Thread: Been making some brushes...

I really like the wood drill press ones from the first page, I kind of have a love for all things wood..........probably comes from been a joiners son and growing up with all kinds of things made out of wood!

Really nice work I would be proud of them

I just finished another restoration/re-knotting. I remember finding my own C40 a few years ago when I started wet shaving again. I actually bough that one myself in a local CVS in the 80's. It had very little use and I did my first ever brush restore on it by replacing the pretty awful shedding boar knot with a black pure badger knot that Larry from Whipped Dog donated to me to encourage my experiment. Thank you, Larry! That brush came out pretty good, but as pure badgers are prickly it did not see much use and I ended up giving it to a friend who does not shave often and actually enjoys the scritch in the pure badger for his shaves. Again, thank you, Larry!

This time I came across a seemingly unused C40 and decided to fit it with best badger knot. It came out great. I added ballast weight to the hollow of the handle as I usually do for hollow handles and this thing is now a substantial brush. About 23mm knot 47mm loft.

My first attempt at working with buffalo horn. This piece came out beyond my expectations and I reluctantly entered it into my Etsy store inventory as I am really tempted to keep it for myself. This horn blank had two diametrically opposed longitudinal cracks, but the structure of the horn is such that the cracks do not deepen. I shaped the handle first, then filled the cracks with progressive coats of CA, then sanded everything smooth and polished to a high shine. cracks are still somewhat visible, but completely sealed. This process took a long time, but it was worth it.

Wow those are very very nice all of them.

Roger

I got a commission from a leg shaver for a large two band brush. I went with TGN F2 and ended up with the following:









The dimensions are as follows:

Total height: 94mm
Handle height: 43mm
Loft: 51mm
Knot: 32mm

This brush easily is the largest I have ever made or used. for such a huge brush it performed wonderfully for face lathering. It held about three times more lather than I required for my 3+ passes. The beauty of this resin is difficult to depict with still photography. It really requires a movie because different colors poke through as the handle is rotated. I am very pleased with the way this one came out.

After making a huge 31mm brush with TGN F2 I decided to try and create a slightly smaller, 28mm one using the F2 knot. The large knot was simply amazing. Really made me think about larger brushes, which as a face latherer I mostly ignored. Well, this brush came out amazingly well and is going into my Etsy inventory.







The dimensions are:

Total height: 99mm
Handle height: 50mm
Loft: 49mm
Knot: 28mm

Originally Posted by vferdman

After making a huge 31mm brush with TGN F2 I decided to try and create a slightly smaller, 28mm one using the F2 knot. The large knot was simply amazing. Really made me think about larger brushes, which as a face latherer I mostly ignored. Well, this brush came out amazingly well and is going into my inventory.







The dimensions are:

Total height: 99mm
Handle height: 50mm
Loft: 49mm
Knot: 28mm

So you actually use your Brushes before you market them?

I test lather all of them and clean the knots and some of them, I use once to make sure they are good. I then shampoo and rinse thoroughly and take pictures at that stage, usually.

I finished restoration of another brush. This one is a Surrey handle with a metal ring that I managed to salvage. I added some gold pain to the two stripes on the bottom. This handle is actually really nice and stout. It is filled with fairly dense plastic inside and is not hollow. Has nice weight to it and the shape is one of my favorite for ergonomics. Simple and effective. I used a TGN Silvertip knot in this brush.

The dimensions are:

Total height: 104mm
Handle height: 54mm (includes the ring)
Loft height: 50mm

I really love these knots. I removed the black ring from the knot so I could set the knot a little lower and also drill a smaller knot hole in the handle. This works real well as the plastic ring is very easy to remove. Under it there is a very conventional glue puck. Here are the pictures of the newborn.

Total height: 108mm
Handle height: 49mm
Loft height: 59mm
Knot: 27mm