Removing a knot to a different handle

What's good about steaming is the handle can be saved.

And what's not good about steaming is that you risk effing up the knot. I have done it, twice. The tips went crispy and shaving would give a true sense of the word scritch. You might be luckier than I, of course, but my advice, if it's the knot you're after, either have someone do it for you, or go gently at the handle with a saw of some sort.

Thank you everyone for the helpful suggestions.

For oldschoolsteel - A small cutting wheel on a Dremel and a lot of patience would accomplish the task. I don't know what the people are doing that they recommend sending the brushes to but I'd guess this might be similar to the method they are using. I'd start lower on the brush, tape up the hair with masking tape and and work my way up from the bottom to the top. Wear some safety goggles and just pick at it slowly. Once you get to the point where you can actually see the plug you'll be making some progress. I've heard of guys just hitting a brush handle with a hammer, especially the cheap wooden ones. That's ok for a $15 brush that you want to steal the boar knot from but I wouldn't do it with a knot that was more expensive to replace.

For sinistral - You're best bet is still to sell the brush, because it still has value, and buy another knot. No risk at all and a whole lot less work.

I have a Shavemac Silver Tip, it is a great brush. With one expectation I do not care for the handle, I believe it was custom made for another forum.

Can the knot be removed and placed into a new handle?

Is there aanyone who does this type of work?

Steaming can sometimes remove a knot, but there are risks: The adhesive Shavemac uses to hold the knot together is fairly sensitive to heat. So exposing an expensive knot to 212 deg F. for 15-20 minutes might cause it to fall out, but there's an excellent chance that the knot will turn into a shedder. And, as someone else mentioned, the hair could be affected creating an entirely new shaving experience.

All that said: the most reliable way to extract a Shavemac knot (or most other knots, for that matter) is to lock the handle in a lathe and, with the machine turning at moderate speed (~1,200-1,500 rpm) carefully cut away the handle below the base of the knot with what's called a parting tool. Some cleanup work is sometimes necessary using a Dremel (or equivalent) to remove residual adhesive and/or handle material. That approach obviously requires good knowledge of brush construction, a steady hand, the right equipment, and a fair amount of experience. But done correctly (and with a bit of luck) the knot can usually be salvaged with little-to-no physical damage to the knot. The handle, of course, is discarded.

A Dremel with a cutoff blade might work, but the radius on those blades is pretty small; so you could run into problems if your handle's too large.

As was mentioned earlier, your best bet might be to sell the brush and buy a new one. But if you still want to have the knot extracted, I'm happy to talk about options in detail.

All that said:  the most reliable way to extract a Shavemac knot (or most other knots, for that matter) is to lock the handle in a lathe and, with the machine turning at moderate speed (~1,200-1,500 rpm) carefully cut away the handle below the base of the knot with what's called a parting tool.  Some cleanup work is sometimes necessary using a Dremel (or equivalent) to remove residual adhesive and/or handle material.  That approach obviously requires good knowledge of brush construction, a steady hand, the right equipment, and a fair amount of experience.  But done correctly (and with a bit of luck) the knot can usually be salvaged with little-to-no physical damage to the knot.  The handle, of course, is discarded.

I agree with Brad's assessment.