Wow, how big is that? Does your lathe turn outward as well?

11 1/4” tall, 7 1/4” base diameter. Not sure of your question on the lathe turning outward. The head on my lathe can swivel 180 degrees, for bowl and plate work, I suppose. I haven’t ever used it in that position. It is not reversible.

I turned this piece between centers, base/bottom on the drive side. My “blank” was to big for my saw, very irregular, very out of balance and neither flat nor square on either end. The bark came off like shrapnel. I dressed the base/bottom close to flat and used a couple scrapers, a bowl gouge, and a little skew chisel work to flatten and dish out the top. At the finish I had spigots about an inch long at each end. Lots of sanding, this deodar is both coarse and a little soft.

Really neat!


- Ken

Well, regardless of how you got there, it still looks really nice, Patrick.

There was a guy who talked about trees & happy accidents. There are no mistakes. Nice way to repurpose the piece!

Nice job!


- Ken

very cool Patrick..

A) looks great!
B) Thanks for the counterweight/flip idea. I have a decent looking ‘canceled’ handle that will get that treatment tomorrow.

I wanted a longer brush handle, so I based this profile on old time chisel and screwdriver handles. Turning it on the I-X collet I could stop the lathe and test the fit to my hand until it was just right.

Woodpile cherry blank, ‘walnut’ danish oil finish to match with the horsehair knot.

You can get them from a few different places in Canada I’ve seen, Patrick. Various levels of quality as well. Lee Valley had the kits, but am not sure they still do. You will probably need a specialized mandrel and bushing set, similar to one for turning pens.
William Wood Write is another Canadian website that sells lots of turning kits and blanks. They might have them too.

Jason's brush with an omega 10098 boar knot i fitted this afternoon.stunning brush sir and thank you..

Great choice on the boar, Gary!

thank you Jason.it set perfect depth.same as in the original handle..very happy.test drive in the morning....

Currently working on these three. I will definitely have to check out every page of this thread when I get some time.

Very cool! Some unique designs for sure. Looks like a few different chucks/holding techniques as well. We'd love to hear about your processes.

I start with the blank in a 4 jaw chuck and drill the hole with a forstner bit and Jacob's chuck in the tailstock. I then do some rough shaping. Next I usually part off and mount on a mandrel. Next I use a live center to support the end and finalize the shape and then clean up the bottom.
Next I get really irritated try to get a perfect CA finish. This usually leads to sanding to bare wood and starting the finish back from bare wood. CA and I have an on again off again love hate relationship. It's complicated.
I think it's the conditions in my basement. Sometimes the finish gets cloudy which I think is a temperature and humidity issue.
But when you get it right it's a fantastic finish.

I get it...I’ve only recently started finishing with CA glue. Have won some, have lost some.

Three way tie for first place!