Thread chasing question +

[Michael Armstrong]

I'm interested in trying some hollow forms with threaded lids. I blew the budget this week buying a box wood 'post' (as my daughter called it). I also purchased some rosewood and some ebony hopefully to use as the tops. I know the boxwood is good for chasing threads but how about the other two woods? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Question #2
I have turned my first hollow form with my mini monster hollowing tool and have applied several coats of antique oil finish. The piece is spalted maple and of course there are a few dull spots that I don't believe will 'come up' with buffing. Any ideas as to how I can get a uniform shine on this piece? I'll post a photo once I'm more satisfied with the appearance.

Thanks for the help.

Michael

[Jeff Moffett]

The best woods for thread chasing are very dense hardwoods. I don't have personal experience with all of them, but I've heard a few of the best include Lignum Vitae, Boxwood, Osage Orange, Desert Ironwood, Redheart, African Blackwood, and Ebony. On softer woods where the threads tend to crumble, you can try to harden it with CA before cutting the threads.

[Randy Rhine]

For threading, blackwood is much better than Ebony. Nowhere near as brittle.

rr

[Wayne Cannon]

Jeff mentions ebony, but my attempt at threading ebony resulted in totally shattered threads, as it was much too brittle. I suspect that your threads in rosewood would be quite rough and broken, as well. Boxwood and blackwood are a dream to thread. I haven't tried the others.

[Gordon Seto]

The key is tight grain wood that can hold details. English box wood is supposed to be the best, but very, very expensive. African blackwood is more affordable. It may have to do with the oil in wood, the thread screws on and off easy. On coarser gain wood, even you use the threading jig to cut the treads; the threads would crumble with repeated usage. You can use thin CA to strength the threads, but it would affect the finish. You may bring down your "budget" by using the expensive wood as inserts.

Alan Batty has an excellent DVD on hand thread chasing.

[Jim Underwood]

I saw Mike Mahoney do a thread chasing demo, and he mentioned about three woods that were good for doing threaded inserts. One was the above-mentioned Boxwood, and another was Holly if I remember correctly. I dis-remember the third...

On side grain, I've found that Osage Orange is pretty good... You've got to have a substantial amount though or it will break too.

I'll post some pix tonight or tomorrow....

[Michael Armstrong]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I am using the boxwood for inserts as Mike Mahoney shows in his video. I am hoping (insert fingers crossed here) to be able to use the rosewood and ebony for the tops. If they don't work there I can find other uses for them.

I also have John Berkeley's Scewples video and have ordered Allan Batty's video also.

I'll let you know how things turn out once the boxwood has dried.

Michael

[Allen Neighbors]

Question 1: Lignum Vitae holds beautiful threads. Dogwood, also. Ipe is way too splintery, as is Rosewood. I've never tried to thread Ebony, but until I read all these posts I would have. I can see it being too brittle, so that's off my list now.

Question 2: On the HF, I would use a Q-tip to saturate the punky areas with lacquer thinner. It should react as a dryer to the Antique Oil that's already there, and set it pretty quickly... an hour or so... and it will seal the wood. Then put some more antique oil on and try the buffing when it's cured.
I don't guarantee that this will work... I would just try it if I couldn't get the punky areas to buff out.