A dowel rod, a drill press and a file...
For some reason I felt like making a brush handle. Since I lack some of the fancier tools to turn a really nice block of exotic wood into a shapely handle, I set out to make one out of pedestrian materials with minimal tools.
I started with a 1.5" diameter section of "Market Select Hardwood" dowel rod. Four feet of the stuff is about $3. I'm not sure what wood it is, but it mostly doesn't matter for the purpose of the project. I cut it to 2.5 inches. The end product is a bit shorter, but it was a handle height I could live with.
I went about finding the "dead center" and drilled a pilot hole with the drill press to insure it was perfectly straight. I screwed a long deck screw into the pilot hole about 3/4" into the piece of wood. Then I cut the head of the screw off with a hacksaw. Then I put the screw and wood into the drill press and tightened it so that the very top of the wood was touching the chuck.
I used only a file and some sandpaper to make the shape and then drilled the hole for the knot. A couple of coats of Tung oil and that's about it. The knot is a TGN 20mm finest fan shape.
I was going to take pictures along the way, but I just plum forgot to. Anyway, here's the finished product pre and post bloom.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/attachm...1&d=1268082152http://badgerandblade.com/vb/attachm...1&d=1268082161