Screw Bluing Fixture (unfinished)

Nick01

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So im putting together another tool based off clicksprings video on youtube...heres todays progress.

The ferrule was turned from a 5/8 brass plumbing flare, and mounted to the lathe with a matching male threaded insert. The internal threads were then turned down.

The handle is 1" OD oak turned down to match the ferrules OD. The hardest part was getting the taper on the handle to match the one in the ferrule without a great way to measure it.

It was stained red mahogany and will be laquered tomorrow when I turn it a few brothers for future use.
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Looks good, Nick! Thank you for sharing it with us. I really like the flare nut turned into a ferrule (pun intended). :D
 
Thanks Randall, I'm still very new to machining so it's a learning process for sure.
Today I spent some more time on the project....

I cut a piece of 1/4 x 3" flat bar stock down about 2" long, cleaned up the edges on the mill and sanded the face down with 320 grit.
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Next I layed out the positions for the holes to be drilled and secured it on parallel bars in the mill. Even got to use my home-made scribe!! First time!!!
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I drilled out the first set of holes using an 1/8" center drill, then opened them up to the proper size before moving onto the next.
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And I got some practice on the precision end of things as well just to push myself along....this one's kinda blurry as it's taken through a loupe.
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After the holes were all drilled I cleaned up the burrs...and lucky me, one of the holes I couldn't get started with the center drill came out on the back side all wobbly...
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I tried re-drilling it-didn't work
I tried drilling it again from the back side-didn't work
I tried using a 45 degree countersink to touch up the surface-didn't work
Fail.
This to me seems like the perfect excuse to invest in some more tools...must not tell wife...

Once the holes were all drilled the bulk of the piece hit me and I decided some material had to come off to make it more visually slender, but I also had to keep enough material around the holes to retain the heat so I came up with this.
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It's very technical I know, don't be intimidated by it!
Threw it on the mill again and took off the front two corners and got a crazy idea...
image.jpeg Yep, I even decided to try my hand at beveling. I know it's a tool, it's not for decoration, and it should serve its purpose and nothing more but I couldn't help myself.


Once I take the rest of the material off the back side I will finish beveling the top side, drill and tap holes for the handle and two feet then call it done...after I turn up the feet.

Oh and I threw some finish on the handles I turned up and they came out great. Ironically I chose to use red mahogany to stain them, and that's the one very specific color the acrylic sealer I got says not to use it with. Warnings not heeded!!

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I'll upload more tomorrow evening.

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Minor update on beveling progress and the rear corner removal...
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Well here it is in all its glory. The two large holes closest to the handle were going to be for feet, but the tap and die sets I have apparently don't go that large. For now I'll just say it's for weight savings as this little thing is quite heavy.

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I learned a bit along the way and aside from the tap holes being an obvious mistake I have only 3 takeaways for future tools

1. Stain handles BEFORE adding the ferrule (cleaning and polishing the brass without marking the wood is nearly impossible)
2. Cut rod to length, turn down and taper BEFORE epoxying it to the handle (handle almost didn't fit into the chuck to do so in my case)
3. Don't drill holes to tap BEFORE you have a tap and die set (don't get me started on the metric/imperial s#!t show of holes and tap/die sizes or their availability)
 
One more trick up my sleeve...
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In the future I may add a small removable divider to the tray as its 3.5" OD and that would allow smaller pieces to be blued without heating up as much empty space and swarf.
 
These look really good, Nick. I guess I missed something, though. How are they used?
 
I think he took it for granted we all knew how it was used. I know I didn't know.
 
But it took an idiot like me to actually ask! Guess I'm good for something this time! :D
 
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