Hand Chasing Threads

[Mike Peace]

I have been wanting to be able to add threads to projects and finally got around to getting some thread chasers. So I discovered a good buy on Amazon for a set of Sorby 16 TPI thread chasers on sale with free shipping. While I was waiting for the chasers to arrive, I decided to make the tool armrest and a relief tool shown here. The relief tool is an 1/8" allen wrench cut back a little with a flat on both sides. The tool armrest is designed to cradle the female thread chaser as it extends over the tool rest. I got the idea from Richard Raffan's book, The Complete Illustrated Guide to Woodturning. It is made from a 1/2" carriage bolt 9" long I picked up at the Borg for a couple of bucks. Easy enough but it did take a lot of grinding.
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Here are a couple of boxes I was able to thread, one of Osage Orange and one of redheart. Hand chasing is a blast.
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[Baxter Smith]

Nice work Mike. That is a skill I would someday like to acquire!

[Alan Trout]

Mike,

That is really neat. Like Baxter that is no my "to do list" one of these days.

Alan

[John Keeton]

Nice work, Mike! I have two sets, but have yet to try my hand at this.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Really nice boxes, Mike. I see the tool you made for the relief cuts but I can't see the relief cuts on the male sides. Maybe the photo obscures that detail. In any event. pretty good threads. That's a great weapon in the arsenal.
faust

[Peter Lamb]

Mike,
Congratulations. Now that you are an expert in thread chasing when can we expect one of your fine videos on the subject?
Well done,
Peter

[Pat Scott]

Nice job Mike. You don't need that many threads for a box (I count 6?), two or three is fine. If you want to make the grain line up, just take a little more wood off the shoulder of the box.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice job Mike on two fine boxes.

[David DeCristoforo]

Your threading looks great. I really want to try this on my "stoppered bottles". Just need to get the chasers! Oh, and learn how to use them!

[Tim Rinehart]

Very nice work Mike. I have had a set of 20 (?) TPI chasers I got a few years back at a symposium, and only used a few times. You chose good woods for chasing. The tutorials that come out of the UK typically call for or recommend boxwood...but it's difficult if not near impossible to find in the US. My first few pieces also used osage orange and redheart, and they both held the detail of the thread nicely. Obviously, among the best to hold detail is African Blackwood...but it's difficult to get in larger sections, though you can always make a design feature out of the contrast by making the threaded sections a different material than rest of box. (haven't tried yet myself). I bought some pieces of lignum vitae that are also supposed to hold detail well, but haven't tried them yet.
Really takes a bit of practice to get good flow of these and make good threads, I often had issues with double-threading, and it wasn't evident till I would try to screw the pieces together and found that sometimes the grain matched, and other times it was off mysteriously.

[Mike Peace]

Thanks for all of the feedback.

Peter, I am a long way from being an expert but I did learn as a consultant that if you knew 2% more than the client you could be successful. Not sure how that applies to turning though. Thanks again for my first hand chasing lessons at your shop!

Pat, good point about reducing the number of threads. I will refine my flange length on future boxes.

John, it is great technique for being able to add inserts into your hollow forms and thread on your finials.
Faust, you are very observant. Instead of using the relief tool on the male threads I use Raffan's technique of adding a small chamfer at the end of the male threads for a better appearance. For this I use a pyramid tool.

I watched some terrific videos by Sam Angelo on Youtube that were very helpful. You can see some of them here http://www.youtube.com/user/WYOMINGWOODTURNER?feature=watch

[Jim Underwood]

Nice job on these Mike. Look forward to future examples...

I shoulda just bought some of these, but hadda try making my own. I'll have to see if my new sharpening stuff can get them sharp enough to really cut...

[neil mackay]

Chasing is not too hard but it does require practice and steady hand. But I reckon if you have mastered the gouge and skew then it wont be much of a learning curve

Pretty well any real dense hardwoods will hold a thread well Lignum Vitae would be the pick of the crop. The softer type are for me just an excersize in frustation and patience that often results in a darn poor thread and a fair bit of mumbling at myself. :D
I use 17 and 20 tpi for chasing, 17 :confused: , because my chasers are metric ie 1.25 and 1.50mm pitch and they are DIY as well :)

I dont think it makes much difference as to the thread form as the diameter vary from box to box. The tricky bit can be working out the internal diameter, as long as you have a your thread charts handy it easy to work out the diameters and a way you go.

[Jim Burr]

Great post Mike! Chasing is something I'm dying to try and you really provided some inspiration! Well done sir.