First restore, Ever Ready T100 with TGN 22mm finest fan; what loft?

I love my omega 10066 and it's currently my only brush. I love it and I'm a dedicated face latherer. Recently I got an old spice mug and it included a beat up T100. Well, I finally got around to restoring it and after much research, settled on a TGN 22mm fan . It's here and I think I made the right choice. It's got a backbone equal to my amazing 10066.

Here is my question. When I set it into the handle opened up to 24mm with a loft of 46mm, it seems mighty stiff. The attached pictures show the dry fit. Will it soften up and bloom when wet? I didn't think it possible, but I'm concerned that my new badger brush may be too stiff! Should I tape it in and use it or should it just throw a penny in there?

I'd tape it in and use for a few shaves to see how it works. Looks very nice, by the way.

My experience is that knots open up a little over the first month. However other gents disagree and YMMV.

You could set it with a little silicone instead of epoxy. That makes it easier to revisit.

I'd go a little higher. Near 50mm.

A quarter usually fits fine under a 24 mm knot. Certainly a nickel will.

It's absolutely a personal preference. In my experience, every knot is a little bit different - even two identical size and loft knots bought from the same vendor at the same time. One might want to be at 46mm, another at 49mm. The silicone/tape/whatever-temporary-hold-method is excellent for just this purpose. Give it a whirl for a week, see if you like it. I start low and work my way up. Others start high and work their way down. I like short loft brushes, but you definitely can go so low that the brush doesn't splay. Some people like that, but I prefer at least a bit of splay.

So after a run of some test lathers at different lofts, I settled in at 47mm for the loft. For me, that was the optimal amount of backbone and splay. I have to say I'm very pleased with the results. It's the perfect companion for my Omega boar. As you scan see from the pictures, the dimensions are very similar.

I'll start with the Omega. My well broken in boar is soft, but with a fair mix of bristle stiffness. I has good exfoliating properties while still having soft tips that don't irritate. To me, a near perfect brush. I was hoping to try a badger that would have some of those same properties.

Now for my badger impressions. It's a bit softer, with a consistently soft feel across the hair. It's soft, but not what I'd call luxurious, which is fine by me. I love my boar brush, and a badger with similar feel is good by me. The scrubby feeling of my boar isn't there, but I don't miss it too much. The backbone is a near equal, thanks to my careful loft position. Overall, a different but equally good brush.

One place where the badger shines is in lather creation. I decided to put it to the test and put it up against a puck of Williams. It absolutely created a better, more stable lather more quickly than I ever achieved with my trusty omega. So there you have it, a happy brush restorer. Paint me satisfied

Oh, one more thing.. When I first got the knot, I cleaned it and about 25 or so hairs came out. Then in subsequent lathers continue to shed a couple of hairs. I've probably lost 50 or so hairs, but it appears to be slowing down. Would this be considered normal?

Nice job with that restoration. I haven't had a TGN Finest shed that many hairs, but I could live with it.

Nice job! I've restored two brushes with knots from TGN. They both lost some hair when I was working with them. Now that they are complete and I've been using them they pretty much stopped shedding.

Nice choice on the knot. I have one of those and it's really a good one. I have 3 TGN badgers and all tended to lose a hair or two each shave in the beginning and then slowed down after a week or so. I still lose an occasional hair but that's probably because I'm a bit rough on them. I like them to splay a bit and scrub the lather in so I'd be willing to believe my brushes won't last as long as one that's used to gently paintbrush the lather on.