Introduction: Make Your Own Razor and Shaving Brush Stand
This instructable will show you how you can make your own razor and shaving brush stand using items that are probably already in your house.
Tools required:
Pair of pliers (preferably something hefty, like linesman pliers)
Large cylinder (I used a small mason jar)
Small cylinder (I used a battery, a pill bottle also works well)
Material:
Wire coat hanger
Note: The first picture you see here is the prototype that I made before documenting the project. The second picture is the finished-except-for-paint one that I made for this Instructable. The picture of the second final product was taken on an uneven surface. It is not tilted, the surface is. I also ended up moving the brush and razor holder in closer to the center upright. The shaving equipment that I made it for required it to be more centered due to it being heavier than my test equipment (my stuff is lighter, so didn't have a problem). As always, your mileage may vary and please see the notes on the appropriate steps about centering for weight.
Tools required:
Pair of pliers (preferably something hefty, like linesman pliers)
Large cylinder (I used a small mason jar)
Small cylinder (I used a battery, a pill bottle also works well)
Material:
Wire coat hanger
Note: The first picture you see here is the prototype that I made before documenting the project. The second picture is the finished-except-for-paint one that I made for this Instructable. The picture of the second final product was taken on an uneven surface. It is not tilted, the surface is. I also ended up moving the brush and razor holder in closer to the center upright. The shaving equipment that I made it for required it to be more centered due to it being heavier than my test equipment (my stuff is lighter, so didn't have a problem). As always, your mileage may vary and please see the notes on the appropriate steps about centering for weight.
Step 1: Prepare the Coat Hanger
The first thing you need to do is unwrap the coat hanger near the hook. Take your pliers, and grip the wrap at the top across both pieces of wire. You can unwrap this by turning the pliers in the opposite direction of the wrap.
Once you have the wire unwrapped, straighten the first bend on the end of the wire without the hanging hook. You will actually not use the hook for anything, discarding or saving it at the end of the project. The easiest way to straight the bend is to put the pliers on the side of the bend closest to the twisted end and use your hand to straighten the wire.
You will need to straighten the wire as you go, but in this case we have only straightened the first section we will be using. In further steps, straight the wire as needed.
Once you have the wire unwrapped, straighten the first bend on the end of the wire without the hanging hook. You will actually not use the hook for anything, discarding or saving it at the end of the project. The easiest way to straight the bend is to put the pliers on the side of the bend closest to the twisted end and use your hand to straighten the wire.
You will need to straighten the wire as you go, but in this case we have only straightened the first section we will be using. In further steps, straight the wire as needed.
Step 2: Forming the Base
First, place the twisted end against the outside edge of the jar, near the top. A jar is handy here because we can grip the end against the jar using our pliers. If you are using a glass vessel here (and in my case, a mason jar) take care not to grip the glass too hard. You're only holding the wire in place to make a cleaner circle, and it only needs to be held down, not clamped tight. If you're uncomfortable with this step, use your hands to hold the wire in place or find a plastic container of similar size and shape.
Step 3: Securing the Base
Ok, the second step in forming the base involves securing the wire against itself. This will also lead to the placement of the upright.
This is really just a reverse of the initial step of unwrapping the wire. Place the twisted end against the other side of the circle, grip the two pieces of wire, and turn your pliers to re-wrap the wire against the base. This should be fairly easy if you make sure to use the same direction that the wire was originally wrapped in. If you have trouble, you only need a wrap or two to hold it in place. Any excess can be cut off with a snip, diagonal cutter, or the cutters on your linesman pliers.
This is really just a reverse of the initial step of unwrapping the wire. Place the twisted end against the other side of the circle, grip the two pieces of wire, and turn your pliers to re-wrap the wire against the base. This should be fairly easy if you make sure to use the same direction that the wire was originally wrapped in. If you have trouble, you only need a wrap or two to hold it in place. Any excess can be cut off with a snip, diagonal cutter, or the cutters on your linesman pliers.
Step 4: Forming the Upright
The upright is formed with three bends. \
First: Hold the base firmly where the join is between the twist and where the rest of the wire is, you can use your pliers or your hands for this one. I prefer to use pliers, because it gives a better advantage. Bend the remaining wire upright until it is at a 90 degree angle to the base.
Second: Hold the upright as close to the base as you can with your linesman pliers. This will put the bend at about an inch from the base. If you aren't using linesman pliers, I'd suggest putting the bend in an inch up, since the jaws won't do this for you. Make this about a 45 degree angle.
Third: Hold the now-angled upright with the right side of the jaws at the middle of the base (see the picture below). Bend this upright until it is once again at a 90 degree angle.
Putting the upright in the center helps to balance the load on the base. The first prototype had an upright straight up from the side, but then couldn't hold just one of the items for this stand, so I added these bends.
First: Hold the base firmly where the join is between the twist and where the rest of the wire is, you can use your pliers or your hands for this one. I prefer to use pliers, because it gives a better advantage. Bend the remaining wire upright until it is at a 90 degree angle to the base.
Second: Hold the upright as close to the base as you can with your linesman pliers. This will put the bend at about an inch from the base. If you aren't using linesman pliers, I'd suggest putting the bend in an inch up, since the jaws won't do this for you. Make this about a 45 degree angle.
Third: Hold the now-angled upright with the right side of the jaws at the middle of the base (see the picture below). Bend this upright until it is once again at a 90 degree angle.
Putting the upright in the center helps to balance the load on the base. The first prototype had an upright straight up from the side, but then couldn't hold just one of the items for this stand, so I added these bends.
Step 5: Forming the Razor Holder
Ok, here we will form the razor holder. Depending on the razor you are using, please make sure that the holder will fit your razor. For the most part, if you make the holder about a 1" triangle, you should be fine with anything. Mine hold a Schick Injector E Series which has a bit of a fat handle.
Determine what height you want your stand to be. It should be high enough that your razor and brush can hang without touching the counter/table/whatever it is standing on. Don't make it too tall, otherwise it could get too tippy for the base. Once you have determined the height, follow these steps.
First: Hold the upright so the bend you put into it is at the desire height. The bend will need to make the wire 90 degrees to the upright, and the wire will be parallel with the counter. I put the bend going back over the upright to increase stability.
Second: Hold the wire at the desired length, which will be about the edge of the base looking down on it (once again I used my pliers as an eyeball measurement). Put a 90 degree bend in the wire. You don't want it to be too far over, as the weight of the razor could tip the stand.
Third: Hold the wire at the last bend, and bend the wire back toward itseld, forming a triangle. The wire will pass over itself, this is ok.
Fourth: Decide how deep you want the triangle to be, and then hold the wire (still the "loose" end" near the sideways bar where it crosses itself. Put a bend in it to line it up with the top bar. I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of room, so I put a pretty big triangle shape into it. Yours may be smaller.
Determine what height you want your stand to be. It should be high enough that your razor and brush can hang without touching the counter/table/whatever it is standing on. Don't make it too tall, otherwise it could get too tippy for the base. Once you have determined the height, follow these steps.
First: Hold the upright so the bend you put into it is at the desire height. The bend will need to make the wire 90 degrees to the upright, and the wire will be parallel with the counter. I put the bend going back over the upright to increase stability.
Second: Hold the wire at the desired length, which will be about the edge of the base looking down on it (once again I used my pliers as an eyeball measurement). Put a 90 degree bend in the wire. You don't want it to be too far over, as the weight of the razor could tip the stand.
Third: Hold the wire at the last bend, and bend the wire back toward itseld, forming a triangle. The wire will pass over itself, this is ok.
Fourth: Decide how deep you want the triangle to be, and then hold the wire (still the "loose" end" near the sideways bar where it crosses itself. Put a bend in it to line it up with the top bar. I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of room, so I put a pretty big triangle shape into it. Yours may be smaller.
Step 6: Forming the Brush Holder
Here we will form the brush holder. This will be a little different from the razor holder, as you want the weight of the brush to be closer to the center, especially if you have a heavy brush. So the first bend will be closer (1 inch or so) to the center upright. Keep in mind that the heavier the brush, the closer to the center you probably want to be. This may lead to experimentation, or another coat hanger if you encounter too many balance problems. I wouldn't put the first bend any farther than 2 inches, which is still more than I show here, and most likely you'll want it a little closer.
First: Hold the wire and put a "more than 90 degree" bend into it. This starts the edge of the curve you're going to create.
Second: Hold the wire against your form (in this case, a D battery) and curve the wire around it. You can also use the same method as in the base forming, using an open cylinder and holder the wire against it with your pliers. You don't want the bend to be an open U, make it a little more closed.
Third: Hold the pliers at the end of the U-type bend, and bend it back on itself. You can then clip the excess off and press that curl in on itself to create the little accent you'll see on the final product.
Note: You may need to bend the horizontal U shape down a little bit, to make sure your brush does not fall out of the U. This can be done easily with your hands.
First: Hold the wire and put a "more than 90 degree" bend into it. This starts the edge of the curve you're going to create.
Second: Hold the wire against your form (in this case, a D battery) and curve the wire around it. You can also use the same method as in the base forming, using an open cylinder and holder the wire against it with your pliers. You don't want the bend to be an open U, make it a little more closed.
Third: Hold the pliers at the end of the U-type bend, and bend it back on itself. You can then clip the excess off and press that curl in on itself to create the little accent you'll see on the final product.
Note: You may need to bend the horizontal U shape down a little bit, to make sure your brush does not fall out of the U. This can be done easily with your hands.
Step 7: Finishing Up
There you have it! You have now finished the stand. The little curl accent isn't just for looks, it will help you paint your stand (should you choose to do so). The original stand I made was finished with flat black enamel and a glossy clear acrylic.
If you do choose to pain the stand, the curl will allow you to hang it on a piece of wire for easy painting and drying. Remember, should you choose to paint with spray-paint, to use adequate ventilation. I do not recommend polishing, as a coat hanger is made out of cheap metal. Enamel or acrylic paint would work fine, and no harm should come to your shaving tools when resting in the stand. Someone suggested plasti-dip to me, but I think that's a bit excessive.
As you can see below the stand will hold either item, razor or brush, by itself. Centering the upright over the base, and extending the razor while keeping the brush closer to the center will help to distribute the weight correctly. If your stand will not stand up with just one of the two items, you may have made your base too small, upright too tall, or extended the brush holder too far. In this example the brush is not that close to the center, but my brush is very light.
The last picture is an example of what the rack will look like when painted. It is the prototype that I made, so the razor holder looks a little different. The method of bending the razor holder was improved for the second (for this Instructable).
If you do choose to pain the stand, the curl will allow you to hang it on a piece of wire for easy painting and drying. Remember, should you choose to paint with spray-paint, to use adequate ventilation. I do not recommend polishing, as a coat hanger is made out of cheap metal. Enamel or acrylic paint would work fine, and no harm should come to your shaving tools when resting in the stand. Someone suggested plasti-dip to me, but I think that's a bit excessive.
As you can see below the stand will hold either item, razor or brush, by itself. Centering the upright over the base, and extending the razor while keeping the brush closer to the center will help to distribute the weight correctly. If your stand will not stand up with just one of the two items, you may have made your base too small, upright too tall, or extended the brush holder too far. In this example the brush is not that close to the center, but my brush is very light.
The last picture is an example of what the rack will look like when painted. It is the prototype that I made, so the razor holder looks a little different. The method of bending the razor holder was improved for the second (for this Instructable).