TGN High Mountain White Badger Hair knot

[Shave4Fun]

Have any of you tried this TGN knot?
If so, what do you think?

Thanks in advance,

[Squire]

Much can be said (indeed much has been said) about this high mountain white, Manchurian, or whatever termed badger hair. One could suppose there is a genetically pure strain of badgers kept as pets by some obscure Sherpas who lovingly curry their animals keeping every hair until enough has been gathered to produce a single shaving brush.

Having owned a few brushes with this elusive, exclusive hair I can honestly say they are very nice and a pleasure to have and use. Do they make better lather? Umm, can't say that they do. About the same as best badger grade while having the distinction of being much more expensive.

On the other hand they're damned attractive and can last 20 years which bring the daily shave cost down to pennies.

[brothers]

If a guy's got a nice handle that he wants to re-knot, $60 is a painless way to have a really nice HMW brush. Tony's replacement knots are top quality. Good badger brushes are not limited to the big name brands.

[Squire]

Quite true Gary, but if I'm paying for a top dollar knot I want a top name on the handle.

[brothers]

Exactly my point Squire. Top dollar names cost top dollar. TGN HMW knots enable those who want the benefits of HMW badger without playing the name game.

[Squire]

What benefits? If you know how to make lather the color of the hair makes no difference. Adding the costs of a handle, high water or whatever hair, labor and shipping, the costs of this mishmash assembly exceeds the cost of a quality name brand brush that is perfectly suited to the job.

[CMur12]

Is this a two-banded badger loft? If so, face-latherers tend to like it because of the greater backbone without resorting to ridiculously dense knots. In such a case, there is a functional advantage to this grade of badger (none for me, however, as a bowl-latherer) and not everyone cares about the pedigree that goes with certain brands. Were it not so, TGN would go out of business.

- Murray

[brothers]

I understood the OP Roger asking if anyone here has tried the TGN knot, and I have not. However, I bought a pretty (to me ) vintage bakelite Rubberset brush handle this morning, and the old knot was just trash. Fortunately it popped out without any difficulty, leaving the empty hole without any old glue to clear out. The hole is only 21mm wide. It'll be a piece of cake to enlarge it to about 24 or so, to fit the new knot, which I hope will be one of TGN's HMW knots if they aren't sold out yet. The old handle has a green varigated base and the collar is cream colored. It doesn't have any cracks, scratches, or damage, but it does need a thorough polishing and waxing to bring out the pretty colors. It feels solid, so I won't have to add any weight or filling. I haven't redone an old brush in a year or so, and I'm looking forward to this little project.

[kaptain_zero]

Gary,

How do you lever out an old knot? I've got an old brush here, given to me by a co-worker and I was thinking of putting in a new knot. I do have a woodworking lathe and I'm fairly adept at chucking stuff in the lathe that normally doesn't quite fit, but I've been wondering about how to safely remove an old, well glued knot.

Regards

Christian

[brothers]

Christian, sorry for the delay in responding. I wanted to do some browsing and fortunately I found what I was looking for. Here's the link! It's a long thread, and if you want a shortcut, scroll down to post #293. However, you probably should read the whole thread from start to finish. It's good reading. Good luck with your project!

[Oscar11]

If your willing to take the risk and want to be mercenary about the whole deal buy your knots directly from China for probably less than half the cost. I like to experiment with brushes so at some point I realize I'll be wasting my time and money and I'm willing to take the risk.
Here are 4 brushes 3 are 2 band and one is pure. 2 are Shavemacs, one Semogue and one is an inexpensive Chinese 2 band. One knot cost 10-12 times the cost of the other cheaper Chinese. Now if you held both knots in your hand and examined them you would notice the difference in quality (I would expect). But in actual use, I doubt it. Both are very plush, nice and soft with good backbone but each feels slightly different on your face. Not good or bad different, just different and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people would go for the Chinese knot. It's that close. I have no problem taking knots out of expensive brushes either if I'm not satisfied with their performance. Nothing is more disappointing then spending good money on a name brand brush that doesn't have much "wow' to it other than the name.

[Squire]

Well said Oscar, at this point it's a hobby anyway.