Special Review: Kim Son Horn Handle Brush **UPDATE**

A Vietnamese company, Kim Son Handicrafts, has recently gotten into the shaving brush game, and they sent me a sample of their work to review. Here are my first impressions.

I got this brush in the mail today from Vu Kim Son. Vu represents Kim Son Handicrafts, a company specializing in handmade genuine horn products. The have a huge range of products, from shoehorns and combs (which Vu also generously included) to pistol grips and razor handles.

Kim Son has been making brush handles for some time, having done work with Savemac in Germany on custom brush handles (Correction: Apparently, the custom brush was for SRP, NOT B&B. Sorry about the mixup.), and now they have begun supplying complete brushes in Silvertip badger.

But enough talk, here it is:



This is an attempt to give you a view of the darker side of the handle. The handle is a lovely marbled horn--just beautiful.



Another view, with different lighting, showing the lighter side. The Knot here is just out of the package--it was rather tightly bound, so it hasn't bloomed at all.

It is quite a large brush--here it is in comparison with some other brushes I have; a Simpsons Duke 3 (which is 92mm tall, with a 23mm knot) and an Omega Travel 21047 travel brush (a TINY boar brush):



Here's the knot after some rest and a little blooming, from above:


It's rather dense. It feels firm to the touch, with a bit more bounce-back that the only other silvertip I've tried up to this point--a 23mm Shavemac; it seems to have a bit more backbone, but is not as densely filled. The hair might be of a slightly lower grade than the Shavemac, I'm not sure.

Vu says that his knots are sourced from India, which is unusual. The knot looks fairly dense and has a nice springy feel to the hand. I haven't tried it in the shave yet, but I am looking forward to it tomorrow. I've also sent some specific detail questions to Vu, and will post his answers when I get them.

**UPDATE**
Here are my questions, and Vu's answers.
1. What knot size is this brush--that means, how wide is the hair where it goes into the handle? 23mm? And can you make other sizes?
The Knot size is 23-21 mm the wide of hair could do custom follow customer.

(Ed. I need to measure this...it looks like the knot is closer to 25mm to me.)

2. How tall is the brush total? How tall is the handle, and how tall is the hair loft?
About the tall , I don’t measure when I send them but your samples is standard . Let me discuss with my father next day.

(Ed. I just eyeballed with my trusty pink plastic ruler--it looks like the brush is just under 11 cm tall, with a 49mm handle and a 58mm loft...!!!)

3. Where (what country) did you get the hair from? Was the knot (this is the word we use for the hair in the brush) hand tied, or machine tied?
The hair come from Asia , specially from India and I also looking for best resource . As you know, I do business with 1st is quality and customer feedback not the big sale. Later in the email, he also said that the source uses hand tied knots, as per his request.

4. Can you make brushes in different grades? There is silvertip, Pure Badger, Best Badger, etc.
Of course , I could provide Silver Badger , Pure or Best Badger . But I think the horn handle come with the Silver badger is the best because my supplier said the silver badger is the best quality. I will listen your comment and put the option for customer choice when they order. They could choice the Silver , Pure , Best etc.



My initial impressions are, on a purely visual level, very favorable. I will be making periodic updates with my progress with this brush, and giving a final verdict in a couple of weeks, so please check in often!