Bottle Opener

[jjjaworski]

I tried one of the bottle opener kits. It came out okay.

 

[Jim15]

I think it looks great. The blank is awesome.

 

[JimB]

That is a lot better than OK. It looks great!

 

[stonepecker]

Love the blank.......... Where is the beer?

Nicely turned and the finish is great.

 

[SteveAxelrod]

I like the combo...and the ice blue handle makes me immediately think of an ice cold beer. Perfect!

 

[jjjaworski]

Thanks for all the kind words.

 

[mecompco]

I think it looks nice as well. Do you just turn the handle between centers?

Regards,
Michael

 

[RobS]

Looks very clean. I'd be happy to hang that on the beer fridge!

 

[jjjaworski]

I think it looks nice as well. Do you just turn the handle between centers?

Regards,
Michael

Michael,

I was supplied with a 1-1/2 square by 6 inch blank for this commission job.

I trimmed the blank to 5 inches long and 1-1/4 square before starting. The plans called for drilling a 3/8 hole a specific depth so the 3/8-16 threaded opener could be epoxied into the finished handle. I went a different route.

Since the threads were cast they were a poor fit into a threaded hole. I ran a die over them to make them crisp.

I mounted the blank into a scroll chuck and drilled a hole with a 5/16 bit ( the tap drill ) I did a small counterbore with a 3/8 drill to assure I had clearance for the portion the die did not cleanup.

With the lathe powered OFF, I hand tapped the hole using soapy water and a spiral end machine tap. It took a bit of stopping and starting to clear chips and avoid a broken tap.

I checked to see the hardware would seat all the way.

I removed the blank and CA glued a short pen blank scrap to the other end. I mounted it back into the scroll chock and center drilled into the scrap.

I turned the blank between a 60 degree dead center and 60 degree live center. I only had a very small area to clean up by hand after sanding before parting off.

 

[RobS]

Thank you for the detailed break down.

You can also treat it as a very long bottle stopper and use the 2MT mandrel adapter or thread adapter or one you can chuck up, here is a list of possibilities:

Bottle Stopper Mandrel
https://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKBSYST.html
https://www.amazon.com/Bottle-Stopper-Mandrel-Chuck-Drill/dp/B00J9UI0F4
Buy Whiteside Bottle Stopper Mandrel at Woodcraft.com
https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/75/5376/Artisan-Bottle-Stopper-Mandrel
Niles stainless steel bottle stoppers

 

[mecompco]

Yes, thanks for the write-up. I've acquired a couple bottle openers on a trade and was wondering how best to turn the blank. The threaded portion of mine are more like .25 or a hair larger. You've given me some ideas.

Regards,
Michael