I measured the hole at 20mm. What size knot should I put in it? Also, what kind of knot? Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!
Help! Restoring an Ever Ready
- Thread starter Therealdougkelly
- Start date
I measured the hole at 20mm. What size knot should I put in it? Also, what kind of knot? Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!
If the hole measures 20 mm you will need a somewhat smaller knot, such as an 18 mm or perhaps a 19 mm knot.
What I would be inclined to do would be to enlarge the hole with a Dremel drum sander and open it up enough to fit a 20 mm knot.
Knot selection is a personal choice and depends on what you like. My preference would be a silvertip badger. I have an old Erskine of about that vintage with a 20 mm Whipped Dog silvertip in it.
I'm also somewhat partial to two band finest (aka high mountain). It is nearly as soft on the face, but has considerable more backbone. That's what I shaved with this morning.
I would not consider lower levers of badger, pure, best, black, and so on.
I'm not a Boar guy but there are several here that could advise you if that is what you like.
That's a beautiful handle. Whatever knot you chose it will look great.
What I would be inclined to do would be to enlarge the hole with a Dremel drum sander and open it up enough to fit a 20 mm knot.
Knot selection is a personal choice and depends on what you like. My preference would be a silvertip badger. I have an old Erskine of about that vintage with a 20 mm Whipped Dog silvertip in it.
I'm also somewhat partial to two band finest (aka high mountain). It is nearly as soft on the face, but has considerable more backbone. That's what I shaved with this morning.
I would not consider lower levers of badger, pure, best, black, and so on.
I'm not a Boar guy but there are several here that could advise you if that is what you like.
That's a beautiful handle. Whatever knot you chose it will look great.
Great advice!
I would say go a size smaller too, so that would be an 18mm. If you do fancy widening the hole, with a dremel, you could fit a 20mm. If you do decide on this then go steady and slowly. Its easy to mess up, so little by little and keep checking with the knot.
As for knot, I would stick a finest in, soft but with a lot of backbone. I have experience with silvertip but not two band silvertip.
- Thread starter
- #4
Thank you for the responses. Headed to Home Depot now for a few items. I'm hoping they have Flitz and Loctite there since the Lowe's in my neighborhood didn't carry either
That is a great handle; I'm envious. All the advice so far is very good. I would second the suggestion of (carefully!) enlarging the opening to accommodate a 20mm knot; it won't take much, assuming your measurement is pretty close. The TGN finest would be my knot of choice; a wonderful knot that you can't go wrong with.
Have fun.
Have fun.
- Thread starter
- #6
I'd love to make the hole bigger, however I don't have the necessary tools.. Can I just hold the brush handle by hand and drill it? Or would that require stitches? I would also need to acquire a dremel..
If your serious about this as a hobby, a Dremel is pretty much a required tool. Do you have any hobby type friends that could help you with setting the knot. Gently enlarging the hole is a simple, less than 5 minute, job.
Do not hold in your hand and apply drill. As you suspect, that is asking for a nice gash. Borrow or invest in a Dremel or a knock-off. Harbor Freight has a Dremel-like tool for less than the real McCoy: http://www.harborfreight.com/power-...riable-speed-rotary-tool-kit-31-pc-68696.html
That is a beautiful handle. I've never come across one like that before. I'd bore that out to 23mm with a dremel. Won't take long at all. Get a dremel (good to have around the house anyway) and use a sanding drum to go around the inside. enlarging the hole by 3mm isn't very difficult all. Then you can accommodate a 22mm knot in there which you'll likely be much happier with.
I had to enlarge the hole in a whipped dog handle a few weeks ago. I do not own a dremel yet but just used medium grit sandpaper wrapped around my finger. Took about an hour to go from 22mm to 23.25mm. I then smoothed it out with finish grade sandpaper.
- Thread starter
- #11
Good idea! Will be visiting Lowe's soon
- Thread starter
- #12
Am currently sanding the hole to make the diameter 22mm. Decided to go with this knot.. Can't wait until it gets here!
I have that same knot that I set in a nice old Erskine handle (but not as nice as your blue Ever Ready). The F2 is a very nice knot, but it doesn't have quite the backbone of the regular TGN finest, so I'd suggest setting it at no more than 50mm loft. I'm a face latherer mostly, so I'd personally go even a little less, maybe 48mm. Of course, YMMV.
Have fun.
- Thread starter
- #14
Almost done!
Going to retouch the white lettering later, but this is how it looks for now!
Can't seem to find and Flitz or Maas anywhere around here so I haven't had the chance to really polish it yet.
Going to retouch the white lettering later, but this is how it looks for now!
Can't seem to find and Flitz or Maas anywhere around here so I haven't had the chance to really polish it yet.
Looks fantastic.
- Thread starter
- #16
Thank you, kind sir
In lieu of Flitz or Maas, I've also had good results using plastic polish from the local auto parts store (like the stuff sold in the headlight restoration kits). Great work!
That turned out really nice. Make sure to give us a shaving report.
I couldn't find Flitz anywhere in Montreal so i decided to try Meguiars Ultimate Compund and it works great!
Give it a try.
Give it a try.
The brush looks great, well done on the restoration.
