Hiya,
Years ago I didn't understand why a brush could cost over $500 and I did some research. I found a lot of em don't really justify the price, but some are worth the cash. I'm not talking about the handle composition and how rare it might be, but rather the knot itself.
As some of you know, most badger knots come from some sorta process that the badgers just hate. Those are the more common type, but there's another method you may not be aware of. This is what can drive the price up considerably.
Now it's been a looong time since I did my reading, so there may be one or two less than exact statemets I might make here. Also, I guess I should mention there may be a tiny bit of facetious humor mixed in, but very little. Somehow it just creeps in there.
From what I understand there's some high end knots that are put together using the 'natural harvest' method. Yeah, there's no actual violence involved, which makes PITA very happy, They endorse this way over the others.
During moulting season, a badger will drop it's summer fur and take on a new heavy winter one. In the spring the reverse happens, with the less dense spring coat replacing the winter one. Ok so far?
Losing that old winter coat is helped along by the badger brushing against things like tree branches and bushes. There's usually only very small amounts of fur left around this way, and that adds to the cost. The other thing is labor. Yep, that hair is collected by people walking through the forests. It takes up to one week for a worker to find enough of this gossamer fluff for even a small 22mm knot. Matter of fact, they will place small fallen trees with their branches near the badger burrows to speed things along.
The resulting brush knot is supposed to be totally unlike (and much better) any other that's got a knot made using the conventional way. Pretty amazing eh?
I hope this helps with any confusion,
Martin
Years ago I didn't understand why a brush could cost over $500 and I did some research. I found a lot of em don't really justify the price, but some are worth the cash. I'm not talking about the handle composition and how rare it might be, but rather the knot itself.
As some of you know, most badger knots come from some sorta process that the badgers just hate. Those are the more common type, but there's another method you may not be aware of. This is what can drive the price up considerably.
Now it's been a looong time since I did my reading, so there may be one or two less than exact statemets I might make here. Also, I guess I should mention there may be a tiny bit of facetious humor mixed in, but very little. Somehow it just creeps in there.
From what I understand there's some high end knots that are put together using the 'natural harvest' method. Yeah, there's no actual violence involved, which makes PITA very happy, They endorse this way over the others.
During moulting season, a badger will drop it's summer fur and take on a new heavy winter one. In the spring the reverse happens, with the less dense spring coat replacing the winter one. Ok so far?
Losing that old winter coat is helped along by the badger brushing against things like tree branches and bushes. There's usually only very small amounts of fur left around this way, and that adds to the cost. The other thing is labor. Yep, that hair is collected by people walking through the forests. It takes up to one week for a worker to find enough of this gossamer fluff for even a small 22mm knot. Matter of fact, they will place small fallen trees with their branches near the badger burrows to speed things along.
The resulting brush knot is supposed to be totally unlike (and much better) any other that's got a knot made using the conventional way. Pretty amazing eh?
I hope this helps with any confusion,
Martin
