Walnut Shave Brush given new life to Walnut stair bannister

The walnut from an up-cycled bannister are turning out beautifully. Here are some of them:

The boar brush at the front was a special request.  We love to work with people to make their brush dreams come true. Our shop: http://tinyurl.com/m7nvv6k

 

This is Walnut #6 in the limited edition series.

Each brush from this walnut will be numbered because once the wood is gone, there will never be any more.

Beautiful Walnut Badger Shave Brush Handle special finish

We love when customers come up with ideas!

One of our customers liked the idea of Walnut in a more dramatic profile.  Now we usually do a very graceful profile (shape) of a handle but our customer had given us a sample of a Bavarian turning to use as a reference.  Actually now we are going to make a few in a similar manner because it looks great.  Also the Belle Époque curves are great but there are avenues and styles that look extraordinary also.  I keep falling back on the saying "A change is as good as a rest".  Sometimes to reignite the creative process we need to see from someone else's perspective.

Brilliant idea.  Having a picture for reference is always a good idea.  And it makes talking about the style and the wants of the customer easier. 

 

 

This finish on the wood is wee bit different.  It is a combination of walnut oil and a wax over the walnut oil.  Usually we do everything to make sure the new owner hasn't have to think about the handle again for the rest of their lives.  In this case, it was important to the customer to have a finish that was traditional.  The earliest forms of finish was some kind of oil either walnut, linseed or one of the other oil that provide a good seal.  On top of that is beeswax to provide a buffer between the oil and the air or water.    

 

This type of finish will need periodic renewing.  Which means the wax must be removed and then the oil replenished and the beeswax reapplied.  This maintenance is not for everyone.  We are happy to work with people to give them the shaving brush they really want.

 

Feel free to drop us a note, we would love to hear from you!

Etsy Shop Lovgren and Daughter:  http://tinyurl.com/m7nvv6k



 

The Great Brush Lilac Shaving Brush

We have had a great time working with our customers for Father's Day and other just because brushes.

Here is the lilac brush that is so captivating

This is the actual bush where the wood came from.

I love the way the Black Adder font compliments the brush.

Please have a look at the Etsy Shop: Lovgren & Daughter for your shaving brush. 

Antique Pine and the work was worth it.

Finally, got the finish finished on the antique pine special sized shave brush. 

You can see the branch terminal bud and the other black come from a nail that was nailed into the tree an age before it was felled.  Thanks goodness, Eric found the nail before it went flying through the air or it ruined a tool.  The tree had completely grown around it and it was not moved in the raising of the barn, cutting of the tree, or disassembling the beam.

 

This is a regular knot size compared to the 32mm x 65mm silvertip knots.  while it looks petite in the picture the smaller one is the "regular size".

 

Here is the large brush and bowl next to a regular size bowl.  The owner is a tall man (6'4) and wanted finally to be able to feel a brush in his hand correctly for someone who is taller.  We happily custom make brushes and bowls for individuals.  Please do not to hesitate to let us make your dream brush.

 

Antique Pine Challenges and Triumphs

We have been working on the antique pine brush a bowl.  Awesome and frustrating experience.

First did not expect the movement of the wood when cutting.  Since barn beams are green (very wet) at a bran raising, 2000 years later, they expect to be in the same position.  Once they are freed, they move quite a lot.  lol.  then they can split and check at random.

Second, the pine is now so very dry that the varnish gets sucked into the wood.  Much more then in any other type of wood we have worked with.  This makes building a finish takes several coats.  Actually it felt like several million coats to build a nice finish.

 

 

In the picture above, you can see the bumpy grain.  This should be flat.  normally, varnish slides over the surface and even things out.  The piece of wood is so dry it drinks in the varnish.  Then we have to sand and even out for the next coat.  In this picture, there are 4 coats of varnish already applied (sanded and re-applied, repeat)

 

 



You can see on the inside of the bowl, the same thing happens.  But it is important to remember in order to judge the level of the finish, you have to look at it in indirect light.  There must be shadows so that you can discern the high and low points.

 

You can see in this photo how the light can change what you are seeing.  It was taken literally 2 minutes after the example from above.  If you don't pay close attention, you could get an awful finish.

 

but all good things take time and effort.  So, in the next 2 coats we will finally have a proper finish.

Brush of a Lifetime Tall men and Big hands need a big brush

To show the large handle better here is a mahogany in comparison to the usual size. The smaller brush knot size is 22mm x 65mm the larger one is 30mmx 75mm.

Custom Shaving Brushes and Flame Box Elder

Another custom Badger Brush that went to live in Singapore. We have had a piece of flame box elder for close to two years. The color of the wood is just amazing. It's a lot of work to track down interesting pieces of wood. First I have to scour the usual sites, ebay, nc woods, and our neighborhood. Actually, some of our best apple wood that has come from pruning our apple trees. One of the best parts is that the handle and the bowl are scaled up to his hand.