Rubberset 400 - knot - What's your choice?

So now I have three 400's to re-knot or two if I keep the original boar in the 400-4. In the past I've used a Grade A Silvertip , Finest 2-band and a Super Finest, all from TGN. I pretty much like them all. I've been going over their site and I've come up with these:

24mm Grade A Silvertip
24mm Finest F-2
24mm Black Badger
24mm Boar

I prefer something with some backbone.

What say you and why?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

I've restored about a dozen of these with different knots. Only one was a real standout for me, the TGN 24mm Finest F2. I like a lot of backbone and that killed it for me when I tried the silvertips & friends. The Finest F2 is just perfect for me. The others just sit by and look pretty.

ezmike said:

So now I have three 400's to re-knot or two if I keep the original boar in the 400-4. In the past I've used a Grade A Silvertip , Finest 2-band and a Super Finest, all from TGN. I pretty much like them all. I've been going over their site and I've come up with these:

24mm Grade A Silvertip
24mm Finest F-2
24mm Black Badger
24mm Boar

I prefer something with some backbone.

What say you and why?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

Click to expand...

What of you think of the Finest 2-band Fan and the black badger?

Mike

I think they're both great. The black badger is just a bit more scritchy.

ezmike said:

What of you think of the Finest 2-band Fan and the black badger?

Mike

Click to expand...

Thanks for your opinions. It helps knowing what others think. I really like the Finest 2-band I have so I'll try the 2-band Fan this time. A different shape. To try something different I'll try a black badger knot and the third will be the Finest F2 which will still be different from the Finest 2-band.

Mike

Personally I don't care for black badger. It is far too scritchy for me. The only thing going for it, in my opinion, is that it looks good, especially with a black handle.

I'm addicted to silvertip, but I have a growing appreciation for finest.

TGN Finest fan. IMO, just as good as my $$$ brushes.

Big Jim said:

Personally I don't care for black badger. It is far too scritchy for me. The only thing going for it, in my opinion, is that it looks good, especially with a black handle.

I'm addicted to silvertip, but I have a growing appreciation for finest.

Click to expand...

As mentioned a couple times here, the black badger can be pretty harsh. TGN used to carry a short loft "Best" knot which I found to be a step between the Finest and the black badger. I have a Best knot of the regular loft variety that is not mounted in a handle yet so I can't speak to the difference in feel. I like some scritch and I enjoy the variety of having several TGN knotted brushes at hand every morning but my brush with the black badger does not get used very often.

I love my TGN 24mm Finest in both fan and bulb shapes, but for that handle I would have to go with the boar. The original look, the backbone and (after the break-in period) soft tips. If you go with the TGN boar, be aware that the flare above the knot base is quite a bit larger then the nominal size of the knot. In other words, if that handle just accepts a 24mm Finest, then order a 22mm boar. My 24mm TGN boar needed a 26+ mm hole.

Thanks everyone for you input. My original choices included a boar knot and based on the comments the black badger is losing ground rapidly. So as it stands now these are the knots I'm ordering:

24mm Finest F2
24mm Finest 2-band fan

The boar knot in the #4 I just finished buffing is pretty nice and I used it for about a week and enjoyed it very much. The question is whether to take that one out only to replace it with another?

Here's a photo:



What say you?

If anyone has re-knotted one of these with a boar, what size did you use?

Mike

I just heard from Tony at TGN and the hair tuff above the plug on the 24mm boar knot measures approximately 27.6mm. So while the plug will fit in the ferrel it looks like the tuff above the plug be compressed quite a bit as it exits the Rubberset 400 handle.

I guess the question is, are the tuffs above the plug of the 24mm badgers as big as the boar? If so and they fit, will the boar?

Thanks

Mike

ezmike said:

I just heard from Tony at TGN and the hair tuff above the plug on the 24mm boar knot measures approximately 27.6mm. So while the plug will fit in the ferrel it looks like the tuff above the plug be compressed quite a bit as it exits the Rubberset 400 handle.

I guess the question is, are the tuffs above the plug of the 24mm badgers as big as the boar? If so and they fit, will the boar?

Thanks

Mike

Click to expand...

I don't think so Mike. The TGN 24mm finest badger knots I've used fit nicely in a 1" hole (25.4mm) the 24mm boar was not even close.

I'm using a TGN Grade A Silvertip. Should be lather ready next week.

Thin Crust said:

I'm using a TGN Grade A Silvertip. Should be lather ready next week.

Click to expand...

I've used them on ther brushes, they are sweet.

The knots arrived yesterday. The 2 badgers fit perfectly. The 22mm boar plug leaves a bit of space around the plug and the tuft is not compressed at all. If I set it too deep it will be way too short and rigid. The plug will have to be set shallow. My only concern is whether then there will be too much space around the tuft about the plug.

Mike

Well the knots arrived from TGN.

The Finest 2-band Fan is a nice knot. Great feel and nice shape.
It's the one on the left.

The Finest F2 is nice, feels good and lathers great but it has an odd shape to it, almost lopsided and it's shedding about a dozen hairs a day for the 3 days I've used it. Here are some post bloom pics.



Mike

Very classy looking brushes Mike. Really cool!

i love my 24mm black badger.

They look great Mike! If the F2 continues to shed, give Tony a call, maybe he can help.

Thanks guys!

GolFisHunt said:

They look great Mike! If the F2 continues to shed, give Tony a call, maybe he can help.

Click to expand...

Dave, I sent Tony an e-mail yesterday, I should hear from him soon.

Mike

He seems like a good guy to deal with. Good luck!