Want to turn a plane knob advice needed

Rob Keeble

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Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Hi Turners

Before i go and do another :doh:thing and wing it, can anyone give me the kick off to turning a knob for a hand plane in the lathe.

I been looking at it and have in mind to put a block of wood in the chuck then support other end with live center.

Issue i see is others do this with a mandrel can i get buy without one.

Here is my thinking.

I turn a little tennon which would be the base, then mount a forstner bit in the chuck on the tailstock and pop the large hole in the bottom of the knob, then reverse it and put the tenon into the chuck and finish the knob. When done take a smaller forstner and drill the hole for the brass threaded round nut that usually goes through and seats at the top of the knob holding he knob down by means of the threaded shaft attached to it.

But now i have not finished the tennon. So i guess this needs to be done in one sweep right at the beginning before reversing and putting in it the chuck right? or is there a better or proper way.

Try as i might i have only found one article on the web and it uses a mandrel.

Comments suggestions and advice welcome. You can even call me names if it will help you to help me.:D:rofl:
 
Frank may be an Arky razorback, but he is right on this one. I did it that way and was pleased with the results. :thumb: Remember to ubdercut the bottom to fit over the casting flair.
 
Thanks guys I managed to get er done. Frank i used your method in the end. Still not happy with my approach though, I got there in the end but not in an elegant way i see yo guys doing things.
 
All right sheriffs, there were mitigating circumstances, i just had to do some work first, only finished up at 11pm last night so had not yet taken pics.

For the posse here are the pictures of my work. I still need some help i need to make some more and dont want to run on the edge of my nerves at the lathe.

Here is the old one which i sanded initially on sat.
Stanley Knob sanded.jpg Paint in the grain.jpgStanley Knob hole in bottom.jpg

This is the new one made from a block of Michigan chocolate that i nearly never saw in the box:)

Walnut knob.jpg Walnut knob lying down.jpg Topview knob hole oval.jpg

Here are the two side by side

side by side 2.jpg old and the new.jpg

Have sanded to 600 fine now need to consider a finish. Any suggestions my normal one would be wipe on poly:rofl: I really need to get away from it. Have BLO but not had much luck in applying it so far. Used it and mineral oil on my burnisher and it came out blotchy. Pretty dissapointed with myself for messing up my nice dogwood handle so this time i am asking for help.
 
Have sanded to 600 fine now need to consider a finish. Any suggestions my normal one would be wipe on poly:rofl: I really need to get away from it. Have BLO but not had much luck in applying it so far. Used it and mineral oil on my burnisher and it came out blotchy. Pretty dissapointed with myself for messing up my nice dogwood handle so this time i am asking for help.


Rob, How'd you apply the BLO? I use it all the time and never have had a problem.
 
Don i had mixed it 50/50 with mineral oil. Applied with a gauze cloth nothing complicated. Ended up with darn patches and light patches.:dunno:

The mineral oil is the culprit, I'll bet. I've heard of mixing BLO with mineral spirits, but not mineral oil. I think all the mineral oil would do is make it nearly impossible for the BLO to cure. And IMHO, you should have just used straight BLO. Wipe it on, wait a few minutes, wipe it off, leave it be for a day or so. ;)

For a plane knob, I'd use a coat or two of BLO, followed by shellac if I wanted more shine.
 
The mineral oil is the culprit, I'll bet. I've heard of mixing BLO with mineral spirits, but not mineral oil. I think all the mineral oil would do is make it nearly impossible for the BLO to cure. And IMHO, you should have just used straight BLO. Wipe it on, wait a few minutes, wipe it off, leave it be for a day or so. ;)

For a plane knob, I'd use a coat or two of BLO, followed by shellac if I wanted more shine.

Vaughn is right on just use straight BLO or if you want you can mix it with Mineral Spirits. Also instead of a gauze us an old T shirt or something like that.
I by large bags of rags from the orange borg that are lint free. I think I pay $10 for a big ole bag of em.
 
Just wanted to comment on this:

...Pretty dissapointed with myself for messing up my nice dogwood handle so this time i am asking for help.

What? Are you all out of sandpaper? :p Just about any finish can have do-overs...just sand it off and try again. Case in point: I've got a little bowl in the shop right now that has three evenings invested in the finish so far, but I tried something on it last night that I ended up not liking, so tonight's project is to sand it back down to wood and start again. I'm at least two evenings away from being back to where I was before I messed things up.

Usually the only excuse for an unsatisfactory finish is impatience. ;)

I also forgot to mention...your chocolate plane knob looks great. :thumb:
 
The mineral oil is the culprit, I'll bet. I've heard of mixing BLO with mineral spirits, but not mineral oil. I think . ;)


Oooooops:eek: man i dont know where i picked that up from. But the mistake was worth it. This way i learnt something.;) Finishing is just not my thing.

Vaughn thanks for that wakeup. I will give the burnisher a try in the lathe to see if i can get the finish off and have another go. :thumb:

Well i solved my problem with turning these knobs. Chas sent me a note with a sketch and the moment i saw it i said :doh:Rob that does it.

The answer is first to make sure the piece you chuck up initially is square enough to be held in the chuck without using the chuck screw.

Then as Frank mentioned put a tennon on the other end. But now because thats gonna be the bottom end of the knob when you part it off, you need to first put the big hole in, that is needed to clear the raised casting under neath the knob seat on a plane, then drill a pilot hole or a hole big enough for the screw or threaded rod being used to secure the knob. Drill this hole all the way through into the chuck.

Now reverse the tennon and mount it such that the tennon rides on the face of the jaws,:D;) see i am learning been through that mistake long ago.

Now turn the knob and finally drill the hole in the top. You already have a pilot and typically this is a larger diameter to suite the screw head or round brass nut with slotted head in my case.

Sand and then part off. When you part off at the bottom you will find the hole you drilled in the first place makes a good point to come out clean when you cut through.

I did one tonight again and wow :eek: what a huge difference and pleasure. From hours last night to close to 1.5 hours and that included squaring up my blank, and sharpening my tools. Sharpe tools help of course.

Thats all for the help, specially Chas for the drawing. :thumb::thumb::thumb:

Gonna knock off a few for practice in some other wood. Have a need for new ones on my router plane as well.

They sure are great turning excercises.

Don and Vaughn I will try the BLO and when its done see if i need a shellac finish. :thumb:
 
Oooooops:eek: man i dont know where i picked that up from. But the mistake was worth it. This way i learnt something.;) Finishing is just not my thing.

Vaughn thanks for that wakeup. I will give the burnisher a try in the lathe to see if i can get the finish off and have another go. :thumb:

Well i solved my problem with turning these knobs. Chas sent me a note with a sketch and the moment i saw it i said :doh:Rob that does it.

The answer is first to make sure the piece you chuck up initially is square enough to be held in the chuck without using the chuck screw.

Then as Frank mentioned put a tennon on the other end. But now because thats gonna be the bottom end of the knob when you part it off, you need to first put the big hole in, that is needed to clear the raised casting under neath the knob seat on a plane, then drill a pilot hole or a hole big enough for the screw or threaded rod being used to secure the knob. Drill this hole all the way through into the chuck.

Now reverse the tennon and mount it such that the tennon rides on the face of the jaws,:D;) see i am learning been through that mistake long ago.

Now turn the knob and finally drill the hole in the top. You already have a pilot and typically this is a larger diameter to suite the screw head or round brass nut with slotted head in my case.

Sand and then part off. When you part off at the bottom you will find the hole you drilled in the first place makes a good point to come out clean when you cut through.

I did one tonight again and wow :eek: what a huge difference and pleasure. From hours last night to close to 1.5 hours and that included squaring up my blank, and sharpening my tools. Sharpe tools help of course.

Thats all for the help, specially Chas for the drawing. :thumb::thumb::thumb:

Gonna knock off a few for practice in some other wood. Have a need for new ones on my router plane as well.

They sure are great turning excercises.

Don and Vaughn I will try the BLO and when its done see if i need a shellac finish. :thumb:

One more thing rob, make sure you let the BLO dry between coats. It's dry when you can't smell it any more..
 
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