Thread: Wood handled shave brushes

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Nice lumber, is that buckeye burl? Looks oddly familiar, grain wise..

Yes - here is the set - although the colours are slightly different - the photo exaggerates it. Andrew finished the bush in polyurethane varnish whereas the scales are a finishing oil with hardener.

That's a sweet set Rob. Andrew has a way of turning that is very easy on the eyes.
He gave me a piece of the same buckeye, or close enough I recognized the grain, when we had a turner's GTG earlier this summer.
I'm no woodologist,,
Bought a badger hair knot already set in a chrome head with a 3/8-16tpi shaft. Turned it into a travel brush.

I used a varathane to seal it, inside and out, but blew the naturally occurring through holes clear so it had plenty of breathing area when the knot's stowed.

Originally Posted by UKRob

Yes - here is the set - although the colours are slightly different - the photo exaggerates it. Andrew finished the bush in polyurethane varnish whereas the scales are a finishing oil with hardener.

WOW! Beautiful.

That's the kind of wood I'd like to see turned and match old OEM shape and refit old OEM wooden handles with but that's down the road away$ for me. Also the acrylics with exotic woods just trip me out.

The wood work and inlay work on upper end billiards/pool cues would work quite well in shave brushes I think.

For those collars that do not want to come off the handle, stripping the finishes off with out damaging the collar has been a challenge. Using paint tape and Citristrip has solved this process. Heavy thick finishes will take several applications of stripper. Scrapping will raise the wood nap too much so I let it soak and wipe off stripper with micro fiber towel. Citristrip will wash out of easily.

The next step is to sand till the wood is glossy making the grain pop. This Hess #5 is going to be a good one with tight even grain. The shape of the handle and what happens to the grain in that shape is what draws me to these brushes.

Thank you for the continued tips! I'm liking this thread.
Seeing these old barber style brushes restored.. well I'm kicking myself in the rear for not buying up all those trashed brushes in antique stores over the years..
I was always just looking for blades, and stones.. but all those brushes! Waiting to be brought back to life!
That look with the wood grain, as the shape of the handle creates, that is something I'm planning on creating in my brush handles. It's a great effect.
Looking professional!

Here's some examples of the wood grain thing I'm into. This is a 1978 Chicago PSP brush. They start out with a dark stain that hides the grain. After 'stripping' the dark finish off and lots of sanding and then lots of polyurethane you can see the depth of the grain. There's a word for this depth but for the love of 'Mike' (MB, help please ) I can not remember what he called it or find it. Aarrgh!

Original look ugh!


Close ups of woody!!








With Chicago mug


I'm still working on re-painting the logo on this brush. The Chicago logo is gold and stamped very shallow in the ferrule and just wipes off. Need to go to the art store and look for a different medium besides a paint stick.

..

That looks fantastic! Really like that effect. At a loss as to the terminology. Perhaps Mike B52 knows, he has quite a wealth of information that he keeps tucked away in grey folds within that cranium!

Hi jmercer, I think the term you're thinking of for depth of grain is "chatoyance."

Originally Posted by JeffR

Hi jmercer, I think the term you're thinking of for depth of grain is "chatoyance."

That's it. Thank you JeffR.

"Chatoyancy is an effect in woodworking, where certain finishes will cause the wood grain to achieve a striking three-dimensional appearance; this can also be called pop-the-grain, wood iridescence, moire, vibrancy, shimmer or glow. This effect is often highly sought after, and is sometimes referred to as "wet look", since wetting wood with water often displays the chatoyancy, albeit only until the wood dries. Oil finishes, epoxy, and shellac can strongly bring out the "wet look" effect."

Beat me to it.
Was in the shop and the backyard most of the weekend gents.
That's a lovely brush, and if I were to guess, that looks like oak grain to me.. Really set off by the residual stain still in the grain.
Gorgeous, just gorgeous.