Made a new handle for a very small Wee Scot-like brush.

[vferdman]

I had a few scraps of exotic hard wood around, so I glued them up into a lamenated "chunk" and made a handle from it. I do not have or know how to use a lathe, so I used a table saw and my sander to shape this thing. It came out beautifully and now I am looking for a knot for it. It needs to be no larger than 16mm. If anyone has one collecting dust, PM me. Also an actual Wee Scot with a broken handle would be awesome, if anyone has one and wants to give a new lease on life. I am willing to buy it. Anyway, here are the pics of the handle minus the knot hole.

[Prince]

beautiful handle.

[MaxP]

I say, "Great Handle". Even more so since you had no lathe!

[rebos]

Great job, you should be able to find a cheap enough 16mm knot at TGN

[vferdman]

Great job, you should be able to find a cheap enough 16mm knot at TGN

Already sourced a 16mm TGN finest knot from another forum's BST. Can't wait to assemble the brush. I am always aiming for Wee Scot in a small brush. TGN 16mm in finest is going to be a bulb shape from what I can see on the website. It will be a very different brush, of course than the Wee Scot, but I am talking lathering properties and flow through. Wee Scot is unbelievable in its performance/size ratio. I endeavor to create something similar, but a tiny bit larger in the handle and seems like happenstance has provided a slightly larger knot at 16mm vs Wee's 14mm. Should be fun. I'll post pics as progress happens.

[rebos]

Looking forward to seeing the pictures of the brush in its completion. It's going to look great.

[GDCarrington]

Excellent work!

[Jack-in-the-Green]

That is really cool. Especially since you had no lathe! Definitely looking forwsrd to seeing the finished brush.

[Sledgehammer39]

Looks awesome!

[DavidB]

Impressive hand craftsmanship. Well done! Can't wait to see the completed brush.

Dave

[vferdman]

I have received a knot for this handle yesterday. Here are the pictures of the knot next to the handle. It is the TGN finest (two band/Manchurian) 16mm knot. I got it new from another forum's BST. I gave it an initial cleaning before I took the pictures, so this is bloomed out. I must say, TGN finest knots are some of the best shaving brush replacement knots out there. I did a restoration with a 20mm fan shaped TGN finest before and that is a fantastic brush. this 16mm is amazing! I actually lathered my face with it grasping at the glue nub and found it to be extremely good just at the natural loft of the knot. I may just set it that way, not too much deeper than the glue nub. I think I will go for a looser feel so as to have excellent flow through and the backbone of this hair is just incredible. Tips are soft. Softer than most best badger grades. The issue I had with my 20mm restore was that it was too dense and too soft for me. I like a bit of scrub when I lather and I love the lather to not get hung up in the brush. A looser brush is better for this and that is what Iam going to shoot for in this build. Here are some pictures. Please comment on the two different orientations of the handle (see below).

Knot next tot he handle:




On top of handle - orientation A:




On top of handle - orientation B:




Behind handle - orientation A:




Behind handle - Orientation B:



Orientation A was the original intent, but I did make the neck a bit thin and am afraid of drilling out of bounds when making a knot hole (I do not have a drill press, so it's all hand-held). Orientation B is kind of like a Commodore handle and is not bad. If I choose that I will definitely taper the top of the handle to the knot and make the "waist" more pronounced. Tell me your thoughts.

[tomjr]

A all the way. nice handle.

[MaxP]

Choice "A" by far.

You made a great handle. Mounting it in B would be the wrong thing to do, IMHO.

[brucered]

I have received a knot for this handle yesterday. Here are the pictures of the knot next to the handle. It is the TGN finest (two band/Manchurian) 16mm knot.

TGN has manchurian badger now? just wondering where you got that info, as I'm about to order a TGN knot.

also, Option A is the way to go

[vferdman]

TGN has manchurian badger now? just wondering where you got that info, as I'm about to order a TGN knot.

also, Option A is the way to go

I read somewhere that two band badger hair (as in TGN finest) comes from Manchurian badger rather than the usual Asian badger. I know that in shaving brush lingo "Manchurian" means super expensive special stuff, but as it turns out, it's just the name of the animal that the two band hair comes from. Simpson's Manchurian may very well be something special and different, but from what I understand the black badger hair comes from a Manchurian badger. I am sorry if I caused confusion. TGN has finest badger knots. I am pretty sure they come from Manchurian badger, but they are certainly not the Simpson's Manchurian knot. TGN finest is a super great knot. I now have two of them. One is a 20mm fan shaped extra hair (super-dense) and the second one I just got yesterday and is the one in the pictures above. That's a 16mm bulb shaped and does not seem overstuffed, which is fine with me. Still a very dense knot. I lathered it sans handle this morning and absolutely loved the way it worked. Will be keeping the loft on the high side to maintain the flow through. This hair is naturally sturdier than the three band hair, so good backbone is almost always guaranteed.

I drilled the knot hole in the handle in position "A", which was the original intent. Some wood came loose from the piece in the process and I am gluing it back now. The handle is a glued up piece from 4 chunks of wood, but 2 chunks are 95% of the piece and 5% is the little bit of the other two pieces and that's what popped loose. Drilling this wood was very difficult. I am not sure what it is, but it's really hard. I will take some more pictures tomorrow as I proceed with dry fitting the knot and actually epoxying it in. So far looks great. I will need to seal the wood better, though. Any thoughts on that? I want to avoid polyurethane and use things like carnuba wax and beeswax, but I do not want the seal to be compromised later on with some use. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[AceByTerror]

Sir - considering what you had at your disposal that's fantastic! Really nice looking wood there!

[vferdman]

Sir - considering what you hat at your disposal that's fantastic! Really nice looking wood there!

Thanks. The wood is absolutely gorgeous. I have no idea what it is, but it is hard, very hard. I have drilled the knot hole and it was not easy. Little bits that were forming a "V" in diametrically opposed spots around the hole fell out and I had to re-glue them. This morning the glue was dry and completed the hole and did some more shaping of the handle now that I have the hole and knot dry fitted to it. I will post pics tonight. I basically rounded the top so it taper towards the hole more in a very round fashion. I did not want a flat horizontal surface right next to the knot for drainage reasons. I want the water to roll off. It made the handle look even prettier. I intended to do that from the beginning, but I had to wait until the hole is complete and knot is dry fitted to my satisfaction. I also engraved my signature into the bottom and filled it with epoxy over gold and black paint. Not sure how it will come out, but I have to wait for epoxy to harden and then I will sand it flat and it will be time to seal the wood. Still waiting for good suggestions on that. I am planning to use carnuba wax sealant I have for fine furniture. Not sure how permanent it is in a shaving brush environment. I really do not want to use polyurethane. I like the wood to have the hand rubbed look to it.

[AceByTerror]

not a big fan of wax myself in this kind of thing. it will seal nice, but wax and warm or hot water means lots of finish dulling.

might i reccomend danish oil? basically 1 part pure tung, 1 part mineral spirits and 1 part polyurethane. you get all kinds of protection in there, but not the complete plasticy look of pure poly. otherwise, if you really want to keep it rustic, go pure tung...lots of it over several weeks and then lots of waiting for it to dry. beautiful results though if you have the patience for it :)

lastly, minwax wipe on poly is a nice option too. lets you use poly in thin layers to control the end shine. also works well

cheers

Rob

Thanks. The wood is absolutely gorgeous. I have no idea what it is, but it is hard, very hard. I have drilled the knot hole and it was not easy. Little bits that were forming a "V" in diametrically opposed spots around the hole fell out and I had to re-glue them. This morning the glue was dry and completed the hole and did some more shaping of the handle now that I have the hole and knot dry fitted to it. I will post pics tonight. I basically rounded the top so it taper towards the hole more in a very round fashion. I did not want a flat horizontal surface right next to the knot for drainage reasons. I want the water to roll off. It made the handle look even prettier. I intended to do that from the beginning, but I had to wait until the hole is complete and knot is dry fitted to my satisfaction. I also engraved my signature into the bottom and filled it with epoxy over gold and black paint. Not sure how it will come out, but I have to wait for epoxy to harden and then I will sand it flat and it will be time to seal the wood. Still waiting for good suggestions on that. I am planning to use carnuba wax sealant I have for fine furniture. Not sure how permanent it is in a shaving brush environment. I really do not want to use polyurethane. I like the wood to have the hand rubbed look to it.

[Snargle]

...lastly, minwax wipe on poly is a nice option too. lets you use poly in thin layers to control the end shine. also works well

I've used the wipe-on poly on a couple of restored wood-handled brushes and was very pleased with the results. It doesn't look overly-shiny and plasticy and has held up quite well to normal use.

[Patman27]

Fine, I'll be the contrarian. I kind of like B. Gives it more of a funky look.

Can't go wrong!