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How to make a wooden brush handle without a lathe or drill press

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
And as Zaphod Beeblebrox said in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio program said, "I'm so hip I can barely see over my pelvis"!!!
I only read the first book, Probably a lifetime ago... But yes, I used to drive my poor only begotten son crazy with statements like that.

One time, just before he got married at the ripe old age of 21, I was feeling old, and asked if his friends liked me enough for me to talk with them at his reception, and he said, "shoot, they think you are the sweetest OLD MAN (emphasis mine) " I still am not sure if I should be insulted or button poppin' proud!

Ya know, I am as certain of my eternal resting place as a human can be, but the older I get the more I'd like to be around for any future grand kids, etc.... My years with my son flew so fast....
 
A while back, Nick sent some borrowed razors back to me. He also included a tub of unscented Captain's Choice soap. And, very generously, one of his brush handles made in this ingenious way! I finally set a knot in it, one of my favorites, an @apshaveco SynBad bulb, 24mm. First use will be tomorrow!

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Thanks again, Nick! I think it looks great.
 
A while back, Nick sent some borrowed razors back to me. He also included a tub of unscented Captain's Choice soap. And, very generously, one of his brush handles made in this ingenious way! I finally set a knot in it, one of my favorites, an @apshaveco SynBad bulb, 24mm. First use will be tomorrow!

View attachment 1463983
View attachment 1463984
View attachment 1463985

Thanks again, Nick! I think it looks great.

@MaineYooper Hey Eric! I couldn't agree more! Great choice for the knot. This piece of veneer has such an interesting diagonal cross-grain thing going on. Hopefully the socket was deep enough to set your knot. I set mine pretty shallow. I excited to hear how it goes!
 
I'm back, making more brush handles the hard way :letterk1:

I found a way to get around the difficulty of sawing a perfectly 90 degree cut on a dowel by purchasing some 1.5" pieces of 1" diameter dowel online. Since the lengths are a little short, I added a couple 1" wooden coins to either end, sanded the resulting "blank" smooth, and began adding veneer strips.

New supplies:

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Latest brush, loaded with my favorite knot, the @apshaveco 26mm SynBad bulb: (Pre-War Tech for scale :biggrin1:)

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Last change: I am now using Minwax Poly-Crylic finish, brushed on. This is easier than applying Tru-Oil by hand, and unlike the Tru-Oil, the Poly-Crylic doesn't yellow...

Which is going to be a cool feature in the handle I'm making next... which features a white outer wrap... stay tuned!
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I'm back, making more brush handles the hard way :letterk1:

I found a way to get around the difficulty of sawing a perfectly 90 degree cut on a dowel by purchasing some 1.5" pieces of 1" diameter dowel online. Since the lengths are a little short, I added a couple 1" wooden coins to either end, sanded the resulting "blank" smooth, and began adding veneer strips.

New supplies:

View attachment 1624801

Latest brush, loaded with my favorite knot, the @apshaveco 26mm SynBad bulb: (Pre-War Tech for scale :biggrin1:)

View attachment 1624802

Last change: I am now using Minwax Poly-Crylic finish, brushed on. This is easier than applying Tru-Oil by hand, and unlike the Tru-Oil, the Poly-Crylic doesn't yellow...

Which is going to be a cool feature in the handle I'm making next... which features a white outer wrap... stay tuned!
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that these aren't produced on a lathe...

Just incredibly beautiful werk my friend!
 
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The bug bit again so I made a new handle for an old 24mm SynBad knot. I set it lower than usual at 55mm, which I realize is probably still pretty high for most guys. I like less backbone and more flop, but this is still a good setting. In fact, it gave the knot a little more oomph when picking up soap from my lathering bowl. The colors aren't much to get excited about, but I felt they were a good match for the knot itself.
 
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One more. This was my last available knot! It's a previously used 24mm SynBad. I wanted to make another brush with this grey outer layer, but I wasn't sure if it would match well with the color of the SynBad knot. Using the three layers of brown wrap before the outer grey layer seems to have done the trick.

With this handle, I only used four veneer layers, which might be the least I've used. I also only used two layers of PolyCrylic as a finish. This helps leave more of the grain exposed without being filled in. A less glossy appearance is also achieved. Since these handles have a lot of superglue soaked into the veneer layers, they don't seem to suffer from exposure to water.
 
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