Knot Stiffness Rating | asthebrushturns

Rating Knot Stiffness on a Finished Brush

So let's discuss how we at ATBT rate knot stiffness in the brush(es) we sale for you to determine which is best for your intended use.

We use a rating system of 1-10.

1 being a very floppy knot as set by us without much backbone what so ever like that of some Silvertip supple knots will yield if not set deep enough into the brush handle.

10 being a very firm and stiff knot as set by us with a very rigid backbone like that of the common boar knots that some prefer regardless of the knot seating depth .

The ratings between these two numbers will be reflective on the scale. While a 3 or 4 may not be real floppy in terms of when it is loaded with water and soap, it may still be a tad softer than some would like. While a 6-8 rating may be soft bristle ends and the soft feel to the face, it may still have that backbone you want in a great lathering brush.

We all know that a person's preference is so subjective. But after discussions with a few customers and potential customers we decided to come up with a rating system to hopefully give ou some peace of mind as to what degree of stiffness you are getting.

While what is soft to me may be very rigid to you and vice versa and we want you to be happy with your purchase bottom line.

Typically if you want stiff you need to stay with the double band badger; grey badger; some black badger; and boar.

I have found in my brush making experience that if you want suppleness and a more floppy brush to stay with silvertip badger; some black badger; and some horse as well. But depending on the height of these knots, some can be set deep enough to provide backbone while still providing enough loft to be desirable.

I find that if you are using a soap in the form of a puck that is hard you will need a stiffer knot to agitate the soap to produce lather.

If you are using creams then you can use synthetics that are soft and silvertip badger, as well as some soft horse.

This is in no way a hard fast rule but some personal observations from using most every knot material made.

So we hope we have helped you just a bit understand our rating and we will be using this rating system on our sales site on Bonanza as well. God Bless and thank you for stopping by.