Avoiding confusion: Hand-tied should be Artisan-tied

Something that I think confuses a lot of people in this hobby is the term “hand-tied”. The fact of the matter is 99% of knots are hand tied regardless of their country of origin (in fact the only place i’ve seen automation for the tying of a knot is in Germany).

Obviously there should be a distinction between knots hand-tied in a factory vs. bespoke small batch creations from talented artisans.
That’s why I’m suggesting going forward it should be referred to as Artisan-Tied knots. The value of Artisan-Tied knots is having someone take extra time & care into creating an item specifically for you.

But other knots are still hand-tied, the actual process is similar/same.

Thoughts? Am I overthinking this? Does anyone actually care? Anyways…carry on

Thanks for posting this. I have been thinking about this for some time and was not able to comprehend the difference.

Some of the skilled workers (not artisans) from China have been tying knots for over two decades and still they (Chinese) are flipping badger brushes dirt cheap with knots that are pretty good. How do artisans justify the huge markup they demand on their hand tied knots where most of them have been in this business for over a couple of years themselves? Is it the handle, marketing that we are paying or is the hair quality far more superior than those Chinese badger brushes ?

I happen to use Maseto few years back and can't fault that brush for the price it goes at. I am yet to try any hand tied artisanal brush to really know the difference but some pointers may help. Thanks

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Thanks for posting this. I have been thinking about this for some time and was not able to comprehend the difference.

Some of the skilled workers (not artisans) from China have been tying knots for over two decades and still they (Chinese) are flipping badger brushes dirt cheap with knots that are pretty good. How do artisans justify the huge markup they demand on their hand tied knots where most of them have been in this business for over a couple of years themselves? Is it the handle, marketing that we are paying or is the hair quality far more superior than those Chinese brushes?

"exacting attention to detail", would be my guess. After all, it is not as tangible to all.
Personally Ive never been able to tell which knot is tied by a grandmaster
and which isn't. (not a connoisseur, you can tell)
But I can certainly tell when the hair on a brush is crap or very very good.

Something that I think confuses a lot of people in this hobby is the term “hand-tied”. The fact of the matter is 99% of knots are hand tied regardless of their country of origin (in fact the only place i’ve seen automation for the tying of a knot is in Germany).

Obviously there should be a distinction between knots hand-tied in a factory vs. bespoke small batch creations from talented artisans.
That’s why I’m suggesting going forward it should be referred to as Artisan-Tied knots. The value of Artisan-Tied knots is having someone take extra time & care into creating an item specifically for you.

But other knots are still hand-tied, the actual process is similar/same.

Thoughts? Am I overthinking this? Does anyone actually care? Anyways…carry on

Thanks for posting this. I have been thinking about this for some time and was not able to comprehend the difference.

Some of the skilled workers (not artisans) from China have been tying knots for over two decades and still they (Chinese) are flipping badger brushes dirt cheap with knots that are pretty good. How do artisans justify the huge markup they demand on their hand tied knots where most of them have been in this business for over a couple of years themselves? Is it the handle, marketing that we are paying or is the hair quality far more superior than those Chinese badger brushes ?

I happen to use Maseto few years back and can't fault that brush for the price it goes at. I am yet to try any hand tied artisanal brush to really know the difference but some pointers may help. Thanks

Sent from my V2040 using Tapatalk

For me I‘d say the main difference is that these premium artisan tied knots are knots that are actually used by the artisans themselves. For any given batch of hair, the knot is tested for optimal density and loft so that they all just work. I have never used a Declaration grooming brush that lacked flow through.

On the other hand, Chinese brush makers will make anything that the market asks for, whether functional or not. Extra high density 48mm loft? Sure, no problem..

What I am trying to say is that these artisan brushes leave the trial and error aspect of the optimal knot up to the artisans themselves.

By pure chance, I once purchased a brand new Wiborg White Badger Ebony Series brush
with a really striking handle design called The Knight. The only reason I did that
was because a dude called Lee Sabini was being a bit of a prima donna at the time
and not returning emails. While Wiborg was pretty accessible those days.

Used it a few times and set it aside but every time I did use it, I could feel it was special.
Just ultra luxurious and lofted low for perfect backbone. I have not come across
a better calibrated knot.

Then Wiborg became rare and prices shot up...when I was trying to sell mine,
a shave brush guru crashed my bst thread to point out that the wiborg knots were
tied in china and merely assembled by Gunther in Bavaria.

I could not tell the difference. This was a knot of the highest order and I can say
it bested the artisanally and individually hand curated, grass-fed, non GMO, hand stroked
and expertly callipered declaration brush in my line-up.