Anyone Try Inside-Out Bottle Stopper?

This is something I've wanted to try, seems like it'd be a real challenge, just wondering if I could do it small enough for a bottle stopper top. I've seen ornaments that are really cool done this way, just nothing as small as a stopper.

Any opinions, suggestions, links?

Thanks, Ruth

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Reply to
rthniles
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Ruth

Long time no see.

I have not tried it but is should be easy to do. A bottle stopper is not much smaller than most ornaments. What would be real fun is to put a small spindle inside of the stopper.

Henry

Reply to
Henry

Ruth,

I don't see any reason why this shouldn't work. The stopper might be somewhat fragile. I'd suggest that you make a couple I/O turnings to get a feel for the mechanics of what is happening. Last Christmas I made I/O tree ornaments similar to Bob Rosand's except that I used an I/O ball instead of a hollow ball. There is a picture on Saw Mill Creek.

Hope this helps,

Harry

Reply to
Harry Pye

Harry, I went to Saw Mill Creek but didn't know where to go to see your picture. That looks like a nice forum, never been there before.

Thanks, Ruth

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Reply to
rthniles

Ruth... I visited your web site... Amazing! your work is wonderful and your attitude is even better..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

Hi, Ruth, I've not tried an inside/out stopper yet, but here's how I would do it: After the inside has been turned and the 4 squares are glued permanently together, I'd mount the piece in a scroll chuck with the bottom facing the tailstock. If you sand the inside corners off a bit before gluing (only at the bottom), there will be a little square hole to poke the tailstock into for centering the piece before tightening the chuck jaws. This will also make a good "pilot hole" for drilling the 3/8" hole for the dowel(I'm still using florentine corks) or the new Niles SS stopper, if we are fortunate enough to have acquired any of those ;)

After that, it's up to you if you want to turn the outside with the top held in the chuck, or reverse mount it on a spindle in the hole. But at least the hole is drilled on center, and you can clean up the bottom before reverse mounting.

Take a peek at one of my photo albums with inside/out ornaments, and a link to a pdf tutorial on making them if that helps:

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Ken Grunke
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Reply to
Ken Grunke

Thank you, Mac, I appreciate your kind words. I'm very curious about how you can tell my attitude from my website? I like my attitude, I get along very well with me. : )

Ruth

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Reply to
rthniles

Ken, The first one in the second row, walnut and box elder, is what I had in mind. Picture that one upside down, the smaller diameter ball would be where the 3/8" tenon fit in so it wouldn't be hollowed, then the top just like yours. Any advice on knowing how far to turn during the first process so I don't have the SS Niles Stopper tenon poking through? Now, what else do you think I'd be using!?! : )

I've never even tried inside-out turning yet, so it will be a learning experience.

Thanks, Ruth

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Reply to
rthniles

Ruth,

If, when turning the inside, you just make the piece round, you will not see any opening in the middle. The more you cut past this point, the larger the open inside becomes.

Ideally you should face two adjacent sides of the wood on a jointer to make sure they are dead flat and square to each other. Then machine the opposite sides on a thickness planer. This is the ideal situation but you might get away with cutting them square on a table saw with a good blade.

And someone mentioned putting a spindle inside the opening. I haven't tried this but there is no reason it shouldn't work. Turn the inside and reverse the pieces but don't glue them together. Use double sided tape or clamps but fasten them in what will be their final position. Then drill a hole through the end to accommodate the spindle. Then glue the whole thing together. Might be fun to try.

Harry

Reply to
Harry Pye

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

Ruth, How long is the 3/8" shaft on your SS stopper? Looks to be about 3/4". When you're turning the first stage (what will be the inside) end it about 1 1/4" from the bottom of the piece. Then when you're drilling the hole (in the second stage) you'll have a little extra wood below the hollow part to be able to trim down the end with a skew after drilling the hole to maybe, 1" depth or as far as you dare without coming through the inside. BTW, if you looked at my pdf file, I recommended using superglue on one end so it could be easily pried apart after the first stage turning. I've since found double-stick tape to be easier and more convenient--the same stuff used to put up plastic sheeting on the inside of windows. Put pressure on each joint with a C-clamp for a few seconds and it will hold very well. I only put about an inch of it on one end, opposite of where the scroll chuck will be holding the piece. If it's hard to pry apart, just dab some rubbing alcohol in the joint to dissolve the tape's cement. Another BTW--if you don't mind me making a design change suggestion on your SS stopper--how about instead of turning a tenon on the steel, drill a 3/8" hole through so we could glue our own dowel in, or turn a short tenon on the stopper body to fit in the SS stopper base's hole. This would save material for you, and maybe even labor (and cost). Just my 2 pennies...

Ken Grunke webmaster, Coulee Region Woodturners of SW Wisconsin

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Reply to
Ken Grunke

Ken, I think I'm going to have to actually prep the wood and start turning to completely understand your directions. They are very clear and I do understand, but I'm sure a few practice pieces will make it a lot simplier.

The tenon on the SS Niles stopper on my website is 3/4" but all the production pieces from now on are going to be 1/2". This week I should be getting a large order and will try one using your instuctions.

As to your suggestion about drilling a hole in the stopper base, two reasons I didn't do this (I did think about it); 1) I have a lot of potters, glass blowers and plastic composite workers who want these stopper bases and they prefer a tenon: 2) it's really easier to drill a hole in the wood turning, reverse chuck on a woodworm (I use pieces of wood turned to 3/8" like a jam chuck) and glue the same as you would with a wooden dowel. I found I turned the tops a lot faster; blank in chuck, finish/shape bottom, drill hole, finish rest of shape, part off, reverse chuck, sand tiny nub, done.

When you use the dowels, don't you have to drill a hole in the bottom of the wood? I never used the dowels so I really don't know. As to saving material and labor, it's all done in an automated machine so machining costs would probably be the same. It's a small 2 brothers operation, local, nice guys, I'm not making a lot of profit, we're sort of sharing the profit, they worked their price down to keep me from going to Taiwan or China, plus they made sure the steel and rubber rings were FDA approved for food contact......not that all this has anything to do with our conversation! : )

Thanks, Ruth

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Reply to
rthniles

Ruth,

Somewhere I once saw a stopper kit that had the stopper with a female thread and used a threaded rod to attach to the wood. I thought this was a good idea because it allowed the stopper to be removed from the wood in order to be cleaned, without risking water damage to the wood.

You could do something similar by threading the shaft of the tenon which would allow the glue to have a surface to hold better, if the user wanted to just glue it in place. But they could also use a threaded insert in the wood if they wanted to be able to remove the stopper from the wood.

This would probably increase the machining cost :-(

In any case, I would *think* that a textured surface on the tenon would make it a bit more glueable in any medium. (But what do I know? :-)

Matt Heffron

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Reply to
Matt Heffron

Matt,

A threaded tenon does have it's good points, all of which you mentioned. I started working on these about 8 months ago, had a test run done, had 4 "test" turners use them, got feedback on turning/gluing and customer feedback. We tried to loosen the hold before selling by putting the stopper in and out, not gently and a couple times a day for a week or two, none came apart.

Yes, it would be easier cleaning with a removable screw top but the 3 o-rings make it quite easy to clean; easier than the rubber gasket/stopper on the chrome where you need a toothbrush to get in the grooves. Also how much cleaning do bottle stoppers need, they won't go in the dishwasher (except by the person who puts wooden bowls in there!).

I don't drink wine so I did a whole lot of research, asking winery owners (sent them a sample stopper) and a turner on another forum who writes reviews for a winery magazine. They didn't agree on everything, but they all liked the stainless (300 series) and FDA app'd rubber rings snugger fit over the chrome stopper. (something about good for bouquet and no air?)

I did all this research because I had presented my design to 2 of the big guys who import the chrome stoppers, looking to just sell the design rights. Both of them said they were doing just fine with the chrome and didn't feel anyone would see an advantage in mine over the chrome. So I bit the bullet, did the copyright and design patent thing and am selling them myself...........UNTIL one of the big guys sees how well they're being received by stopper turners and they do a knock-off, cutting me out.

"And Now You Know the Rest of the Story".... Paul Harvey (remember him!) : )

Ruth

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Reply to
rthniles

I think it's a combination of the way your shop is designed and built.. a slight female touch to what looks like a very efficient shop, and the variety of your work.. you're not in a bowl rut or whatever, you seem to work on what interests you and your gallery is sorta eclectic.. I might also be influenced by your site.. as a web designer, I pick up on the "personality" of a site and yours feels "comfortable, like your comfortable with yourself and your work??

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

Good Day And it is good to see you back Ruth. Don

Reply to
Don Murray

Ruth

I just put a picture out on ABPW of a first attempt at an insideout bottle stopper with an internal spindle. With a little more work i think i could do a real nice stopper.

Process. Start with 2 square pieces of wood. 1 about 1/4" and 1 3/4" to 1". chuck up the smaller piece and turn your spindle. Make sure and leave 2 sets of flats on the spindle. This is the top and bottom of the inside out turning.

Chuck up the larger piece and turn out the inside, or what will become the inside of the stopper. The two ends of the turning must match the flats on the spindle. Set up a 45 degree bit in the router and place router in a router table. You need to cut the four corners off of the larger piece to match the flats on the spindle. Now using a band saw or other fine tooth saw, cut the larger piece of wood into fourths. Turn the pieces around and glue them togeather with the spindle on the inside of the outer piece. All that is left is to chuck, turn and sand.

By the way i enjoyed your article in Woodturning Design.

Henry Doolittle

Reply to
Henry

Thank you, Don. : )

Reply to
rthniles

Henry, Thanks and how do I access ABPW? I can't get there from here!

Ruth

Reply to
rthniles

Ruth, Ruth, Ruth, you gotta look into that newsgroup availability through your ISP and that newsreader program - Forte Agent which I was correctly reminded many Windows users prefer.

Perhaps Henry has already contacted you privately but if not I saved a copy of his pic off ABPW (alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking - a picture newsgroup) and will email it to you if you drop me an email note.

Henry - you need a tripod! ;)

Reply to
Owen Lowe

Owen, you're going to really think I'm dumb but I can't find your email. How about you send me a note and I'll put you in my address book?

Sorry. Ruth

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Reply to
rthniles

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