A couple more brushes...

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A couple more brushes finished all tuxedo knots, I was really shocked with the different quality of knots from different manufacturers, I have got samples from all the main players in brush knots, some are crap whilst some are just ok, standouts for me for synthetic, are apshaveco in Canada, and for badger (silvertip) it is the golden nib (usa), I was amazed at the difference considering they are all made in China! Has anyone else found this? What do people like in terms of knot, I tend to lean more towards larger synthetics now but I have a couple of high end badger brushes that come out at least once a week.
Here are some pics of finished brushes,knots, and my own cast alumilite blanks.IMG_1089.JPGIMG_1088.JPGIMG_1087.JPG
 
The brushes look great. I really like the look of them with the synthetic knots.

In recent months I have been trending more and more towards good quality boar brushes. This is problematic because there seems to be even less precise categorisation off boar knots than Badger or synthetic.

It's clear that there is a world of difference between something like the Omega 011829/42 brushes than other boar brushes, but unclear how and where you get your hands on consistently top end equivalents. These bristles are more resilient than Badger but the tips are as soft and the backbone to length performance just perfect for me.

There is a clear difference between the bristle quality of these brushes and other Omega or Semogue.

The performance for me is only significant when straight shaving. Keeping all other factors the same, I personally get a better shave using one of these brushes for face lathering. Not so when safety shaving where a high end synthetic or Badger work equally as well.

What I miss is a high end boar knot set in a short fat handle. That would be the perfect brush for me.
 
The vendors are always the second person in the chain and as you've pointed out they are all getting then from china. The trick is getting a relationship with the chinese manufacturers and ensuring they only sell you the good stuff. There are many lower quality knots made by the same factories and even seconds that fail QA are sold to unknowing buyers. Prob is they will always want you to buy large numbers as a min order to get the good stuff. have you started taking custom orders?

But failing that AP shave all day everyday for synthetics.
 
The brushes look great. I really like the look of them with the synthetic knots.

In recent months I have been trending more and more towards good quality boar brushes. This is problematic because there seems to be even less precise categorisation off boar knots than Badger or synthetic.

It's clear that there is a world of difference between something like the Omega 011829/42 brushes than other boar brushes, but unclear how and where you get your hands on consistently top end equivalents. These bristles are more resilient than Badger but the tips are as soft and the backbone to length performance just perfect for me.

There is a clear difference between the bristle quality of these brushes and other Omega or Semogue.

The performance for me is only significant when straight shaving. Keeping all other factors the same, I personally get a better shave using one of these brushes for face lathering. Not so when safety shaving where a high end synthetic or Badger work equally as well.

What I miss is a high end boar knot set in a short fat handle. That would be the perfect brush for me.
That is one knot that I have not yet looked into, I have a semogue 830 boar that is a great brush but they just don't seem to hold a decent amount of lather and I love lather! Hence preferring larger synthetics, I must note that I'm a face latherer, if I was bowl lathering it is of no significance on how much a brush holds.
 
The vendors are always the second person in the chain and as you've pointed out they are all getting then from china. The trick is getting a relationship with the chinese manufacturers and ensuring they only sell you the good stuff. There are many lower quality knots made by the same factories and even seconds that fail QA are sold to unknowing buyers. Prob is they will always want you to buy large numbers as a min order to get the good stuff. have you started taking custom orders?

But failing that AP shave all day everyday for synthetics.
Yeah I have found that they only want to talk if you are buying like 1000 knots!!.
Yeah I have started taking orders if anyone is interested, I am probably more well known for my straight razors, and have just gone full time self employed so just wanted to expand my range a bit more in the hope of making a living (hopefully).
 
I have talked to people that swear they cannot feel any difference between APS Tuxedo and Yaqi Tuxedo, same same...
Yeah you're could well be right, to be honest all of these knots are probably made in the same one factory, all I know is I have brought from several manufacturers/vendors and some of them I wouldn't want to comb my dog with!! (If I had one that is!).
 
That is one knot that I have not yet looked into, I have a semogue 830 boar that is a great brush but they just don't seem to hold a decent amount of lather and I love lather! Hence preferring larger synthetics, I must note that I'm a face latherer, if I was bowl lathering it is of no significance on how much a brush holds.

Connaught have a good range of Omegas - I think they are the UK distributor. They have the 011842 on their website.

The Omega site is frustratingly unhelpful. It does not list that brush and does not distinguish knots as far as I can see.

I know that Semogue grade their knots based on % of full length hairs and then divide the hair softness between Best / Premium / Special etc.

In painting brushes, there are definite differences between bristle sources. Chungking wild hog bristles are notably better than others - so much so that they work well with watercolours. They have less water absorption than other boar bristles so you would think it would make for a superior shaving brush. I have never seen boar bristle sourcing called out on shaving brushes which seems strange given the discernment of wet shavers.
 
I have talked to people that swear they cannot feel any difference between APS Tuxedo and Yaqi Tuxedo, same same...
The fibers on the tuxedo from AP shave and Yaqi are near on the same however the density, blunt fibers, fibers set wrong way round and the risk of a massive glue bump make Yaqi a very big risk when buying. All brushes and knots i've had from AP have been perfect. The QA is the most important thing here.
 
I had a Zenith bleached moppy brush, the idea was to remove knot setting it lower in a new handle, keep the soft tips and add backbone, the knot was very easy to remove, too easy it proved because it flew off on first try, bounced twice on the terrace before landing in the filthy bird bath, did not feel like cleaning it so project was binned, lesson learned: garden is not an ideal workplace. Still I believe custom brushes with Zenith knots is an interesting alternative not sure about how well it holds lather though (I bowl lather)
 
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And strops would be a nice sidekick to your razors
Yeah I would love to make strops maybe one day but I'm too busy at the moment, but it certainly looks like fun but I think trying to source perfect leather without paying the world might be difficult.
 
The fibers on the tuxedo from AP shave and Yaqi are near on the same however the density, blunt fibers, fibers set wrong way round and the risk of a massive glue bump make Yaqi a very big risk when buying. All brushes and knots i've had from AP have been perfect. The QA is the most important thing here.
Yeah the Ap knots are great that's what's been in my synthetics so far.
 
Yeah the Ap knots are great that's what's been in my synthetics so far.
AFAIK the only assured suppliers of synthetic knots are:

Maggards
APShaveCo
Whipped Dog

Everything else is caveat emptor.

YaQi knots are the real deal save for huge variations in glue bumps. Most other so called Tuxedo knots on AliExpress are dreadful. The jury is still out on other synthetic knots on there. I've got a cheap fan knot in transit to see if it's any good. Who knows...

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk
 
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