My First "Restore"

This is my first brush project. I don't think of it as a "restore", because I bought this great knot and was trying to find a handle for it. For now, I have used an Omega that I already owned.

Removing the synthetic knot was quite a mess - is natural hair any easier? I drilled the hole out wider than original to accept the knot, sanded off some of the black stain, and added additional blue stain. Then 3 coats of semi-gloss polyurethane.

Knot: Romera manchurian fan in 24mm
Handle: Omega Hi-Brush wood.
Loft: 50-51mm

Romera said that he sets these knots at 48mm, and that he face lathers. I set it at 50-51mm (using a coin), because I mostly bowl lather. It's glued with silicone so I can adjust the loft, or put it in a better handle later.

Here are some pictures. The second picture shows it with a brush like the one I started with.



Once I had cut the old hair and drilled a hole through it, the best tool I found for removing the bulk of the original knot base and glue was a Dremel burr bit that looks like the 3rd from the left.



I sure did enjoy my shave today. I've never used a brush with a knot of this quality.

Congrats! Well done! The bloom looks awesome! I've removed 1 synthetic (it was an old rubberset nylon) and it was miserable. The hair would melt as I cut and was pretty difficult to remove. Boar and Badger have been easier, but only just. I've had some that would pop out after I made a cut right through the middle, and other rubber-set brushes that just melt away as you cut. I mostly use the bur second from the left (maybe a bit bigger) because I have one at work that is cross-cut and on a bench top handpiece (used to adjust acrylic mostly).

Anyway, the brush looks great!

Wow that is nice. Great job.