I've had a few weeks to ponder it. I'm not going to do much more than give it a new "hair-do" and just a good general cleaning/light polishing and touch up the lettering. It's old like me. We are what we are and there's only so much that can be done to make us look any better.