Thread: What are you working on?

Originally Posted by jfleming9232

That basket is sweet! I was just looking at some youtube videos on pine needle baskets. I have 10 acres of planted pines so I need to do something with all those needles!

Thanks! it was fun. You live in a good place to find the long leaf needles. I learned by watching youtube. There are some amazing artists.

Just checking the grain on some koa. Got a batch of razors to restore. We'll see which one(s) rate the koa handles. Left to right we have:
Wade & Butcher Bow, Wade & Butcher The Celebrated German Concave, a Torrey, W. Picard Garantie, and a Double Duck Satin Edge. They all look salvageable.


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Can get the cross refills at stationary stores, or from pen maker supply houses.
Turning for pleasure, not sales has always been my interest as well.
The challenge of thin, or convoluted or fused materials and what to draw out of them is the thing.
I rarely set knots in handles until I actually have a sale, and those inevitably are custom jobs. Everything else ends up gifts or raffle or Movember items.
The good thing about turning repeat items is it allows you to refine your skills, proportions, and flow of materials, visually. All subtleties that you only notice looking back to your earlier works.

Hoping those skills will come in to play on some of the wood pieces I’ve decided to remake for my old MG.

Finished an audit at work this week that was delayed due to covid, and was important to maintain food certification for the plant.
Got a 90% so good for another year. Yeah, there was much rejoicing,,,

Originally Posted by Johntoad57

Wow! I just didn't realize that the costs to produce brushes were that high. But I haven't ever tried to make one. How much do knots usually cost? Not the high end ones but medium range....

Knots can range from 15 bucks to 100+ depending on what you are looking for. This is a retail price as Im not a buisness. IMO a good badger knot without getting crazy is around 40 to 50 bucks. A high density badged knot, meaning it has more hair stuffed into it costs even more. Then the diamiter of the knot brings the price up too.

A Boar knots is much less but you pay for how well it was made. Synthetic knots are cheeper yet. Then theres the time to turn, cost of the material, cost and time involved in finishing. It all adds up. Getting less than minimum wage is about where its at I guess so it must be done for the enjoyment of making something. This is what Ive just learned.

Look at the high end brush makers. The handles are not the main cost of the brush. They make fancy acrylic handles and put great knots on them.
Hope this helps.

Oh, and thanks Mike for the pen refills. I guess i just never noticex them at the office supply stores before. I was afraid they might have been a use-it-and-trash-it Pen. Good to know.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Knots can range from 15 bucks to 100+ depending on what you are looking for. This is a retail price as Im not a buisness. IMO a good badger knot without getting crazy is around 40 to 50 bucks. A high density badged knot, meaning it has more hair stuffed into it costs even more. Then the diamiter of the knot brings the price up too.

A Boar knots is much less but you pay for how well it was made. Synthetic knots are cheeper yet. Then theres the time to turn, cost of the material, cost and time involved in finishing. It all adds up. Getting less than minimum wage is about where its at I guess so it must be done for the enjoyment of making something. This is what Ive just learned.

Look at the high end brush makers. The handles are not the main cost of the brush. They make fancy acrylic handles and put great knots on them.
Hope this helps.

Oh, and thanks Mike for the pen refills. I guess i just never noticex them at the office supply stores before. I was afraid they might have been a use-it-and-trash-it Pen. Good to know.

I am dumbfounded! I have 6 shaving brushes. Three I won from the monthly giveaway (2 boar & 1 badger). I have an Outback brush that he sent to me a couple years ago and 2 Van Der Hagen brushes (badger) that were Christmas presents.

As you can see, I haven't ever bought a shave brush. I just didn't know brushes cost that much money! Time to do some research and expand my thinking! I appreciate you Jerry!

Sorry no razor content here-Though I've got that Herder 49 and brush in desert ironwood close to the final stage, I thought I'd try my hand at turning my youngest son a duck call for his 23rd birthday tomorrow. 1st pic is of the dyed/stabilized buckeye burl blank. It reminded me a lot of starry, starry night lol! The 2nd pic is after I got it round, which I always enjoy doing with my giant radiused skew.



Here it is almost finished. I just have to part off the mouthpiece, flip it around on the mandrel to finish, and put in the insert. I'm kinda feeling what Jerry said-those brush knots can add up, and the market for custom brushes is limited. My son's duck-hunting friends are already promising orders ahead of the season, so maybe I can make back some money for my poor old PayPal account.

I picked up a new (to me) Fredrick "Old English" razor last week for a pretty good price. I knew there was some heel issues, funky hone wear, and a small chip in the blade, but the scales were in really good condition.



What I didn't see in the photos was the grinder marks I seem to be a magnet for messed up Freddys .



On closer inspection: the marks were really shallow, not very coarse, and didn't get into the bevel. So I decided to see if I could set a bevel.

Took care of the chip with some high angle honing on a 400 diamond plate, then moved to a 600 or so stone with two layers of tape, and finally to the 1K with two layers of tape. Three nights later the edge finally stopped chipping and I moved to one layer of tape. After two additional nights, it started popping hair.



The heel still needs a bit of work, since I took off enough of the edge to get into my first correction. I'll deal with that after I've cleaned it up. Time to take the scales off...

That is some gorgeous buckeye!

Originally Posted by Kavik79

That is some gorgeous buckeye!

+1 to that.
The stuff pops when stabilized and dyed a complimentary shade, like that.
Good looking turning my good man.

That is some good looking wood! Nice shape too Aaron.