Not the type of project you typically see on the FOG. I got a new lathe (Jet 12-21) and decided to start out making something for my wife. The necklace is made of 3/16" diameter beads. They are hand turned from ebony, black walnut, white oak, and hard maple. The fittings are all sterling silver.
Necklace
- Thread starter jbasen
- Start date
Cheese said:
Thanks. This project took a ridiculous amount of time. I would turn blanks that were around 5/16" square by 3"-4" long down to a cylinder that was 3/16" diameter. I would then sand the cylinder down to 1000 grit. Next I would use a diamond shaped tool to place marks down the cylinder where I would make my cuts to create each bead. Next I would change my tailstock out for a drill chuck with a 1/16" brad point drill bit. Next I would drill deep enough for just over one bead, remove the work piece from the lathe, cut off the bread, wash, rinse, repeat. Finally I would put the beads on a stand I built and spray them with high gloss lacquer.
The problem is that the drill bit would start to wander off center. Typically after a few beads I would have to throw away a bead and create a new center mark on the work piece to set the drill bit in. My yield for each work piece would only be about 1/2 to 2/3 of the beads that I actually turned. If I drilled deeper the wandering of the drill bit was worse. The problem with wandering also varied by the type of wood. Oak was the worst. In the end, 10 beads took at least a 1/2 hour to produce. When you think of how many beads are in the necklace, you can get an idea of how long this took to complete.
