My first shaving brushes and a Mach 3 razor

[Joe Aliperti]

Made from Tru-stone. Thanks to Anthony (The Golden Nib) for the inspiration, advice, and supplies.

[Cyril Griesbach]

Joe, very nice brushes. I like the looks of that knot diameter and loft. Can you tell me which one of Tony's it is?

Now, if you could just pry yourself away from those awful (and expensive) cartridge razors and go to a double edge.

[Joe Aliperti]

Thanks, Cyril! Both of the brushes use 24mm Grade A Silvertip knots. They fit perfectly into a 1" diameter Forstner hole. And I drilled the hole about 3/4" deep. I experimented with holes of various depths in a scrap 2x4 to test the fitting.

[John Keeton]

Those are really sharp (pun?), but a question from a newbie - does Tru-Stone turn like wood? HSS tools?

[Joe Aliperti]

HSS tools work fine. I'm a newbie as well, and this is the first material I've turned other than wood, but I had no problems. You just need to take light cuts and sharpen frequently. I successfully used a roughing gouge, spindle gouge, scraper, and skew on these. With a sharp tool, it produces shavings akin to a pencil sharpener.

Once I got it to the rough shape I wanted, I sanded using 180/240/320/400/600/800 grit sandpaper, then moved to 1000/2000/4000 abrasive pads. Then some HUT plastic polish brought them to a mirror shine.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Joe - very nice work! Good form - great colors! Really like your photos also!

[Joe Adams]

I'm impressed! Can you post a link to your source for materials? Thanks!

[Joe Aliperti]

Thanks!

I get the badger knots and razor heads here:

http://www.thegoldennib.com

For Tru-stone, I've ordered from the above site as well as:

http://www.randbcrafts.com/tru_stone.html

I've had a good experience ordering from both websites.

[Dan Forman]

Joe, those are beautiful! I've thought about going that route, but wonder if the razor desn't get really slippery and difficult to hold on to when wet and a little soapy maybe. Have you used it yet?

Most Truestone is relatively easy to turn, especially the "pliable" ones, but some are quite hard and require a lot of tool sharpening. Go to the penturners.org (IAP) site, and search for the Truestone thread in the business classifieds. If you are an IAP member, you get the best prices. He also tells which ones are easy and which are more difficult to turn.

Dan

[John W Dixon]

Joe, I am always impressed by the work you post and these are no exception! Great job.

John

[Bernie Weishapl]

Joe those are beauties for sure. Really nice work on all.

[Curt Fuller]

Those are really nice. I've never seen them done with acrylics before. That probably makes them much more practical for actual use.

[Kevin Hampshire]

Those are so cool that it makes me consider giving up my electric razor just for the excuse to make one.

KH

[Jeff Brockett]

Very nice!