It's finished!!!
http://img54.imageshack.us/slideshow...96274536u.smil
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It's finished!!!
http://img54.imageshack.us/slideshow...96274536u.smil
Nice work Alex :tu Now, let's hear more about the process and we're waiting for a shave-test report :cool:
As soon as I have a little more time I'll report a little more.
Looks very nice. When will the store open? ;)
Nice bloom! :tu
X
Beautiful work, Alexander :tu
Thank you all very much.
Ilja asked about the process. Let me talk a little about what I've done with this thing.
I bought a piece of soapstone in a colour that I liked. It's a lightish green type of stone with whitish grains through it. I I'd done some stonecarving a year ago when I'd made a present for my (now) wife. Took me a month at the time during which I reduced an 18 kilo stone to a 3,5 kilo statue. I worked on it for at least an hour and a half with hammer, chisels, files, rasps and finally sandpaper.
Pretty much the same process was used for this piece of stone with one major difference. The stone was a lot harder. If you look at the pictures you'll see some blackish flecks in some places. Those are some kind of quarts pieces in the stone that were even harder. I almost destroyed on of my chisels on one of those piece and gave them up in exchange for a file. I gave it the right shape.
Now in all honesty I'd have liked it to be a little more round but since the stone and the quarts flecks were so hard to work with I'm accepting this size.
Once finished I applied a number of coats of CA (somewhere around 6-7) and then drilled the hole for the knot with a dremel.
Once the hole was in place I started sanding down the CA up to 2000 grit with water.
I glued the knot in with a 2 component epoxy and the result as you see it is my brush.
It's a 22mm knot made by http://www.blankity-blanks.com/brushes.htm that feels wonderfull and soft on the face (I used it without the handle this morning. They call the hair quality "Premium Grade Silver Tipped Badger Brush Heads" and although I don't have any high quality brushes to compare it to I really love the stuff. Now that the brush has been used it's "bloomed" very nicely. It looked a bit small to me before I used it but it doesn't now.
I love my brush.
And although I really like it and have learned a lot from it I don't think I'll be opening the "store" anytime soon. This took me a LOT of time and I'd want to be compensated for that. That would make the brush a very expensive brush.
I don't know a lot about turning wood but I reckon that this takes a lot more time...so it would even make it more expensive than the brushes that Matt makes (and those look like a rock star). So for the same money I'd say get one from Matt.
Thanks for the report, Alex. It looks like it took a lot of work and you did a pimpin' good job on it.
Nice job Alex, did you kill the badger yourself? :D
Offcourse not. I plucked the hairs off my back and made it into a brush!
I must say I am inspired. I have a feeling that once I get a real handle on all of this, I will be looking into making my own brush. I have a background in carpentry though, so my choice medium would be wood. Probably a nice exotic.
I wouldn't take it to a lathe, as I am not proficient with one. Besides, I am the kind of guy that bases design off of function. Not that a nice turned brush wouldn't be functional. I would hate to offend the brush master, Matt. :bow Not saying that at all. Just, my brush handle would not be a perfectly rounded shape. I would want a more ergonomic style brush handle. One side being bigger and slightly concave so that my thumb pad could fit into it, while the rest of it would more rounded for my fingers, hmmm. Anywho, I figure that this sort of shape would be more achievable with cutting and sanding and shaping.
I shall have to look into some different woods to see which are strong and hard enough to be durable, but still relatively easy to shape. I may end up getting all the stuff from Blankity-Blanks as they sell the knot and turning blanks.
Gosh this whole thing is taking me over.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LX_Emergency
hmm...maybe i could use the hair on my chin to make a brilo pad...:roflmao
Nice work Alexander