I've made and used quit a few. It's best to keep the bristles short so they will be stiffer. Soft bristles won't clean as well as stiff ones will. I personally like tampeco(however it's spelled) fibers. They are the stiffest natural fibers that I have found for pan brushes. If you can find boar hair they may be stiffer than horse hair. Old pan brushes are all over on the length of "handle" body. I think yours looks fine and make a loop for it however you want. All the old ones I've seen were brass body or wrapped with what looked like raw hide or thread, I think I may have seen one with an iron body also.