New Sythetic Knots

 

I ordered these five knots through AliExpress in China. They arrived today. They are 24mm synthetic knots. From left to right they are:

(2) OUMO BRUSH-Imitate finest two band synthetic hair knot 

(1) OUMO BRUSH- Smoky red Synthetic hair shaving brush knots Coffee bottom white tip

(2) OUMO BRUSH- Best three color synthetic hair shaving brush knots

OUMO Brush Knots

I found these synthetic knots on AliExpress from the OUMOBRUSH Store. They are on their way and should be here before the end of May. There are some new brushes on the horizon.

Best three color synthetic hair
shaving brush knot (2)

 

Smoky red Synthetic hair shaving brush knots
Coffee bottom white tip (1)

Imitate finest two band synthetic hair knot
shaving brush knot (2)

Whipped Dog Knot Arrives

 This knot was slow to arrive. It is a silvertip badger from Whipped Dog. I made three handles using cabinet grade plywood. Here are pictures of the three handles with the knot dry-fitted. I then washed the knot with OxiClean. When it dries it will go in the handle.

Below is the knot after washing. It will go in the handle pictured JR #437..

Here it is finished.

Knotting and Re-knotting

I got two handles, a brush, and three knots in the mail today. I am doing a little job for a fellow shaver. It started out as a re-knot for JR#41, but he asked if I would set the knots in two other handles he had. Of course, I said yes. The first two pictures show the two handles with their respective knots "dry fitted."

Here are the three brush handles with their respective knots. I had to remove the old badger knot from #41. I replaced it with a Maggard two-band badger.

Here they are awaiting their final setting. I am using hot glue to set the knots. 

Here they are all done. I will send them back to Perry tomorrow.

Maggard two-band fan

Maggard black and white synthetic

Jayaruh #41 with new Maggard two-band badger.

Omega Knot Harvesting

I ordered these two Omega brushes a while back for their knots. Today, I decided it was time to harvest the knots. I have a 400 type brush to do, so I will use one of these boar knots in it.

First I drilled a hole in the bottom of each of the handles and inserted a spike in the end in preparation for removing the knot.

I then lined up the spike and hit it down on a hard surface a couple of times and the knot just pops right out.

I then put the knot in a vice an used a hack saw to cut through the ferrule.

I used a file to pry the ferrule apart so that the knot was able to be taken out.

Now that the knots were freed, it was time to prepare them for their new handles.

I wrapped the knots with painter's tape and used my dremel to dress the ends of the plug. They were 27mm, and I brought them down to 25mm.

Here they are ready for their new handles.

New Knots Go in Handles

 I got these three synthetics from Canada today. Left to right: synthetic horse 22mm, cashmere 24mm, and Tuxedo 30mm. I had the perfect handles for these knots.

Jayaruh #158 got the synthetic horse, my new Bunny B-400 got the cashmere, and the Jayaruh #156 got the Tuxedo.

New Woods

I had three packages in the mail today. 1, 2, 3... One Virginia Sheng silvertip badger knot, two knots from Jorge (boar and finest badger), and three sticks of wood from Rob in Canadia (spalted tamarind, pheasant wood, and bocote).

spalted tamarind on top, pheasant wood in middle,
and bocote on the bottom

boar, silvertip badger, finest badger

eBay Knot Lot

A fellow shaver on TSD alerted me to this deal on eBay. There are 27 pieces in all, 22 whole brushes and 5 knots, that a gentleman was seeking to clean out of his drawer. I jumped on it. It is a mixed bag for sure. I see synthetics, badgers, and boars. I should be harvesting knots for a while. I should not have to order any knots for some time.

Received Big PIF

In the mail today was a medium size Priority Mail box from  Texas. Tony, AKA omaney on TSD. It contained 5 synthetic knots, two boar knots, three donor brushes, a four pack of spectrapoly blanks, a blank of cocobolo, and a blank of ebony gaboon. A big thanks to Tony for this great PIF. It will be fun putting each of these pieces to work.

Knots Arrive

Two 23x65 silvertip badger knots arrived today from Ace Shaving in China. I decided that they should go in #109 and #110.  Here are pictures of the dry fitting and then post setting.

Dry fitting.

After setting with silicone.

I will give them a day or so to set and then do a test lathering with each.

Defunking the WD High Mountain Badger

Although it did not have a bad smell, I went ahead and followed the directions for defunking this new HMB knot. Larry sends a packet of Oxi Clean Stain Remover along with directions.

I dissolved the Oxi Clean in warm water and began the first soak.

After a couple of minutes, I rinsed the knot and began the second soak.

After the second soak, I rinsed it and began the third soak.

After the third soak, I rinsed and began the last soak.

After the last soak, I rinsed and then gave it a shampoo with some C.O. Bigelow Hair & Body Wash. I let it sit a couple of minutes before the final rinse.

After the final rinse, I towel dried the knot and set it aside to dry. It looks like it is going to bloom nicely.

Jayaruh #81 Reknot

I decided that I really would like to have a silvertip badger in the JR#81. I had gotten a silvertip from Virginia Sheng for my JR#70, and I was very impressed with its performance, so I ordered one through Amazon. It arrived in less than  a week. So, here goes...

The old knot came out with a little persuasion, and I cleaned up the hole.

I had to make the hole a bit wider to accommodate the new knot, going from 22 to 23.5mm. I then sealed the inside of the hole and set it aside to dry.

I may use epoxy on this one since it will probably be the final knot for this handle.

I did epoxy the knot. I will do a test lather later today, and it should be ready for tomorrows first shave.

I used RazoRock Classic Artisan Shaving Soap for the first lather.