Tag: cord pulls

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Buffing cord pulls

Today I buffed the latest batch of cord pulls. I turned them a few days ago and  they have been oiled and given enough time for the oil to harden properly in the wood. I use the Beall buffing system. Tripoli first followed by wax. I don’t use the carnauba wax but apply microcrystalline wax from a block as it is more durable, particularly for something like a bathroom light pull that will frequently be wet. I made some in teak, some in oak, and some in plum wood, which have come out very well – the plum has a very rich colour.

I also made some more decorative wooden cones. Some are now ready to finish, but others will need time for the wood to dry before final turning. I removed the centre mark with a dremal cutter and sanding disc, and shaped the point with a chisel by hand.

Visit my web site for more information about woodturning

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Making more cord pulls

Today I started building up my stock of cord pulls a bit. I picked out some teak, some oak and some plumwood and sawed the wood into small rectangular blocks on the bandsaw, about a dozen of each. I marked the centre of one end on each block, drilled most of the way through with a 6 mm twist bit, then the rest of the way with a 3 mm extra-long twist bit.

Then I put them in the lathe and roughed each one to a cylinder before completing any of them. I don’t really know why I do it this way, lots of turners would do them one by one. I like the speed of roughing down, with shavings flying and no accuracy required.

I looked through a bag of pulls that I made some time back, all different, to pick out the shape I wanted, this time a tear drop. This became the sample to copy.

Then back in the lathe one more time to form the shape using a medium size spindle gouge. They have some small coves on the shoulder that I made with one of my miniature homemade gouges. They are normally easy to use, but I found this time that the coves on the sloping surface wanted to over-cut, becoming too big. Several pulls had to be reshaped to remove the defective details and start again. But it was quick work once I got my hand in properly.

I had time to complete the teak ones and start the plum, which is slightly spalted and dark in colour. I think they will finish nicely.