Alan Zenreich
02-05-2011, 6:41 PM
My wife is practicing her spindle turning, working on some jewelry pieces.
I thought it time to get her some first rate spindle gouges.
So, I acquired three made by Doug Thompson: 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" detail gouges.
Of course, these come unhandled and I was trying to decide what kind to make.
I had a few pieces of 1" x 12" 6061 bar stock laying around for a while, and thought it time to put them to use.
I drilled two of the handles to have 1/4" one one end, and 3/8" on the other. The second pair of handels were drilled to 3/8" on one end and 1/2" on the other.
A length of 1 3/8" OD (1" ID) clear reinforced hose was warmed in water to make it easier to slide over the rods.
I opted to drill and tap the threaded holes after the hose was mounted onto the rods. It's not quite as neat as doing a two step process, but it made for some small, perfectly aligned holes.
There are a pair of 8x10mm set screws on each end (this matches the size in OneWay Threadlock ferrules as well as in the Thompson handles, so I figured that I'd just go with the flow).
The handles have some nice weight, and 12" seems to be a nice length for working with detail gouges. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, Lauren is happy... and I even gave her a hands on lesson in tapping holes for the 8mm screws.
I'll likely make a web page with some more of the work progress photos, but these might keep you amused.
Of course, I could have simply purchased a few handles, but as Lauren said "Oh, you had a good time with yet another project" <vbg>
I thought it time to get her some first rate spindle gouges.
So, I acquired three made by Doug Thompson: 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" detail gouges.
Of course, these come unhandled and I was trying to decide what kind to make.
I had a few pieces of 1" x 12" 6061 bar stock laying around for a while, and thought it time to put them to use.
I drilled two of the handles to have 1/4" one one end, and 3/8" on the other. The second pair of handels were drilled to 3/8" on one end and 1/2" on the other.
A length of 1 3/8" OD (1" ID) clear reinforced hose was warmed in water to make it easier to slide over the rods.
I opted to drill and tap the threaded holes after the hose was mounted onto the rods. It's not quite as neat as doing a two step process, but it made for some small, perfectly aligned holes.
There are a pair of 8x10mm set screws on each end (this matches the size in OneWay Threadlock ferrules as well as in the Thompson handles, so I figured that I'd just go with the flow).
The handles have some nice weight, and 12" seems to be a nice length for working with detail gouges. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, Lauren is happy... and I even gave her a hands on lesson in tapping holes for the 8mm screws.
I'll likely make a web page with some more of the work progress photos, but these might keep you amused.
Of course, I could have simply purchased a few handles, but as Lauren said "Oh, you had a good time with yet another project" <vbg>