Here are 4 freshly made file handles. Made from home
grown, range fed, yada yada.....
Actually made from Bottle Brush tree wood. I suppose
Bottle Brush
only grows around here. The plant has spectacular
flowers in the
summer that are as big as Coke bottles with long
brightly colored hair.
It grows to about 8" in diameter and maybe 15 feet high,
and has the
most beautiful purple wood you have ever seen when it is
freshly cut.
Unfortunately, the color is transient, and disappears
when the wood is
dry, leaving just a dull tan color.
I turn the large limbs and small trunks on center so
that I get the
wild growth rings running around the handle rather that
straight from
end to end. I love the small knots that are scattered
through the whole
tree.
When the piece comes out of the lathe I buff the
wood on a
buffing wheel with compound. I have recently learned
that black
compound works just as well as a dirty wheel covered
with brass or
copper. After buffing with the black stuff I go to the
other wheel,
which is clean, and buff again with Tripoli compound,
the brown stuff. That tones down the black and leaves a bright, waxed
surface.
When I have a small amount of time available I like to
turn something
useful, so file handles it is, until I get enough of
them for all my
files. I need another 40 or so handles, so I will have
something to do
for a while.
