You Can Turn Woodshop Scraps Into Hardwood Combs

Image Gallery Your combs can be beautifully simple or highly decorative, with inlay or even etchings. MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF

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Sometime back, while visiting a friend's shop, I noticed that my friend (like most folks who dabble in woodworking) had accumulated a boxful of hardwood scraps — scraps that were destined to be tossed out. At the time, I was a little low on cash, so I decided to try my hand at working these beautiful bits of wood into usable — perhaps even salable — objects, namely combs.

Eventually, after much trial and error (with hundreds of comb teeth popping off and flying all over the shop), I succeeded in developing a system that I could count on to produce quality combs time after time — combs, moreover, that I could sell whenever I wanted for as much as 7 dollars apiece!

I'll bet that you can do the same thing. Using the following procedure, you should have no trouble producing (and selling) your own good-looking hardwood combs just as I have done. (I do urge you to improvise as you see fit, however, since the suggestions that follow are only that — suggestions.)

Equipment and Raw Materials

Your main piece of combmaking equipment, naturally enough,will be a saw. A table saw does a great job of cutting each comb's teeth, but — if you have a steady hand and a careful nature — a miter box and handsaw will do the job, too. I've found, though, that a band saw tends to make wavy, uneven cuts — and I don't recommend that you use one.

In addition to a saw, you'll need several grades of sandpaper, ranging from coarse to very fine. Then too, a belt sander will speed up the shaping process and is — I've found — ideal for tapering and sharpening a comb's teeth. A disc sander or sanding block will work, however, if you don't have (or have access to) a power sander — it'll just take a little longer.

(Sander or no sander, be sure to wear a good mask over your nose and mouth whenever you sand for a prolonged period, since the very fine dust given off by hardwoods is especially irritating to the lungs.)

A bit of No. 3 steel wool and one can each of shellac and linseed oil will round out your supplies.

Almost any kind of hardwood will do for this project. Walnut, zebrawood (which has nice grain patterns), bird's-eye maple, purpleheart, rosewood (which darkens with time), cocobolo and teak are some of my favorites. The exact dimensions of the wood, naturally, will vary with each scrap and each comb design — but as a general rule, I like to work with pieces of wood that are between 3/8-inch and 1/2-inch thick. Remember, too, when selecting wood that the teeth of each comb must follow the direction of the grain (otherwise they're likely to snap off while the comb is being made, or worse, used ).

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