bottle stoppers smooth or threaded

[Gary Franks]

Wanted to find out some opinions on making bottle stoppers. I'm going to order some stoppers from Ruth Niles and try my hand at turning them. But wanted to find out what you all prefer, threaded or smooth? Thanks

[Chris Stolicky]

I prefer the threaded version. It takes a little more to create the threads, but, its easier to disassemble if wanted to for some reason.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I use the threaded ones. I get mine from Arizona Silhouette. They are 3/8" X 16 thread. I drill with the next smaller drill bit and use a tap to thread the hole. Works great and if one should crack you can take it off and do another one.

[Richard Madison]

I prefer Ruth's threaded stoppers. Same method as Bernie, but once satisfied with the finished stopper (topper), I glue it in place. Howcum? The natural tendency of right handed people when removing the stopper from the bottle is to "unscrew" it. With mine the topper does not unscrew from the stopper.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Gary I use the unthreaded ones from Ruth, those are real nice stoppers, solid stainless steel.
I find that trying to keep things straight with threaded wood is hard to do, I just rough the stem of the stopper a bit and CA glue them in after turning the top, I've never had one come apart on me, and it is so much simpler to use a straight shaft rather than threading first the wood and screwing the top on, just my way of doing them.

[Steve Trauthwein]

I am with Leo on this one. Straight tenon from Ruth, except I use epoxy and I put a half dozen grooves in the tenon.

Regards, Steve

P.S. If it turns out crooked or cracks you can turn the top off of the stopper.

[George Clark]

I use Ruth's threaded stoppers and her mandrel. With this mandrel, no tap is required. I find this to be an excellent setup. I have had no trouble keeping the blanks mounted straight. I put a bit of epoxy on the threads or in the blank on the final assembly.

George

[Scott Conners]

I use Ruth's threaded stoppers, and use a mandrel I made from some all thread. I notched the threads so it self taps, it's worked great so far. I tried to post a picture, but apparently you can only post a photo to one thread ever. It won't let me upload it for this thread, saying I've already posted that photo in another thread. :confused:
Here' the old post the pic is in: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=98275

[marty purselley]

Having just turned almost 2 dozen (had only turned prototypes before), I would recommend Ruth's-and get the mandrel too. I started with the inexpensive chrome ones (from one of the other chain stores) and Ruth's system with the tap built into the mandrel makes it very easy. When you purchase the mandrel and bit, it makes the first stopper expensive, but if you are doing a large order, it saves a lot of time and makes for an efficient work flow. I used CA to glue in the stopper and the inserts. I made a "new turner" mistake and sold these guys for $17.