From: muratlanne@gmail.com   
      
   BP wrote in message news:10du8oa$3aeok$1@dont-email.me...   
      
   The fact that nothing is commercially available makes me wonder   
   what I've got wrong.   
   ---------------------------------   
      
   I've made brushes I couldn't find to buy. In addition to the old method of   
   lashing the bristles to a stick they can be made by crimping them into   
   flattened tubing, or twisting wires or rods together and then wedging them   
   apart with a pointed tool to slide in bristles.   
      
   My non-scratching metal chimney brush is the last, a 1/8" x 36" rod bent   
   double and twisted, leaving an open loop at the bend. The bristles are nylon   
   string trimmer cord inserted concave-up where a pointed punch forced   
   clearance. The rod ends were bent into another loop for the pull weight. The   
   bristles were trimmed to length by starting the brush into a chimney   
   section, which centers it, and cutting them just outside the rim, slightly   
   longer than the chimney ID. Since the bristles curve upward they are easy   
   for the weight to pull down, important in subzero cold, and drag when the   
   cable pulls up. It's held up well for 40 years of weekly use.   
      
   The pull rope is 3/8" braided cotton which is easy on chapped hands.   
      
   Much later I found a plastic bristle brush meant for insulated metal   
   chimneys. It's fine on the end of a stiff rod but the friction is high and   
   the same both ways unlike mine.   
      
   The thread on my chimney cleaning rod is 1/2-20 but slightly oversized. The   
   thread on the fiber brush is 5/8-18 and also oversized, 0.632" The lathe   
   gave me an adapter. I think the flea market seller was disposing of the   
   unused fiber brush cheaply because it didn't fit their cleaning rod.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)