My DIY razor and brush holder

mr626

mr626

ARKO! TERMINATOR!
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Location
NSW
My DIY razor and brush holder- a work in progress

Edited title to reflect it isn't finished yet.

Hello all,

Despite not yet even possessing any wet shaving gear (although I have some on the way) I am enjoying the process of getting my 'setup' just right.

I know that a stand isn't strictly a necessity, but I would like something that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing to hold my razor and brush.

I'm certainly no master craftsman, but I do enjoy making small items from wood. I'm fortunate in that I can get offcuts of some really nice wood from work for free. These are often fairly small, but still useful for some small weekend projects.

Anyway, when I was shopping around for my beginners DE shaving kit I saw quite a few stands. None of them really looked that nice to me, and many of them were priced higher than I was prepared to pay.

Solution- DIY stand made from wood :cheesy:

Basically, the plan is as follows:

-Utilise some of my nice wood offcuts, such as:
34oppa1.jpg

to make the basic shape- flat rectangular base (with enough room for a small lather bowl) mated with another bit of wood that the razor and brush hang from.

-Purchase some appropriately sized brass eye screws ( such as Nice Brass Eye Screw - Buy Brass Eye Screw,Screw Eye,Eye Screw Product on Alibaba.com ) to hold the razor / brush

In theory, total raw materials cost should be really cheap (basically just the cost of the brass eye screws). I already have everything else I need.

A couple of thoughts:

  • I'll likely give the finished product three coats of estapol to ensure it survives life in a bathroom. Unless there were any other suggestions that would be better?
  • I'd appreciate people's help to work out what the inner diameter of the eye screws should be for both the brush and the razor. In other words, I want to make sure this stand can accomodate thick handle razors and whatever size brush I can throw at it

Anyhow, not sure if this will be of interest to anyone but I plan on building this in the next couple of weeks. Would be happy to document the process on here if there is interest.
 
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Even if no one replies, there is always interest! I'm no expert myself, but I'd recommend some tiny rubber feet (or standoff of some kind) for the baseboard, just a few mm. This will allow the bottom to air and remain dry.

If you have to use eye hooks, get something like 20mm size holes to easily clear the handle and provide a nice platform for the razor head to rest on. Bunnings sell these things fairly cheaply so you could take a razor there and be sure. The ones in your link say a minimum order of 10,000 pieces, unless you were just using that as a pic.

Any timber finish that can stand the outdoors should be fine.
 
bodge said:
Even if no one replies, there is always interest! I'm no expert myself, but I'd recommend some tiny rubber feet (or standoff of some kind) for the baseboard, just a few mm. This will allow the bottom to air and remain dry.

If you have to use eye hooks, get something like 20mm size holes to easily clear the handle and provide a nice platform for the razor head to rest on. Bunnings sell these things fairly cheaply so you could take a razor there and be sure. The ones in your link say a minimum order of 10,000 pieces, unless you were just using that as a pic.

Any timber finish that can stand the outdoors should be fine.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, I intend on fitting some rubber feet to the stand.

Yup, the link for the eye hooks was just to demonstrate what I mean. Although if I had a razor collection like Mark on here I could see myself using all 10000 eye screws when making a stand :)
 
While they might not look as pleasing would a plastic coated hook be gentler on the razors?
 
Mark1966 said:
While they might not look as pleasing would a plastic coated hook be gentler on the razors?
Click to expand...

I guess so, although as long as I'm fairly gentle I think the brass would probably be okay. After all, aren't most of the common stands chrome?
 
mr626 said:
I guess so, although as long as I'm fairly gentle I think the brass would probably be okay. After all, aren't most of the common stands chrome?
Click to expand...

Yes, you are right. I suppose I'm thinking of old vintage Gillettes with thin gold-plating.

The plastic coated hooks do look terrible. I wonder if you could stretch clear plastic tubing over a brass eye? Might achieve the same thing but with better aesthetics
 
Mark1966 said:
Yes, you are right. I suppose I'm thinking of old vintage Gillettes with thin gold-plating.

The plastic coated hooks do look terrible. I wonder if you could stretch clear plastic tubing over a brass eye? Might achieve the same thing but with better aesthetics
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea. I'll see how it looks and functions when its done.

Have done two of the three estapol coats, just need to lightly sand and do the third coat, and and the eye screws.
 
mr626 said:
Not a bad idea. I'll see how it looks and functions when its done.

Have done two of the three estapol coats, just need to lightly sand and do the third coat, and and the eye screws.
Click to expand...

Pics or it didn't happen :)

Sounds like you are doing well mate
 
Have been a bit slow on updating this, mainly because I had to start over :embarrest:

Lets just say I really should have pre-drilled, but because I didn't the wood split. Anyhow, I got stuck into it again today and I'm nearly done.





Just need to do one more coat of estapol and it will be done.
 
Never let it be said I don't finish what I start! :D

(click for full size)






I'm pretty happy with the results. In case you can't tell, the razor in the photos is a fat-handle Tech (thanks Mark!). Based on how well it fits I think pretty much any DE razor should be okay.

The base has some spacers attached so it won't be sitting flush on the bathroom bench. That, combined with me being careful and two coats of estapol should hopefully mean its fairly safe from water. Time will tell how well it lasts I guess.

Thanks for looking, hope you found it interesting.
 
WOW - that looks really good!

Very impressive piece of work, well done mate
 
Thanks. The wife likes it too, so I think I've covered all bases!
 
If you ever feel at a loose end and want to make one, I'd buy it off you.

That looks really good mate. You probably jsut created a family heirloom there.
 
JugV2 said:
If you ever feel at a loose end and want to make one, I'd buy it off you.

That looks really good mate. You probably jsut created a family heirloom there.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words, I think you are giving me too much credit though!

The main aim was to make something that was inexpensive, functional and reasonably nice to look at. As mentioned in the first post, I already had the wood and estapol, so that just left buying the brass hook and eye screws from Bunnings (around $4 worth).

I'm a big believer in letting the natural qualities of the wood show- I love wood as a raw material. I figure if you start with some nice wood to begin with its hard to go wrong (unless you don't pre drill like me- oops). The two pieces of wood are held together with two nails- nothing fancy there either.

As much as I wouldn't mind making stands for other people, I had a hard enough time finishing my own one. Part of that is waiting between estapol coats though (I wait a bit longer between coats in the winter too).

Basically, if I can do this anyone can. I didn't even use any power tools. All you need is some nice bits of wood to start with, some form of sealer and the brass hooks/screws. The wood I used was scrap wood from a school industrial arts department- not a bad place to start looking (they basically have an 'otto' bin that they fill with offcuts). I suspect hardware stores with wood yards may have some scrap wood too?
 
JugV2 said:
If you ever feel at a loose end and want to make one, I'd buy it off you.

That looks really good mate. You probably jsut created a family heirloom there.
Click to expand...

So, I know I said I probably wouldn't make any more stands...but I am close to changing my mind. I have got some really nice pieces of wood that are just begging to be made into something nice. I probably have enough raw materials for two stands of the same design as my one in the photos.

Would there actually be any interest in these? If so, how much would you pay for one? I don't really care too much about making a profit- just a little bit to go towards my time + raw materials + postage.
 
JugV2 said:
I'd pay $50 inc postage to 6056
Click to expand...

JugV2,

That sounds like a very fair price. Tell you what, since you are the first to reply (and in some respects a guinea pig!) I think $40 posted will do.

I'll PM you some details :)
 
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