Following the discussion the other day about burnishing floss I turned a couple brush handles and made a new-to-me style burnisher per the sample posted by Hans. From the left; Central American “rosewood” of some flavor, bocote, and osage orange.
I have been making the standard handle shape for years and using .357 cleaning brushes for roughing dubbing, and pulling it around when doing full-dress stuff. The tails have multiple edges that work well for burnishing floss and I usually make a flat iron shaped ivory burnisher that is threaded and can be swapped for the brush.
This photo shows the SS burnisher tip best. It was a SS screw turned down to be threaded 8-32 and then shaped, bent, and polished a bit.
I managed to whack both hands on the lathe the other day an like most dumb things I still do not know exactly how it happened… Until yestrday I was fairly convinced I had broken my right hand. It is doing fine now and I was just being a hypochondriac.
Now they are off to the Post Office and on to the Old Country…
I am a little jealous, I would really like to have a wood lathe, just cannot manufacture enough sawdust with a table saw. There’s an osage orange tree in my brother in law’s pasture I am planning to cut a limb from at the next opportunity. I want to try a homemade bow using it and hickory. Back home it is more commonly called bois d’arc (wood that bows) but pronounced “bow doc”. I remember my dad talking about making single trees from it.
Very nice work! Thanks for sharing the idea with us. I’ve never used a burnisher on dubbing, but I’m certainly open to the idea. What type of finish do you use on your wood burnishers? I would think that the heat generated from burnishing could soften the finish causing it to discolor the dubbing? Do you find that the wood burnishers perform any differently than the metal ones? Also, I have quite a few deer antler tines and they look like they might also work well. Your thoughts…
The burnisher end is used on floss or thread bodies, the brush end is for dubbing. These have no finish on them, just polished with Brasso which has a small amount of wax in it. If the wood seems a bit dull I will apply a tiny bit of hard wax and rub it almost dry. There is no finish to wear off and the little bit of work done by the burnisher to the floss is not enough to stain the floss. I just did a bunch of Alaska Mary Ann variations and all have white or cream floss bodies and none showed the slightest trace of discoloring.
I have used metals, obsidion, antler, horn, ivory, teeth, baleen, and woods… The shape is the issue far more than the materials. Be veycareful with antler though because the outside can be very thin and the porous center will snag floss terribly. Caribou antler is especially thin on the outside. Some kinds of horn will fray and tear up your work, too.
Actually wood technology is very much “my thing” and etymology especially… bois is French for “wood” and d’arc is “bow” or of the bow… Indians found out it made really good bows. Interesting wood that was used to make yellow dye and a lot of other neat stuff.
Not a fan of those bugs!