I've been pretty busy lately. So busy infact that it took me nearly 6 months to get around to this project.
Last September I took my first trip to Hawaii for a short vacation. While there I went to the beach and came across an area with a bunch of chunks of dead coral washed up onto the beach.
After doing some online research, I found out that it is completely legal to take some back stateside as long as the coral is completely dead. So I brought back a good sized chunk to make a shaving brush handle.
Due to its porous nature, I first stabilized the coral in stablizing resin.
Though not quite as hard a stone, the coral had a significant toll on my tools.
Here are some pictures.
This is what the chuck of coral looked like before sanding down a rectangular blank.
Here is the completed brush with a 24mm finest badger knot before blooming from its first use. The gray, which gives it more character, is from an abrasive powder to help sand it smooth.
Here it is after washing and blooming the knot.
It will be a sad day if I ever drop and break this handle, but it would give a really good excuse to return to Hawaii!
Last September I took my first trip to Hawaii for a short vacation. While there I went to the beach and came across an area with a bunch of chunks of dead coral washed up onto the beach.
After doing some online research, I found out that it is completely legal to take some back stateside as long as the coral is completely dead. So I brought back a good sized chunk to make a shaving brush handle.
Due to its porous nature, I first stabilized the coral in stablizing resin.
Though not quite as hard a stone, the coral had a significant toll on my tools.
Here are some pictures.
This is what the chuck of coral looked like before sanding down a rectangular blank.
Here is the completed brush with a 24mm finest badger knot before blooming from its first use. The gray, which gives it more character, is from an abrasive powder to help sand it smooth.
Here it is after washing and blooming the knot.
It will be a sad day if I ever drop and break this handle, but it would give a really good excuse to return to Hawaii!