My FIRST bottle stopper!!

[Nancy Laird]

This is for Ken and Chris Hartley. All your nudging has finally worked!!;)

This is from a piece of walnut that John Hart slipped into my order--had a bad place on one end which I incorporated into the turning.

Hubby drilled the mandrel hole what he thought was the right size and tapped it, but it stripped as it was being turned, so the stopper is being held onto the wood by about 18 turnings of teflon tape at the moment (this one will go into my "first attempts - don't look at them" box). I really like the shape and design of this one, but this wood was a BEAR - lots of tearout and although I tried and tried to sand it, and put some CA on it, I just couldn't get all those little crevices filled, so it's not real sleek and smooth as I'd like for it to be.

But...for a first attempt, what do you think?

Question: I did not turn the base of this one down to the size of the bushing, but left it quite proud. Should they always be turned down to that size or can you leave them proud like this? I looked at Frank's tutorial, and the one he shows looks like he did not turn the base down to the bushing size, but I can't really tell.

Critique, please. And don't hold back.

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Nancy

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Nancy........Thanks for showing it to the group. As I said before...I like the form....it flows....it goes well the type of stopper mechanism you used. The form has a practical shape to it...meaning it looks like it would fit the hand well when trying to extract it from a bottle. The wood is pretty. You can see the tearout. Tearout can be a bear sometimes on some pieces of wood. You might try turning to near finish......resharpen your tool to insure it's sharp, sharp....then wet the piece with some mineral spirits and take the last few light cuts. I've been told you can do the mineral spirits wetting and then sand too.

First bottle stopper. Well done! Keep it so in a couple of weeks you can compare the b/s you are turning then to this one. The rate you will improve will shock you! These are generally easy to turn once you figure out the sequence and they will sell quite well!

Well done Nancy!

BTW.....I knew you'd show it! Those Navy wives are a brave and strong bunch! Have to be! Bravo Zulu!

[Neal Addy]

Congrats, Nancy! That's a beauty. Looks like it would fit nice in the hand.

I'm betting we'll see more of these soon!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Nancy on a job well done. The stopper is a beauty. I like it.

[Tom Sherman]

Your stopper looks good Nancy, Ken's suggestions should help to get a better grip on those tearout problems.

[Belinda Barfield]

Not qualified to "Creektique", but I like the form. Just wanted to way "You Go!". You, and the other ladies here, are so talented. Can't wait to see more pics!:)

[Allen Schmid]

Nancy,
Great job! How ironic it is to open to this page right away as I have just turned my first two stoppers (walnut, also) Friday afternoon. I (finally) picked up a turning kit at the local WCraft store and really enjoyed it. Your stopper is great and I am sure you will turn many more, they are quick and fun to do. :D
Allen
If I can down load a photo or two I will send a few pics

[Ron Raymond]

Very nice, Nancy...first attempt or not. I like the way you incorporated the natural void, and the wood is really interesting. I think leaving the wood proud of that particular kit is fine...it's pretty narrow at the top anyway. I've only used the other style that has a constant angle from top to bottom and is quite a bit larger diameter at the wood junction. My first stopper was less of a turning project and more of an exercise in cutting away mistakes!:o

[Frank Kobilsek]

Nancy,
Good start. I have not used that specific hardware before. But yes I try to make the woodturned part match the top of the hardware.

Keep at it. The Cork style is cheap to practice with yet the final result is still very functional.

Have fun.

Frank

[Pat Salter]

By the time you get to the end of the bottle it will look GREAT! ;)

Like others said, nice form. And yeah, walnut can be a problem. I've tried it on pens and lost several right off the tube. oh well, that's why I buy extra tubes :D

And I know about the hole for the mandrel too. I've never tried tapping, seems like that would remove too much wood. Try just twisting the piece on after just drilling (let hubby, that's why you keep him around, right?? :rolleyes: )

[Nancy Laird]

Thank you, everyone, for the kind words. Actually, I wasn't going to post this one at all, but Ken sort of "dared" me to do it. It was fun to do, I really like the form, and LOML has an idea about getting it "fixed"--he's going to glue a dowel into the stripped-out hole then redrill it, so I may have a usable stopper after all.

I only have about 20 more stopper blanks to work on - gonna have to buy more kits, I think. I like doing this, so it will be added to my offerings at my craft fairs.

Thanks, everyone. Made my day that you like it. The finishing will get better.

Nancy

[Ken Fitzgerald]

PLFFFTTTT! I told you so!:D

[Nancy Laird]

PLFFFTTTT! I told you so!:D

Yea, yea, yea. Rub it in, Ken; rub it in. :p :p Sometimes I need a shove in the right direction - I often lose confidence in my own abilities and accomplishments :(.

Nancy

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Nancy.....we are all often our worst critics. We all have to start out somewhere and it's the little positive reinforcements from our peers that help us to go back and try again and try to improve upon past performances. I can sincerely say that it's this gang of inmates here and their attitude that has pushed me to where I am today. I'm just worried about where they might push me in the future!:D

So...what kind of wood is next Nancy? Can't wait to see it!

[Nancy Laird]

I'm going to try that piece of maple you sent:) , then I think I'll go with a piece of curly eucalyptus. We've been making pens from the c.e. and they are gorgeous, so I want to see what something larger will look like.

I got a box of stopper blanks from a friend in Hawaii yesterday:D . Most are the c.e., but there is also some Formosa koa, mango, lacewood (called pheasant or peacock wood in the Islands), and a couple of dunnowoods that may reveal themselves when they are turned. The blanks he sent are 2-1/4 x2-1/4 x6, so I can get two stoppers out of each piece. There were 26? stopper blanks in the box, plus about a dozen pen blanks. This was his third shipment to us--I got a box of 140 pen blanks about a month ago, and another group of blanks last Monday. I had to buy a special rack with bins to put all my pen and stopper blanks in, with a shelf on top for the larger stuff.

By the way, if anyone wants any of this tropical wood, let me know by PM or e-mail and I can give you the referral.

Thank you, Ken. Your encouragement is great! And I do appreciate it!

Nancy

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Nancy, sorry I didn't see this earlier but today has been busy. Most activity since the back surgery and back to work tomorrow. Now down to business. First let me say Congratulations on getting out there on those skinny branches. You know, the place where you swing around with seemingly little support and the fear it will break any second. Well it didn't break and you are now all the better for it! It isn't easy to get out of your comfort zone and you did it!!:D I'm not experienced with bottle stoppers so I'm just going to share with you what I see in the wood and the way the overall project looks to me. I, like Ken, like the functionality of the shape and in this particular piece of wood I think it shows off well. The way you used natures flaw to add character and interest to the piece makes it very attractive to me. Growth is when you know where your own areas for improvement are and you were able to tell us what the challenges were. Ken's assessment is right on and his prescription will help you in the future. I have used it a time or two myself and it does work. I think I learned it from Jim Becker if I'm not mistaken. Now, Nancy the branches are still a bit skinnier if you move out farther so pull out the stops and go for it! Great Job!!:)

[Dennis Peacock]

Very nice Nancy!!!!!!! I like it and it's very nice to be a "first". You did Good!!!! :D

[Nancy Laird]

Again, thank you all for your kind words. I'm now inspired - watch out!! I'll be inundating you with pictures!

Thank you all.

Nancy

[Keith Burns]

Nancy, nice job for your first ! All I can say is 'bout time:)

[Sandy Navas]

Nancy - that's a fantastic 'first'!!! I used to turn bottle stoppers and think the form is entirely up to the turner. I like the fact that this one would 'fit the hand'. Whether or not the turning is proud depends entirely on the shape of the turning - in this case it's perfect being proud. I found that turning stoppers was a great way to practice techniques and you can be very creative. Keep up the good work. One of these days "WE" will be out-turning the guys here!!

Sandy

[Rick Levine]

Nancy,

Never apologize for your art. They're beautiful! I wish you had brought one with today. I have a great bottle of scotch that needs something to keep it from evaporating.