Thread: Banksia pod shaving brush.

I've been wanting to try turning a Banksia pod now for a while. I've seen other turnings on the interweb of guys doing beautiful things with them. So when I was at my local wood supplier on friday I picked one up. Now right off the get go I made a mistake and picked out the one that had the most holes in it, with the most coverage. Today, after watching some videos and reading some articles on Banksia pods, I discovered that the ideal pod is a fat one. Mine was skinny.....

Insert funny joke.

The reason for this is you need to get through a layer of hairy fibers before you get to the inner solid part. The fatter the pod, the bigger diameter of solid material in the middle.

So today was the day for the Banskia pod. I decided to take my lathe outside, because it was just so nice out.



So here's how today played out.

First thing I did was cut both ends off so I had a flat spot to mount it on the lathe, in between centers.



Next, was to get it turned down past the hairy outer section, to the usable material. As you can see by my skinny pod, it was a significant amount. PICK A FAT POD.



The next thing I did was figured out how much of the pod I needed for my handle and sectioned it with a parting tool. I then mixed up my polyester resin, and used model paint to tint it. I originally said I was going to use a sky blue for the tint, but changed my mind today and went with a black. Make sure to cover the bed of your lathe with news paper or paper towel for the next part. Things will get messy if you choose to fill the pod holes. I used clear tape to hold the resin in the holes, as suggested by 10pups, which worked really well. I then left it to dry until it was hard. Being outside really sped up this process.



Now, once I started shaping the handle with my gouge, it started pulling the resin out of the holes. I actually had to mix my resin up 4 times during this process. I hit air bubbles as well which needed to be refilled.



Once I finally got the holes filled properly, it turned just like any other brush I've done. The only problem I ran into was after I sanded it to the final grit, 1000, The holes had slightly sharp edges that I could feel when I ran my fingers over it. But, that basically means I will be doing a spray polyurethane finish on it.



All in all, it went pretty good. I was surprised at how easy the pod turns with sharp tools. I would compare its density to oak. Very hard, but porous, but porous in a different way than oak...... If that makes sense.

Would I do another handle out of this stuff.....Yes.
Will I fill the holes again....Yes
Do I want to try one without filling the holes...Yes
Do I want one for myself... Yes.

The grain is crazy, with a burl like figuring that I can;t explain with words.

I'll check back in when I have the finish done.

By the way, this handle will be getting a TGN 30mm, finest 2 band set at 51mm.

Thats fantastic,Looks like doing it outside is a smart move,but moving my 900lb lathe outside would be a prob
Great work.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Thats fantastic,Looks like doing it outside is a smart move,but moving my 900lb lathe outside would be a prob
Great work.

Haha, ya that might be a problem, especially if its in yer basement. I just picked this little delta up of the local classified website. Just love it.

Looking good sir. Keep us posted. This is real interesting.

Ray

I have it oiled already, but I'm not posting it until it's totally complete. The material is gorgeous with the oil on it.

In anticipation for what I know I'm going to see - Damn Man! Damn Man!! It's zaftig ! (That's Yiddish for what you would say when you see a well endowed beauty.)

Haha. Thanks Richard. I'll be done the finish by next weekend, so until then.

Hey Andrew, thats going to be a pretty cool looking brush

Mike

Thats some really stuff, awesome work!!

That looks