Here Tis
Pj's last project was a special one for me. Going through my Dad's stuff after he died a couple of years ago, I found his old brush. Not sure when he used it last, but it was in a terrible state. I only remember him using canned stuff, and that's all he had when I shaved him in the last couple of weeks before he died - he wouldn't let the nurses do it anymore, it hurt, and he told them I would do it. I think he'd been through enough indignities by that point. I used some of my cream, so got some decent shaves, as the stubble was really starting to bother him.
I cleaned up the handle, but the knot was long past doing anything with. After dallying with TGNs other knots, we decided to got hard or go home for this one. Nothing but the Finest. Luckily this brush handle is a Vulfix, so there was some decent headroom inside it to work with, as TGN knots come standard 65mm for setting.
I think the width is 22mm. Pj set it at 45mm and that is probably about the sweet spot for most badgers. The Finest is better packed than the other grades, so it could even go a bit taller and still be really useful.
This is dry - straight out of the Maggi container:
Wetted and lathered:
The idea was too keep this for one of my boys. Even if they don't use it, because they've got multi-blades in their iPads, they've got something of their Grandad's to keep.
But after trying it, I'll be getting it out occasionally, just to keep it from going manky in the cupboard, and they'll know it was mine too. This is a damn good brush. I can hear PJ shouting 'thank fck for that' from here.
It's pretty dense, has really good grunt, but is stupidly soft-tipped. I'm not convinced the hairs aren't bleached, but who cares, it matches the handle very nicely. Really easy to use. I gave it a bash for a week or so and it softened up a bit, but just became even more user friendly. It's getting into Chubby territory - not quite as good or dense, but pretty fckin close to it.
Definitely recommend the Finest if you're going to do a re-knot. Anywhere between 45-50mm loft will get you a top brush.