First five attempts

Here are my first attempts at brushmaking. Nothing fancy, just felt like posting.

From left to right:
1: WD handle with 24/53mm finest from Virginia Sheng (ebay)
2: HJM handle with 24/50mm Pur-Tec from Virginia Sheng
3: HJM handle with 24/52mm fan knot finest badger from TGN.
4: TGN handle with 28/51mm finest from ACE shaving (ebay)
5: WD handle with 30/53mm TGN finest
All of the handles required some drilling and the HJM handles needed some serious dremel-fu as well.
I had a long lather-session yesterday and they all look promising.
I've learned a lot from reading here on B&B, thanks gents!

They all look great
How would you compare the Sheng, Ace and TGN?

Looks fancy to me. Well done.

Nice work!

Great work! I'm not sure which one I would want to try first!

HJM Handle?

They all look great.

Mike H said:

They all look great
How would you compare the Sheng, Ace and TGN?

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Thank you. Too early for a full comparison as I haven't used all of them yet. The Sheng and the Ace needed some filing of the plug to get it to sit straight. No such issues with the TGN knots. The Ace knot seems to have higher density. I decided to try that one first. Despite a few test lathers and detergent, last nights shave smelled of cedarwood and dead badger...

Big Jim said:

HJM Handle?

They all look great.

Click to expand...

Thank you. The HJM (HJM by Mühle) handles came from two brushes where the knots actually broke. Won't buy anything HJM again. The plastic in these handles were a pain to work with so I should have bought from WD or TGN.

I'll report back with some bloom shots and comparisons later.

Here they are again:

Same order, from the top:

The 24mm Sheng still has some scritch. Medium backbone.
The 24mm Sheng Pur Tec has really soft tips. A bit springy though. A lather-flinger.
The 24mm TGN Finest fan has the feel of a much bigger knot. Little backbone and lower density, but good flow-through.
The 28mm Ace is the densest knot of these. Soft tips. Less backbone than the 30mm TGN.
The 30mm TGN Finest is really a wall of badger. Plenty of backbone with soft tips. A real soap-eater.
All in all, I'm satisfied with all of them. Not bad for being my first brushes. I can especially recommend the TGN and Ace knots.