The process of making a technically difficult custom brush

[TroyTools]

I finally got around to posting this marathon effort.
Sorry for the delay @neongas

Part one:

The brief:
Customer says "I just bought this"

"And I want you to make this"

I says, "Hmmm, OK, I can do that"

So I poured these:

And did this:

Lets go! 3 piece brush coming up.
This brush was made on the old 1947 Hercus 9" metal lathe instead of my Vicmarc wood lathe that other brushes are made on.

Squared and faced off.

Sanding and polishing the end where it will be very difficult to polish later when fully assembled.

Polished and now drilling a centred hole:

Boring a precise rebate to insert the red piece into:

Test fitting inside the rebate:

Beautiful fit, 3mm inside the grey piece:

Now Glue it in:

Pressure applied by the tailstock:

Ah shit. I hate it when the old girl breaks a string. Oh well, time for lunch. I'll fix it later:
Main drive belt of the lathe. Hand stitched leather belt has to be done in situ on the lathe.

All fixed. Back at it again. Just some of the things you have to do for a 76 year old lathe. Saddlemaker skills, check

Parted off the top piece and going to work on the bottom piece.

Cutting the rebate for the other end of the red piece to go into:

Perfect fit again. Now glue it in:

Facing off to specified length:

 

[TroyTools]

Part two:

Marking out and cutting critical measurements to spec:

Choosing a knot:

Boss knot it is:

Shaped it to measurements:

Rough drilling the knot socket:

Finalising the knot socket to specific size:

Tapped a 14mm thread down the middle of the handle to mount a custom made threaded steel mandrel into it so I can still hold the handle in a chuck after it gets parted off from the waste piece on the bottom"

Parted off and turned around. Sanding /polishing begins. Catch tray in place underneath to catch water while wet sanding:

Cut the rebate in the base for my TroyCraft medal installation:

There it is. All done!

One very happy customer

 

[Gargravarr]

Part two:

Marking out and cutting critical measurements to spec:

Choosing a knot:

Boss knot it is:

Shaped it to measurements:

Rough drilling the knot socket:

Finalising the knot socket to specific size:

Tapped a 14mm thread down the middle of the handle to mount a custom made threaded steel mandrel into it so I can still hold the handle in a chuck after it gets parted off from the waste piece on the bottom"

Parted off and turned around. Sanding /polishing begins. Catch tray in place underneath to catch water while wet sanding:

Cut the rebate in the base for my TroyCraft medal installation:

There it is. All done!

One very happy customer

Cool, great to see how it's done. Nice work. I like the stitching on your belt, good to see that still being done. Reminds me of the old Union Maltings in Northbridge, Perth where they had a whole processing area driven by one motor, belt and multiple shafts. A real work of craftsmanship. All knocked down for boring but expensive housing in the '90s.

 

[Errol]

Part two:

Marking out and cutting critical measurements to spec:

Choosing a knot:

Boss knot it is:

Shaped it to measurements:

Rough drilling the knot socket:

Finalising the knot socket to specific size:

Tapped a 14mm thread down the middle of the handle to mount a custom made threaded steel mandrel into it so I can still hold the handle in a chuck after it gets parted off from the waste piece on the bottom"

Parted off and turned around. Sanding /polishing begins. Catch tray in place underneath to catch water while wet sanding:

Cut the rebate in the base for my TroyCraft medal installation:

There it is. All done!

One very happy customer

That really is one very nice looking brush. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mark1966]

Sensational work!

 

[Razor Burn]

Great work @TroyTools and hope you enjoy the new brush @neongas

 

[StratMan]

Nice work with the tools @TroyTools and congrats on the brush @neongas

 

[Phil Harmonica]

Wow!

 

[Nanook]

Fantastic work

 

[Mark1966]

I got this recently ...

#justsaying ...

 

[TomG]

Fascinating! Great work.

 

[neongas]

thanks again to the masterful @TroyTools for bringing my brush to life.