Olivewood Handle - Urethane Coating or Not?

Klovgren said:

If you prefer a glossy finish, you can get epifanes gloss clear varnish from Jamestown boat supply. It's a little quirky as a finish. First it is thick and needs to be thinned by 50%. Use a foam brush to apply very thinly.

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A sponges can do the job,absorbs any drop that overfloated.

If you try the oil varieties, linseed or tung and it's not what you want, you can move onto other finishes once the handle has been washed, dried and use a thinner shellac as base and then use urethane or any other varnish.

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Shellac will have a problem with boiled water if the handle remain there for some time
A "crack" will be heard.
I am not a pro but i think there is no need for "waterproof" handle,who's going to carry his brush in a pool or in the sea ?
A "water resist" it's much better term.

The knots arrived today and one has been set is this handle.

I didn't add any additional finish to the handle. The spar urethane I had on the shelf had been there so long that it had hardened in the can. I may add a glossier finish later.

The ACE Finest 24 mm knot measured out at 23.6 mm at the base and about 25.5+ mm at the swell slightly above the disc, and total loft of 65 mm. The hole measured out at 24.4 mm. I decided to fill the 20 mm deep hole enough to bring the floor up so that the final depth was 8 mm. That was done with the stack of quarters you see next to the handle. This gave me a finished loft of 57 mm.

I'll post lather and bloom pictures in a few days.

sweet.

Yes indeed !

Here it is in bloom alongside the same two brushes from before.

The knot had a mild case of badger funk, and created dirty lather the first attempt. I shampooed it twice and when it rinsed clean I lathered again. Most all of the funk is not gone. I'll still follow up with some lather pictures in a few days when I dial it in. It is nice and stiff and still retains a nice face feel.



And here it is alongside some Holy Land artifacts from a trip there in the year 2000. This may help explain why I felt a special pull to this handle.

Great collection !

After a few test lathers the handle was starting to accumulate some soap deposits, turning parts of the handle even duller than it was originally, so I decided to give it a polyurethane finish after all. It looks much better with the glossy finish. It feels better too.

It would have most certainly been easier to have finished it before setting the knot. Chalk that up to lessons learned.

I have the same handle. Gave it 4 coats of satin urethane before assembly. Used a 24 mm HMW knot from TGN with 4 quarters underneath. Very soft tips but enough backbone to easily handle soaps. Yours looks great!

The grain on that olivewood is really nice. I like the glossy version best, even apart from the functionality.
I have a "latte mug" just like Big Jim's, but in green, that had been my lathering bowl for 2 years! It's one version of perfect for the job. (And was already in my cupboard, so the price was right).

Thanks for the comments. I'm going to let the urethane dry for at least a weak before I get it wet. I'll still get some lather photos before I end this thread.

The red mug was a find at the 99 Cent Store.

And here it is all lathered up.

Great job finishing the brush, Jim -- it's really gorgeous. My one olivewood handle was sold to me for a song because, I think, the original owner was very disappointed with the lack of pretty grain patterns; I think that one is nice.... yours is WAY nicer!