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Badger Hair Sources

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There seems to be a relatively limited number of sources for badger hair knots (at least from my internet searches), but I haven't seen any country of origin mentioned, other than China as a distributor.
I love cats and dogs and am therefore very skeptical of any animal products (especially those with hair or fur) coming from that country since they are infamous for their mistreatment and abuse of these animals.
Are there any sources of Badger hair knots from responsible countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, or anywhere in Europe?
 
I'm under the impression that badgers are considered as pests, so the term "mistreatment" could be inappropriate. Sort of like mistreating rats or other rodents (all generally worthless, except as predator food IMHO, but I digress...).

I love dogs and cats (much less than dogs), but I don't think I'd want a badger as a pet. :blink: They are notoriously grumpy creatures.

To your original question, I believe there are badgers in Europe (and maybe in USA?), but I believe that most does indeed come from China.
 
To your original question, I believe there are badgers in Europe (and maybe in USA?), but I believe that most does indeed come from China.
There are indeed badgers in Europe, but I believe even the European brush manufacturers source their knot materials from China.

In China, badgers are raised primarily as a meat source. The hair is then processed to go into brushes so that nothing goes to waste.
 
To the comment of "mistreatment", any animal (food animal, nuisance animal, or other) can be mistreated or treated humanely. Just because we're going to eat the deer, doesn't mean it is okay to skin it alive. We put them down as quickly and humanely as we are able. Same for rats. Kill them quick. It isn't justified to set them on fire and let them burn to death.
However, I wasn't alluding to this. I was commenting on the common practice in China to pass-off cat and dog fur as other fur like badger hair, rabbit fur, etc. They are dishonest and what they claim is the source animal cannot be trusted.
 
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Go synthetic. Problem solved.

To the comment of "mistreatment", any animal (food animal, nuisance animal, or other) can be mistreated or treated humanely. Just because we're going to eat the deer, doesn't mean it is okay to skin it alive. We put them down as quickly and humanely as we are able. Same for rats. Kill them quick. It isn't justified to set them on fire and let them burn to death.
However, I wasn't alluding to this. I was commenting on the common practice in China to pass-off cat and dog fur as other fur like badger hair, rabbit fur, etc. They are dishonest and what they claim is the source animal cannot be trusted.
 
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I'm not going to go synthetic, just because I prefer natural products. I'm not a vegan or PETA activist or anything, I'm just trying to life as authentic as I can. I just did a bit of research on bristle and hair sourcing after reading that badger are protected in most countries. It looks like everything is horrible, including synthetic, and China has a monopoly on the brush hair market. I'm not going to perpetuate the scare tactics of the radicals I came across, but needless to say, I didn't like what I found.
I'll try and find either a horsehair brush produced in a western country or something vintage; probably both.
Thanks for the insight, everyone. Now I just have to figure out how to sanitize vintage brushes without ruining them. :blink:
 
To the comment of "mistreatment", any animal (food animal, nuisance animal, or other) can be mistreated or treated humanely. Just because we're going to eat the deer, doesn't mean it is okay to skin it alive. We put them down as quickly and humanely as we are able. Same for rats. Kill them quick. It isn't justified to set them on fire and let them burn to death.
However, I wasn't alluding to this. I was commenting on the common practice in China to pass-off cat and dog fur as other fur like badger hair, rabbit fur, etc. They are dishonest and what they claim is the source animal cannot be trusted.

I could imagine them passing off cat or dog fur as mink fur coats, but the Chinese eat a lot of rabbits, so rabbit fur is rabbit fur whether it's used to make a coat or to line a pair of gloves.
Fur coats are less popular now because of public opinion, so anybody who wants one has to pay the asking price for it - the Chinese would sell fresh air if they could, so I can well believe there's probably a thriving fur coat industry in China.
I personally agree that it takes a lot of dumb animals to make a fur coat, but it takes a dumber animal to wear it. But on the other hand, I eat beef and wear leather because I've got no qualms about wearing the hide of an animal that is a by product of the meat industry, but I draw the line at killing an animal, using the pelt and just leaving the carcass to rot.

I wouldn't put it past the Chinese to eat cats or dogs, but I doubt if it is legal - from what I've seen on TV, in Korea cat and dog is regarded as "the other white meat" and the ultimate delicacy, but it is illegal to kill dogs or cats for food, I should imagine similar laws might apply in China.

I believe that the Chinese eat rats, they're rodents, so when they're cooked I doubt if they taste any different to rabbit or squirrel, besides wild rabbits, rats and squirrels are often regarded as vermin - in England very small colonies of red squirrels are only surviving in certain areas due to some idiot 100s of years ago with more money than sense introducing the grey squirrel so him and other rich noblemen like him would have something new to hunt - the grey squirrel thrived and as a result the native red squirrel was driven to the brink of extinction. In England, grey squirrels are understandably regarded as tree rats by a lot of people, and red squirrels are regarded as a very endangered species.

Badgers aren't very popular anywhere near a dairy farm either - badgers pass on TB to cattle and as a result a lot of valuable livestock have to be destroyed. In some areas badgers are humanely culled, but due to the law, it is illegal to use the pelt or meat.
Chinese farmers regard badgers as pests too, but the difference is that they eat the meat, so nothing goes to waste.
Gypsies in England often live off the land so hedgehogs wrapped in clay and baked in embers and roasted badgers are often part of their staple diet.
A taxi driver once told me that ham made from badger is the best he'd ever tasted.
I digress

I should imagine cat, dog or rabbit fur wouldn't be much good for making a shaving brush with because it's too soft, so it probably only gets used for coats.
Badger hair is probably more useful for shaving brushes, so I doubt if they bother with it for making coats

I doubt if the Chinese in rural areas are particularly humane when they kill for food, but I seriously doubt if the animals suffer for long - according to a cookery programme with Ken Hom and Ching He Huang, the Chinese in rural areas survive on only a few dollars a month and most of their food is either foraged for, fished out of the rivers or hunted - hunter gatherers rely too much on their yield to waste time letting any animal die slowly - their kills are probably very quick and very clean so they can kill something else !!
 
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One of the biggest pests to vital Chinese cabbage crops is reported to be badgers. So they are killed as pests, eaten as meat, and finally turned into handsome shaving brushes.
 

BigFoot

I wanna be sedated!
Staff member
Let's stay on topic, more discussion on where the OP can find knots and less on what the Chinese eat.
 

captp

Pretty Pink Fairy Princess.
In a word, no. Most, if not all, badger hair knots and loose badger hair for shave brushes is sourced from China. There is some talk that Plisson HMW is from European Badger, but that has never been confirmed by anyone in the know.
 
After 4 months in rural China years ago, I understand the use of cats and dogs as food. Beatles and grubs are also food sources. This is not because they are barbarians, it is because of poverty and the lack of other food sources. Believe me, wealthy and middle class Chinese are not ordering dog, badger or anything like that for dinner. Theses "meats" are for the poorest of the poor and it is a tragic situation. So it is easy for me to be pragmatic about this "badger" food thing. Even if badger is banned from export in China, it will still be a food source. Yes, in China I know I ate:
dog
scorpions
bumble bees
grubs
larva, etc.
All are good sources of protein, especially scorpions. And all taste pretty good. I have purchased a live chicken and seen it butchered, and they do it just like we do. Most of rural China farms and livestock is rare seen so meat sources are very limited. My breakfast as "A Distinguish Visiting Professor" was over the top compared to what my students and the rest of the rural population would eat. I got scrambled eggs with tomato and either grubs or thin slices of dog meat. Everyone else basically had porridge. (the good part was I also had a beer with breakfast;))

So let's end this discussion about food sources and focus on brushes again. Our moral outrage over eating badger is badly misplaced. IMHO
Well Stated!
 
Plisson supplies European white and grey knots, and also Russian Grey. I'm not sure what part of Europe the first two types come from, but a complete guess would be one or more of the former Soviet states.
 
I love cats and dogs and am therefore very skeptical of any animal products

C'mon, love the badgers too. Look at how cute they are:

$badger.jpg

Help the cute little badger climb the tree. Go synthetic.
 
I personally have no interest in a badger brush. I have tried one. Not a cheap one at all either. My synthetic works better.
 
To the OP.

I realize you're concerned about dogs/cats being passed off as badger hair, but that would be quite difficult. Badger is distinctive and I would not worry about it's provenance. Badger in Europe is a protected species, so china is really your only bet. North American badger supposedly would not work for knots, although I'm curious if it could be treated to work well. Not everything from China is a negative.
 
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