Catching up, Dave. So what did you decided about the SV brush? It's easy to glue a knot back in; the two that have worked well for me are 2 part marine epoxy, and Gorilla Glue when I was on the road. Or, if you ordered direct from SV, you should give them a shout. When I first ordered an SV brush (direct from SV), when the brush arrived, the knot was not symmetrical, and it annoyed me immensely, especially at that price point. I sent them an email, and they had another one to me in about 3 days (which was perfectly shaped), and sent me a prepaid box to return the one I didn't like - now that's excellent customer service!