Starting to do my first bottle stoppers.

[navycop]

Are there bushings for bottle stoppers or is it just whatever you want? I am talking about as far as the diameter. What about the lenght? I know with pens you have to pretty much go by the tube size.

 

[bassinhuntin]

Check these videos http://yoyospin.com/tutorials/

 

[JAZNCARR]

you just go with it. Red wine stoppers are shorter than white because of something to do with the height of the bottles... you wan the bottom of the diameter to match somewhat to what the stainless steel part goes to... as far as the top.. you don't want sharp points or awkward ness.. the simpler the design it is to clean and push in with your hand the better...

 

[rizaydog]

No bushings for bottle stoppers. Get a bottle stopper mandrel to fit your lathe. It has a threaded post sticking out. Use a blank of wood about 1 1/2"-2" cubed and drill a hole in the endgrain to the depth of the mandrel. Screw the mandrel onto the spindle and the blank onto the mandrel. Turn to any shape you want. Its very easy...

 

[JimB]

Any size and shape you want. It's one of the things that is great about making them!

 

[PaulDoug]

There is a great tutorial here. http://www.torne-lignum.com/make_stoppers.html

I make lots of stoppers for friends and I highly recommend the stoppers sold here as well a the mandril for turning them. The best in my opinion.

 

[navycop]

So the only piece of equiptment I have to but is a jaw chuck? I don't know if it will fit on my shopsmith.

 

[JimB]

So the only piece of equiptment I have to but is a jaw chuck? I don't know if it will fit on my shopsmith.

You don't even need that. You can drill the blank the same way you do your pens and then just mount it between centers and turn it. Since the blank is probably longer then yoiu want just part it off. It won't fly anywhere, it will just drop into your hand or onto the bed of your lathe.

Another option is to buy the bottle stopper mandrel. I believe you get get them for under $10 at Woodcraft, Rockler, PSI, CSUSA etc. They go directly into your headstock just like a pen mandrel. Drill your hole and screw the blank onto the madrel and start turning.

If you go to Ruth Niles website she has great info.

 

[Rob73]

Actually there are bushings for bottle stoppers. You have a size for the standard stainless steel bottoms and one for the mini. They slide over a BS mandrel. These just simply tell you the size of the outside diameter of the stainless steel bases. This again depends upon what madrel (if any) that you purchase. It's been so long now I don't recall where I picked up mine.

Length is personal preference. I've seen some really long stoppers (3-4") personally I think that's crazy long...but hey, whatever sells. I normally cut my blanks @ 2"

I've also just started turning stoppers with a Collete chuck using a dowel to hold the blank. My experience so far with this method is be sure to 'finish' the stopper before removing it. I tried removing and putting it back and it never spins true again.