One last gift -- Amboyna Shave Set

[islandturner]

This was finished mid-afternoon -- last of the xmas turnings. Worrying about the long term effects of daily exposure to water, I turned the pieces and soaked them in wood hardener for a week -- hopefully that'll protect them...

Hope Santa is good to everyone....

All the best....
Steve
Victoria, BC

 

[turff49]

Very nice! Great looking set. I wish they would hurry up and come out with a Fusion set. The Machs are nice too.
Anxious to see how the Hardener works. Never thought of doing that. I wonder if I could do that with the ice cream scoops I make?
Again, beautiful set?

 

[islandturner]

Very nice! Great looking set. I wish they would hurry up and come out with a Fusion set. The Machs are nice too.
Anxious to see how the Hardener works. Never thought of doing that. I wonder if I could do that with the ice cream scoops I make?
Again, beautiful set?

Thanks Brian.... It went over well, and I like it enough, I've just started a set for myself... (practiced on someone else's....) :wink:

I agree re the fusion -- that blade seems to be the latest & greatest...

Re the hardener, I just use Minwax wood hardener. I turned the pieces to within (roughly) 0.1" of final size, and threw them in the hardener with a weight on top to sink them -- within 2 to 3 days, they stayed sunk. Let them soak a week, and dried them in a warm toaster oven for a day. Then they were just like turning PR. Finished with CA as usual. I'm sure it's not as good as Cactus juice in a vacuum, but it's a poor man's second choice... I think it would be a good idea for scoop handles --for any wood that's going to be constantly exposed to water....

 

[boxerman]

Beautiful razor set.

 

[jlord]

That is a beautiful set. I love Amboyna Burl. I hope it holds up for a long time. What camera do you use for your pictures?

 

[woodgraver]

Interesting about them turning like PR after soaking, great work thought, they look awesome.

 

[pensmyth]

I turned a razor out of cocobolo a little over a year ago. Sealed with medium ca
and I sealed the ends with some thin. I use it every day and it seems to be holding up very nicely. No clouding or other issues noted.

 

[ctubbs]

Beautiful, Steve. I have been considering turning myself a set and wanted to use some of my ERC, but was concerned about the water problem. Now I'll just have to give it a try. Thanks for the info. You made one beautiful shaving set. Keep up the good work.
Charles

 

[islandturner]

That is a beautiful set. I love Amboyna Burl. I hope it holds up for a long time. What camera do you use for your pictures?

Hi James,

Thanks for your nice comments...

I use a medium quality Canon DSLR with a pretty good zoom lens. The lens is probably worth more than the body...! But any camera and lens should be capable of taking great photos. The secret is light. If the subject is not properly lit, no camera can grab a good image of it.

For lighting my pens, I built this box -- http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07...to-studio.html . I use my flash externally, shooting through the white paper sides. The light from one flash bounces around inside, and provides all the light required. But ordinary 'white light' bulbs in lamps would work just as well -- maybe even better.


Other things:

• use of a tripod is important
• manual focus (so the camera isn't 'hunting' for the focus)
• fairly big aperture so the depth of field is adequate to get the whole subject in focus

Thanks again....
Steve