My resto projects

I'm restoring a Rubberset 1000 and Ever Ready F40 I picked up at an antique mall for $3.99 a piece:

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I beat up the ER a little bit, and I've still got some epoxy to remove (doing it by hand), but I'm getting close to polishing and knotting.

Two questions:

1. Does anybody do any thing to clean out the inside of these old handles?
2. The Rubberset has some vertical cracks in the upper part. Should I do anything with those to prevent worsening or complete breakage?

Thanks, guys. I'm really looking forward to getting these things in service.

Blaser0217 said:

I'm restoring a Rubberset 1000 and Ever Ready F40 I picked up at an antique mall for $3.99 a piece:

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I beat up the ER a little bit, and I've still got some epoxy to remove (doing it by hand), but I'm getting close to polishing and knotting.

Two questions:

1. Does anybody do any thing to clean out the inside of these old handles?
2. The Rubberset has some vertical cracks in the upper part. Should I do anything with those to prevent worsening or complete breakage?

Thanks, guys. I'm really looking forward to getting these things in service.

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1 I just sand and clean a bit but careful of those cracks, probably just soap and water to give a clean surface for the epoxy to get a bond on that one.

2 If filled with epoxy that should hold it together pretty well as it will bond to the handle and cure solid, just make sure it doesn't leak first.

Looks great. I have done little to the outside of the two brushes I restored. I thought they looked good as they were.

very nice work

Those should look pretty nice when you finish the cleaning and polishing. What knots are you thinking of using?

Snargle said:

Those should look pretty nice when you finish the cleaning and polishing. What knots are you thinking of using?

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I'm still thinking about it, but right now I'm thinking a 20mm Grade A Silvertip in the F40 and a 22mm Finest in the Rubberset, both from TGN. I might go extra hair or fan shaped on the Finest, depending on where I can set the loft.

I would like input on the knots, though. I use both soaps and creams, and face lather about 99% of the time. I think the Finest is probably good for both soaps and creams, but if I'm gonna have the silvertip, maybe I should go Best in the Rubberset and make it a real soap eater. Thoughts?

Blaser0217 said:

I'm still thinking about it, but right now I'm thinking a 20mm Grade A Silvertip in the F40 and a 22mm Finest in the Rubberset, both from TGN. I might go extra hair or fan shaped on the Finest, depending on where I can set the loft.

I would like input on the knots, though. I use both soaps and creams, and face lather about 99% of the time. I think the Finest is probably good for both soaps and creams, but if I'm gonna have the silvertip, maybe I should go Best in the Rubberset and make it a real soap eater. Thoughts?

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I've done four restores so far and each one got a TGN Finest...two regular (bulb) shaped and two fan-shaped. I really, really like the fan-shaped finest, but I might give the silvertip a shot for my next project. I may even try a boar at some point. I don't think you can go wrong with the TGN knots.

I use the Finest brushes for both soaps and creams, face- and bowl-lathering. They're great all-around brushes.

Blaser0217 said:

I'm still thinking about it, but right now I'm thinking a 20mm Grade A Silvertip in the F40 and a 22mm Finest in the Rubberset, both from TGN. I might go extra hair or fan shaped on the Finest, depending on where I can set the loft.

I would like input on the knots, though. I use both soaps and creams, and face lather about 99% of the time. I think the Finest is probably good for both soaps and creams, but if I'm gonna have the silvertip, maybe I should go Best in the Rubberset and make it a real soap eater. Thoughts?

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Have a squiz at my wiki ( link in my sig ).

There's my impressions of the different TGN knots there but of course YMMV

Don't forget too that the loft of the knot will effect things like density and backbone as well.........

Silvertip A is softer tip and less backbone than the Finest if that helps. Both are mighty fine and you won't go wrong with either

fidjit said:

Have a squiz at my wiki ( link in my sig ).

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Thanks, fidjit, I squizzed (totally stealing that) your wiki. I've got a 20mm hole in the ER F40 and just shy of a 22mm hole in the RS 1000. I'm a face latherer, too, so I think I want to set the loft about somewhere about 45-50mm. Sooo, should I go with 18mm and 20mm knots, respectively?

I'm thinking maybe fan shaped on the RS, but I don't want it to lose too much density. I think setting it at about 46 or 48 mm will prevent that, but I need some advice. These are my first restores, and, frankly, I don't plan on doing many more so I wan to get these "right". I know this is huge YMMV territory, but the opinions of you, fidjit, and other experts will be extremely helpful.

Thanks a ton!

Blaser0217 said:

These are my first restores, and, frankly, I don't plan on doing many more so I wan to get these "right".

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Dreamer! Just wait...

Blaser0217 said:

Thanks, fidjit, I squizzed (totally stealing that) your wiki. I've got a 20mm hole in the ER F40 and just shy of a 22mm hole in the RS 1000. I'm a face latherer, too, so I think I want to set the loft about somewhere about 45-50mm. Sooo, should I go with 18mm and 20mm knots, respectively?

I'm thinking maybe fan shaped on the RS, but I don't want it to lose too much density. I think setting it at about 46 or 48 mm will prevent that, but I need some advice. These are my first restores, and, frankly, I don't plan on doing many more so I wan to get these "right". I know this is huge YMMV territory, but the opinions of you, fidjit, and other experts will be extremely helpful.

Thanks a ton!

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Have a squiz at the last post I just did on a restore. It attempts to put down in writing what goes through my head when I'm restoring.

Biggest questions is what sort of depth do you have in the knot hole to play with ???

But I'm guessing that an 18 and 20 are what you want.......

18mm Finest = 62mm length so you'll need to fit around 14mm into the knot hole to give you 48mm loft and more to go shorter.
20mm Fan Finest= 60mm length so you'll need to fit around 12mm into the knot hole to give you 48mm loft and more to go shorter.

( and the hint is to do things with silicon or something else temporary till you get it right and then you can commit to the two part epoxy )

I would definitely go with 18 & 20mm knots for them, I have a 20mm finest extra stuffed sitting here so I grabbed some measurements for you.

Total knot length 64.5mm
Plug length 8mm
Plug Dia 19.5mm
Dia at 16mm up from base 21.5mm (gives you approx 48mm loft)

The Rubberset I think has a handle length & shape that would let you get away with a 22mm knot but your going to have to open up the hole to around 24mm for at least 10mm depth.

Either way you'll going to end up with some nice unique brushes, be warned though SBAD will kick in

I've got the knots out, and I've got them polished. I think I've got enough of the epoxy out of the ER, and, honestly, I'm tired of filing and sanding the damn thing. It's smooth, and I think it will work. If anyone thinks I'd be screwing the pooch by leaving that epoxy in there, let me know.

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I've also tried to get a couple pictures of the crack in the Rubberset. They're not full thickness, and they barely even show up in the pictures. That being the case, should I even bother trying to fill them with epoxy, or is it best just to let them be?

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Finally, I don't think I'm going to try and get that metal ring out of the Rubberset, unless someone thinks it will cause problem. I'll probably be ordering knots this weekend or next week. I've got an e-mail in to Tony at TGN regarding knot size. Any input is appreciated.

I agree leave the ring in. Best of luck on the rest of restore.

You may have a tight squeeze trying to get the 20mm knot into the F40 with that epoxy there. I dremel sanded down flush with the tourquoise. I understand why it is taking so long by hand - that is hard epoxy! You'll know when you get the knot, though, whether or not you'll have to take it down more.

Most remove that metal ring worrying about rust later on. I have no experience with that setup, though, so maybe someone else will chime in.

Okay, so I finally got my knots, and I've glued them in:







Rubberset (red and white) is a TGN 22mm Finest Fan Shape. ER (blue and white) is TGN 20mm Silvertip A. I set them both at somewhere between 48 and 50mm. I was shooting for 48, and the math says that's where they're set, but the ruler says it's somewhere closer to 50. In any event, I think they'll work fine.

I cracked the ferrule on the Rubberset while pushing in the knot. I put a couple applications of epoxy on the outside of the crack, and it seems pretty solid. Any suggestions on whether I should do any more?

Also, how long do you guys wait before breaking in/using brushes after they're glued? I used 5 minute epoxy, which says it's usable at 20 mins, but full cure at 24 hours. I'm itching to get these to work, so if I can clean them tonight and use them tomorrow, I'd like to, But, I don't want to risk the epoxy coming undone.

Thanks to everyone for all of their help and advice!

They look great. I'd wait until tomorrow morning to use them.

FL shaver said:

They look great. I'd wait until tomorrow morning to use them.

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+1 What FL said, and the Rubberset looks to be set at a perfect loft to make it have a very nice backbone. I bet that one turns out to be your favorite.

Nice work by the way.

That red-creme rubberset in 2-band Finest is gorgeous. Looking forward to some post-bloom pictures...

sweet restore,hope mine come out as well