My first custom made brush!

I was able to use a lathe in my father-in-law's shop so I decided to try make a brush handle. I found a piece of nice reddish colored hard wood, but I don't know exactly what it is. I got the knot from Penchetta Pen & Knife in Scottsdale, it is a 22mm TGN finest knot. The handle is finished with a shellack based turning polish. I don't know if it will provide enough waterproofing for the handle. Any ideas? Anyway I gave the brush a test drive and it performed amazingly well compared to my pure badger Vulfix 660. These picture is post bloom.

Very nice! I was wondering about TGN knots, I'm wanting to make my own brush as well. I'm glad you had a good I'm not sure about the finish, as you said. What is the name of the polish?

The stuff I used was Myland's high friction building polish.

Very nice job for your first brush. I don't really know how water proof shellac is but people us tung oil one new straight razor scales, I don't really know how water proof either is but I assumed it people used them on straight scales then they would be fairly water proof. But straight scales don't get as much water as a brush handle does though. There is also a kind of epoxy that you could use on it, Not sure what it's called, but I would think I would be very water resistant. Sorry I couldn't help more but maybe some of the other's will chime in.

Oh yeah welcome to B&B.

Very nice . Hard for me to tell, but from the picture it looks like the wood may be Mesquite. I have a brush I made from Black Mesquite which I like very much. The TGN Finest knots are great, particularly the XH knots (if you like a little extra density). I have no experience with the building wax you mentioned, though Mylands makes a nice product, sorry. I finish all of my brushes with CA glue while the handle is still on the lathe. I have used tung oil on some soap bowls I have made and it does offer some water resistance, but will require reapplication at some point. Pure tung oil takes weeks to dry, though the resulting finish is quite hard. Most of the "tung oil" products available today are nothing more than a wipe on varnish, some of them containing no real tung oil at all. Regardless, your brush is very nice. Enjoy.

Looks pretty good, however, Mylands will most likely not provide a waterproof enough finish for a shaving brush. It is a shellac and wax finish that goes on easily but doesn't really form the tight seal that lacquer, wipe on polyurethane, or CA finishes will. Should be okay for occasional use but I wouldn't make this your daily brush.

Airborne_r6 said:

Looks pretty good, however, Mylands will most likely not provide a waterproof enough finish for a shaving brush. It is a shellac and wax finish that goes on easily but doesn't really form the tight seal that lacquer, wipe on polyurethane, or CA finishes will. Should be okay for occasional use but I wouldn't make this your daily brush.

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Agree completely. I'll add that wipe on poly really isn't a good choice either unless you have the patience to apply unlimited coats- and I'm not even sure that is adequate unless you apply a few coats of shellac to seal the wood first. In my opinion, that route is too labor intensive. Personally, Ive had the best results with CA glue. Excellent finish and is essentially waterproof. The only draw back for me with CA glue is you sacrifice the tactile feel of the wood itself.

Thank you all for help! I was searching the shop and found a bottle of 100% tung oil and decided to add a coat of that on top of the myland's. It turned out pretty nice, actually looks just the same as with just myland's. The bottle claims it will provide alcohol and waterproof finish.

lexa said:

Thank you all for help! I was searching the shop and found a bottle of 100% tung oil and decided to add a coat of that on top of the myland's. It turned out pretty nice, actually looks just the same as with just myland's. The bottle claims it will provide alcohol and waterproof finish.

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Not sure if the tung oil will penetrate through the Mylands. And again, tung oil will take 3-6 weeks to dry completely.

I don't think the Tung oil will seal it either, You can get a good spray sealer at ACE, I use the Helmsman with good results, if the water get into the wood it could crack.

Excellent Job!