Stick Barrette Development

I've started developing a stick barrette, and if I can get the basics worked out so that they function well, and I can make them in a reasonable amount of time (so I can keep them affordable!) I'm going to sell them over at my Etsy store. If you happen to check in here, and have anything you'd like me to know, please post a comment below.

Stick barrette with leaf design hair stick

My mom and my sister wore these hair accessories when I was a kid, and I've always liked the simplicity of them. Even simpler, its the stick by itself, so I think I'm going to be offering both if I can get them worked out. What really got me think about them is a couple of big knots in a piece of walnut I have in the shop; knots are typically a pain to deal with, especially loose knot, and even more so when using hand tools. And its not just the knot, buy the wood around the knot, because the grain gets all screwy as the tree grows around the branch. This crazy graining can be really beautiful, but tough to deal with, so I started to think: what can I make to take advantage of the grain? Something curved would take advantage of the grain and give it strength if the grain lines follow the curved piece.

Three nested barrettes tucked back in where they grew

These first few photos show how I traced the curving grain lines around the knot, which I think will really improve the barrette. Normally wooden barrettes came in two types: flat-ish ones that don't really work well with a through stick, and are typically glued to a metal clip-type barrette, and the curved type of wooden barrette, which is susceptible to breaking where the straight grain of the wood runs through the thing curves of the barrette.

The three sizes will work for different volumes of hair

Both the curves of the barrettes and the sticks that I'm working on to go through them will follow the wood grain to strengthen them. The sticks are a little easier to do like that, simply by splitting the wood to size rather than cutting it. Splitting the wood naturally follows the grain lines, and the hair sticks that result can sometimes have softly undulating curves in them that come from the tree's growth. I'm betting that these curves will be both good-looking and help to secure them better in your hair.

My first hair stick test. I'll let you know how it goes.

I took a shot at a hand-split maple hair stick, and the first tester thought it was a little too thick. I wonder if it would be better for someone with thicker hair. This one is a little thicker than a pencil and the straight part of it, at 8-inches, is about a half-inch longer than a new wooden pencil. Overall this hair stick is about 9 1/2-inches.

Beeswax Wood Polish

So when I make things at the shop, I try to use natural materials whenever I can, and when I sell things, I always use natural materials unless I have a custom request to something different. One of the go-to finishes I use, especially for the smaller items I make, is a beeswax polish. Its really easy to make, and I've seen various of it on the web and elsewhere. Most often I see versions of this polish made with linseed oil or boiled linseed oil, other versions include a little paint thinner, or some other vehicle to make it spread faster (or something.)

 Here's the Moonlight and Snowfall version: 

Beeswax and Walnut oil. That's it.

Small batches work best for me. I grate the beeswax to aid melting.

Walnut oil is an edible oil, that is often sold as a salad oil, or for cooking. Its got a mild walnut odor, and thin consistency, and and soft honey-yellow color. But the important thing to know, is that unlike olive oil, and most other vegetable oils, walnut oil dries. This is a trait that it shares with linseed oil, and some others like tung oil and poppy seed oil. Linseed oil and poppy seed oil are also edible, but obviously need to be labeled as such. Tung oil is not edible and is used mainly as a base for wood sealants and finishes. Boiled linseed oil is another story: unless you boil food grade linseed oil yourself, its not edible, most boiled linseed oil products have added chemicals like petroleum based solvents and metallic driers.

Equal parts oil and wax. Heat together just until the wax melts.

Drying oils go through a process called polymerization. They actually aren't drying as much as curing as they autoxidate when exposed to air. That is, nothing is evaporating, the oil chemically reacts with the air and takes on oxygen, creating long polymer strands and creating a film. The oil actually gets slightly heavier as it takes on oxygen and forms a film. Olive oil, by contrast, won't cure, so if you rub it on your cutting boards and wooden spoons, it may turn rancid.

Let the mixture sit a few minutes until it starts to set.

Beeswax by itself is just too hard to work into the wood. I've tried. I've even finished a table by heating it, pouring it on hot, and then going over it with an old clothes iron to allow it to penetrate the wood surface and then polished it up afterwards. It wasn't worth the effort. Mixing the beeswax with the oil gives the wax a soft-butter consistency, and keep the oils from running all over everything. It works out great.

Stir before stiffens up to keep it soft and spreadable. Note the color change.

I like to measure out the oil in and then add the grated wax directly to the oil so I can see the oil level rise. When it gets to double, I know I'm 50/50 oil and wax. I'm only making about 1/4 cup of polish here, so I microwave the mixture for 30 seconds and watch it. As soon as the wax melts, I stop it and take it out to cool at room temperature.

Move it to container that isn't too big, and seal to keep it soft.

I apply this polish with my fingers, and work it into the wood, and then let it dry. The polish sets up enough to buff it up and add another coat in a few hours. The oil takes longer to dry completely, but the polished items can be handled and even used except for contact with delicate items that may stain or darken if oil were to soak out, so I'd be careful with things like silk or even important papers until the finish is completely dry.

This polish is fun, simple, works great, smells good, and is safe enough to make and use with kids. I get my beeswax from the beekeepers barn at the Topsfield Fairgrounds, here in Massachusetts. You want real, natural beeswax, which also smells great. When I'm done polishing, I rub the excess into my hands. Its great in the winter time, I've even rubbed it on chapped lips. Don't try that with a wood polish you buy in the store!


UPDATE: I made a pretty big batch for this post in April of 2014, and it is now almost December. I've never tried to keep this polish for this long, and its been sitting at room temperature. It doesn't smell as much like fresh roasted walnuts and beeswax anymore, the scent seems to have faded, and it is getting tacky where its in contact with the air inside the jar. If you're planning to make more than what you can use in a few months, it may make sense to keep this polish in the fridge; the walnut oil is perishable. I would recommend smaller batches, made as needed. That's what I'm going to go back to.

Wooden Mallet

This blog is the companion to my Etsy Shop of the same name, where I sell buttons, baubles, and other things I make in the shop downstairs. You can find the shop here, if you're interested. If you've come over here from the shop to check out what's going on or if you've stumbled onto this blog from my other blog about books, reading, libraries, and robots, here's what's up: I'm planning on putting up notes about the shop, what I'm working on, and whats working (and what isn't.) Feel free to comment where ever you like, and I'll check in and write back as soon as I can.

In the shop, the things I make I try to keep all natural, so that includes the stains and finishes I use. I love to recycle old wood, but I also try to make sure that it hasn't been treated. For example: pallet wood can be great, but I don't know if its been treated with anything, such as a preservative, or a pesticide, so I won't use it for anything I sell. In fact, I don't use it much at all, as its not something I have ready access to.

I love hand tools, and I'm learning more about them every day, but I also love power tools, and I put them to good use around the shop. I'll probably discuss the tools in a little detail in later posts, but just to get things going, I'll share one of the first tools I made here at the shop.

Moonlight wooden mallet

Check out the wooden mallet; as I said, its one of the first tools I made here at the shop, and I use it for working chisels, and for setting the wedges in my wedge vice--more on the wedge vices later--the head is maple, and the handle is birch. I split the pieces out of firewood I had in the yard.

The head was sawn into three sections, and the center section was cut to remove a wedge shape to support the handle, and then the pieces were glued back together. The handle was shaped and then I added two cuts into the top, slid it into the head, and then added mahogany wedges to expand the handle to fit the wedge shaped recess in the head.

The decorations on the head featuring my initials, were chip carved in with a knife, and then I oiled the entire mallet with walnut oil. Walnut oil makes a great finish, because it penetrates and brings out the grain, but unlike other oils such as mineral oil or olive oil, walnut oil dries. I know boiled linseed oil dries, but that's because chemical and metallic drier are often added. Raw linseed oil will dry eventually, but it takes a long time, and gets tacky in the interim.

If you have any ideas about what I should add here, or what I should try in the shop, or if you just want to say hi, please leave a comment, here or anywhere else around here, and I'll find it.

UPDATE: The mallet post seems to get a lot of hits, so I put together a sketch of the way its put together. Click on the image to blow it up (that's true for all of the images) and if you think it would be helpful for me to post the sketchup model, let me know and I will.

SketchUp model of mallet construction. Let me know if I should post the model