Homebrew wooden pick handles

[manskirtbrew]

I recently bought a set of Sparrows Tuxedo picks. I've got some meaty fingers, so I wanted to add some handles to make them easier to hang onto. Being a woodworker, and having rescaled a few straight razors, I thought I'd add some exotic wood to these guys.

Here's a photo album that describes how I did it.

[yooper]

do you just epoxy da handles on? i think i may do this with mine. da cheapy dipped handles are ok but i like doing stuff like this anyway. ive always used rivets with epoxy on knives so im wondering how ya fix them or if epoxy alone works. thanks for any tips. great job on them

[MrAnybody]

Holy dogs-on-fire. Now that is what I call very impressive pick handles. I love them. Totally.

I'm more than tempted to ask you to do some for me.

Huge thanks for sharing that.

[jimylongs]

Wow, that's really nice work. I've tried wood a couple times now and haven't been super successful. I looked at some of your handles for razors as well, couldn't help notice the Laphroaig 18yr. Definitely near the top on my favorite scotch list!!!

[escher7]

Epoxy works fine, but I use Dremel to scratch up the metal beforehand. Otherwise the glue may let go. Rivets help, but usually without actually peening the heads, which may split the handle. They do provide extra glue surface however. I have changed to a high end superglue but still let it cure overnight before sanding

[rai]

there is sometimes a problem if you carry them in a flexible case that might end up in your back pocket as you sit in the car or whatever, the area where the inflexible handle meets the pickshaft can be a place of accidental bending,
The answer for that would be a stiffener in the pick case like one side with a metal backing or wooden backing, and you could go so far as router carving a wooden plate with depressions custom fit to the picks and handles.
Of course this is about any handles at all.
I think that someone could find a niche market right here in making good custom fit cases that protect the picks from being accidentally bent.

[Oldfast]

Great work man! Really. I look forward to seeing more!

[piotr]

Beautiful picks. Nice craftsmanship.

[Mikeh727]

Beautiful picks. I've never even heard of Padauk.. .

Thanks for posting the step-by-step. Great work!

-Mike

[nozza36]

Very nice chap , like them a lot ! am thinking of going to a local Veneer specialist as we speak !

[elbowmacaroni]

Wow, those look very nice! I need to work with some wooden handles sometime. I'm a total sucker for a french polish... it would be fun to try and do that to pick handle scales! I'm thinking a tuft pulled from a cotton ball wrapped in a tiny bit of cheesecloth would do the trick. The scary part? I'm dead serious, when I make some wooden handles, I am going to do a french polish on em.

As far as attaching them, I'm thinking that I'll go with a decent epoxy as that should work well, or perhaps a combination of epoxy and roll pins for extra mechanical joinery between the scales and the tang of the pick.

But yeah, great work there! Keep it up, and keep the pics coming!

-Elbow

[escher7]

Elbow: French polish is normally done with shellac which shines up great but is not very durable. Moisture from the hands etc. would erode it quickly. Tung oil is durable but doesn't take a great polish. High gloss Varathane is probably the best way to get the shine, but I notice manskirtbrew simply buffs the wood to a gloss.
Epoxy is standard knifemakers' choice for adhesive but like this poster for small items like picks, I have gone to medium thickness superglue (good quality - not the crap at 7/11). Seems to work better on small items.
If you do French polish rob your wife's tampon drawer - highly recommended.

[rerun12]

that's some fine work manskirtbrew. thanks for posting this, i have been putting off my wooden pick handles for some time now- you've inspired me to get back to work on em!

[manskirtbrew]

Elbow: French polish is normally done with shellac which shines up great but is not very durable. Moisture from the hands etc. would erode it quickly.

This is exactly what I was going to say. Shellac takes a gorgeous shine, but isn't durable for this sort of use.

For things that get handled a lot, I prefer a CA finish. Basically you just use superglue *as* the finish. My favorite example is this shaving brush I made for a friend. It gets handled daily, dipped in hot water and soap, and still shines like this picture:



You can really see how the finish shines in this picture of a straight razor I added new scales to:



For the picks, I was going to do a CA finish, but got totally lazy. Honestly, on exotic woods like this I'm okay with no finish. Plus it doesn't feel plasticky and slippery like many finishes can.

[elbowmacaroni]

Elbow: French polish is normally done with shellac which shines up great but is not very durable. Moisture from the hands etc. would erode it quickly. Tung oil is durable but doesn't take a great polish. High gloss Varathane is probably the best way to get the shine, but I notice manskirtbrew simply buffs the wood to a gloss.
Epoxy is standard knifemakers' choice for adhesive but like this poster for small items like picks, I have gone to medium thickness superglue (good quality - not the crap at 7/11). Seems to work better on small items.
If you do French polish rob your wife's tampon drawer - highly recommended.

LOL... yeah... I didn't think about how the shellac would hold up to usage on an item like a pick. I was too caught up in thinking about how I would make a tiny pad to do it with! HAHAHA! It sure as hell one nice lookin' finish though. Man, that would get really nasty after a while all gummy and whatnot. Thanks for the sanity check there. I'd have been pissed with myself after having gone through that much silliness (it would be kind of silly togo through all that for something so small) to wind up with sticky, gummy scales on a pick.

As far as using a tampon for the filling of the application pad, I can totally see how that would work well, hell even cut the feet off of a pair of nylons and use that as the outer shell of the pad.