say hey from Milwaukee

Josh Rickun

Member
Messages
7
hello. Great work on this site and a really cool community from what I can tell. I make wooden eyeglass frames and am interested in using more color in my work, which is how I found this site, specifically that Vaughan character with the rad avatar and his dyed sycamore. I have a ton of quarter-sawn sycamore and have been looking for info on how to dye it. Here's some examples of glasses from today, both Cherry, for the ladies.

future slice 1.jpgfuture slice 2.jpggrace1.jpggrace2.jpg
 
Welcome to the Family Josh!

Yeah Vaughn is a very colorful guy :thumb:

Nice work on the frames, are these stock items or are they all special order?

Do you also make the matching arms to go with the frames?

Very interesting, and again, welcome!
 
thanks guys

stuart - not sure yet. I make the arms, too. Each complete pair has 18 to 20 steps from start to finish.

Tom - there are companies out there that make wooden glasses, but it seems theirs are more about the gimmick of using wood as a material for mass produced sunglasses rather than using the wood to make something beautiful. except for Herrlicht, but nobody can touch that guy, his work is unbelievable

AND, if anybody can help me - i'm looking for a very specific bit for a rotary tool. i need to cut V shaped grooves inside the frames to fit the lenses in, right now i'm using a small scratch stock. I've tried hart burs like in the picture, meant for flush setting diamonds in rings, but they're meant for metal and clog up and burn the wood. I have to cut with the edge of the bit, similar to the posted video. Any suggestions? Also, sorry if it's too soon to start asking advice on here.

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Welcome aboard, Josh. I've got somewhat limited experience with dying wood, but between me and a few other guys here, I suspect we can get your questions answered. :wave:

...Also, sorry if it's too soon to start asking advice on here.

It's NEVER too soon to start asking for advice here. ;) Wish I knew the answer to your burr question. :dunno:

And don't listen to these guys calling me "colorful" and "radical". They're just jealous they don't have the same fashion sense as I do...

colorful-guy.jpg
 
Welcome aboard, Josh. I've got somewhat limited experience with dying wood, but between me and a few other guys here, I suspect we can get your questions answered. :wave:



It's NEVER too soon to start asking for advice here. ;) Wish I knew the answer to your burr question. :dunno:

And don't listen to these guys calling me "colorful" and "radical". They're just jealous they don't have the same fashion sense as I do...

colorful-guy.jpg


You DA MAN Vaughn..:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
OK, you are working with an optometrist to design the grooves. Unless the groove is the same angle and on the same curve as the lens, stresses will be introduced. These stresses will probably introduce less sharpness to the image that reaches the eyes. They will also very probably introduce frontal head aches in the person who wears the glasses.

Your optometrist cohort will probably have all sorts of old spectacle lenses laying around or he can acquire a bunch of them quickly and easily. He can also acquire "coquille" lenses very cheaply. coquille lenses are just non-prescription lenses made to adjust edging equipment and to be put into upper end sample frames. This is done instead of the flimsy stamped out fake lenses used in cheaper frames. In either case have your cohort edge them in the standard way. Put the lenses in your frames. Hold two pieces of non-prescription polaroid between you and the mounted lens. The Polaroid material should be held at right angles to each other. Look at a light through this (light, through lens, through two pieces of Polaroid, then your eye). Wherever there is stress on the lens colors will appear to you. That will tell you whether you need to change the shape of your "V," change the shape of your lens edger pattern, change the curve of your "V."

The inside of the V needs to be very smooth. I would guess the equivalent of 220 sanding. Otherwise everything might be fine but you would see stress set up by the roughness of the wood in the V.

That is just a quick, rough description. Your doctor of optometry should know all of this stuff. If you have any questions that I can answer do not hesitate to ask.

The temples (ear pieces) should have a small amount of extra wood left on them. This will make the frame too tight on the head. The optician who fits the glasses to the patient can gently file, or preferably grind, away this material, making the fit looser, until it is correct for the patient. I assume that you are using spring loaded hinges to compensate for chewing, haircut days, etc.

Do you have an instruction sheet that you send, along with the frames, to the optometrist and opticians who order your frames. Wooden frames are an entirely different fitting problem than regular glasses. (Example: Wood temples have to be thicker than metal or plastic temples. Thus when the temple is against the head, the outer portion is probably pushing outward on the ear. Even if it seems perfect now, it can be a killer in four hours. The temple will have to be carved thinner and tapered right at the point where the top of the ear meets the skull. Don't forget to leave room for a couple weeks hair growth between haircuts.)

Enjoy,
JimB
 
Cool promo video, Josh. :thumb:

Oh, and in case you didn't know already, Jim Bradley is our highly-esteemed resident eye doctor. He was writing eyeglass prescriptions back when George Washington had wooden eyeballs. :D
 
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