Irish Tri-Color pen & bottle stopper

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KiltedGunn

KiltedGunn

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Location
Baytown, TX
When I ordered some green & orange died blanks and some holy from Lyle to make an Irish Flag pen or two, he was kind enough to throw in an already glued up blank as well! Thanks, Lyle!!! :cool:

Since I only needed to make a couple of the flag pens, I had plenty of blanks left and decided a matching bottle stopper would go well! :biggrin:

Now, this was my first attempt at a bottle stopper...as well as my first use of my new photo booth, and I know the pic could be better...so could anyone tell me, how do I get rid of the gaping hole at the top where the live center was??? :confused:

I also got some of Dale's Irish Tri-Color castings and the one I did turned out GREAT...but I'm waiting on another Wallstreet II kit to show up so I can assemble it! :rolleyes:

Anyway, an answer to my divot problem would be helpful if you have one. Fire away, I'm behind cover again! :wink:

Thx,
 

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Hey Lee, turn any JD pens yet? Being as Irish as they come, I like your turnings.
For my bottle stoppers. I use a bottle topper lathe chuck. Just drill the 23/64" hole in one end of your blank, thread the blank onto the threaded spur of the chuck. No other support needed. The thread from the spur acts as a tap for the actual stopper. I got mine at Woodcraft, but my local shop doesn't carry it anymore. PSI still carries it though.
 
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Nice work, Lee!! I really like the look of the wine stopper, I may need to steal your idea on that one. Got to meet some of the Clan Gunn representatives this weekend at the North Texas Irish Festival, they even had nice things to say about you (and it didn't appear they'd been drinking heavily, either!). Hope to see pics of some of the completed Texas pens, as well.
 
They look great, Lee.

I was going to suggest the stopper mandrel too. It eliminates the need for the tail stock, thus eliminating the divot it creates.

There are two sizes (that I've seen) of mandrels. I have one for metal stoppers and one for cork/silicone stoppers.

Woodturningz.com also sells the mandrels, usually at a little cheaper price than PSI. Their website is incomplete so if you don't see something, call them. Their customer support is very good.

Anything in the PSI catalog is available from Woodturningz plus they have a ton of acrylics for pens and now they are getting into making blanks for acrylic stoppers. I have one that I haven't turned yet.

Good luck in your turning. Be sure to post more pics when you get things done.

Nancy
 
KiltedGunn said:
Now, this was my first attempt at a bottle stopper...as well as my first use of my new photo booth, and I know the pic could be better...so could anyone tell me, how do I get rid of the gaping hole at the top where the live center was??? :confused:
Click to expand...

I've found that even with a stopper mandrel, some of the softer woods and burls can use a little extra support, especially during the roughing stage.

There are several options to get rid of the hole. Most commonly I start with a longer blank and part off the last 1/8" or so (if need be, turn down to a small nub and then cut/sand it off the lathe). Alternatively, make the hole bigger and fill it with a cabochon (you can use all sorts of things like coins, stones, studs, etc.).

-Barry
 
Very nice work. You may want to try a small shaped block of wood between the tail stock and the bottle stopper. I do this all the time. During the final stages I take the block off to finish, so there is very little turning time left without the additional support.
 
Thanks for the kind comments guys! I enjoyed making them...I like experimenting with different ideas and sometimes I actually get lucky!

I am using Woodcraft's stopper mandrel...bought a bottle stopper set with drill bit, mandrel, and 5 kits...but thought I still needed to butt up against the live center. Tried turning it free after I saw the divot, but couldn't quite get the angle and kept catching the gouge on the wood.

I really like the idea on setting something into the top...and there are some pretty cool Irish coins on Ebay! Hmmm! :biggrin:

Not yet, Jim, but as soon as I do, the first JD pen is sold to the neighbor across the street!

Lyle, you said they didn't appear to have been drinking heavily either...what you should have said was YET So did Royce recruit you for the Gunn's yet? He has a knack for finding a link in everyone's lineage! :wink:

And Fitz, I'm almost Irish...I wouldn't want some guy from Belfast throwin his beer at me! :beer:
 
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