ajc347 said:
I'm re-discovering boar brushes at the moment having plumped for a a number of new Semogues (SOC, LE 2011 & 2000) to add to my 830 (which is still currently undergoing a tug-of-love battle between my wife and I).
I'm finding that I prefer the Semogue boars over the Omega boars I've tried; they just seem to be made with a little bit more attention to detail.
I had a fair run with Semogues and bought about 6. I found them really ordinary compared to Omegas. Yes, the materials and build is usually more involved, but I thought the knots all sucked; they were all the same regardless of loft and width. All went floppy soft, and that's the brief they're going for - badger like feel. But I wanted boar grunt, and Omegas boars go just as soft, only retain actual backbone.
The reason for this is Semogues knots are manipulated by design for fatness. A 1305 spec is listed at 22 knot. It isn't, and neither are the other brushes 'on spec'. A broken and reknotted 1305, (I also reknotted a 620 and 1460) shows that the actual width is about 18 at most, and all their knots sit in a metal cup, which then sits in the handle. The cup is funnel shaped and flares the knot, which is glued at the edge of the cup.
So you're actually getting a 18/55 brush that's flared out for artificial density. No wonder they go so soft; that's a poor width/loft ratio. Same goes for the fatter/thinner knot brushes, the same proportions apply.
I got a 2000 and it's practically unusable, it's so floppy, the SOC was pretty much the same. But an omega 10202, which is longer and fatter, has some real grunt, but is really soft at the tips.
Omega have straighter set knots, that are more densely filled per spec. And they all feel different. So I bought a few of those. They cost a great deal less, as yes, some of the cheaper ones have very plasticky handles, but the knots are great even at the cheap end.
