Thread: My go at Brushmaking

Ok this is my latest project that is stil in the making, waiting for some material. this is the first time i lathe a piece of wood in a metal lathe witch is abit tricky :P. I first lathe it to a straight & round form and then used the cutting tools (witch are attatched to the lathe, as in not hand held cutters witch you would normaly use for wood lathing) to remove some wood at the places where i neded it, and did the last bits with sandpaper and a rasp. what im trying to make is a barber brush (tall bursh) i have the handle done now and im waiting for material for the base that will hold the knot itself. the wood i used is a dark curly koa and here is some pics. hopfully ill keep posting pics on this project beeing done if everything works out the way i hope for

here is the type of metal lathe im using


here is the handle part in koa.

Nice handle,nice lathe
80% of the work I do making handles is on a metal lathe (southbend) all the rounding,boring and laminating,only the final shaping is done on the woodlathe (rockwell 45-450).
If your going to make a precison Quality Brush handle,nothing wrong with using precision machines.

Yeah nice looking lathe. I always tell myself I'll find an old Hardinge that some wants to just get rid of if I'll pick it up. I should stop kidding myself

This is some of what I do making Brush handles on my metal lathe.
I do alot of composits,the glue joints have to be precision machined,all the componants are faced off exact,Than Line bored and doweled glued in place.Than all is turned to exact roundness.Next I will put it in the 3 jaw and bore the knot hole.
Than off to the wood lathe.

Those are some gorgeous brushes. Awesome work.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

This is some of what I do making Brush handles on my metal lathe.
I do alot of composits,the glue joints have to be precision machined,all the componants are faced off exact,Than Line bored and doweled glued in place.Than all is turned to exact roundness.Next I will put it in the 3 jaw and bore the knot hole.
Than off to the wood lathe.

yeah well i had to mount the woodblock straight into the 3 jaw, and as you know its not so easy since the pressure of the 3 jaw against the wood needs to be very smal in order not to crack the wood. so this was abit of a risk when i turned the round shape (i had to take off very little material so the woodblock didnt fly out from the chuck) , but after that it was easy to remount and then finish the details.

Magnus, I have seen curly birch used on Scandinavian knives. Have you ever worked with it?I think it would make a striking brush handle.

No i have not used it but i also seen it. its a great looking wood! i also like a nice curly maple. this koa handle is the first piece of wood i turned.

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

Magnus, I have seen curly birch used on Scandinavian knives. Have you ever worked with it?I think it would make a striking brush handle.