The Blobbie

It's very likely platinum coated aluminium. the Portuguese don't arse around when it comes to boars.

If you're new to this, I'd follow Pj's lead, especially where these cup things are involved. I don't know how he did it, but my brush looks just like a bought one.
 
Minorci said:
Hey pj can you tell me what glue I should use? I was thinking araldite. But it's a bit smelly.
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It does smell when not cured but most glues do. I use two part Araldite with the longer curing time. It gives you a bit more time and leeway to add a bit or take a bit out. It always a bit of a gamble guessing how much to put in before plonking the knot in. I tend to mix a fair batch, add a relatively small amount, fit the knot to the desired depth , take it out to see where the glue is rising to and on that basis add a bit more or scoop a bit out. You obviously want as much as possible but don't want it to spill out over the top, soak in to the base of the knot and basically ruin it. Takes a day or two to reach full hardness which is always a bit of a wait 'cause you're keen to try it as soon as. Don't forget to put protective tape on the handle. It's pretty sticky stuff and there's always a good chance you'll accidently get a bit on the handle. Please tell me to f..off if I appear to be teaching you to suck eggs.

Oh by the way it'll clean up with methylated spirits in a fresh, uncured state. If it's partly or fully cured (obviously) you've got no chance.
 
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Advice is appreciated as I'm likely to fk it up. So with TGN knots you don't want araldite going past the resin plug and soaking into the knot a little bit?
 
Minorci said:
Advice is appreciated as I'm likely to fk it up. So with TGN knots you don't want araldite going past the resin plug and soaking into the knot a little bit?
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It depends on how deep you're sinking the knot in the handle. For myself I tend to sink them pretty deep because I like small lofts. Soaking in to the knot above the plug is OK provided it doesn't rise to above the top of the handle. Having a blob of glue visible at the base of the knot, aside from not looking good, will affect the way the brush works as you'll effectively have a hard edge above the top of the handle and there's a good chance over time that the hairs will break off at that point. You want to acchieve a glue line that stops below the top of the handle. I've also read that people just put a bit of glue on the bottom of the plug only and fit it that way. Although that is a very safe way of glueing it in I don't think it's a particularly advisable way of doing it as there's a chance you'll leave pockets beside the plug which could regularly fill with water. A knot dries because the cavity is filled only with tightly packed hair and a cavity breaches that. Capillarary action and all that (don't get me started).
 
Agreed. I was thinking along the same lines. This knot is pretty stiff for a silvertip. I thought it would be softer.
 
Minorci said:
Agreed. I was thinking along the same lines. This knot is pretty stiff for a silvertip. I thought it would be softer.
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Good luck with all that. TGN's knot grading is questionable. Drubbing and I were hoping that the best would be stiff and similar to Simpsons but it turns out to be pretty soft in the backbone department and also to have a fair amount of pure badger mixed in. It works more by default than in the way we were expecting. They actually grade best above finest which in my book is pure two band silvertip with a nice backbone and very soft tips (almost too soft in fact). I'm sure most would reverse that grading for a start.

I'd like to try their silvertip knots but any handle I'll get will have an 18mm (or smaller) knot which they don't seem to stock in that hair grade. That's the problem with this restoring malarkey, the choice of knots is very limited and is really geared for the bigger brushes.
 
Mangled it a bit. Some araldite seemed to draw up. Will see how it performs. Still a useful learning experience.
 

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Very nice dimensions actually. Did you lose some of the red paint on the inside of the aperture? You didn't have the easiest of handles to start with. I'm sure it'll work a treat.
 
Drubbing said:
My 830 used to be so purdy...
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Forward some pics to Bruno and Leon! Might see a Portuguese hit squad on the first plane out. Good thing they won't get through customs these days :p

The knot looks good minorci. Hope the brush works well for you now.
 
Unfortunately PJ, the dremel whilst did the job in about 15 minutes. Kinda killed it. The metal cup was going very well, until I didn't notice how hot it was getting, until it melted the glue and subsequently flung out of the handle :mad:

On the plus side, the plug did fit better, just needed to work it a bit better. The red laquer is stupidly thin and it didn't take much to take it off.

I'm still living up to my woodshop teachers opinion of me that I'm like a bull at a gate. Your way, whilst very labor intensive would ensure a mistake like this didn't happen.

But, I got to use my shiny new dremel which made very short work of it and I intend to try it on a wooden handle which would be a lot more forgiving than a two tone clear acrylic. - If i got a much smaller knot, it would look perfect, but I had to drill it out a bit to accomodate the 22mm plug.

Sorry Drubbs, I'll make it up to you somehow. - But hey, we're not about looks here... ok well some people are at times, the performance is what matters right???

I will do the obligatory how it performs lather wise and report up in a day or two once the glue has cured.
 
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A pic of the fan under the weight of the handle.

As you can see it's still pretty damn rigid
 

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Any idea what loft you ended up with there?

But, yeah performance is all. I'm still a bit filthy the Blobbie makes hard soaps easy. These two omegas I got are pretty much a doddle to work up quality cream.

I may have done my lolly on a pricey badger or two, but hey, it could be worse - I could have developed a bad habit for audio gear...
 
Minorci said:
Unfortunately PJ, the dremel whilst did the job in about 15 minutes. Kinda killed it. The metal cup was going very well, until I didn't notice how hot it was getting, until it melted the glue and subsequently flung out of the handle :mad:

On the plus side, the plug did fit better, just needed to work it a bit better. The red laquer is stupidly thin and it didn't take much to take it off.

I'm still living up to my woodshop teachers opinion of me that I'm like a bull at a gate. Your way, whilst very labor intensive would ensure a mistake like this didn't happen.

But, I got to use my shiny new dremel which made very short work of it and I intend to try it on a wooden handle which would be a lot more forgiving than a two tone clear acrylic. - If i got a much smaller knot, it would look perfect, but I had to drill it out a bit to accomodate the 22mm plug.

Sorry Drubbs, I'll make it up to you somehow. - But hey, we're not about looks here... ok well some people are at times, the performance is what matters right???

I will do the obligatory how it performs lather wise and report up in a day or two once the glue has cured.
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In order to fit that knot I suspect the metal cup would have had to go anyway. It looks perfect without it. That's an impressive looking knot.
 
Ok so review. It works pretty damn well.

First hand lathered with some cella, did pretty nicely. - First 3 pics. Then I just tried some bowl lathering with TOBS Jermyn St. Practically exploded with lather and lost a bit in the sink too.

Drubbs im not entirely sure you would like this one, not much of a backbone to it. I'm thinking I should have sunk it a bit further down.

The last pic is comparing it to my badger semogue 740 which has a loft of 57mm. This is a few mm less.
 

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Yeah, my sweet spot is about 45mm.

Looks nice though, seems to have decent density without getting spazzy.
 
For me 45mm is the sweet spot for a boar and for a badger I treat anything over 40mm with suspicion. It's great to have a restoring thing going on here. Even if there's only two of us to date. I'm all inspired and looking at vintage handles on the bay, only to decide that I really don't need any more brushes. Also given that the choice of small (16-18mm) TGN restore knots consists of best and finest, which I've got already, I'd only be duplicating the same knot in a different handle. But if any of you dudes out there want a handle re-done and you don't feel like doing it yourselves, don't be shy. Postage and material costs is all I'd want. And maybe a bit of soap or soap stick of something other than Palmolive but even that's optional.
 
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I can vouch for Pj's work; the Blobbie is flawless. At his prices if you've an loved brush, then a good TGN knot is worth a go.

I'd suggest the Silvertip or higher though, going on Minorci's pics. While the Best works well with the lesser density, a bit more density and a softer feel would probably suit more people.
 
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After talking to Minorci and reading this thread I am sorely tempted to get someone to redo my 830.

It's less than a year old though and it doesn't need redoing.

So I could get the boar replaced with silvertip, is that right? Just keep the handle?
 
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