Bottle stoppers

[Anna]

I bought some stopper kits from PSI and started making these the last few days. I'm still learning how to make coves and beads, but I'm not getting as many catches as I used to.

The left stopper is made of something that's either spalted or a burl (it was in A Pile of Unknowable Scraps). The one on the right is padauk, which I liked working with less than I originally thought I would.

Special thanks to Ken Massingale for all the help with respect to sharpening.

[DonHo]

They're really nice, good work.

DonHo

[John Hunter]

Very nice.

[TheRic]

Looks great!! Now you get to put them to use!!

[Whaler]

Nice work. Bottle stoppers are fun and make great gifts.
Dick

[mater]

They are very nice.

[smc331]

Good work - one more thing on a long list of "wanna do" projects!

[gerti]

Nice! The left one might be quilted & spalted maple.

[Ken Massingale]

Those are beautiful, Anna.

You didn't mention that you're using the skew to do beads and coves. That's quite a feat.

[lrogers]

Nice! They reminded me of the old wooden tops I used to play with as a kid.

[BigguyZ]

Very Nice! I should really give a try at stoppers too.

Why didn't you like the paduk to turn? It's one of my favorites- especially the smell.

[Pappy]

Nice work, Anna. If you have a local winery, they might be willing to sell these, and some pens, on a consignment basis. A couple of members did that in the past with fair success.

[Anna]

You didn't mention that you're using the skew to do beads and coves. That's quite a feat.

It doesn't sound so good when I can't get my spindle gouge to stop catching every time I use it. The skew and the roughing gouge are the only ones I can consistently use without catches.

I think I have to re-do my gouge profiles. They look a little too spear-like to me.

Why didn't you like the paduk to turn? It's one of my favorites- especially the smell.

I tried a couple of pens and the stopper with padauk. Although the wood is easy enough to turn (it's not a very hard wood), the pores are huge. I had trouble with metal dust from the bushings getting embedded in the pores when I was turning pens, and with the stopper, I just couldn't get the wood to "shine" as much as I wanted to. With some other kinds of wood, even sapele, I can almost see my reflection after sanding to 12000 MM.

I just read about sealing large-pored woods with CA and wet-sanding it. I think I'll give that a try. I have a piece of padauk with some sap wood in it, and I think that'll look great as a pen.

Nice work, Anna. If you have a local winery, they might be willing to sell these, and some pens, on a consignment basis. A couple of members did that in the past with fair success.

I do live in wine country. I'm hesitant about approaching our winery friends because they might feel compelled to accept the stoppers just because we're friends. I do have a friend who has a store in Old Sacramento, and he offered to sell my pens and stoppers if I make enough of them. It's kind of weird, though, since I've only been doing this for a couple of months, and I don't think I'm as good as the ones I've seen in the other forums.

I'm definitely making some for Christmas presents, though. Now if I can only figure out how to make bowls, I'll be in woodturning heaven.

[GPA61]

Very nice, Anna.

[Slik Geek]

I'm still learning how to make coves and beads, but I'm not getting as many catches as I used to.

Sigh... I wish my "still learning" results looked as good as yours do! Nice work.