Need a Brush? Make Your Own!! (Pic Heavy)

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Stew

Bushcrafter through and through
Nov 29, 2003
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Aylesbury
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WOW! ... just wow. That really is quite something!

Thanks for sharing this Steve. I'd like to see that Farcebook page you're referring to as well, can you send me a PM over at Farcebook with it? Thanks in advance.

Just search on fbfor ' spoon carving, green woodwoorking and sloyd' and they group will pop up
 

MartiniDave

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 29, 2003
2,355
130
62
Cambridgeshire
I had a go over the weekend, as others have said you need to take a couple of layers off before the fibres start to peel and split well. Quite a workout on the old hands I found. I used a little brusletto balder to do mine and it seemed ideal.

Give a whole new meaning to "brushwood".

Thanks for sharing this, I think it will be a regular thing for me to make from now on.

Dave
 
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dwardo

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 30, 2006
6,454
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Nr Chester
Tried this on green hazel a couple of times. Its a conspiracy I tell you, yer all winding me up it doesn't work well at all.
Will try it a little more seasoned tomorrow. Must sign up a face book thingy and see what I am missing.
 

Zingmo

Eardstapa
Jan 4, 2010
1,295
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S. Staffs
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Phew!
That's one long fiddly job. This was hazel that had been growing just half an hour prior to this. It makes a really stiff brush. I am wondering whether bashing it with a stick on the side would soften the bristles.


Z

Edit: Just read the suggestion from Ulf to bash it with a stick!
 
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Mesquite

It is what it is.
Mar 5, 2008
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Looking at these brushes makes me think that they'd be a very handy natural snow brush for those folks who like to visit the northern wilds in winter.

Be a lot nicer than the plastic dish brush I've seen some folks were using in pictures :)
 

Mesquite

It is what it is.
Mar 5, 2008
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~Hemel Hempstead~
Hey Steve, any chance of getting the pics back into this thread mate? DO you think he'd be ok if we made an article out of it?

Not sure what's happened to the pictures as they were linked to FB.

I've messaged Ulf asking him about them and if he'd mind you doing an article on how to make them :)
 

humdrum_hostage

Full Member
Jul 19, 2014
771
2
Stradishall, Suffolk
Hey Steve, any chance of getting the pics back into this thread mate? DO you think he'd be ok if we made an article out of it?

Second that!

I tried a piece I had cut about 2 weeks ago for a walking stick and it kept running off so I gave up.... and now I have not walking stick either :(

The only reference I found was one video on YouTube by a mr R Mears. It wasn't very detailed and it was literally the only one on YouTube!

Its annoying, I dont use Facebook anymore as I hate it and how much it takes over people's lives but now I want to see!
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
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S. Lanarkshire
Been redding out sheds and I found my wee brushes, and a stash of hazel offcuts :)

They're dry though, and they don't look like they want to peel. I'm going to give them a go anyway, but our geans (the wild cherries) will need cut back hard pretty soon, so I'll have fresh stuff to play with then.

Anyone else making these ?

M
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,665
McBride, BC
Kooxe'edaa (Tlingit paintbrushes). Very good tutorial on brush making from porcupine quills and stiff guard hair. It's truly a labor of love to harvest that stuff from a rancid hide. Also instruction for making the traditional paints.

The project appears in each of the three books on Tlingit Wood Carving by Richard Beasley (Deexwudu.oo)from the Sealaska Heritage Institute.
It's Vol #1 in a 3 volume set, bought them all to keep the works together (Tray, Hat & Mask)
ISBN 978-0-9825786-0-5

I'd like to collect more work for comparative reading and playing about.
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,135
2,872
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Pembrokeshire
I made a couple of those Hazel brushes - one was worn to death as a hearth brush ... the other is still kicking around as a "craft example" to show folk :)
I have also made Zulu grass brushes (very good dusters!), Besoms of various sizes, Nettle fiber brushes etc.
The hardest to make and the hardest wearing was the Hazel!
 

Mesquite

It is what it is.
Mar 5, 2008
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~Hemel Hempstead~
@Mesquite would you happen to have the original images from the original post? If you have I'll happily restore them...
Unfortunately I don't Tony, I did message the chap who originally posted them on FB when they disappeared but he never responded back to me :(

The best example of how they're made is @Zingmo post when he carved one.

I'll try and get some fresh hazel in the next few days and have a go at doing a tutorial if I manage to carve a decent one :)
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,979
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S. Lanarkshire
Good time of year to sit beside the fire whittling something useful :D

I keep one of the brushes I made in the greenhouse; it's proved remarkably handy for cleaning out clay plant pots :)
 

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