Wooden brush handles, what do you think of them? I like wood but it seems to me that that shaving brush handles should be impervious to water. Some woods are better with water than others but ultimately wood handles are probably only as good as the finish and at some point will require maintenance. I'd appreciate your thoughts. I'm turning some woodies and will get some pics up in a few days. Thanks.
I have a couple wood handle brushes. My Semogue 2000 started to loose its finish around the collar. Where the finish was flaking off, the wood did get soft during the shave. I sanded it down, stained it, then put on about six or seven coats of poly. Haven't had a problem since. My other wood handle brush is a custom job from Elite Razor. Haven't had any problems at all. I will say that I have 12 brushes in my rotation, so they're only seeing action every week and a half. To be honest, they might not fair as well if they were used every day. Just don't know.
I think wooden brush handles fall into 1 of 2 categories. · the 1st falls (splits etc.) apart once the waterproofing wears off · the 2nd develops character as it absorbs body oils and soap residue. I think it all depends on the wood used.
There are a lot of variables when it comes to wood. They might be a little more prone to water damage but for me there is a warmth a feel to wood that you just can't get with anything else. The most important ones that I can think of are: 1. Wood selection - some woods are prone to rotting while others are very resistant. 2. Finish - use a water resistant finish ca, polyurethane or tung oil are all good. 3. Storage - the brush should be stored in such a way that it has a chance to dry between uses. Wood has been used in boats and for all kinds of outdoor structures for a very long time and if cared for properly can provide very good service. Here is a picture of a few wood handled brushes
From left to right they are: yew, spalted maple & arbutus. The spalted maple may have been an iffy choice for rot resistance but I love the wood and I think it will be okay as long as it is not left soaking wet all the time.
Wood looks great! If you have the time to maintain it over the years, I think it's a great choice for the sake of appearance.
Since it was rotten to start with that is probably an accurate statement (I love it BTW) LOL. Seriously you are not using them for dock posts, if you take decent care of them they should never rot. Admittedly a poor finish could result in some problems with water adsorption and splitting. You might be a little careful with the design to avoid lots of sharp edges where the finish may get chipped or worn. CA seems to make a very nice water resistant finish that will polish beautifully. A combination of CA/paint/CA seems to work well too. One critical area is around the opening for the knot. I make sure that the hole is completely coated with epoxy when the knot is installed. You will find wood a little more challenging than acrylic because of the grain. At one point you will be cutting with the grain and at the 90 degrees you will be cutting across the grain, the rest of the time you will be somewhere in between. Keep your tools very sharp and speed high for final cuts. Think of it as trying to cut the straws off a broom, easy when slicing lengthwise, but difficult when cutting directly across (end grain tends to tear). For sanding, keep the speed (or pressure) low enough that you do not generate a lot of heat, and use new sharp sandpaper. If you go with CA use medium and catalyst between coats. Lots of great information on finishes on the various gamecall making sites. Ware a dust mask when sanding. All I can think of, have fun.
I haven't had any problems with wood. I m careful not to let the handles soak in water when I m getting ready to shave and I do wash them after use and hang them upside down to dry. So far so good..
Just got my first wooden handle last week in my SOC boar. Too early to tell for me. I'm diggin' it, so I really hope it is fine in the long run.
I'm on the fence regarding wooden handles. If you look online for reviews, say, for tweezerman's bristle brushes, you will find that many people have had issues with the handles of those brushes splitting and cracking within a month to six months. On the other hand, I have never heard of a custom handled brush made from exotic wood having any problems at all. The conclusion I get is this: Cheap wood combined with improper care will ruin a brush within a year. Cheap wood combined with proper care, the brush will last up to 10 years. Quality wood combined with proper care and treatment, the brush will last a lifetime. For myself, if I were to get a wood handled brush, I would want it to be made from a hard dense wood such as a burl root, or a naturally water resistant wood like teak, or ebony. The ideal wood would be an exotic wood that has been impregnated with acrylic resin under pressure, a "stabilized" wood. This kind of wood would be the next best thing to using petrified wood.
There seems to be some misconception here about why wooden handles split. From my experience, wood does not split because it gets wet, wood splits when it gets DRY. Wood swells when it gets wet, and shrinks when it drys out. The shrinkage during drying causes tension to build between the wood fibers causing wood to warp and in some cases to tear apart and cause a split. If you have a handle that split it is likely that it was because it was made from an improperly dried piece of wood. As for rot, 99.99% of the time the brush handle is going to be dry, and a dry handle will not rot. If you don't have mold growing on the brush, you should not have any handle decay. Just my 2 cents worth.
In general I agree with most of what your saying. I will point out though that if the handle has a poor finish and is allowed to get very wet and then dry out on a regular basis then that would likely contribute to a splitting problem. Certainly the initial drying of the wood is important but wood is constantly either absorbing or releasing moisture to it's surroundings to stay in equilibrium and even a change in humidity is enough to cause problems with a more delicate piece (a well made handle should not be that delicate though).
