Ever Ready 52C - My First Restore

Aloha gents & ladies,

I had a little time to spare before I had to pick the wife up from work today, so I took the opportunity to hit up a couple of Vintage shops nearby. I didn't have high hopes, since anything metal tends to rust quite quickly here in Hawaii. Also I figured most folks around here (the younger generations) would just trash anything that seemed of little worth. So the first 2 places that I stopped by were duds. It was a rainy and dark afternoon and it seemed to fit my first venture into the "wild" fittingly as I was not finding any luck. The third place that I stopped in to have a look was a bit more promising as I found a wee little shaving brush (Kristle?) brand in a two fingered shaving mug that looked like the two finger holds were modeled after brass knuckles. It was kind of neat, but the brush was really quite small and made of plastic and was over priced at $25. I asked the lady at the front about shaving gear and we had a pleasant conversation for a few minutes. She had stated that she had had a razor (once) and that it had sold. She also mentioned that there were a couple more places "down the road". My hopes had returned in spite of the "3 strikes" against me. The last stop that I made just prior to picking up my wife was at an antique place that I had passed by often, but had written off. i went inside and after browsing a spell the man at the front asked me if I was looking for anything. I stated "old shaving stuff" He then brought me around to a glass counter and pulled out a smallish cardboard box that was filled with a small assortment of brushes and razors. The razors were all user grade without cases or extras (Autostrop; Keen Kutter; Ball end tech; & gold tech). He had left the blade in the Keen Kutter when he told me to have a look. I almost had to look for a tetanus shot . At any rate I browsed the brushes and noticed the Ever-Ready from pics here on B&B and thought to myself. This will be my first purchase in the wild and also my first brush restore. So $10.40 lighter; I had a new baby to bring home:

The Cruddy Cell Phone Pic Before Shots:


Now to start cramming my head with restore threads! My initial thoughts are to put a extreme flat top knot in it as those have all but disappeared around here. I saw another brush similar to this one with a flat top knot that looked quite art deco. So to all restorers out there... What do you think? Any suggestions on knot type, etc? Any tips on what not to do?

Go slow and take your time. Removing the old knot is the most difficult part. Once you get the knot out, polish it up and measure for a new one. My favorite knot is a two band finest from the Golden Nib.

What Mike said. It'll be beautiful when you're finished! Nice score.

What Mike said, again. The handle looks to be in great shape and should be pretty easy to restore. Nice pick.

I'm just curious what method(s) you guys have found to be the most effective for removing the knot without removing the bottom plate that protects the threads at the base of the black portion of the handle where the colored piece is screwed into? I read a good portion of the how to restore a brush thread and it seemed that the Dremel Engraving "BB" style bit was popular, but someone also mentioned a forstner bit. I don't have a dremel as the one I bought burned up doing what I thought was acceptable work, so I'm not in a rush to replace. The forstner bit sounds promising as it could be chucked into a hand drill, but it might chew up the bottom plate?

The last thing that I want to do is destroy what I think will be a fantastic brush.

Also is Shavemac the only place to get flat top knots? They are quite expensive, so my $10 brush handle becomes a $110 dollar brush after the knot is selected...

Thank you "gurus" for the guidance.

MrSmith said:

I'm just curious what method(s) you guys have found to be the most effective for removing the knot without removing the bottom plate that protects the threads at the base of the black portion of the handle where the colored piece is screwed into? I read a good portion of the how to restore a brush thread and it seemed that the Dremel Engraving "BB" style bit was popular, but someone also mentioned a forstner bit. I don't have a dremel as the one I bought burned up doing what I thought was acceptable work, so I'm not in a rush to replace. The forstner bit sounds promising as it could be chucked into a hand drill, but it might chew up the bottom plate?

The last thing that I want to do is destroy what I think will be a fantastic brush.

Also is Shavemac the only place to get flat top knots? They are quite expensive, so my $10 brush handle becomes a $110 dollar brush after the knot is selected...

Thank you "gurus" for the guidance.

Click to expand...

This is where a drill press comes in very handy. It's not essential, but very handy. While I'm a fan of Forstner bits, I wouldn't use one with a handheld drill (I know, many here do it successfully). As for removing the old knot without doing grave damage to the shelf, after cutting off the bristles as close as possible to the top of the ferrule, I would use a small drill bit and, starting near the center of the knot stub, carefully drill several holes into the knot. You might want to mark the bit to aid in not going too deep and into the shelf. Once you've drilled several holes, try pulling out small clumps of bristles near the center of the knot with pliers (needle nose pliers are my usual choice for this). And after you've successfully removed a few clumps of bristles, they usually begin to come out a bit easier. Other times, you may have to drill more holes. In either case, work from near the center of the knot stub outward to the perimeter of the ferrule. The key is to be patient, go slowly and don't rush. You'll get there eventually.

As for flat top knots, as far as I know, Shavemac is the only source. And, yep, they're pricey.

Good luck with your restoration!

Updates:

So I stayed home today after church (we normally go out for lunch) to take care of some chores. I finished up and had time to spend on the brush restore. My setup was:
Electric hand drill
3/4" forstner bit
1/8" engraving dremmel bit
various grades of sandpaper (400 through 2000 grit)
Flitz polish

So I took my knife to the existing knot and cut it quite close to the top of brush. I used the Dremmel bit to clean out the remaining hair down to what I thought was the support plate. It turned out to be some sort of chalky substance ?? I read another thread that mentioned this same thing ?? Anyhow. The Dremmel bit left a very un-even surface and I was worried about having a proper surface for the knot to rest upon, so I turned to the Forstner bit. I chucked the forstner bit into the hand drill and cautiously proceeded. the results ended up being quite easy and good. there was actually a bit mor material left to get through before I would have hit the support plate. The forstner bit made wuick work of it and I used the Dremmel bit to touch up a few spots that the forstner missed. Overall a very easy process so far.

*Note to self ~ fully tape brush handle prior to putting it near tools! I didn't tape the handle when I first started and the Dremmel bit rode out of the knot "cup" and along the brush. I didn't realize it at the time, but it left bulldozer tracks across the top of handle and Ever Ready lettering. I taped the handle prior to "drilling" out the knot.

Now on to sanding and polishing. Once I noticed the dremmel tracks, I realized that I was going to need to do a bit of sanding, not just a quick polish. So I started with 600 grit to see if that would get the scratches out, but no luck. So down one level (or up) to 400 grit and that did the trick. I then progressed from 400>600>1500>2000 grit paper. Then a couple of rounds with Flitz polish and here are the results:

Looking very nice. Great polish.

great pictures! the handle looks very nice.

You were fortunate to get one of the in demand handles. Looking great so far. I like how you did not sand away the patina of the green base. Are you going to try to stabilize the cracks, other than while epoxying the knot?

@FL shaver
I did not know that this was an in demand handle, so fortune must have been on my side. Also, I wasn't aware that you could stabilize the cracks, so if that is an option then I might give her a go. Otherwise I was going to try and stabilize them with a little epoxy when I set the knot. How do you stabilize? Or rather is there a wiki or sticky that illustrates this process?

Re the patina: I was worried that I would have to remove too much material to get past the patina and thus loose some of the "ring step" definition. Ultimately you get a little "peak-a-boo" of the original bright green at the ring step edges and the patina elsewhere. I am well pleased with the results as well.

Waiting *impatiently* for the knot to arrive. I don't think it has shipped yet....

I wish I had a drill press, but that doesn't keep me from using fostner bits when removing knots. I have a set from Harbor Freight, cheap but adequate. I start with a bit that is undersized and then move up to one that gets most everything, leaving the final clean-up to a Dremel with a sanding drum. I just posted an Ever-Ready that I cleaned up that way. YMMV.

Big Jim said:

I wish I had a drill press, but that doesn't keep me from using fostner bits when removing knots. I have a set from Harbor Freight, cheap but adequate. I start with a bit that is undersized and then move up to one that gets most everything, leaving the final clean-up to a Dremel with a sanding drum. I just posted an Ever-Ready that I cleaned up that way. YMMV.

Click to expand...

I thought the same thing, then i bought me a drill guide/jig at harbor freight. The only issue is the two rods that hold up the jig are kind of narrow. I recently finished a brush and using one of these gave me perfect knot hole.

One thing i will add, is that while i'm sure it can be used by one person. It is soooo much easier if you have someone to help you.

Time for an update. Below you will find the finished product. Here are the specs:

EverReady 52C handle approx. 48mm height X 33mm base dia X 28.5mm at the juncture of the two pieces.
Knot: Shavemac D01 3 band Flat top (not as flat as I had hoped for) 20mm X 48 loft! The knot plug is set into the handle @ 15mm.
The EverReady handle opening was exactly 20mm as was the knot plug, so I enlarged the opening with a dremmel sanding barrel just until the knot would fit without forcing it into the handle. The knot is secured with RTV Automobile Silicon Adhesive. The glue that you see in the base of the knot was from the mfr, not from the RTV Silicon.

PS. This will be my first Shavemac knot experience. I was informed that the D01 hair could handle high lofts without becoming floppy, so we will soon find out.

So for your viewing pleasure...

Fine outcome! Enjoy it!

Hi All,<br><br>I just had the first use on this brush last night. &nbsp;I really like the quality and density of the D01 hair for this small knot size. &nbsp;I do think that it helps make this brush feel bigger than it really is. &nbsp;The hair is *stiff* and scrubby, but also quite soft. &nbsp;I did pick up just a hint of ***** when using circular motions on the face, which I feel that the flat top shape may have contributed to (keeping the bristles perpendicular to the face). &nbsp;I did have to adjust my load a bit and tweak a few other things, but the brush performed very well. &nbsp;The flat top shape just looks right in this brush to me and gives a good presence on the face. &nbsp;I think that the loft is a tad high, but not floppy at this ratio 20mm/48mm. &nbsp;I may go back and adjust the loft down to 43~45mm where I think that the sweet spot would be for this one. &nbsp;Overall I am well pleased and would not hesitate to recommend that anyone with a little patience attempt a restore. &nbsp;It really was a fun and rewarding experience. &nbsp;I would also not hesitate to recommend the Shavemac D01 3-band hair. &nbsp;It is dense and scrubby and soft. &nbsp;With a little larger knot it could very well be the badger equivalent of the Semogue SOC Boar, although the boar is much better value for the money.<br><br>PS. &nbsp;I took it by the antique shop to show the fellow that I purchased from the final result. &nbsp;I think that he was well impressed.