Now that I've received some help getting a photo up, here's one I thought I'd share. Thanks once more to all of you who replied to my plea for help on the photo upload.
This is my first attempt at making a brush. Overall, I'm pleased with the result, but of course it's not perfect. I had a piece of red oak around that seemed just about the right size, so I began experimenting with handles. This one is the 4th one I made, and the first I thought to be good enough to try to attach a knot.
I got the knot at TGN, and was really happy with it when it came. (Good service from those folks, by the way.)
One of my assumed problems was how to make the top and the bottom surfaces parallel, and here's how I solved that one: I cut a deep 90-degree notch at the base so that I could saw it off of the piece of oak that I was turning on the lathe. Then after sawing and sanding that smooth, I rough cut the top at approximately the length I wanted. Then I got out a very large Forstner bit (about 1-1/2 inches, I think), and mounted it in my drill press. Holding the work snugly down on it's base on the work table, I then very gently used the press and the Forstner bit to smooth the top to exactly where I wanted it. This seemed to work great. Then, switching to a 3/4 inch Forstner, which was very close to the size of the knot, I made a hole of the right depth in the top. I had to do a little sanding on the base of the knot to get it to fit (because it wasn't quite round), but not much. After attaching the knot, I then simply opened a can of high gloss Verithane (polyurethane), and dipped the whole thing up to the top of the handle.
I've been using the brush daily for about 2 months now, and am learning to like it. It is very, very luxurious. I'm coming from a Tweezerman, which has quite a lot of scritch, and the new brush is like applying soap with a cloud. I think I like just a bit more scritch, even if not so much as the Tweezerman has. Nevertheless, I'm pleased with a first start. Now I can make a new(er) one, since I have a little experience under my belt.
This is my first attempt at making a brush. Overall, I'm pleased with the result, but of course it's not perfect. I had a piece of red oak around that seemed just about the right size, so I began experimenting with handles. This one is the 4th one I made, and the first I thought to be good enough to try to attach a knot.
I got the knot at TGN, and was really happy with it when it came. (Good service from those folks, by the way.)
One of my assumed problems was how to make the top and the bottom surfaces parallel, and here's how I solved that one: I cut a deep 90-degree notch at the base so that I could saw it off of the piece of oak that I was turning on the lathe. Then after sawing and sanding that smooth, I rough cut the top at approximately the length I wanted. Then I got out a very large Forstner bit (about 1-1/2 inches, I think), and mounted it in my drill press. Holding the work snugly down on it's base on the work table, I then very gently used the press and the Forstner bit to smooth the top to exactly where I wanted it. This seemed to work great. Then, switching to a 3/4 inch Forstner, which was very close to the size of the knot, I made a hole of the right depth in the top. I had to do a little sanding on the base of the knot to get it to fit (because it wasn't quite round), but not much. After attaching the knot, I then simply opened a can of high gloss Verithane (polyurethane), and dipped the whole thing up to the top of the handle.
I've been using the brush daily for about 2 months now, and am learning to like it. It is very, very luxurious. I'm coming from a Tweezerman, which has quite a lot of scritch, and the new brush is like applying soap with a cloud. I think I like just a bit more scritch, even if not so much as the Tweezerman has. Nevertheless, I'm pleased with a first start. Now I can make a new(er) one, since I have a little experience under my belt.