Cherry burl brush project

Dug around in my pile of turning stock for a certain piece of wood but found this piece instead. The Made Rite is just there for scale.

After a little band saw work I ended up with this.

Chucked it up and drilled a 1" hole about 20mm deep.

Remounted on a 1" dia. spur drive center.

To be continued.

That is going to be beautiful! The wood grain is amazing!

Starting to take shape.

The final shape after sanding.

I put it in a can of marine spar varnish where it will soak for a few days.
We will see how it turns out.

Looking good....

I ended up with a couple small worm hole that you can see on the top bead. Not sure what I will do about those.

I wouldn't do anything. That's real wood, from a real tree. It's like the imperfections you sometimes see on a piece of leather, a story of the animal's life.

If you have to do something though, could you fill the holes with something clear like epoxy, then sand them back to flat?

Looking great man. I didnt know about the varnish soak. I'm gonna try that next time. Are there any issues with too much product on it? How do you remove the excess?

I've done the soak trick a few time on duck calls. If you can keep it fully submerged, it won't set. So after a few days I just take it out and wipe off the excess then let it dry. The purpose is to give the liquid finish plenty of time to soak into the wood. I will put it back on the lathe to apply another coat or two for the final finish. That's the plan anyway.
The worm hole don't bother me in the least for looks, so much the better in fact. I was just thinking it would be a place that may accumulate soap residue.

By the way the finish soak is a horribly messy affair.

That's going to be really nice handle when you get it done. I have a piece of wood that looks like that might have turn brush handle from it.

Any worm holes, voids or cracks that you want to fill - try mixing 2 part clear epoxy with a bunch of sawdust from the turning. Pack it in the hole with a toothpick and turn/sand flush after drying. Perfect!

Thanks for the tip Ace. Most of my turning is of a more decorative nature or not exposed to much water. For duck calls, I just don't use wormy woods.

That will be a BEAUTIFUL handle! Man, I am envious of folks who have skill like you do!

Thanks, but don't be envious. A skill is something to be obtained, so grab a chunk of wood and start whittling. Check out what MrLara accomplished with minimal equipment in the "My first brush handle (A work in progress)" thread.

Hey that's looking great, Dave. Oh the things I'd make if I could get my hands on a hardwood Burl...

I use this trick when repairing cracks in gun stocks. Careful application can make holes and cracks virtually undetectable.

That is a beautiful hunk of wood. Can't wait to see the finished product.

AceByTerror said:

Any worm holes, voids or cracks that you want to fill - try mixing 2 part clear epoxy with a bunch of sawdust from the turning. Pack it in the hole with a toothpick and turn/sand flush after drying. Perfect!

Click to expand...

Time to fish it out of the can of urethane. This is an old can with a skin of dried finish that kept the handle completely submerged while soaking.

I wiped it down with an old tee shirt and set it on wax paper to dry for a day or two.


To be continued.

Wow just wow. I'm on mobile and it looks great, can't wait to see it on a computer screen!

That's looking great so far. Can't wait to see the final product.

you and Cap make some great wood handles.

I notice that my brush handle still has a faint smell of that marine spar varnish. is there a way (or something i can apply on it) to get rid of that smell? i have some beeswax that i can use, but i don't know if it will work.

The best thing to apply to that is time. Sorry for the glib answer, but finishes take a while to fully cure. I don't, however, think there is a down side to applying bees wax...nice semigloss finish and pleasant scent to mask the varnish.