In the "what's on your lathe" topic I mentioned that I had a piece of brass to make some ferrules. I made around 20 1"od and same for 3/4" od ferrules. Mostly hacksaw and file work and it sure made me wish I had a small metal lathe like Dan. A while back I turned some mallets for a local wood carver and he mentioned he'd like to have a set of handles as well. That's what the ferrules are for. I don't really like commission work but he was pretty adamant he wanted me to do them. Shot him what I thought was a high price and he increased how many he wanted, go figure.

 

 

He wanted them out of Osage, same as his mallets. Fortunately I had enough to do them.

 

 

The ferrules are a press fit and that takes some time to get right but once that's done the handles are a pretty simple profile.

 

 

He said he wanted a set of matching handles, ended up to be 16 total. I told him "matching" was a relative term and there would be minor differences. He said that's why he want's hand made. It is his intention to only use them when he's demoing. 11 more to go, he doesn't know it but I intend to burn his name and a small graphic on the handles. The burn lines will be different on each one to help him identify them if the edge is hidden.

 

Had a minor set back this morning though, blew a tire.

 

 

 

Those handles are sweet! Hope you weren't up to highway speed when the tire let go 

Nasty blow out. Great handles.
 

You know you can turn brass on wood lathe. 

Sweet!  You got those shaped really close too.  Looks like most of the tread was gone anyway.

I just look at this stuff and sit here green with envy of you guys that have the turning talent. Well done, especially like Dan mentioned, matching the shapes. Funny, when you fist mentioned those brass ferrules I thought you were going to do them on your wood lathe, I was hoping for a post on doing it. My  mind does strange things sometimes errrr lots of times.

Just thought I usually use copper pipe. Where did you get the brass pipe? I had looked at some online but it looked costly.

Cutting metal tube on the metal lathe can be trying at times.  Wouldn't want to try it on a lathe with hand held tools.  It may help to put it in the lathe and cut it part of the way through, it's the final cut that is tricky.  That would give a straight line to go by and the chuck would be a good way to hold it for sawing.  Some type of jam chuck should work for truing the ends.

2 hours ago, Gerald said:

You know you can turn brass on wood lathe. 

 

I do know that, aluminum too. I've just never really had great success at it. For these ferrules nearly everything was done with  them spinning, including hack sawing the ferrules to length. I wanted to use a hack saw for the small kerf. Filing and chamfering were done on the lathe as well.

 

47 minutes ago, Gerald said:

Just thought I usually use copper pipe. Where did you get the brass pipe? I had looked at some online but it looked costly.

 

I always use copper for my handles, pipe or a coupling. The reason I wanted to  use brass is because "doc" said he's never had a matched set of tools and he's always wanted a "vanity" set for using at demonstrations. He said these handles are his gift to himself. Brass is, IMO, a big step up from copper and just a classier look. I told him I wanted to use brass and the cost and he was all for it.

The brass was expensive, at least on the surface. I bought a 12" length of 1"OD, .065" wall thickness and a 24" length of 3/4"OD, .049" wall thickness. Total expense with shipping was just over $59.00. From that material I have 19, 1" X 3/8" ferrules for the butt end and 19, 3/4" X 3/4" for the chisel end with enough material left for 6 or 8 more of each. So, looking at it that way it added about a buck to the cost of each handle. FYI, I got it from onlinemetals.com. What really surprised me, I ordered on Sunday evening and had it by Tuesday the following week.

 

Larry Doc Wiedman

This is slide show of some Doc's work.

https://www.21alivenews.com/gallery/2022/01/25/country-larry-doc-wiedman-wood-sculptures/

 

Edited February 20, 20233 yr by Steve Krumanaker
Added a link

8 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

Cutting metal tube on the metal lathe can be trying at times.  Wouldn't want to try it on a lathe with hand held tools.  It may help to put it in the lathe and cut it part of the way through, it's the final cut that is tricky.  That would give a straight line to go by and the chuck would be a good way to hold it for sawing.  Some type of jam chuck should work for truing the ends.

 

Dan, that's pretty much what I did. Chucked it up and brought up a cone center. Spun it at about 150rpm and hack sawed it to length. It actually worked pretty well and like you said, it gave me a nice straight cut.

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I just look at this stuff and sit here green with envy of you guys that have the turning talent.

 

Fred, I promise you this. "Talent" is vastly over rated when it comes to wood turning. Perseverance is a much more desirable trait. NOT bragging but I am proof positive of that. A wood lathe is all about technique.

3 hours ago, lew said:

Those handles are sweet! Hope you weren't up to highway speed when the tire let go 

Boy howdy!! Was ready to dive for cover!

 

If you fitted a wooden rod in the pipe should cut well. Second thought brass should cut with plumbers pipe cutter easily.

1 hour ago, Gerald said:

If you fitted a wooden rod in the pipe should cut well. Second thought brass should cut with plumbers pipe cutter easily.

 

If the rod was a press fit it would help a little maybe.  A pipe cutter peens the ends over making them a bit smaller ID than the ID of the pipe.  I get a better fit when I cut them.