Two bracelets today

[gad5264]

I took my girlfriend with me the other day to WoodCraft and she was looking thru the turning books and saw a few bracelets that she liked and showed them to me. While she was at work today I thought I would surprise her so I made these two for her.

One is Cherry and one is Texas Ebony.



She of course loves them but I welcome comments and critiques from BT3ers.

[BobSch]

Oh, man, are you gonna get lucky tonight! Seriously, those are a couple of very nice pieces.

[Whaler]

Beautifully done! I really like that Texas Ebony.

[dbhost]

I'm busy with the smoker tonight. But I might just have a chunk of mesquite large and clear enough for that... I think I am gonna get busy on the lathe...

[Wood_workur]

The Texas Ebony is really nice. I hope that finish is epoxy because being that thin might make them a bit fragile.

[tommyt654]

Get her a couple more and when she starts pointing and shakin that finger She,ll sound like a mad Rattler

[SARGE..g-47]

Love the Texas Ebony.. I've never seen it before.

[just started]

how???????

[gsmittle]

how???????

+1 on the HOW????

g.

[gad5264]

how???????

I found this video on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHnusgRHIJA


But here is basically how I made mine.


1. Started with a 3.5" x 3.5" x 1.25" blank.
2. Mounted between centers and turned to a cylinder with a 5/8" bowl gouge and dressed the tailstock face.
3. Chucked it up with #3 Round jaws (outside grip) and dressed the other face.
4. Using a Jacob's chuck, I drilled increasingly larger holes with Forstner's bits until I reached an inside diameter of 2 3/8", I then used my shear scraper to make the inside diameter 2 11/16"
5. Chucked it up with #2 Round jaws (inside grip)
6. Used a bowl gouge, skew chisel, and shear scraper to shape the outside of the bracelet (be sure to roundover the inside lip to avoid a sharp edge there).
7. Reverse-mounted the bracelet to shape the other side.
8. Sanded to 400 grit rotating the bracelet on the chuck for each grit (only a very light grip is needed with the chuck to avoid marring the inside surface).
9. Gave them a coat of spray on Spar varnish, let them hang and air dry, and Beall buffed the bracelets to the final shine.

I'm not sold on the Spar finish, but we will see how it holds up and try some different things if it doesn't.

[MikeMcM1956]

Here's a few other ideas, from a posting over at IAP:

http://www.woodturningonline.com/Tur..._Bracelets.pdf

Mike