Walnut Stained Maple Handle with Silvertip Knot

[GDCarrington]

Recently I won a bid on e-Bay for some shaving brush handles. Three of them to be exact. They were maple handles and one of them was walnut stained.

The next photo shows the three brush handles from the seller and then the walnut stained handle in closer detail.



For the walnut stained handle I chose a 22 mm Silvertip knot which had a loft of 61 mm from the base of the knot. I took the handle and drilled down some more to provide room for two nickels for ballast and to reduce the loft down to reduce the potential for floppiness.

After boring out the hole, I applied an additional coat of Minwax® polycrylic on the outside and two coats on the inside to completely seal the handle.

While allowing the handle to dry, I took the knot and washed it in M·A·C Cosmetics Brush Cleanser which provided an excellent cleaning of the knot. A large amount of brown residue was removed from the knot with this first cleaning. This preparation allows the knot to be clean upon insertion which should mean a head start in the break in process and no brown residue on the soap. The M·A·C Cosmetics Brush Cleanser is also a disinfectant which is good for cleaning older brushes.



http://www.maccosmetics.com/product/...ser/index.tmpl

Once the brush handle and the knot were completely dry, the nickels were bound together using J.B. Weld epoxy. After about 20 minutes, the nickels were epoxied onto the brush handle on the interior bottom shelf. After an additional 20 minutes, the knot was epoxied into the handle (on top of the nickels). The brush was allowed 24 hours to cure the epoxy per instructions.

The following picture shows the completed work with the final loft at 54 mm.




Later on I will break in the brush to see how it lathers.

[NexlevMM]

I had those handles in my Watch List, really really nice, they reminded me of the old surrey's or VDH brushes. Knot looks awesome in that handle!

[GDCarrington]

I had those handles in my Watch List, really really nice, they reminded me of the old surrey's or VDH brushes. Knot looks awesome in that handle!

Thanks! The additional work of drilling (hard maple did not want to give easily) and putting in the two nickels really gives it excellent weight and balance.

[Sledgehammer39]

The Brush looks awesome!

[GDCarrington]

Thanks!

[LegionPrime]

Those are some nice looking handles. Nexlev is right, the shape does remind me of my VDH brush. I actually really like them because they're a big chunky handle that I can really hold comfortably. I gotta get some wood over to my buddy's house and see if he'll let me chuck them up on his lathe. Damnit, everyone giving me all these ideas and inspiration and I have nowhere near enough time to put even half of them to action!

[rxonmymind]

Excellent work.

[GDCarrington]

Thanks,

These handles are a copy of the Surrey / VDH handle.

[malocchio]

great job,handles are done nicely...interesting cleaner !

[rebos]

Lookin' good!