Adjustable Hairbrush Cleaner

Materials:

• big paper clips (I used 6, but feel free to use however many you want.)
• scrap wood
• wooden chopstick (1)

Tools:

• pliers
• pencil
• caliper/ruler/tape measure (Anything is okay, as long as it can help you measure!)
• hand-held electric drill
• hand-held hacksaw
• wood glue/super glue/epoxy
• sandpaper
• vice
• hammer
• Xacto knife

Get your favorite hairbrush and use the caliper/any measuring tool to measure the distance between each of the bristles. It may vary from brush to brush, but my distance was about 0.35 inches.

Feel free to adjust the measurements according to your own needs. Once you have decided what measurement to use, decide how many paperclips you want to attach to each part of the “rake” of the hairbrush cleaner. For mine, I will be using a total of 6 paper clips. Each paper clip, provided that you chose to use the larger kind, should be able to provide you with 2 teeth for your “rake.”

Use the pliers to un-bend the paper clips and make them entirely flat. Then, break the paperclip in half with the pliers by bending and unbending the paper clip. Once you have done so, use the pliers one last time to bend the end of the paper clip into a small L-shape. Repeat this process for all the other paper clips halves.

Once you’ve finished taping, get the wood and draw your design on there. Personally, I drew a rectangle, which I then divided into 4 equidistant lines; each line was 0.35 inches away from each other (same distance as measured bristle distance). I used my caliper and my pencil to help me draw the lines.

After drawing it on one side of the wood plank, I made sure to draw it on all the other sides as well, including the side with the wood grains. This will help when you’re cutting, as you will be able to tell if you cut sideways.

The next step is to use the hacksaw to cut your design out of your wood block. (This may take a while.) Sand the edges to make sure you will not get splinters.

Once that is complete, mark a hole in each of the slots towards the bottom of the wood block. I used a thumbtack to make small holes at each of the points where I want to drill. This will help to ensure accuracy and precision when you're drilling.

Use the drill to drill sockets into the 0.35-inch slots, making sure that they are approximately half an inch in depth.

Place each of the paper clip groups into a slot and secure it with adhesive (could be wood glue or super glue or even epoxy). Remember not to add too much, as this adhesive is only temporary.

Drill a hole on the opposite side of the other paper clip slots. This hole should be about one-eighth an inch deep and
is where you will be placing your “rake” handle.

After cutting the chopstick in half (or however long you want to make it), make sure to use the Xacto to shave off the excess to make it fit into the round, drilled hole. It should have a pretty tight tolerance, so use the hammer if needed.

Apply some glue to the handle and secure the handle. Once you’ve done that, wait for the glue to set. In the meantime, feel free to decorate it however you’d like.