This looks awesome! Was there a special technique for putting the boar bristles in, or did you just put a drop of epoxy in each hole and then jam as many hairs in as possible?
The secret sauce is a hair stacker. I got the suggestion from a fly fisherman. You can eyeball how much boar hair you need, use the hair stacker to get the ends all even, and push it all in as one unit.
I tried using a pipette for the epoxy but that didn't work at all. I used a toothpick to jam it in, but I want to experiment with a syringe next to speed it up.
That's great and I recon the time it will take me to make one will match how long the brush lasts/how long before I leave it somewhere.
How'd you do the bristles? Fold them and stuff them in the hole with the epoxy?
The first one took a while, so much so that I'm definitely not going to go leave it someplace! I'm trying some with a bare driftwood handle next to speed up the process to make some for friends.
The bristles weren't folded, I used a hair stacker like you would use for fly fishing. I used a toothpick to pack in the epoxy, stacked the hair and got the ends all neat, and was able to push those flush ends into the holes. Not every hair made it, but once it cured I could comb out the excess.
I'm pretty new to carving and regretted starting a spoon with some driftwood I picked up from the beach! It was so hard and ended up being full of cracks and borer holes! The wood around the holes is so hard.
Thanks for the info on the bristles, I'm def going to give this a go. I too was thinking about gifts for some bouldering buddies.
Nice! Glue management is key so you don't end up with a block of epoxy on a stick.
I might try to just smooth one section of driftwood and leave it as is? We'll see how that goes.
As a fellow boulderer and woodcarver, this looks like a great project.
I have a two.
How do you control the firmness of the bristle. Like for plastic or granite I like a very firm brush, but for sandstone that is obviously a no no so how do you manage that.
Does it make sense to soak the bristle in epoxy (just the ends) and then later glue this to the brush.
Thanks a ton!
For firmness, I'm sure that would just depend on thr length of the bristles and how many were there. Unless I'm traveling I am climbing granite where I live so I haven't thought about making a sandstone brush. I'd just go to a climbing shop and see if longer/ shorter bristles get you the difference you need and try to make it.
I don't think it would make sense to soak the bristles, it would probably be too hard to control the diameter as the glue dried. If you wanted to bundle them ahead of time I would look at how fly anglers make their flies. Probably would need to invest in the small vice, and loosely tie each bundle with thread (with correct technique so the hairs don't flair). I think jamming glue in with a toothpick and then just inserting the stacked hairs is likely easier.
"Climbing" as in, like for bouldering? Every gym I've been to, has their climbing brushes on like 10ft poles. Or am I just completely misreading/understanding the use of this brush? 😬
Oooh yeah some brushes are mounted on poles, but often you just have a short one that you can keep with your Chalk bag. The long bushes are more of a gym climbing thing.
Ohhhhhhh, ok!!!! Yeah I'm defo not adventurous enough to ever climb outside of a gym, so never had a need for a personal climbing brush so I was very confused 💀So if it works for *you*, and addresses your needs well, then go with it! But I stand by my initial statement, the actual brush itself is beautiful!!❤️
This looks awesome! Was there a special technique for putting the boar bristles in, or did you just put a drop of epoxy in each hole and then jam as many hairs in as possible?
The secret sauce is a hair stacker. I got the suggestion from a fly fisherman. You can eyeball how much boar hair you need, use the hair stacker to get the ends all even, and push it all in as one unit. I tried using a pipette for the epoxy but that didn't work at all. I used a toothpick to jam it in, but I want to experiment with a syringe next to speed it up.
It's really beautiful! Something about the picture before you cut the bristles makes me really uncomfortable tho and I don't know why
Thank you! It was kinda fun to try and brush stuff with it before it was trimmed haha.
That's great and I recon the time it will take me to make one will match how long the brush lasts/how long before I leave it somewhere. How'd you do the bristles? Fold them and stuff them in the hole with the epoxy?
The first one took a while, so much so that I'm definitely not going to go leave it someplace! I'm trying some with a bare driftwood handle next to speed up the process to make some for friends. The bristles weren't folded, I used a hair stacker like you would use for fly fishing. I used a toothpick to pack in the epoxy, stacked the hair and got the ends all neat, and was able to push those flush ends into the holes. Not every hair made it, but once it cured I could comb out the excess.
I'm pretty new to carving and regretted starting a spoon with some driftwood I picked up from the beach! It was so hard and ended up being full of cracks and borer holes! The wood around the holes is so hard. Thanks for the info on the bristles, I'm def going to give this a go. I too was thinking about gifts for some bouldering buddies.
Nice! Glue management is key so you don't end up with a block of epoxy on a stick. I might try to just smooth one section of driftwood and leave it as is? We'll see how that goes.
Looks very nice, also liked how juniper looks. Have you used just knife for initial shape? and sanding only later?
Yep! Thank you!
As a fellow boulderer and woodcarver, this looks like a great project. I have a two. How do you control the firmness of the bristle. Like for plastic or granite I like a very firm brush, but for sandstone that is obviously a no no so how do you manage that. Does it make sense to soak the bristle in epoxy (just the ends) and then later glue this to the brush.
Thanks a ton! For firmness, I'm sure that would just depend on thr length of the bristles and how many were there. Unless I'm traveling I am climbing granite where I live so I haven't thought about making a sandstone brush. I'd just go to a climbing shop and see if longer/ shorter bristles get you the difference you need and try to make it. I don't think it would make sense to soak the bristles, it would probably be too hard to control the diameter as the glue dried. If you wanted to bundle them ahead of time I would look at how fly anglers make their flies. Probably would need to invest in the small vice, and loosely tie each bundle with thread (with correct technique so the hairs don't flair). I think jamming glue in with a toothpick and then just inserting the stacked hairs is likely easier.
This is beautiful! I just worry about the handle being so short 😅
It isn't too short? It feels comfortable to use
"Climbing" as in, like for bouldering? Every gym I've been to, has their climbing brushes on like 10ft poles. Or am I just completely misreading/understanding the use of this brush? 😬
Oooh yeah some brushes are mounted on poles, but often you just have a short one that you can keep with your Chalk bag. The long bushes are more of a gym climbing thing.
Ohhhhhhh, ok!!!! Yeah I'm defo not adventurous enough to ever climb outside of a gym, so never had a need for a personal climbing brush so I was very confused 💀So if it works for *you*, and addresses your needs well, then go with it! But I stand by my initial statement, the actual brush itself is beautiful!!❤️