On a wood kick

After seeing MikeB52, AKmik, Deeter, Caus24, Tintin, jmercer, BWP1474 and Prodigy posting up their beautiful wood brushes, I figured I'd keep the ball rolling and post some of mine I've been holding out on. Just want to say to those guys that it's great seeing the Brushmakers Alcove come alive with excellent brushes. Keep at it fellas!

First 3 are Olive wood

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Old growth Oak, 63 growth rings in this one piece

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IPE wood

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Spalted Tamarind top & Wenge bottom

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Afzelia burl top & bottom, Wenge in the middle

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Golden Amboyna burl

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Andrew, those are disgusting. Disgustingly beautiful! I swear I'll get that wood to you as soon as I can get off of my fat arse so you can make a few more useless, ugly, poorly constructed and badly finished brush handles.

I've been wanting to try amboyna burl. Gorgeous!

Very nice work Andrew, nice to see some unusual designs.

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Originally Posted by prodigy

I've been wanting to try amboyna burl. Gorgeous!

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There's a big difference between Golden Amboyna burl, and Red Amboyna burl. Red is far more expensive. I believe this Golden Amboyna on the right cost me around the same as the red on the left. Big difference in overall size, plus the Red Amboyna has the dark heartwood and the pale sapwood. The red is 1 3/8"x 1 3/8" x 5" at $35, and the Golden is 2" x 2" x 14" and cost $27. BIG price difference.

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Originally Posted by Martin103

Very nice work Andrew, nice to see some unusual designs.

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The one that has the Afzelia burl and wenge was some scrap I glued together, and intended to turn this shape based on a brush that Pixelfixed had turned a while back. It was a very masculine looking handle that I really loved. I think it was turned from Lignum Vitae, but I couldn't seem to find it anywhere here on the forum. I turned this one based on what I could remember from his post.

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Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

The one that has the Afzelia burl and wenge was some scrap I glued together, and intended to turn this shape based on a brush that Pixelfixed had turned a while back. It was a very masculine looking handle that I really loved. I think it was turned from Lignum Vitae, but I couldn't seem to find it anywhere here on the forum. I turned this one based on what I could remember from his post.

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Interesting Andrew, Pixel did some amazing brushes and especially Loom Strops. sure miss his wisdom around here.

@Martin I miss him too. What I would give to check out one of his loom strops. I have seen a lot of pictures but never had a chance to hold one in hand. He always put ivory on them and then wouldn't ship anything with ivory on it to Canada.

@HARRYWALLY Those are some very nice examples of wood brushes. I cannot help but notice it does not look like you have any Canadian wood there. There is just something about a nice wood brush that makes me smile.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

@Martin I miss him too. What I would give to check out one of his loom strops. I have seen a lot of pictures but never had a chance to hold one in hand. He always put ivory on them and then wouldn't ship anything with ivory on it to Canada.

@HARRYWALLY Those are some very nice examples of wood brushes. I cannot help but notice it does not look like you have any Canadian wood there. There is just something about a nice wood brush that makes me smile.

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Ha, ya I like my exotics. But, that oak was most likely cut somewhere here in my region. Sat underneath a support post of a Mennonite restaurant for many years until we renovated it, and I spotted it. The stuff is super old, and has taken on a seasoned color that's just beautiful.

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Excellent work !

I am really enjoying this board and all the ideas and different styles I see here. That golden amboyna is really nice tight burl. I think once oiled it looks just as good, or very close anyway. And excellent prices you have found, thats a great deal on that 2x2! I'd like to get my mits on some more amboyna, Im getting low. But did just trim up a block the other day.

Right now I am loving the African blackwood, just ordered some more after trying that first piece. If any of you guys want any, on the woodcraft web sight they had a good deal, 1 1/2x 1 1/2 x 12" for $8 on sale , that was last week , may still be going. I grabbed one then after turning some have four more on the way.

I want to get some olive wood as well, after seeing those handles. Looks great, and very refined turning, nice clean work!!

Here's some of the stock I have to work with. This turning bit is really distracting me from my knifemaking hahaa
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What did you use to finish those?

Superb work Andrew.
The old oak with the rings is really special.

Really nice variety of woods and handle styles.
Nothing beats the warmth of wood.

Pete <:-}

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Originally Posted by prodigy

What did you use to finish those?

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Tung oil. I use a thinned down version initially, so it can penitrate deeper than a thicker viscosity would. Flood the surface liberally and let it sit for 5-10 min. If I see the piece is sucking up the oil, and I can see dry spots, I flood it again. I repeat this until I can clearly see the piece is no longer taking in the oil. Different woods will take in more oil than others obviously. Wipe clean, and then let it sit for 24hrs. to dry. I then flood the surface with a full 100% Tung oil and let it sit for a half hour. Because it has no solvents, letting it sit for a half hour is fine. It takes longer for the pure stuff to dry. After a 1/2 hour, I wipe off the access and let it sit for another 24hrs. I repeat this step using the 100% pure tung oil again for the third coat. The forth and final coat I use the thinned version again. flood, wait 15 min, wipe clean and let sit for 24hrs.

Andrew I really enjoy the switch up to woods. All your work is killer. But IMO your still the king of acrylic.

Very nice. I really like the look of the first one. Interesting with all the facets.

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Andrew I really enjoy the switch up to woods. All your work is killer. But IMO your still the king of acrylic.

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I still have a massive box of acrylic. I have a couple to do shortly.

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Very nice. I really like the look of the first one. Interesting with all the facets.

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I had saw a few people do this style and thought I'd give it a try on a piece of briar burl. It worked pretty good. I'm currently doing a bunch of handles out of Olive wood for some friends in Europe. One of them loved this shape, and wanted his done in the same manner. What's also cool is one of them actually grew the Olive tree in his yard, and harvested it 10 years ago.

Great turns Andrew, as always.
Terrific fusions of different woods.
I have a couple pieces of Ipe sent up from Matheus still on the bench to turn. Had no idea it would darken up so richly.

Nice work :tu

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Originally Posted by MikeB52

Great turns Andrew, as always.
Terrific fusions of different woods.
I have a couple pieces of Ipe sent up from Matheus still on the bench to turn. Had no idea it would darken up so richly.

Nice work :tu

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It's neat stuff Mike. Very, very hard and has this yellow powdery stuff that releases when working it. It's suppose to be a very durable wood. Watch out for heat fracturing when your drilling too.

It looks nice , but man its the champ of the hidden check! I just turned another piece last night and felt a little bump when I started sanding on the lathe. Pulled it off the mandrel and noticed a fine crack that I missed. It could have happened when I was drilling but I was careful not to heat it up..oh well, at least its cheap.

I forget where I read it but its supposed to have like a 50 year life as decking or something like that. Tough stuff.

Ya, I've read that too. It was a wooden sidewalk made from IPE that lasted 50 years.