nut and bolt in boxwood

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130
A good friend of mine of the ukworkshop site found me this piece of boxwood and using a special router jig he cut it very accuratley for me.Thanks DaveL

this is a fathers day present for my dad- he saw a picture of one which Allan batty had made years ago and ever since he's pesterd me to do one so here it is.

here is how I did the nut and bolt box

first of I mounted the wood between centres in dave's centre holes (a huge help thank you)
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here is my rough marking out of proportions
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here you can see the results of me hand sanding the blank- i used a wooden block, i started at 120 and went through to 600 by which point the boxwood was like glass.
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here i have made the basic cuts defining the nut and bolt shape
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here is the pith- will it cause me a problem? at this stage i don't know-but i was thinking thats a long length of male thread to chase :-k
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bolt head definition
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a slight hiccup here a si needed to make a dovetail spigot to fit my o donnel jaws but i hadn't allot of room- so i found a old parting tool which i got free with my first clarke lathe and ground a skew on the end of it- it worked perfectly.
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the two blanks parted of and ready to go
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I tend to always do the female thread first- here it is mounted in my chuck jaws ready to go
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i cut all the way through with a spindle gouge- at this point i was thinking thats a long female thread to chase will i be able to do it?
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with the lathe at about 250rpm (this is the only time i ever care about what speed i am turning at- as it is vital with thread chasing) i have done the hardest part and started the female thread successfully- no double start etc
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a few seconds later and a few more threads added
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and here is the threads to full depth all the way through the nut- it started to get a bit difficult towards the back to get the thread smooth but this doesn't matter as it will be cut away later when its reversed.
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out with the nut in with the bolt
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the start of the male thread
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a bit more- by now the chaser is feeding itself in all you have to do is guide it.
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here it is complete- the nut fits but isn't screwing all the way on because of that ragged bit at the back, so i take a risk and take the bolt out of the jaws to sort out the nut- note to self if i ever make another one remember to do this earlier :roll:
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heres a blurry pic of the nut threaded onto a waste block of african blackwood, so that i can clean up the back side
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much to my relief with the nut cleaned up and a little more chasing on the bottom end of the male thread it screws on and of the entire length :D a great feeling.
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i reverse turned the bolt to remove the chuck marks by wrapping the thread with masking tape and gently holding it in the central part of my chuck jaws- it worked a treat :)
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the chasers
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for now i've treated it with lemon oil to protect it- i usually polish my threaded box's with the u-beaut system but I don't think this lighter coloured boxwood will look good shiny so i'll have to think about an alternative finish :-k

A big thankyou to DaveL for cutting the hexagonal blank on his router thing so accurately :D =D>

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George, I'm incredibly impressed. How long have you been chasing threads, and could you recommend a book on the subject? Thanks for the tutorial!!!!!:thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
thank you for your kind comments

I have been chasing threads for about 8 years but i dont do them very often-i learnt from Allan batty's video which i belive is avalible from craft supplies.
 
Very, Very Cool !

I have been wanting to learn thread chasing. I have the tools, the Batty video, books, seen it done live, just have not tried it myself yet. Need more time !

That is just awesome !:thumb:
 
Threads are on my to do list someday. And now also padlocks. Now,,,,,,, where did I put that list???? :huh: :dunno: :rofl::rofl::rofl:

That is one fine tutorial. Could you please add two more pictures, one when the tool is first introduced to the wood (ie, angle/position). Then what the tool looks like/position when it is self feeding? Purty please???????

Wooden nuts and bolts, what's not to like???? Excellent job. :thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
thanks Jonathan- hmm i will try to work out how i can do some pics for you:huh: seeing as its made and finished now,leave it with me i'll come up with somthing :)
 
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