Brush making?

[6Jetwrangler]

I am very new to the world of wet shaving. About 4 weeks in to be percise. I just finished making a 4 place razor/2 place brush stand in my Dad's workshop. It is beautiful, I will put pics up later somewhere
We have more tools and wood than you can imagine. My question is what would it take to make brushes? Are the hair knots expensive? Is it time wasted when a similar item could be purchased for much less? Where do I go to get quality badger hair knots, that are trustworthy? Just wanted the opinions on others before I dove into this.
SWMBO is getting pissed. She said not to buy anything so she could get me stuff for Christmas now that I'm making it with no cost really pisses her off HA.

 

[Dpflaum]

Knots are relatively cheap, anything from $8 for boar to around $40 for the highest quality badger. All you need is a lathe and some wood and you can be knocking out brushes in no time.

Golden Nib is the best place for knots in my opinion, google them.

 

[Schwert]

I am very new to the world of wet shaving. About 4 weeks in to be percise. I just finished making a 4 place razor/2 place brush stand in my Dad's workshop. It is beautiful, I will put pics up later somewhere
We have more tools and wood than you can imagine. My question is what would it take to make brushes? Are the hair knots expensive? Is it time wasted when a similar item could be purchased for much less? Where do I go to get quality badger hair knots, that are trustworthy? Just wanted the opinions on others before I dove into this.
SWMBO is getting pissed. She said not to buy anything so she could get me stuff for Christmas now that I'm making it with no cost really pisses her off HA.

Rather than getting pissed give her a link to the golden nib and ask for a selection of knots in various sizes and grades...then you can make all the "no cost" gifts for yourself that you want.

Nice think about homemade is the 'no cost' aspect is not even remotely true most of the time.

So far I have spent many hundreds in tools to make no cost spoons, brushes, and other assorted crafts

 

[icon]

I believe it can be a creative hobby, fun, interesting and profitable.
I'm very tempted too because I love woodworking (smells of sawdust in a fresh morning ) and I sometimes feel like a manual guy stucked in an office.
Waiting for your pics

 

[neocaligatio]

I started making my own brushes about a year ago - you'll need a lathe and some wood, then some knots from thegoldennib.com

I also have a drill chuck that mounts to the fixed end of my lathe, along with a turning chuck that grips the wood. This makes drilling the setting out very easy once you have everything properly held in place.

If you've not used a lathe before, be prepared to waste a lot of wood on the first few!

Here's what I've made in the last few months:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45664764@N00/sets/72157622960081734/

Good luck!

Chris

P.S. Never epoxy a knot into a handle until you have made the next handle. The next one is always that little bit nicer

P.P.S. Never take on custom orders, as it means you have to part with every brush you make....no matter how much you might want to keep them

 

[6Jetwrangler]

Wow thanks for the great advice. We have about a 2000 sq ft shop with 2 lathes (one commercial grade), 3 scroll saws, huge band saw, huge table saw, every small tool under the sun, planer, belt fed sander, drill press.... That gives you an idea of what I have to work with. As far as the lathe, Ill just leave that to dear old dad he has gotten pretty good at it. Including making some wands for some harry potter fanatics who are in the youth group I help with. We have enough wood to build the shop twice over including exotics like IPE. IPE which is what many iconic boardwalks are made out off with a Class A fire rating, the same rating given to concrete & steel. Crazy stuff just laying around the shop. I guess once i get brushes down i will move onto razor handles. I think we have some wood that weighs more than brass per CFM, but thats for another day. For now I need a brush to replace the VDH that my face is currently destroying.
Brush stand pics going up tonight PROMISE

 

[6Jetwrangler]

Razor/Brush stand

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?p=1682969#post1682969