what's your method of reknotting?

I'm looking to pull the TGN knot (I believe) from my ever-ready 100T because it's simply not dense enough and I'd like a little more loft. what's your method for pulling the existing knot and removing all of the epoxy and such left inside the handle? has anyone had success steaming the knot out? I'd imagine this would also loosen up the epoxy as well.

Be careful steaming. It can kill a plastic finish, painted finish or a wood finish. I drill it out with progressively thicker drill bits being careful of the edge of the handle. Then a sharp exacto knife to clean out the rest. If the handle needs refinishing anyway then steam her out.

Click on the link below and try that out. I'm going to be doing it one of my brushes soon but have not tried it yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv0bcIRz-CY

Maybe try using a quality drill bit as stated above. I recently got rid of a TGN 2 band finest knot from a wood handle that I wanted to keep. Funny experience. I probably could've steamed it but I tried to cut a majority of the exposed hair using a hack saw. The knot is so dense since badger hair is so fine that the hair just simply bends and moves. It took a good 40min between hacking and using a dremel tool to clean out the attached glue plug.

Ah, but what if you want to salvage BOTH the knot AND the handle?
I have a bufflehead buddha brush and the knot has too low a loft. I'd want to steam the knot out, add a spacer to the handle to raise the loft and re-set the knot.
Not sure if that's possible (or likely to be successful).

If you want to save both the handle and the knot steaming is your only choice

Just as little stream as possible. I've seen a few knots ruined by over steaming.

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Steaming can be tricky as it will also loosen not only the epoxy/glue holding the knot it place, but also the epoxy/glue in the glue plug holding the hair in place. You then have a knot that sheds like crazy. The safest way is to destroy the knot.
Cut the hair as close to the handle as possible, then progressively drill out the hole. Use a dremel with a sanding or grinding attachment to remove any left over epoxy, set the new knot.

I have tried steaming two brushes, one from WD Larry and one TGN knot which I set myself in a Switchback 400. Thing is, I did as instructed in the video above. And it was still stuck. Back in the steamer. Twice. The end result was, in the case of the WD brush, a shedding brush still in one piece. In the case of the TGN knot, which I set using putty epoxy, the knot did come loose in the end without becoming a shedder. But: the tips of both knots were damaged and are now fit only for those that prefer a high level of scritch. So Erik Mr_Smartepants beware!

I think that one issue with the WD brush is that Larry uses a lot of epoxy (or so I am told), plus it was drilled 15mm or so, meaning that the steam would have to work its way through relatively more hairs until getting to the epoxy. This theory would mean that the lower a knot is set, the harder to get it out. I ended up cutting off the hairs and drilling like @gregkw12 said. So now I have a blank handle waiting for a knot, while the Switchback is set with a Virginia Sheng Silvertip using silicone only, from below (ferrule like for the Rubberset 400). I find that silicone holds well for normal use while easily giving if you want the knot to come out. Not sure how long it will hold though.

Steaming can be tricky as it will also loosen not only the epoxy/glue holding the knot it place, but also the epoxy/glue in the glue plug holding the hair in place.  You then have a knot that sheds like crazy.  The safest way is to destroy the knot.
Cut the hair as close to the handle as possible, then progressively drill out the hole.  Use a dremel with a sanding or grinding attachment to remove any left over epoxy, set the new knot.

What if you don't care about the old knot? I'm gonna remove one soon and was planning to use the steam process but I can just as easily drill it if you think that is best.