First off, I'll give credit to the guy that gave me the idea: retiredguns <--- you can follow that link to see his brushes.
I've been making a few little trinkets out of an elk antler for a family reunion. I had made a few small items and still had quite a bit of antler left and so I went on a search to find other things that could be made and that's when I found retiredguns shaving brushes. After looking through his thread it got me interested in this site and so I spent some time reading and checking things out and while doing so, decided to make some shaving brushes of my own.
Here are some pictures of my process. The quality of the photos may not be overly awesome as they were all taken with an iphone. They are nothing fancy as I am no sort of master craftsman, but I had fun making them and the people who receive them will enjoy them.
The whole antler:
I cut off four pieces and used gorilla epoxy to attach some oak to each:
After gluing them, I sanded them down:
After sanding, the wood needed to be stained:
A few days after I had them at this point, my knots showed up. All 20mm in size. One Silvertip STD XH, two Boar, one Black Badger.
At this point I sprayed all of the handles with a clear coat to protect them.
The OS on the bottom is actually a Lazy OS or O and S laying on its side. This was my grandfathers brand, and his fathers before him. I use it to mark things that I make.
Then it was time to drill holes in them to receive the knots. Here is the test hole I drilled to make sure I wasn't going to be too far off, size wise.
And then the holes:
Test fit:
And finally, using the same gorilla epoxy, the knots are glued in place.
I didn't burn the antler like in retiredguns thread as I liked the natural look and color the antler already had. All and all, it was a fun project. It got me interested in shaving by hand instead of using an electric and so I'll be giving that a whirl. I made four with the intent of putting them all in our auction at the family reunion, but after having them finished, the two boar brushes will go to our auction and the other two... well, I'm going to keep the silver as I liked the handle the best, and the black will be a Christmas present for my Dad.
While working on these projects for this reunion, I've had my Dad over to the shop a few times. He told me that his brother has a "shaving room" in his home. Apparently his father in-law used to be a Barber and he inherited a lot of his things. I hadn't ever heard that. I'll have to go and take some pictures and share with this group sometime in the future.
Anyway, thanks for looking.
Darby
I've been making a few little trinkets out of an elk antler for a family reunion. I had made a few small items and still had quite a bit of antler left and so I went on a search to find other things that could be made and that's when I found retiredguns shaving brushes. After looking through his thread it got me interested in this site and so I spent some time reading and checking things out and while doing so, decided to make some shaving brushes of my own.
Here are some pictures of my process. The quality of the photos may not be overly awesome as they were all taken with an iphone. They are nothing fancy as I am no sort of master craftsman, but I had fun making them and the people who receive them will enjoy them.
The whole antler:
I cut off four pieces and used gorilla epoxy to attach some oak to each:
After gluing them, I sanded them down:
After sanding, the wood needed to be stained:
A few days after I had them at this point, my knots showed up. All 20mm in size. One Silvertip STD XH, two Boar, one Black Badger.
At this point I sprayed all of the handles with a clear coat to protect them.
The OS on the bottom is actually a Lazy OS or O and S laying on its side. This was my grandfathers brand, and his fathers before him. I use it to mark things that I make.
Then it was time to drill holes in them to receive the knots. Here is the test hole I drilled to make sure I wasn't going to be too far off, size wise.
And then the holes:
Test fit:
And finally, using the same gorilla epoxy, the knots are glued in place.
I didn't burn the antler like in retiredguns thread as I liked the natural look and color the antler already had. All and all, it was a fun project. It got me interested in shaving by hand instead of using an electric and so I'll be giving that a whirl. I made four with the intent of putting them all in our auction at the family reunion, but after having them finished, the two boar brushes will go to our auction and the other two... well, I'm going to keep the silver as I liked the handle the best, and the black will be a Christmas present for my Dad.
While working on these projects for this reunion, I've had my Dad over to the shop a few times. He told me that his brother has a "shaving room" in his home. Apparently his father in-law used to be a Barber and he inherited a lot of his things. I hadn't ever heard that. I'll have to go and take some pictures and share with this group sometime in the future.
Anyway, thanks for looking.
Darby
well done, Sir! I'll bet that smelled lovely drilling into that antler
