Jeff Hamilton Jr.
01-14-2012, 5:06 PM
It seems that in the past few months, I've been turning nothing but bottlestoppers and pens. They are so quick and make such great gifts, I guess thats the excuse. They are also fun -- for me. Tonight we are attending a dinner party with some colleagues, brining some wine and, a Stopper - what else?
I thought I'd take the time to tell you my process. It is basically taken from things I've learned here and from other sites. It most closely follows Ruth Niles process which is linked below. She is a really neat lady; this was my first stopper using her hardware and I can tell you her product is great and she is a joy to deal with.
I start with a 2.5" sq x 3.5L blank of Cocobolo (bought a bunch of 12" sticks a few years ago here on the creek . . . turning stoppers with it since:D). I round the blank while its chucked in my Nova. (I bought the one that goes with the 46-460, the Delta Industrial 46-461 Reversible Nova G3-D, the ability to secure it to the headstock and turn backwards for sanding is quite spiffy!)
I then drill two holes, swapping my live center for the drill chuck in the tailstock. One 3/4" with a forstner about 1/8" in (it then needs to be enlarged by a 1/16th with a small skew to accept the stopper shoulder), followed by the 23/64" hole for the threaded rod of the stopper, about 1" in.
I then rechuck my live center and start making a profile:
219785 219784
Once I've got it as smooth as I can with my carbide tools and the shape nearly finished, I remove the blank and mount it on my homemade mandrel. Ruth has directions on her website http://www.torne-lignum.com/make_stoppers.html for making one if you're interested. I use a fender washer to take up the space in the recess so as not to crack the bottom profile. I cut the top square of the blank with a saw prior to spinning again.
219786219787
Once it's remounted, I do some very careful final shaping (when I mean careful, I mean careful! I've had more than one catch trying to change too much and destroyed my work!) I then sand with 400 and 600, switch to Micro Mesh and go all the way to 12000 on the bare wood. I then hit the blank with some Naptha to clean any residual dust and then buff that with a white scotch brite to try to further remove the fine scratches.
I use Mylands three part fininsh. Here's the end result.
219788219789
Hope this helps. Let me know what you think.
I thought I'd take the time to tell you my process. It is basically taken from things I've learned here and from other sites. It most closely follows Ruth Niles process which is linked below. She is a really neat lady; this was my first stopper using her hardware and I can tell you her product is great and she is a joy to deal with.
I start with a 2.5" sq x 3.5L blank of Cocobolo (bought a bunch of 12" sticks a few years ago here on the creek . . . turning stoppers with it since:D). I round the blank while its chucked in my Nova. (I bought the one that goes with the 46-460, the Delta Industrial 46-461 Reversible Nova G3-D, the ability to secure it to the headstock and turn backwards for sanding is quite spiffy!)
I then drill two holes, swapping my live center for the drill chuck in the tailstock. One 3/4" with a forstner about 1/8" in (it then needs to be enlarged by a 1/16th with a small skew to accept the stopper shoulder), followed by the 23/64" hole for the threaded rod of the stopper, about 1" in.
I then rechuck my live center and start making a profile:
219785 219784
Once I've got it as smooth as I can with my carbide tools and the shape nearly finished, I remove the blank and mount it on my homemade mandrel. Ruth has directions on her website http://www.torne-lignum.com/make_stoppers.html for making one if you're interested. I use a fender washer to take up the space in the recess so as not to crack the bottom profile. I cut the top square of the blank with a saw prior to spinning again.
219786219787
Once it's remounted, I do some very careful final shaping (when I mean careful, I mean careful! I've had more than one catch trying to change too much and destroyed my work!) I then sand with 400 and 600, switch to Micro Mesh and go all the way to 12000 on the bare wood. I then hit the blank with some Naptha to clean any residual dust and then buff that with a white scotch brite to try to further remove the fine scratches.
I use Mylands three part fininsh. Here's the end result.
219788219789
Hope this helps. Let me know what you think.