Hey guys, Les here back online after a six month absence. My st. razor collection is nearing completion and I now have about 20 of them - one each of most of the brands I wanted. But, now I have turned my attention to brushes. I am mostly a badger man but have a few synthetic for traveling and such. Recently I stopped buying brush heads from Virginia Sheng (Vig Shaving on ebay) when several of them came to me with a bad odor to them. There are sources out there that have better knots and that do not smell bad and I am now buying from them. My most recent brush shows below, made from black palm and from my own design but turned for me by a friend. As you can see, I like them a bit on the long side but in the future I think I will limit myself to 3" handles since it is easier to acquire 3" blanks. My favorite shave brush in sea shell acrylic is below. I have three brushes on order now with Cocobolo handles and a high end knot that will go to three of my best friends who are not yet into wet shaving like we are. These three guys have been very helpful to me during a difficult time last year and I want to repay them with a special gift. I have my own line of cream shave soaps now so each brush will go out with a small tub of that. Also I have projects in the works where I will have exotic stock for handles in Bois de Rose rosewood, Banksia pod and Bolivian Rosewood. Other exotic materials will follow.
Wow! I got very lucky when I won an auction on ebay for four (4) 1.5"x1.5"x3" buckeye turning blanks. I sent them off to be stabilized since they were very light and I wanted to color them in any case. I also ran into a guy who had Cocobolo 12" pieces and I got two of these. I will have brushes ready soon from some really exotic woods - including Snakewood. If any of you turn your own brushes please get in touch with me.