Just a word of caution

Over the last few months one of my vintage Rooney Finest brushes, a 3/3 Ebony, began to shed quite a lot. The handle still have very crisp, pristine lettering, and since I loved its appearance and feel in my hand, I decided to have it reknotted so that I could continue to use it in my rotation. I sent it to an artisan from whom I had bought brushes in the past, and he put one of his knots in it. But when I got the brush back, I was dismayed to see that half the lettering on the handle had been wiped off. Perhaps the artisan did not know that polishing would remove the lettering, since none of his brush handles are lettered. I suspect he was just tired and very careless. He claimed that the lettering had been faded before he worked on the brush, but as you can see from the images below, this is totally untrue. He refunded my payment, but the damage has been done, and the treasured brush handle is ruined. I don't think I'll ever use it; it's just going to sit in my cabinet as a reminder to be extremely careful about who works on your gear.

Pre-reknotting


Post-reknotting

dang, that's disappointing. did the person who reknotted it offer to try to have it sent out to have the lettering reapplied (if possible)?

dang, that's disappointing. did the person who reknotted it offer to try to have it sent out to have the lettering reapplied (if possible)?

No, he didn't. I don't think it's possible. My understanding is that Lee Sabini (of Rooney and Morris & Forndran) is the only person who has still has the original machinery for it, and he is not doing any refurbishing, so far as I know.

That’s really a bummer. Wouldn’t have occured to me that for a knot replacement the logo could be polished off. I guess there’s always a risk of handle breakage removing the old knot, but why would anyone aggressively polish it like that?

Sorry John, perhaps steaming to get the knot out and roughly grasping around the handle, twisting the knot out caused it. So sad and surely disappointing to you.....

Check with Brad Sears - bet he can help

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

On the bright side you have the only OONEY brush in existence. 

Sorry I couldn’t resist. Pretty disappointing.

Though I feel bad for you that the lettering has come off your brush but to say the brush is ruined is kinda stretching it quite a bit, isn't it? I don't think the lettering will make the brush shave better or worse but then what do I know? At least he refunded you so how bad can it possibly be? I don't get it!!

The general premise of this is while it won't bother you personally muzichead, it bothers the owner of said item. Out of all the brushes I've used, Rooney Finest is THE most unique brush I ever found. Rooney 2-band and 3-band Heritage was quite unique and up there as well for me. I find something personally nice about the text as well and would also be quite saddened if I had this happen. I couldn't explain myself why it would bother me. I can say that I would be bothered by the mere fact that I sent the brush in with pristine lettering, and received the item back not as I shipped it. The vendor made it right, but the damage is done, and it just isn't the same now for the owner. You are correct that it won't affect how the brush functions, but that's besides the point.

Though I feel bad for you that the lettering has come off your brush but to say the brush is ruined is kinda stretching it quite a bit, isn't it? I don't think the lettering will make the brush shave better or worse but then what do I know? At least he refunded you so how bad can it possibly be? I don't get it!!

To me the value of a brush is much more than just how well it works at lathering a soap or cream. In addition to its lathering ability and face and hand feel, its appearance is also extremely important.