I turned a birthday gift for someone who isn't born yet......

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I haven't turned anything in a while.

Thursday I had some pretty severe dental work done and have kept a pretty low profile. This afternoon I felt like I could do something...

My youngest son and wife are expecting twins in the next 8 weeks. They requested recently that I turn some baby rattles for the twins.

I have a lot of cherry and apricot but was afraid to use those woods for fear any fruit wood might have some pesticide residue.

So Saturday evening the LOML and I drove to Moscow, Idaho and bought some kiln dried maple. The finish is frictioned BLO followed by frictioned dewaxed shellac.

This is the first...I have enough wood for 7 more attempts. I already have come up with changes for the next revision.

The kids don't want to know the gender of the twins....

So here you are little ones.......Grandpa's first gift.....

140452

[John Keeton]

Having twins really ups the grandkid count in a hurry!! Congrats!!

Nice work, Grandpa!! The maple really has some nice grain to it. Haven't given thought to this yet as we don't expect any more little ones. So, I guess you hollow the "egg", then include the rattle material, then glue in the handle? I like the burned in lines - nice touch. And, you can't go wrong with that finish.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice Ken! What did you use for the inside noise making portion?

Looking forward to seeing the next one!

Hope you are starting to feel better!

[Baxter Smith]

Nice job and congratulations! Don't have any myself and hopefully won't for a few more years, but I will be saving this design.:)

[Tony De Masi]

Congrats and a nice job there Grandpa. Just curious as to what are the revisions you would make.

Tony

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Thanks guys.

I used uncooked popcorn for the rattle material.

I made it in two pieces.

The middle burn line hides the joint where it's glued together.

I am a little concerned the small end ...the handle might be a choke hazzard so I'm toying with shortening the handle so it wouldn't be long enough to present a problem and I'm also toying with the idea of a ring handle...as in offset turning.

[Tim Hughes37]

Great job on the rattle. I like the idea. I'm still pretty new to turning though so I have a question. What is frictioned BLO?

[Robert McGowen]

As someone who has twin boys, I would say that you have a nice rattle with one baby, but a nice bonker with two babies! :D:eek: :):rolleyes:

Good luck with those new grand kids!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Tim,

I apply a lot of my finishes on the lathe....especially in any spindle turning.

frictioned BLO is Boiled Linseed Oil.....I apply a little bit to a paper towel and then apply it to the turning while it spins at about 300 rpm. I let it spin for 90 seconds or so for some initial drying and then friction it with a clean folded paper towel. I generally will increase the speed to 1600-2000 rpm while fricitoning it.

I take the speed down to 300 rpm again....apply some dewaxed shellac directly to the turning. I increase the speed a couple of hundred rpm for about 90-120 seconds. I then use a clean paper towel and friction the shellac again at a speed of 1600-2000 rpm.

I repeat the shellac process for a total of 2 or 3 coats......

The frictioning will raise the temperature until it's so warm it's uncomfortable to put you fingers on the turning. The increased temperature is what causes the BLO and the shellac to cure so quickly.

In this case...I had about a quarter of an inch at the bottom of the handle and a 1/8" nubbin at the top that needed parting away.

I had everything but these two "nubbins" finished....I parted the 1/8" nubbin at the top away....slid tailstockout of the way...lightly sanded the top where the nubbin had been....and applied the finish. Then I only had to part away the 1/4" left at the headstock end.....and that little bit to finish off the lathe.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

As someone who has twin boys, I would say that you have a nice rattle with one baby, but a nice bonker with two babies! :D:eek: :):rolleyes:

Good luck with those new grand kids!

Robert,

It's Mike and Kristy that you met in Houston that are the upcoming parents.

[Tim Hughes37]

Thanks Ken, that was very helpful. I'm glad I found this site! Congrats on the upcoming fun you're going to have. My son is still a youngin', so I have quite a bit of time to wait for grandchildren. Or at least I hope I have a long time to wait. Anyway, thanks for the instructions.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Thanks Tim.

I'm an old geezer. I have 5 grandkids and 4 great-grandkids.

Our current "youngest" grandson will be 18 this month. So there will be 18 years between our most recent grandkids.

And yet there is only 7 years between our oldest son and our youngest son....

Our youngest son and his wife have been married 10 years and it's possible the twins could be born on their anniversary. The twins are their first children.

[David Christopher]

Ken, congrats on the new soon to be grand babies, and also great job on the presents, looks like a fine job to me

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Gramps on the new grand babies. Nice looking rattles Ken. Good to see ya turning something.

[Mike Fitzgerald]

Looks good Pop. Kristy said she loves it .... as she was stroking her belly thinking of the babies and the nice weapon ( I mean rattle) you have turned.


I haven't turned anything in a while.

Thursday I had some pretty severe dental work done and have kept a pretty low profile. This afternoon I felt like I could do something...

My youngest son and wife are expecting twins in the next 8 weeks. They requested recently that I turn some baby rattles for the twins.

I have a lot of cherry and apricot but was afraid to use those woods for fear any fruit wood might have some pesticide residue.

So Saturday evening the LOML and I drove to Moscow, Idaho and bought some kiln dried maple. The finish is frictioned BLO followed by frictioned dewaxed shellac.

This is the first...I have enough wood for 7 more attempts. I already have come up with changes for the next revision.

The kids don't want to know the gender of the twins....

So here you are little ones.......Grandpa's first gift.....

140452

[Roland Martin]

Nice rattle Mike. Nice clean way to hide the glue joint, may be a good idea to shorten the handle. I have one grandson, but wasn't turning when he was born, but my son & his wife are "practicing", so maybe I'll get a chance on the next one. Congratulations on your soon-to-be grandchildren, and wish them the absolute best health.

[Brian Effinger]

Looks good Ken. Thanks for posting the finishing process. And congrats on the grandkids.

And congratulations to you and your wife Mike. Looks like your hands are going to be full.

[gary Zimmel]

An early congrats on the grand children Ken.
Great first toys from gramps....

Looks like you haven't lost your touch.

[bob edwards]

Nice work Ken! If you are toying (pardon the pun) with design changes you mite consider a bar-bell shape with a rattle in each end. That would eliminate the choking hazard.

I have twin grandsons, one year old. You are in for a treat! When you come to see them in TX stop by and say hello.

Bob Edwards
San Antonio

[Aaron Wingert]

Good looking rattle Ken.

I just had identical twin boys on December 4th.....Man what a job it is! We had no idea just how challenging two infants at once would be. Definitely a lot of fun when the screaming stops!

[Brian Brown]

Good looking rattle Ken. I like the burnlines to hide the joint. I also like Bob's dumbell idea to prevent choking. Now you just need to get two football helmets to guard against head bashes with the new weapons! :D

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Good looking rattle Ken. I like the burnlines to hide the joint. I also like Bob's dumbell idea to prevent choking. Now you just need to get two football helmets to guard against head bashes with the new weapons! :D

Sadly I made such a rattle for my youngest nephew. The parents loved it. But the first time they handed it to him he bonked himself. He got so excited about the noise and "being in control" that he began to flail about a bit. For awhile after that he would stare at it as if it were the enemy. But eventually went back to playing with it with no harm done. :)

My only bit of advice was that I made the "handle" piece out of some black walnut and made the 2 balls out of Maple. The color contrast looked great. Anyway the problem was that in thinking they had small hands I made the handle pretty small. It actually made it harder for him to hold. So on round 2 I am going to make the handle portion larger without making the rattle portions any bigger. Just my experience.

Joshua