I am making a couple of penny knifes and took a few photos of the handle as it went through various stages on the lathe, thought some of you might like a look.
The following shots were taken on my little 7x12 mini lathe. People more experienced on a wood lathe than me would laugh, but for someone who only occasionally does wood turning I find I have better control with a metal lathe.
I start with a squared up 1.25 inch blank (cherry in this case) and center punch and drill both ends. The blank is mounted using a homemade drive center in the headstock end and a live center in the tailstock. At this point a first pass has been run which knocked off the corners.
The next shot is further progression until the blank is round in the region that I am working with. The ball end on my handle measures about .840, but I turn it down to a bit over that to allow for some shaping.
Next I use a cardboard template that I made to scribe in the important features and dimensions.
Though I did not take a lot of pictures at this stage, I find when doing tapers it is better to turn down the piece in steps. I measure several points across the diameter on my template and turn to the approximate diameter at these points. After this is finished I "grind" the surface flat blending the marks in using a piece of sandpaper glued to a board that is wide enough to cover the entire area.
At this point I mount a rest in my tool post and use a special gouge that I made to turn the ball portion of the handle. Once this has been accomplished I use special forming tools to cut in the two decorative round grooves into the handle.
Here is a shot at the handle as it nears completions. Only thing left to do is to cut in the decorative rings which I do with a very fine pointed v cutting tool.
Here is a shot of a different knife, but using the same pattern. This one has had the blade drilled and a temporary pivot pin is in place to check function. All that is left is the heat treatment of the blade and riveting it into place. I finish the handles by chucking them by a collet in my lathe and do final sanding and finishing on the lathe.
The following shots were taken on my little 7x12 mini lathe. People more experienced on a wood lathe than me would laugh, but for someone who only occasionally does wood turning I find I have better control with a metal lathe.
I start with a squared up 1.25 inch blank (cherry in this case) and center punch and drill both ends. The blank is mounted using a homemade drive center in the headstock end and a live center in the tailstock. At this point a first pass has been run which knocked off the corners.
The next shot is further progression until the blank is round in the region that I am working with. The ball end on my handle measures about .840, but I turn it down to a bit over that to allow for some shaping.
Next I use a cardboard template that I made to scribe in the important features and dimensions.
Though I did not take a lot of pictures at this stage, I find when doing tapers it is better to turn down the piece in steps. I measure several points across the diameter on my template and turn to the approximate diameter at these points. After this is finished I "grind" the surface flat blending the marks in using a piece of sandpaper glued to a board that is wide enough to cover the entire area.
At this point I mount a rest in my tool post and use a special gouge that I made to turn the ball portion of the handle. Once this has been accomplished I use special forming tools to cut in the two decorative round grooves into the handle.
Here is a shot at the handle as it nears completions. Only thing left to do is to cut in the decorative rings which I do with a very fine pointed v cutting tool.
Here is a shot of a different knife, but using the same pattern. This one has had the blade drilled and a temporary pivot pin is in place to check function. All that is left is the heat treatment of the blade and riveting it into place. I finish the handles by chucking them by a collet in my lathe and do final sanding and finishing on the lathe.