Doug Hepler
10-15-2016, 11:51 PM
345820I got curious about making drinking mugs. I have not seen much in this forum about making them, so I thought that I would post a short note. This is definitely a "work in progress" as I figure out what to do next. The image shows my work so far, in chronological order from left to right. Each of them is made from a 12-segment staved blank. The bottoms are closed with a round solid oak tenon that fits into a 3/4" deep mortise cut into the cylinder. The tenon shoulder makes the seal.
The first one holds about a quart, and is sealed and finished with West System epoxy. This is not guaranteed food safe but I suppose it is, after it cures and the hardener is washed away. I have since bought some MaxClr epoxy, which is claimed to be food safe. I was interested to see that epoxy makes a great finish. One coat fills pores and gives all the "build" I need. It can be sanded and polished as well as other finishes. I went for a somewhat rustic look on this one and just smoothed the surfaces somewhat.
The others have a stainless steel liner and hold a pint. The interesting thing about designing these is that the inside diameter is critical, in order to minimize the amount of wood that has to be removed from the inside for the liner to fit tightly. I bore out the top 3" with a 2-7/8" Forstner bit and then finish hollowing with bowl gouges and scrapers. With 3/4" thick stock the OD should be 4 1/4". The second one is solid oak made from 3/4" staves and was very straightforward.
The third one is an example of the philosophy that every error is a design opportunity. I intended to make the staves out of laminated stock but the process of making the layers got a little out of hand. The layers needed to be 1/8" thick but I chickened out and they were thicker than that. Then, to get the desired ID I had to make a much larger vessel. To make it into a drinking mug I could either turn away all of those lovely laminations or decide that I really wanted it to be a vase. So it is a vase.
I actually made 1/8" thick (more or less) laminations for the fourth one, but I could not make them uniform. The laminations were alternating walnut burl and maple. The idea was to get a regular pattern of maple dots on a walnut burl background and vise versa but because the laminations were not uniformly thick I got the random pattern that you see. It still looks OK to me. I'll either have to buy 1/8" thick stock or improve my method of making the laminations. I finished it with a coat of BLO, two coats of dewaxed blond shellac and two coats of Polycryic, then rubbed with rottenstone. It is shiny and silky to the touch.
I turn the profile and then flatten (actually mortise) two places on the outer wall to receive the handle. So far, epoxy has held the handles well, but I may start doweling them if I can get the quality of vessel that would deserve the extra work.
The liners are available from Rockler and the instructions that come with them are excellent for getting started.
Comments are welcome. How can I improve my work?
Doug
The first one holds about a quart, and is sealed and finished with West System epoxy. This is not guaranteed food safe but I suppose it is, after it cures and the hardener is washed away. I have since bought some MaxClr epoxy, which is claimed to be food safe. I was interested to see that epoxy makes a great finish. One coat fills pores and gives all the "build" I need. It can be sanded and polished as well as other finishes. I went for a somewhat rustic look on this one and just smoothed the surfaces somewhat.
The others have a stainless steel liner and hold a pint. The interesting thing about designing these is that the inside diameter is critical, in order to minimize the amount of wood that has to be removed from the inside for the liner to fit tightly. I bore out the top 3" with a 2-7/8" Forstner bit and then finish hollowing with bowl gouges and scrapers. With 3/4" thick stock the OD should be 4 1/4". The second one is solid oak made from 3/4" staves and was very straightforward.
The third one is an example of the philosophy that every error is a design opportunity. I intended to make the staves out of laminated stock but the process of making the layers got a little out of hand. The layers needed to be 1/8" thick but I chickened out and they were thicker than that. Then, to get the desired ID I had to make a much larger vessel. To make it into a drinking mug I could either turn away all of those lovely laminations or decide that I really wanted it to be a vase. So it is a vase.
I actually made 1/8" thick (more or less) laminations for the fourth one, but I could not make them uniform. The laminations were alternating walnut burl and maple. The idea was to get a regular pattern of maple dots on a walnut burl background and vise versa but because the laminations were not uniformly thick I got the random pattern that you see. It still looks OK to me. I'll either have to buy 1/8" thick stock or improve my method of making the laminations. I finished it with a coat of BLO, two coats of dewaxed blond shellac and two coats of Polycryic, then rubbed with rottenstone. It is shiny and silky to the touch.
I turn the profile and then flatten (actually mortise) two places on the outer wall to receive the handle. So far, epoxy has held the handles well, but I may start doweling them if I can get the quality of vessel that would deserve the extra work.
The liners are available from Rockler and the instructions that come with them are excellent for getting started.
Comments are welcome. How can I improve my work?
Doug