Close up of the pieces after the work of with the Dremel had been about completed. I didn't want to get too close to the finished piece using the Dremel. It has the ability to take off more material than I like. Once I got it to this state I finished the remaining portion of the shaping with carving knives and pin files.
I did the same rough out with the Dremel as you see below. At this point I'm pretty happy with the progress and the overall look and feel. Each piece seems to be the right shape and size to make it practical, but I'm still not sure how well they will perform once linked together on a loop like the Mary Rose version.
I'm really digging the cuticle pusher the most. Doesn't really need to be as wide as you see, but I really like the different shape to add character to the set. In the below picture you see the results of my most recent FAIL!! What you don't see is the ear scoop. I had it almost completed. I added a nice little decorative ring around the base of the neck and proudly showed my wife. When she handed it back to me I was looking at it and dropped it. It broke right at the point of the decorative ring. Turns out that the decorative addition added a weak spot which allowed it to crack very easily. Had to start from scratch on the ear scoop. Somebody recommended that I repair it in a period manner. Not sure if that will be done in time for the competition, but I think I'll take her up on that challenge.
More refined filing and sanding and the new ear scoop in progress. Notice the thicker base as it connects to the handle. That is the fail point last time, so this time around I m made that a smooth transition with not decorative cut in the shoulder.
Now, manicure set well under way it is time to start the other part of the project... the comb. I took some cow bones which provided the largest sections of flat-ish portions. Turns out I didn't have any bones large enough to make the comb out of one piece. Early period combs were done with many sections, but most later period combs were cut from a single piece. The single piece was either ivory (if you were well off) or boxwood. I wanted to use bones, since that's what I have, that's what my persona could afford and I wanted to enter it into the competition with the set above. I guess this will be considered a transition piece. Later period style shape and style of a nit comb, but pieced together as done in earlier period.
I think I only need three pieces. Based on the size of the Mary Rose combs this will be too wide. I plan on using one of the pieces as a proof of concept. As I have never cut teeth into a comb made of bone before I figured I better have an extra piece to use as practice.
Cleaned up and sanded down these are the three pieces I'll use for finished comb.
I took the remaining piece as my practice proof of concept and as it turns out it is about the right size of some extant combs of a similar style. Turns out that cutting the teeth into comb was slow going, but came out a lot better than I expected. My saw needs some improvement, but my 15 year old hobby saw made the cuts you see below. I think I'll upgrade the blade of the saw before cutting the final comb, but the process worked well. It took about an hour or so to cut the teeth you see here. Based on that progress I suppose it will take about 5 hours to cut the "real" comb once the pieces are fixed together.
