Show us your boars!

Obelix said:
There is a guy that i had found while googling, who made a quick experiment, to see how much time the brush needs soaked to get fully saturated. He did that, i think, by measuring the weight of the brush. And if i remember correctly, his results showed that 90% saturation occurs in the 1st minute. So you don't need to let it there soaking for too long. I usually give it 3-5 mins and i think they 're more than enough.
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Sounds good. Thanks.
 
Nisse said:
Not sure I am able to follow your reasoning that presoaking brush in water would stop fibre absorbing stuff from soap.
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The theory isn't mine. I just tried to seek a logical path and form a more complete chain of events. I am only 8 months wetshaver. I believe the theory is this: The boar bristle has the property to absorb water (contrary to badger that only traps it). When you presoak the boar, water will get absorb inside the bristles and saturate them by capillary effect. Once the bristle is saturated, it will not be able to further absorb new water. If anything, some water may start flowing out again. So, whatever soap you use, its substances won't end up inside the bristle, dissolved into the water. People where saying that if the boar isn't presoaked, some water with dissolved components of the soap, will be absorbed by the bristle and can make the bristle weaker, more fragile or stiffer due to forming salts inside the bristle.

I think the theory is plausible, because the lather is a more concetrated solution, while the water in the interior of the bristle, has lesser concentration. So if you put the two solutions into contact, water from inside will flow outside (into the lather) and not the other way around (concentration gradient).

I think the property of absorbing water also explains, why boar knots, even in less dense brushes, take more time to dry than badgers. The badgers don't absorb the water so it's only the water trapped between the hair that needs to evaporate. On the contrary, in the boar, even if less dense, you have the water between the bristles, plus the water that has been absorbed by the bristles, that slowly comes out again and needs more time to evaporate too. The result is a boar that even after 2 days, has still wetness in it.
 
Anyone rehandled the Omega Pro 98? Want to put one in a wooden barber handle but not sure if the knot comes out of the black casing and the metal ring. I know the top pops off the handle as people put plasticine in it for weight.
 
Hogwash said:
Anyone rehandled the Omega Pro 98? Want to put one in a wooden barber handle but not sure if the knot comes out of the black casing and the metal ring. I know the top pops off the handle as people put plasticine in it for weight.
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It will come out, although I have never taken apart this particular brush but I had dismantled a couple of Omega 48s. Take the ring off and push the knot from the inside of the handle, I cut the handle and then insert a screwdriver handle and bang down on a hard surface and the knot should pop out, you can also cut away the plastic collar once if you wish without damaging the knot. Good luck.:) p.
 
Six days, six uses later... I declare the Zenith “broken in”

C11_CC618_B798_4_CF6_89_BF_E6_F8_F3_BCFBBA.jpg


Apart from this morning where my Vitos misbehaved the brush has stood up well against a Maseto finest badger and a MÜHLE Synthetic, it's almost certainly that little bit too tall for a dedicated face latherer but still perfectly usable once you adapt to its quirks... I've flung more lather around the bathroom than ever this past week!
 
Rohleder said:
Six days, six uses later... I declare the Zenith “broken in”

C11_CC618_B798_4_CF6_89_BF_E6_F8_F3_BCFBBA.jpg


Apart from this morning where my Vitos misbehaved the brush has stood up well against a Maseto finest badger and a MÜHLE Synthetic, it's almost certainly that little bit too tall for a dedicated face latherer but still perfectly usable once you adapt to its quirks... I've flung more lather around the bathroom than ever this past week!
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That's a very quick break-in! And the knot seems to be very dense. Impressive! Nice, fat knot.
 
It is extremely dense for a boar, I think (that's) what threw me this morning... I kept getting runny lathers, in hindsight I obviously had too much water in the knot which is strange as the water content was no different to the previous 5 days/uses.

Perhaps it's water retention ability improved somehow? Is that part of boar break in? o_O
 
Rohleder said:
It is extremely dense for a boar, I think (that's) what threw me this morning... I kept getting runny lathers, in hindsight I obviously had too much water in the knot which is strange as the water content was no different to the previous 5 days/uses.

Perhaps it's water retention ability improved somehow? Is that part of boar break in? o_O
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I have no idea, but in deed the density is surprising. My medium size Omegas look like swiss cheese when you look at the knot from above. In your brush you can barely see a hole.
 
These old Vulfix knots were hand sorted, there are little to no thick bristles. They were made by hand & I think this took too much time as they were discontinued when Mr Watterson Senior retired. The bristles now are super soft but still need soaking as they are quite fragile. Luckily I have a few London series boars as this Hyde Park looses a few hairs each shave.
I do have some Vulfix knots left & keep meaning to pair them with these handles:
brushes.jpg

Turned by the late Bill Jack, & so long a go I can't remember what two of the woods are. The middle handle is Laurel wood (Prunus Rotundifolia) from my old garden. I think they may be Rosewood (left) & some sort of Birch.
 
Paul said:
These old Vulfix knots were hand sorted, there are little to no thick bristles. They were made by hand & I think this took too much time as they were discontinued when Mr Watterson Senior retired. The bristles now are super soft but still need soaking as they are quite fragile. Luckily I have a few London series boars as this Hyde Park looses a few hairs each shave.
I do have some Vulfix knots left & keep meaning to pair them with these handles:
brushes.jpg

Turned by the late Bill Jack, & so long a go I can't remember what two of the woods are. The middle handle is Laurel wood (Prunus Rotundifolia) from my old garden. I think they may be Rosewood (left) & some sort of Birch.
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Paul...any plans to do the Omega boar specials again?' with solid handles; would be great to get the opportunity of purchasing Omega boars with a quality handle...
 
Paul said:
Could offer as a of a group buy/special order. They have a minimum order for each model around 48 pcs I think.

Any model in particular, I still have one No.35 :https://postimg.org/gallery/34gwuq3ty/
No.42 - No.43 - No.45 - No.34 - No.35 - No.37
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Those brushes do look very nice.

Earlier up in the thread there was some discussion of Omega using bleached and non bleached bristles for their brushes. Having seen more Omega brushes than most of us on this forum, have you noticed if certain models use the lighter/whiter bristles and some use the yellow ones/unbleached ones?
 
I have the "Lucrezia Borgia" with the red handle on the extreme right and while it's a looker, IMHO it's bordering on the floppy side, because the loft is 60mm high and the white bristle isn't as stiff as the yellows. So it costed me 18 EUR, but i prefer the 6 EUR 80266 or even the 80265 over it, because their loft seems much more proportionate (55mm). Just saying... I feel the Lucrezia Borgia is mainly a bowl lathering brush and then to lather with painting motions. Just my impression. I use it to facelather too, but it feels a bit awkward.
 
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