Project:Captive Ring Turning

ProjectInfoBox Captive Ring Baby Rattle
Status:	done, now adding photos
Release Date:	March 2019
Initiator:	Lukas
Materials Used:	wood (apple log, self-dried), beeswax
Tools Used:	woodturning tools: roughing gouge skew chisel spindle gouge hook tool
Approx. Cost:	next to nothing

Turning "captive rings" is a tricky technique, but tried by many woodturners at some point.

I taught myself how to do it in order to make a one-piece rattle for some awesome babies!

Choosing the Material

You'll need especially even-grained and dense wood for this project or the rings are prone to breaking.

I was very happy with the apple log I had laid aside for this project all along, but the birch I used as a first test behaved pretty bad.

Making the Hook Tool

First of all, I made the special tool needed to undercut the rings. There are commercial "ring" or "hook" tools available but I had seen DIY versions made from hex keys and obviously just had to try that!

Materials:

• scrap wood (hardwood - here: cherry)
• surplus large hex key

• 

  square up the woodturning blank

• 

  the first step of most tool handle woodturning projects is the ferrule - e.g. cut with a pipe cutter

• 

  a brace is very useful to pre-drill the center hole on a woodturning blank

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  once the handle is turned round, the ferrule can be used to determine the shoulder position

• 

  make the handle rather long - like all woodturning tools, it should provide good leverage

• 

  a sturdy tailstock on the wood lathe can help to press the ferrule onto the tool handle

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  the hex key and ferrule should be glued in place with epoxy

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  amazing what you can still make out of a little bit of junk! (rest of the scrap wood for comparison)

• 

  finally grind a scraping tip onto the (former) hex key

more coming soon!