My Very First Bottle Stoppers.

[William Young]

I just made these two this evening because I got my order of parts in the mail.
This was way too much fun. A person could sure run off a batch of those in an afternoon.
Problem is, I don't have the faintest clue as to how much to price them at. Would some of you mind sharing what you get for these ?

These two just have a friction finish. Is that acceptable for stoppers ? . It is so quick and easy that way but I wouldn't want it to wear off fast like it did on my earlier pens. I don't imagine something like this would be handled as much as a pen and the handling is over a broader surface.
I'm hoping some will say friction finish is acceptable for these and if not I will go to the same finish as I'm using on my pens now.
W.Y.

 

[William Young]

Thanks Drew.
I see a lot of posts about different kinds of waxes. I have used Johnsons paste wax for years on my cast iron machinery table tops because it has no silicone to affect finishes and it is Carnuba. I use it not only to prevent rust but to make the surfaces slippery especially when *spinning* the wood on my scrollsaw table when doing fretwork.
Is Johnsons paste wax suitable for a last finish for this type of thing ?

Thanks for the price estimate. I would be happy with $15.00 a piece for ones like these when using just scraps of walnut and yew like that. If I had to buy the blanks in more exotic woods , I would naturally have to charge at least the difference.
Thanks on the tip about the profile. After just "winging" it for those two I will be more cautious about the profile being more user freindly. Learning something every day with these mini lathe turnings.

W.Y.

 

[Bev Polmanteer]

I am pricing my silicone stoppers at $20, my stoppers with the silver pointed ends at $25 and my stoppers that are screws also at $30. My Pour spouts are $20 & $25 for the fancier ones. I also have heard that points on top are a no no for usability so I stay away from sharp pointed tops.

 

[William Young]

Thanks for the pointed tops tip Bev; I never thought of that.
W.Y.

 

[Scottydont]

Those look great! I price my chrome wine stoppers at $25 to $30. Customers especially like an hourglass shape that I do. It is very natural in the hand and it's easy to apply leverage to it to remove it from the bottle. I use CA on my bottle stoppers now too. I found the achohol in the wine will disolve the wax from friction polishes.

 

[William Young]

Those are real nice Scott. That gives me some more ideas for different shapes.
I have not given up on using CA yet. I may try it again on stoppers and/or key rings . If I could master it there, then I could try it again on pens. Hopefully using a 4" suction line from my DC up close to it would help with the smell and allergy reaction I got when first trying it.
W.Y.

 

[YoYoSpin]

W.Y., make your way over to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopper for lots of bottle stopper conversation and 100's of photos of great stopper designs.

 

[William Young]

Thanks Ed;
I just subscribed to that group a couple days ago and have been touring around in it. Some pretty mind boggling beautifull work in there.
W.Y.

 

[Scottydont]

Originally posted by William Young
<br />Those are real nice Scott. That gives me some more ideas for different shapes.
I have not given up on using CA yet. I may try it again on stoppers and/or key rings . If I could master it there, then I could try it again on pens. Hopefully using a 4" suction line from my DC up close to it would help with the smell and allergy reaction I got when first trying it.
W.Y.

I just set up a dust hood at my lathe and it makes all the difference in the world.Otherwise I could not handle the CA.

 

[William Young]

I just went out to my shop and turned a purpleheart stopper and tried a CA finish on it again just to see if I could do better than my last attempt. Sorry to say that I failed miserably again and had to sand it all down and start from scratch with another type of finish. Although with my DC hose up close, I wasn't bothered with the fumes this time.
Oh well, One of these times I'll catch on. I sure would like to watch and see someone actually doing it.
I didn't have any medium CA , just thin and thick. I tried them both with the BLO. It seemed to take a long time to dry but then I am not sure how long it should take. Or even if one brand of CA is better than another.
W.Y.

 

[penhead]

Those are all great looking works of art everyone...I thought I would give it a try...hope you don't mind if I post a pic in this thread of my first attempt at a stopper, it is no where near as good as the one's already here, but hey, it was my first...and it was so-o-o-o much fun []
JohnPayton

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[penhead]

I forgot to ask, YoYoSpin - where did you get your bottle stopper holders ..if you dont't mind my asking...they look really great.

Thanks,
JohnPayton

 

[William Young]

John;
That looks real nice . There is no end to the different shapes to these things. What is the wood you used for that one? It has a very nice grain.
W.Y.

 

[penhead]

I hate to admit it, but I don't really know. I ordered a kit from PennState about a year ago that included the lathe chuck, drill bit, stoppers, and assorted woods - basically everything needed to get started. But never really had interest in trying it - was to busy having fun making pens/pencils. Some of the wood looks like it has very intersting grains, hope I can do it justice, because unfortunately my photo skills won't.

JohnPayton

 

[YoYoSpin]

The stopper that penhead made looks like Zebrawood to me.

There are two different kinds of stopper display stands I use...aluminum and acrylic. You can get them at either:

http://www.arizonasilhouette.com/ or
http://pocwoodworking.com/

 

[penhead]

Thanks for the wood ID YoYoSpin, can you help with this one too, please. I have a few more pieces of unidentified blanks that will soon be bottle stoppers I hope []



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[YoYoSpin]

Pen, I'm thinking that one is Cherry, but its a little bit too dark.

 

[Tom McMillan]

Hi Penhead---Hey, that looks orangy to me?? Looks a lot like some padauk I have.

 

[penhead]

Thanks all...didn't really notice any weird smells when turning...and the color in the photo actually came out quite close to true (finally had to buy PaintShopPro)...and the only finish is Hut friction polish.

JohnPayton

 

[Gary]

Pen's "orangy" might also be jatoba (brazilian cherry).

 

[Rusty]

paduk smells great when i turn it. some kind of spice.

am new here - so Hi all.