Todays Project - What did you do today?

[f350ca]

Wore her out riding on the snowmobile this morning Harold, but she'd probably be snoozing anyway.
The shellac is just a binder for the cuttings the steel wool makes Tom. Mahogany is the only wood I've tried it on, it has a very open grain and the cuttings level it. I like the colour orange shellac gives mahogany, ages it quickly. Varnish bonds to it well as does paint or solid stain, I use it to seal knots in pine to stop the gum from bleeding through. I usually use it or sanding sealer to raise the grain on new wood. They both lock the grain and sand easily to give a smooth surface before varnish. Varnish is a bugger to sand, plugs the paper too quickly. Actually Tung oil will work too but it has to dry for at least a week before you can top coat it.
Have considered making one Pete. The guy charged Kelly $300 just to make the bore round.

[EdK]

The shellac needs to be dewaxed shellac in order for varnish to stick to it reliably.

Ed

[awemawson]

Was varnish not originally made from shellac anyway? I've stripped masses of the stuff from Victorian and Edwardian doors, door frames, skirting boards, dado rails etc from house that I've owned over the years. Light use of a blowlamp, then roll it off with a stiff genuine bristle brush, only going in one direction, is the best way. Don't be tempted to use a modern plastic brush - they melt !

[Hawkeye]

A while back, someone on another forum posted a thimble as a first project. Not being able to find any thimbles after my house fire, I added it to my project list. Today, I hunted up  a small piece of stainless steel that a friend had given me a couple of years ago. I'm guessing 304 by its characteristics. Non-magnetic, machines quite well. My first time using stainless and first time knurling on a taper. Can't use the clamp knurler for that, so I used a bump triple-header I'd gotten with a lathe or something some time ago. I found that the course set did the best job on the variable diameter.


I used 5 degrees on the compound for the outside taper and again for the boring bar on the inside.
 

It took a while to part it off, but left a pretty good finish. I sanded off the nub in the centre. If I find I need some traction on that surface I'll make up a tapered clamp and use either the shaper to cut a cross-hatch pattern or the lathe to apply concentric circles.


It's a lot heavier than the sheet metal ones I used to have, but will work well for the leather and canvas I sometimes hand sew.

[EdK]

(03-18-2017, 11:08 PM)Hawkeye Wrote: A while back, someone on another forum posted a thimble as a first project. Not being able to find any thimbles after my house fire, I added it to my project list. Today, I hunted up  a small piece of stainless steel that a friend had given me a couple of years ago. I'm guessing 304 by its characteristics. Non-magnetic, machines quite well. My first time using stainless and first time knurling on a taper. Can't use the clamp knurler for that, so I used a bump triple-header I'd gotten with a lathe or something some time ago. I found that the course set did the best job on the variable diameter.


I used 5 degrees on the compound for the outside taper and again for the boring bar on the inside.
 

It took a while to part it off, but left a pretty good finish. I sanded off the nub in the centre. If I find I need some traction on that surface I'll make up a tapered clamp and use either the shaper to cut a cross-hatch pattern or the lathe to apply concentric circles.


It's a lot heavier than the sheet metal ones I used to have, but will work well for the leather and canvas I sometimes hand sew.

It appears one needs to be logged into the forum where you're linking the pictures from.

Ed

[Hawkeye]

That's the first time I've done a post from that one first. Usually, I make it up on this one, then adapt it to that one. Your reply shows me the photos. Too bad I can't edit the OP any more. Let's try again.

[Hawkeye]

Guess I can't quote myself. Anyway, here are the photos in order.

   

   

   

   

Sorry for the inconvenience.

[wawoodman]

Nice job, Mike.

[Roadracer_Al]

Cool project. Burliest thimble ever.

[f350ca]

More wood,
Finished, now I need to clear enough space on the bench for one.