Custom cabinetry, woodworking and woodturning by Keith Larrett
A wooden mallet is very useful in the workshop and I’ve been meaning to make one for a while. To make things a bit more interesting I decided to make one with an oval handle using off center turning. An oval handle is also more comfortable to hold than a circular handle. I made this from cherry, probably not the best of woods to use as it is not the hardest of hardwoods, but it is what I had on hand at the time.
In a recent post I mentioned I had made a Quarto Board Game for a friend of mine. It is made from walnut and oak that he sent me. It was a fun project and was done almost entirely on the lathe. I used a table saw to cut the stave sections for the sides of the box, and a drill press for the inlays on the top.
This is an article on how I made the board game. The techniques here could be adapted for a number of different games. You can download a copy of the rules for Quarto here.
I have just finished making a board game called Quarto. I was asked to make it for a good friend of mine. It is made from walnut and oak that he sent me. It was a fun project and was done almost entirely on the lathe. I used a table saw to cut the stave sections for the sides of the box, and a drill press for the inlays on the top.
It was a fun project and was done almost entirely on the lathe. I used a table saw to cut the stave sections for the sides of the box, and a drill press for the inlays on the top. The techniques used to build it could be adapted to a number of different board games or projects.
I took pictures while I was building it and am busy working on an article detailing the construction steps. Stay tuned, I should have it posted in the next couple of days!
Click to enlarge
This is an update to my post on Ebonizing Wood from a couple days ago. In that post I mentioned I was having trouble getting a shine on the aluminum without knocking the ebonzing off. I found the solution. Patience. I was not giving the ebonzing solution time to dry.
I made another pen and demonstrated the ebonizing to my pen turning club. I could not get to the pen for a couple of days after the meeting. When I did, I just sanded it lightly with some non-abrasive steel wool. The aluminum shone nicely and I still kept the deep color of the ebonizing.
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
In the June 2009 issue of Popular Woodworking there was an article by Brian Boggs that really caught my attention. The article was on ebonizing wood. As I read the article I imagined a pen made from ebonized maple inlaid with aluminum. Why not just use ebony? Well, a couple of reasons. Firstly, though not a huge factor when dealing with pen blanks, maple is a lot cheaper. Secondly, maple is a lot easier to work with. Finally, ebony has a tendency to crack and split.
I laminated a maple pen blank with some aluminum, turned it and then followed the steps outlined by Brian on ebonizing. The picture above shows the results. Read on to see what is involved and my thoughts.
Inspiration for this pen came from some of the work of Ed Davidson. You can see more of his work at http://yoyospin.com.
One of the fun things about turning a closed end pen is that it frees up more design considerations as you are not restricted by the hardware on the end of the pen.
This pen is made using the Navigator kit from Woodcraft. It is the same kit that is sold as the Baron/Sedona by Arizona Silhouette.
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
I started with a piece of spalted pecan, approx. 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ x 7″. After mounting it between centers, I turned it round and then turned a tenon on one end that would fit in the step jaws of my chuck. I then measured 2 1/4″ from the end with the tenon, and parted the blank.
Next I mounted the blank with the tenon in the step jaws of my chuck, and drilled a 15/32″ hole 1 13/16″ deep. I checked to see that the tube for the upper barrel would fit completely in the hole.
Then I mounted the other piece in the step jaws and drilled two holes. The first hole was drilled to a depth of 2 7/8″ with a 11/32″ bit. Then I drilled a slightly larger hole, 25/64″, to a depth of 2 1/16″. I checked to see that the tube for the lower barrel fitted in the larger hole and sat flush with the face of the blank.
The reason for the step hole is two fold. Firstly the extra room created at the end of the hole by the smaller bit, allows space for the spring behind the rollerball cartridge. Secondly, a shoulder is created for the tube to rest on so that it does not go to deep into the blank while being glued in.
Having drilled all the holes in the upper and lower barrels, rough up the brass tubes and glue them in.
In order to turn the pen you need an expansion mandrel of some type. It is relatively easy to make one. Well, lets just say some people might find it relatively easy to make one! I tried a couple of times with not much success. If you would like to try you can find instructions in this tutorial.
I ended up buying a closed end mandrel for the lower barrel from Arizona Silhouette. It looks similar to a concrete expansion bolt and operates under the same principle.
Insert the mandrel in the upper barrel, tighten the bolt using a couple of wrenches and insert the mandrel in the step jaws. Take care not to over tighten the bolt, it is easy to crack the blank, especially if you are working with an acrylic blank.
Turn the blank down to approx. 5/8″ and then measure 3 1/4″ from the end and part the blank off at this point. Then turn the blank to the shape you want, sand and apply the finish. You will find that you need to support the blank with your fingers on the back side while turning to help reduce vibration. It also helps to take light cuts.
The next step is to turn the upper barrel. Because the brass tube is a different size the mandrel will not work. You have two choices at this point. The first is to buy another mandrel sized for the upper barrel. This could get expensive, especially if you want to also make closed end pens from other kits as well.
Fortunately, for the frugal amongst us, there is another solution. I got this idea from Ben “DaVinci27” Brown.
Take a spare lower barrel tube and glue it in a blank. I would recommend using 5 minute epoxy as you want to make sure you fill all the voids between the tube and the inside of the blank. Mount the blank on the lathe between a 60 degree live center and a 60 degree dead center. Turn the blank down to a diameter that makes it a snug fit inside the tube from an upper barrel. Go slow and use calipers to check your progress. Then take that blank to your band saw and cut it in half along the length. Don’t cut along the whole length of the blank, just about half way.
Insert that tube in the tube of your upper barrel, then insert the mandrel and tighten. The cut in the tube will allow it to expand as you tighten the mandrel and hold the blank snug on the mandrel.
Turn the upper blank to the shape you want, sand and finish. Once again you will probably find it necessary to support the back of the blank with your fingers while turning. Light cuts also help.
Here are a couple more shots of the finished pen.
I drill all my pen blanks on the lathe. It takes a little bit longer than using a drill press, but I find it to be more accurate, both in terms of the hole size and drilling through the center of the blank. The later is particularly important when drilling a segmented blank, as you need to drill directly through the center of the design. I’m sure others have slightly different techniques, so feel free to post any comments or tips on something I may not have mentioned. The pen blanks I show here are cherry. A customer ordered a couple of Perfect Fits and supplied a slab of cherry from which I milled these two blanks.
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
The first thing I do is mark the center of each end using a center finder and a marking knife. Once I locate the center I will mark it with a spring loaded automatic punch
I will then mount the blank on the lathe between centers and knock the edges off with a spindle roughing gouge. Then, starting at one end of the blank, I will turn it round to 3/4″. I use a 3/4″ wrench as a gauge. Once the wrench drops over the blank it is at the correct size. Moving the wrench to the side will burnish the wood and show you clearly where the blank still needs to be turned down.
Once the blank has been turned down to 3/4″ diameter, I move the tool rest closer to the blank and rest the tubes on it and the blanks. Looking at the grain, I mark where I plan on cutting the upper and lower barrels. I normally cut my blanks using a crosscut sled on my table saw, so I allow for the kerf of the blade between the upper and lower barrels. I also mark the two barrels and draw a couple witness lines at the center band.
Then I’ll sharpen my drill bits. I use a set of Harbor Freight bits and sharpen them using a Drill Doctor
The shot below shows the tools I use to do the actual drilling on the lathe. From left to right, PSI collet chuck, center bits and 1/2″ drill chuck. I found that when I started using the center bits, my drilling on the lathe really improved. A big thanks to “rherrel” on the IAP for turning me on to that!
When I mount the blank in the collet chuck I will orientate it so that the entry hole is on the center band side. Using a center drill that is slightly smaller than the drill bit I need to use, I will drill a starter hole in the blank. The tail stock is locked down on the lathe bed. As I advance the quill in the tail stock by rotating the handle with my right hand, I will apply pressure to the lock lever with my left hand, to the point where it starts to become a little difficult to rotate the handle. I find that pressure on the quill seems to stabilize things a bit and reduce any possible vibration.
Then I will mount the drill bit in the drill chuck, and applying pressure to the lever, start drilling the blank. I run my lathe between 400 to 500 rpm while drilling. I will typically drill about 1/2 to 1″ at a time. If I see the flutes are clearing the chips then I’ll keep on drilling. The moment I stop seeing chips being ejected, I will stop the lathe, back out the tail stock using the wheel, clear the flutes, advance the whole tail stock forward, lock it down, turn on the lathe and start advancing the drill bit by rotating the wheel. I’ll repeat this until I feel the drill bit exiting the blank.
Before I remove the blank from the collet chuck, I will push the tube into the hole to check the fit and to confirm that I have drilled deep enough. Here are shots of the tube in the blank showing both the entry and exit holes.
Then I’ll repeat the procedure on the other blank. Once done, I’ll mount a 60 degree live and dead center in the lathe and sand the tubes with some 100 grit paper.
Back at my workbench I plug the tubes with dental wax. Then I’ll coat the inside of the blanks with gorilla glue using a q-tip, dip the tubes in some water and then insert them in the blank with a twisting action. Gorilla glue expands as it cures and sometimes will push the tube out of the blank so I use some small clamps until the glue cures.
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If you had asked me a while back if I ever thought I would make a drum, I would have laughed.
Well, I made a drum. The case of the drum is cherry and it was made using stave segments. The drum skin is goatskin. It sounds pretty good as well. A fun project!
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
To read Part One click here To read Part Two click here If you are interested in buying one of these tools they can be purchased at Woodchuck Lathe Tools I got a chance to turn the handles today. I mounted the blank between centers, locating a 60 degree live center in the channel opening at the headstock. After turning it round, I turned a tenon at the headstock side, sized to accept a brass coupler. I used a 1″ brass coupler cut in half. The coupler was originally just shy of 2″ long. I also marked the high points and low points of the handle and using a parting tool cut down to the final diameter of the handle at those points.
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version. Here is a shot of the handle, sanded and ready to be parted off.
I used 5 minute epoxy to secure the tools in the handle and to secure the brass coupler on the tenon. I finished the handles with a couple of coats of spray shellac. While not as hard wearing as some other finishes I like the feel of shellac. It is also not as shiny as some other finishes, which is fine by me for a tool handle. Lastly shellac is very repairable, any future coats will melt into previous coats.
I’m looking forward to trying out the tools tomorrow and giving a review of them.
To read Part One click here
If you are interested in buying one of these tools they can be purchased at Woodchuck Lathe Tools
My tools arrived today! I’m glad I waited before gluing the handle blanks together. Either my 1/2″ router bit is not exactly 1/2″ or 1/2″ square bar is not 1/2″. Either way the tool bar did not fit in the grooves I had routed. The depth of the grooves was fine, but the width was a hair to small. I increased the width fractionally on the router table and the fit was perfect.
Here is a shot of one of the blanks glued and clamped. I left the bar in the groove temporarily while doing the glue up to make sure the channel lined up nicely. As soon as I was done clamping, I pulled the bar out. I also marked on the bar the depth it receded in the channels. I know I will have some clean up to do in the channels due to glue squeeze out and I want to make sure the bar is able to fit in as deeply as it did during the dry fit.
You can click on any of the images to see a larger version.
Here are a couple of shots of the business end of the two tools. One has the carbide cutter in place, the other just the holding screw.
