Which Silvertip Knot?

I am looking for the best quality 3 band silvertip knot out there (for my preferences). The handle I have is bored to 27mm and 15mm deep, so I’m looking around a 24-25mm knot. Already have a two band (paladin), useto have a maseto 26mm silvertip and was a bit too big, but loved how pillowy soft it felt. 
Backbone = little to medium
Face feel = pillowy soft
Density = not too much, I’d rather have good flow thru
Bulb vs Fan = not opposed to either

The mist pillowy soft 3 band I ever owned was the Elite HMW.

I have the 28mm and 30mm of this knot. They're enormously dense and pillowy with excellent backbone.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33022186...2eafGMkh7O

If you decide to get one, I suggest that you contact them, and choose a different shipping method other than what Aliexpress offers. Otherwise, you'll probably have to wait till winter before the knot arrives.

I was under the impression that high mountain white knots were not as soft as silvertip and sometimes scritchy a bit

I was under the impression that high mountain white knots were not as soft as silvertip and sometimes scritchy a bit

The Silvertip hair of this knot is completely different from typical HMW hair. It's such a silly naming convention on their part.

None of these names mean anything.

I have the 28mm and 30mm of this knot. They're enormously dense and pillowy with excellent backbone.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33022186...2eafGMkh7O

If you decide to get one, I suggest that you contact them, and choose a different shipping method other than what Aliexpress offers. Otherwise, you'll probably have to wait till winter before the knot arrives.

I saw no other shipping options and I'm 2 months into a wait for 2 knots..................

Your preferences lead directly to Kent BLK8 I personally didn’t like it but the qualities you speak of are all there. Tips are pillowy soft. No backbone for my taste, tons of flow through. Very soft feel and lots of splay.


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As much as I’d like to get a Kent, I hate the look of their handles and can’t justify the price if I don’t find it pleasing to the eye as well as functional. Wish they sold their knots separately

I would say in my experience, HMW does compare (slightly) differently to silvertip. But again, it is never universally fitting "between" brand. I've come to the conclusion that 3 band "HMW" can mean that the individual badger hairs in the knot have a thicker trunk than standard silvertip. This would be the case if I was using a knot and found the brush to have more scrub or scritch. Then there are other cases where I would come to expect that the HMW knots have a softer feel at the tips. For instance, since Elite HMW was mentioned above, I can use that as an example. I would recommend a 3 band HMW bulb from Elite and for the reasons you mentioned in the OP.

The Elite 3 band HMW bulb was purchased 2-3 years ago and I would say it would be softer then most 3 band "silvertip" grades amongst many brands. It is very thin hair and the tips feel consistent and the sorting I think is well done. No glue bump and great free loft, aka flow through and release. I will add below my link to a thread started years ago before I set the knot and you can see what the hair looks like after getting it throughly washed out and broken in a bit. Down below are the photos of that knot set into a handle.

http://shavenook.com/showthread.php?tid=...ight=Elite











The brush handle pictured above (I believe) is a 26mm wide socket. The plug of the knot is a 24mm wide and measuring the outside diameter, it measures just under 25mm wide and the loft was measured at 48.7mm tall. This brush is very soft in many ways and in general, it is softer than most of the other 3 band silver tips that I have which is pretty much all I have or use. No more 2 bands for many years but if you want a great soft knot, it will make great lather and give you a very soft feel, no scrub to my face with it set like this. But many people don't like as much flop and lack of backbone as I do. That's why I like 3 bands in a bulb or hybrid fan. It gives it a bit more firmness and doesn't splay too easily without some force. Let me know if you want me to do a lathering video with this brush. Happy to help and cheers!