What did you use to finish your shaving brushes?
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Finishing Shaving Brushes
- Thread starter RichColvin
- Start date
The best finish for a wood handled shaving brush, given the wet environment, would probably be using the CA/paper towel approach, like is often used with pens. But a better alternative might be to go with a plastic handle.
Stabilize the wood handle!
Multiple coats of CA glue has worked well over the years for the shaving brushes I have turned, you want a good seal on the entire surface so there is no entry point for moisture to absorb into the piece. Items of this size do not use a lot of CA glue to attain a good finish. The base of the brush knot and the bottom of the handle are the two area's that run the most risk of absorbing moisture.
Due to this exact question, the shaving brush handles I've made have all been dense, oily tropical woods, with no added finish. They seem to hold up very well. Even my personal padauk brush.
Stabilizing would definitely be a good option. For those of you not knowing what it means, look up Cactus Juice. I sent some pieces of local woods to Terry Woods, he charges by the pound, and send you the wood back stabilized. I still finish it with CA. Then EEE paste and friction polish as a 3rd and final step.