Pan Brush Bristles

[rjpalmer]

I would like to make a pan brush,  but i'm not sure what to use for the fibers/bristles. I thought about using the bristles from a paint brush. What did those of you that have made a pan brush use. I did try using tail hair from a Whitetail Deer tail from my fly tying materials, but it doesn't seem to be stiff enough to be effective. 

[elk killer]

I have never used a pan brush, but have made several,
I buy stiff shoe brushes at junk stores,
or buy a new one from your favorite local rip off mart

[BJH]

Not PC I use the bristles from acid or flux brushes. I just pull them out with pliers, they will have a staple that holds the bundle together. Then I simply epoxy them into a drilled hole in some deer antler or dowel. Easy squeeze. The work really nicely, each of my bags have a pic and brush set. The pic is made the same way, I like brass wire. BJH

[rich pierce]

Can also cut off some of a natural broom. It doesn’t take much and nobody may even notice. I prefer very stiff bristles that more or less scrape the pan clean.

[Tim Crosby]

 Horse tail hair works well, start with it longer than needed, fold in half, tie, wrap with thin wire , drill handle material, press in hair and trim. I don't glue it so as it breaks off it can be pulled out and replaced.

  Tim C.

[Black Hand]

I would like to make a pan brush,  but i'm not sure what to use for the fibers/bristles. I thought about using the bristles from a paint brush. What did those of you that have made a pan brush use. I did try using tail hair from a Whitetail Deer tail from my fly tying materials, but it doesn't seem to be stiff enough to be effective.

I've used horsehair and the bristles from a cheap paintbrush (hardware store, Harbor Freight) should work very well. That said, a pan brush is frankly the most useless thing I've made (and still carry for demonstration purposes) - in the past 15 or more years I've been shooting a flintlock, I've used the brush about a half-dozen times. It is easier to wipe the pan and frizzen with the corner of my hunting shirt, faster and works far better...

[Bigmon]

I have a little experience in this.
I have found that any of the real or natural hair types I have used are usually not stiff enough to scrape, and ends up more like using a tiny rag on the end of a little stick.
They also absorb the crud and moisture and are just even softer.
The best thing I used were the bristles from an old Ice Scrapper / brush like we here in the area of global warming in western Pa are so familiar with.
Just cut them more than double length ya want, bend over 180 degrees so each bristle actually make two, twist a wire around the bunch and do what ever ya have in mind to make it look old and real.
Works fer me.
I think there are nylon paint brushes that might work, but are they stiff enough??
BEst wishes

[Hungry Horse]

This is where I reveal myself as a genuine old geezer. I shave with a blade, and lather up with shaving soap, applied with a shaving brush. When my old shaving brush finally wore out, I asked for a new one for Christmas that year. Just by luck my old brush was a very nice badger hair shaving brush, but the one I got for Christmas was made from pig bristles. It felt for all the world like it was made of wire. I bought myself a new badger brush, and cut up the hog bristle one for pan brushes. I think I got five or six pan brushes out of it. The bristles are anchored in the handle with a large dollop of some sort of resin, that is easily cut with a razor saw into segments the proper size for a pan brush. I did trim back the length of the brush to get to the stiffest part of the bristles. I have since bought a couple old shaving brushes at yard sales to make more pan brushes, and they all work great.

  Hungry Horse

[rjpalmer]

Thanks to all that answered. I usually use a loose cleaning patch to wipe out the pan. I have several pieces  of Whitetail deer antler that ‘s begging to be used. I thought ‘d make a few powder measures, a pan brush and touch hole pick. I was stumped on the floppiness of the bristles I tried using thus far.

[Pukka Bundook]

Was going to say boar bristle, but Hungry Horse beat me to it!  Good and stiff.
I made one but never use it.  :-)

[Mike from OK]

I did almost exactly as Tim Crosby described. Picked up some horse hair at a craft store... Wrapped it up. Glued it into a piece of drilled antler. Very plain, but it turned out well.

Not a very useful tool though. At least not for cleaning fouling. It might work OK for whisking out a prime that you decided not to fire.

Mike

[Arcturus]

I too used boar bristles from a cheap drugstore shaving brush, tied into a bunch and secured in the tip of a legbone from a hen turkey I shot one fall...  Like others have said, I find them more useful for brushing out a pan and lock area when I haven't fired.  A wipe with a cloth patch is usually better for a fouled pan after firing... but I still like the brushes 

[Mark Elliott]

I do exactly as Tim does.   I bought a long bundle of horse hair on eBay.    I will probably never use it all. 

[sonny]

I used the turkey gobblers beard to make my brush. It is stiff enough, an when cut off the gobbler, is naturally connected to a cartilage on turkeys breast......I wrapped some linen thread around the beards outside edge an cut the excess off firming it up. Darn think works perfect, an sure is natural looking..........sonny

[JohnnyFM]

Horse hair, boar bristle and, yes turkey beards all work well.  I do as Tim does and don’t epoxy so I can replace as needed... especially if you’ve a fancy carved handle out of deer antler.  I have an old, real old, car wash brush made of horsehair and have enough of the stuff to last generations.  Whatever ye choose, the shorter ya cut it, the stiffer she gets, to a point.
That being said I often wondered why they call it a pan brush.  T’aint very useful for cleaning a fouled pan; I use a shirttail or rag for that.  A brush is useful for whisking unburned  prime say when you want to make your gunne safe.  I find it also handy for briskly brushing other parts of the lock such as the frizzen spring and bearing area and the cock itself when shooting many shots for the beef.
I suppose in this modern day, some sort of synthetic bristle would work well and many look like a turkey beard.  My experience synthetics also wear out, or pull out, over time too.  It all depends on what stiffness ya like and what is handy, I reckon.

[sonny]

with the turkey beard as a brush, the wrap around the beard can be slid up which makes it stiffer, then you can slide the linen band back down an make it a bit softer for a gentler brushing of the lock pan.................pretty smart huh?........ha ha ha......sonny

[snapper]

I used a turkey beard a couple of days ago to clean out my pan.  Worked great.

Fleener

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

HH beat me to the keyboard...I do as he does and use pieces of a shaving brush.  To the question of why do I need one ( I hear a thousand voices chorusing), I hunted after a heavy wet snow fall several years ago, and had wet snow dropping on me as I made my way through the bush.  I had to clear my flintlock of slush many times that day, and the pan brush was the ticket, followed by a dry cleaning patch and a new prime.  Without it, I'd have been 'dead in the water'.

[Clark Badgett]

I found a scrubbing brush at a small hardware store a few years ago that had natural bristles in it, and that is what I used to make mine. Pulled out a clump and wrapped it with some medium hemp thread and trimmed it short. It's stiff, but I always forget to take it with me to the range.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I agree with the above statement. I make these, but never use them.  I use mostly horse hair.  My sister has a horse.  I have also used antique stiff bristled brushes from time to time.

Cory Joe Stewart

[Brian cox]

Hello, Turkey beards make nice stiff brushes. I bore a hole in an antler tip, tie a section of beard together with artificial sinew, centered in the section I am using and draw it up into the antler tip by threading the sinew through a small bore hole that I made in the bottom of the larger bore hole. Hopefully the picture will attach and you will see what I am trying to explain in less than a thousand words.

[David R. Pennington]

I made up a whole batch of these one winter with a little chain attached and a copper pick wire on the other end. i found them quite useful. I rolled a little tube out of thin brass and soldered a cap on one end. I drilled a hole in the cap for a piece of heavy wire to pass through. I made a loop in the wire around a hank of horsehair, pushed the wire into the hole and pulled the loop up into the tube. I put on as much hair as I could and still pull the loop in the ferrule. I then formed a loop on the other end of the wire and soldered it shut. No need for glue, it is locked in. I trimmed the ends of the horsehair bristles even with a good pair of shears and they made dandy little pan brushes.

[David R. Pennington]

Here it is.

[Darkhorse]

I deer hunt almost exclusively with a flintlock. When climbing into or out off a deer stand I brush every kernel of prime from the entire pan area and plug the TH with a toothpick. I do the same thing at the end of the hunt. This is always with a clean pan, I can't see much use in brushing a fouled pan.

[Brokennock]

Ive had very good luck using those round cross section paint brushes sold for stenciling. I buy whatever ones the craft or art store has that look about the right size and have natural bristles.