Saturday, February 13, 2016

Wooden Ring

This was something I found on the internet. Thought it was a great idea. Decided to try it. Small and simple project.

Starts with a sheet of veneer. This was actually too thick. I had to sand it down to 1/32” thickness

Soaked the strip of wood in hot boiling water for a good 20 mins

Using a socket wrench, roughly the size of my finger... I quickly wrapped the wet and hot strip around it. Then tying it with a rubber band to let it dry overnight.

(forgot a pic for this step)... I put packaging tape around the socket wrench to prevent the glue-up. I wrapped the wood strip back onto the socket wrench as tightly as I could. Ensuring there are no gaps between the layers. I coated/soaked the wood with cyanoacrylate glue (aka super glue or crazy glue). Then let it dry overnight again.

All dry. Then the started to sand all surfaces with 320 grit

For a bit of an accent, I carved out a tiny heart. Making sure I didn’t go through all the layers. Using a fresh X-Acto blade and a file.

Going to fill the hole with some brass. It’s close to gold. hehe

With a file, I sanded the brass strip down to some fine powder. Finer the better.

Just piled the brass powder over the hole. And with the end of the file, I packed the powder into the hole as tight as possible.

Couple of drops of the CA glue into the pile of brass. Not worried about coverage. Just making sure it’s all soaked in. Making sure the powder is bonded to the wood. After a few hours, I sanded the ring again. The heart appears.

Final sanding all around. Inside and rounded off all the edges too. So, it’s a more comfortable fit. Then with a paper towel, coat the entire ring with another layer of CA glue for a nice sealant. The glue actually makes a better sealant than a typical wood varnish here. More smooth.