Ive had a piece of Birch Polypore fungus drying in the shed now for a good year, possibly longer, so today, having "rediscovered" it in a box of bits, i decided it was time to actually put it to use, so a bit of time on the shave horse saw a piece of Hazel taken down to a suitable thickness, then it was out with the sheath knife and carve a comfortable handle, then trim the fungus to just slightly oversize and glue it to the board using some epoxy resin.
Once the resin had set, i trimmed the fungus down to the board shape and sanded the sides smooth and dead flush, then using a sanding block i took the top of the fungus down to flat using a coarse grit paper initially and then finished it off with 120 grit paper to get a smooth finish to the fungus.
Many people will know the other name for this fungus as the "Razor strop" fungus, the reason for this is because the barbers of old, used to use a strop made from this fungus to hone their razors and yes, it really does impart a razors edge to your tools.
Once the resin had set, i trimmed the fungus down to the board shape and sanded the sides smooth and dead flush, then using a sanding block i took the top of the fungus down to flat using a coarse grit paper initially and then finished it off with 120 grit paper to get a smooth finish to the fungus.
Many people will know the other name for this fungus as the "Razor strop" fungus, the reason for this is because the barbers of old, used to use a strop made from this fungus to hone their razors and yes, it really does impart a razors edge to your tools.
