My cousin Haley and her husband came over yesterday afternoon because they saw some bloodwood plugs that I turned for Yvette on Facebook and wanted a pair herself. Honestly I was a little reluctant when she contacted me because I am a bit of a hermit.
Bad habit but I am working on that!
I brought Haley and Jake down to my family workshop to let her select the wood that she wanted. Sure enough she chose bloodwood as well, I decided to offer Jake a pair as well. I feel it is the least I could do for not really even meeting him until now!
First thing I had to do was take some measurements and cut some bloodwood down on the table saw in order to get it to a more manageable size for my modest sized lathe. I offered Haley and Jake an opportunity to try turning on the lathe because being a part of turning these plugs will make them that much more special. Jake was first, and he did a great job turning the square stock into a dowel. Haley even got in on the action and helped smooth the stock nice and smooth.
I didn't really want to keep them any longer so I cut them loose to do their grocery shopping and I set out to work.
Once the stock was down to the correct size I laid out the rough length of Haley's plugs. With the stock that I started with I had enough room to lay out 4 plugs. Usually I will do multiples like this just because everything is done manually on this lathe. And typically out of 4 plugs I can get two sets that are very similar, the other two are backups just in case something goes wrong.
(nothing has gone wrong yet, knock on wood!)
Once I have the appropriate length I start to put the flairs on each end.
Instead of using a friction finish that I will typically use on bowls and other woods projects, I use Vitamin E oil which I have found is the most ear safe.
Applying the oil and using friction to remove any excess.
Working one by one, I will sand the end with 150-600 grit sandpaper. Apply some oil wiping off any excess, and then part the plug from the rest. I continue this process until all the plugs are separated.
Once they are all apart I have to finish the other end. I got this technic from Yvette, but instead of using old bike tires to protect the plug, I make a little "Plug burrito" using shop towels to protect it from the jaws.
Haley's are finished now. Now just to finish Jake's!
You can see from the photo above that as soon as I apply the oil to the plugs it just magnifies the grain tremendously. This is by far the most exciting part of turning.
"Plug Burrito"
All finished, I will be giving them these plugs later this week. I really hope they like them!
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