Lidded box with brass feet.

[John K Jordan]

I posted this in another section but thought it should be posted here too.

Due to pandemic exhaustion on top of farm/house tasks I turned almost nothing since March of 2020 - just a few "magic" wands for a turning demo last year and a simple garden tool handle to replace one I lost in the weeds long ago. But I had scheduled a demo in August (on turning metals on the wood lathe with woodturning tools) so a few weeks before I HAD to get moving or be greatly embarrassed! I had planned to turn a lidded box to illustrate one use for small brass turnings so I grabbed an old 4x4 chunk of Albizia and made this:

box_albizia_brass_comp.jpg

Since I was out of practice I was a little nervous and expected to destroy at least one box (I hadn't turned a lidded box for years) but a miracle occurred and it came out ok. Once I had the sharp tools in hand and the wood spinning everything fell into place, just like I'd been turning all along.

If you haven't turned brass (or aluminum) on the wood lathe, it might be worth a try. I use standard woodturning tools, mostly Thompson (gouges, parting tools, NRS, etc) sharpened as for wood. I've also turned steel with a scraper I ground from Thompson steel, but it's not nearly as much fun...

BTW, this box was one case where I first carefully designed the piece on paper since getting the curve right on the bottom let me align the feet at the position I wanted keeping them perpendicular to the surface. No unpleasant surprises!

drawing_box.jpg

The lid has my easy-to-lift/replace taper fit instead of the common suction fit with woodturner's bragging rights.

And if anyone is interested, this is my tool handle replacement. When I found the weeding tool the handle had disintegrated in the dirt. The stainless steel tool and ferrule were fine. This simple handle from Osage Orange should last longer!

garden_tool_handle.jpg

JKJ

[Thomas Wilson80]

Looks great John. I appreciate the look into your planning process as well.
I’ve turned several brass ferrules for handles using brass nuts and Thompson gouges with great results, but what did you use for these pieces and where do you get them from?

Tom

[John K Jordan]

Looks great John. I appreciate the look into your planning process as well.
I’ve turned several brass ferrules for handles using brass nuts and Thompson gouges with great results, but what did you use for these pieces and where do you get them from?

Thanks, Tom. I usually purchase metal stock from Online Metals. Their prices are quite reasonable as is the shipping. (Especially if the order is under 50 lbs and the piece lengths are 36" or less.)

For free-hand turning on the wood lathe I use 360 brass, sometimes called "free machining" brass. Since metals are slow to turn compared to wood, I generally stick to smaller diameters: the little feet and finials are made from 3/8" diameter rod. I generally cut the rod into 6" pieces and hold them in Nova chuck jaws made for small diameters. The chucks can also be used without jaws, gripping the rod directly with the jaw slides, 3/4" long grip for the Novas. Gripped this way does give a little less tool clearance on the left side but that's not usually a problem.

I also sometimes find brass and other metals at a local metals recycling place. The price can be cheap but the specific alloy is unknown. Be aware that if brass is work-hardened it can be a real problem to turn if not using a metal-turning lathe, unless annealed first.

Aluminum is easier to turn than brass so I buy up to 1" diameter rod (6061 alloy). I've made a variety of things on the wood lathe, including inserts to glue into handles for turning tools. Drilling and tapping a for a couple of set screws holds tools well. 3/4" diameter is perfect for an insert for a tool with a 3/8" shaft.

shavings_IMG_20150420_12241.jpg finished_small.jpg

Online Metals also caries a variety of plastics, much easier to turn than metals!

aluminum_brass_plastic.jpg

EDIT: the Nova jaws I use for these things are the "NOVA 6026 Mini Spigot Chuck Accessory Jaw Set" (https://www.amazon.com/NOVA-6026-Spi.../dp/B0064JJ9YO) which will nicely grip a .375" diameter rod. Before I got these I used Nova pin jaws but they didn't close quite as much so I had to wrap the rod with a couple of layers of aluminum tape.

JKJ

[Dan Hunkele]

I like that John. Great design and the brass feet set it off nicely. Recently I have been turning scratch awls and turning ferrules from heavy wall 5/8" aluminum pipe was part of the process.

[Dave Mount]

Very glad to see you back in the shop John. I'm a fan of the Japanese-style gardening tools as well!

Best,

Dave

[Brice Rogers]

Hi John,

I needed to make a curved handle to replace a broken brass-looking handle for an expensive dresser. It looked like brass but was a pot-metal alloy and even after searching I couldn't find another one available. So, I turned it and then bent the ends. It probably had work hardened so it cracked at one of the features. So, I did some research and found that I could anneal it by heating it red-hard and then let it cool. It made a world of difference. IIRC, I annealed it, bent it a bit and felt increased resistance, then re-annealed it. And Voila! it was perfect.

So if a person has a piece of hardened or work-hardened brass, it can easily be annealed.

[John K Jordan]

The first time I saw someone anneal a non-ferrous metal was at a club woodturning demo! The demonstrator was metal spinning and at one point was shaping copper disks. Apparently, like brass, copper quickly work-hardens so he had to stop and anneal often. I think he used a mapp gas torch to heat to glowing red (on a fire brick) then quenched in water, very much unlike annealing steel. After that I thought quenching was part of the annealing process but later read that depending on the alloy the act of heating to a particular temperature range for a short time annealed it but the quenching was optional.

Apparently, annealing brass is similar to copper - the quenching simply makes it cool quicker for handling. However, overheating brass can make it permanently soft. (probably not a problem for my use)

What was the annealing process you used?

JKJ

Hi John,

I needed to make a curved handle to replace a broken brass-looking handle for an expensive dresser. It looked like brass but was a pot-metal alloy and even after searching I couldn't find another one available. So, I turned it and then bent the ends. It probably had work hardened so it cracked at one of the features. So, I did some research and found that I could anneal it by heating it red-hard and then let it cool. It made a world of difference. IIRC, I annealed it, bent it a bit and felt increased resistance, then re-annealed it. And Voila! it was perfect.

So if a person has a piece of hardened or work-hardened brass, it can easily be annealed.