I am currently refinishing a mid century teak rocking chair. The client is searching for 16 of these little wooden dowels pin things that secure the leather seat in place. I am not sure how to search this online, or if its even possible to find. I was hoping to find some, but I may have to attempt to make them or subcontract someone to do so.
Any advice on how to make?? I bought a dowel and have a dremel I was going to experiment with, but that seems quite daunting....
To make them, you will need a lathe. (A drill press will work, but somewhat less conveniently. Even an electric hand drill would do, if you can clamp it securely.) You will need to grind the pattern into the end of a piece of flat tool steel, which you will use to scrape the shape into a rotating dowel chucked in the lathe headstock. There are a few more details to make it work, but this is a conceptual place to start.
That looks easy to make, not detailed, not an exceptional finish.
Any woodturner who can turn spindles (some who turn bowls cannot) could make those with a skew and a spindle gouge, perhaps not with his eyes closed but very quickly. Maybe a minute or two at the most. The woodturner would need careful dimensions. It would be an incredibly easy job.
They could be made from dowels but I would just chuck up square pieces of wood. Could probably turn 5 or 6 at one time.
You could probably contact a woodturning club today and if someone has an interest you might have them in your hands tomorrow or so, or in the mail if not local.
Being a professional turner (at least a lot more of a professional than i am), at about what count would you decide it was quicker to grind a scraper to the right profile, instead of turning the pegs piecemeal, by hand and eye? After looking more closely at her example, it appears to have been turned freehand. I suggested building a custom tool after seeing a plane maker's setup for turning hand plane knobs in large quantities. OTOH, several years ago, I turned several decorative furniture elements (split drop finials) for a restoration job that were on the scale of the discussed pins.
>>>Being a professional turner (at least a lot more of a professional than i am), at about what count would you decide it was quicker to grind a scraper to the right profile, instead of turning the pegs piecemeal, by hand and eye? After looking more closely at her example, it appears to have been turned freehand. I suggested building a custom tool after seeing a plane maker's setup for turning hand plane knobs in large quantities. OTOH, several years ago, I turned several decorative furniture elements (split drop finials) for a restoration job that were on the scale of the discussed pins.
Don't know. I don't do production work and I'm not a big fan of profile scrapers.
Turning just 16 of those freehand would be an easy project. Maybe someone doing a huge quantity (whatever that is) would prefer making the tool you mentioned. If I did, I might make two narrower scrapers for the profiled ends to take less "bite" at once. Some of it may depend on the precision desired and how much consistency is wanted in the set.
I probably wouldn't turn repetitions of such things by eye but make a small "story stick" from a piece of cardboard or something to get the dimensions right - hold it up to the spinning wood and mark the major points. Then set a few inexpensive vernier calipers to the dimensions at these points, turn down the wood to size at the points, then freehand the shape, in this case probably with a skew chisel and/or spindle gouge.
It's no problem when I make things for myself. The potential problem I see with farming something out is communication of the expectations. This is far easier in person so a local turner would be desirable.
I've done a few replicas of things as favors and I always had the guy bring the piece to the shop and turned them while he watched and approved. This made sure he got what he wanted. These were always single items but if there were a bunch and the turning was time consuming I'd want him to at least approve the first one. (But I'm unlikely to get into that situation since I don't accept paying jobs! )
If the profile iis important I usually make a profile on a card and use it along with the story stick as a test gauge. Here's an example, profile mugs for my son and his bride - I made silhouettes from photos and then cut cardboard gauges to hold up to the wood to check. Not production work of course!!
(The photo would have been better with lighting that put the facing sides in shadow!)
The local club was privileged to have a member who was a professional production Turner. He gave a demonstration of turning the pickets/balusters for the governors mansion, There were something like 280 of them and they started as 2 x 2's about 30" long. A classic shape with haunches and vases and pommel cuts. He used a skew and a story stick with about eight ticks one it. He did one as he explained. I don't remember any calipers but he may have had one or two. He said when he was set up and producing them it took seven minutes from the start of one to the start of the next one including the tiny amount of sanding necessary. He made an entire set out of poplar, protesting it would rot soon. When it did rot he made an entire second set out of cedar. I was horrified at the prospect of turning 280 of anything let alone doing it twice. He said, It' job security.
It was like magic watching that skew in his hands.
I would turn these pins by running a dowel through the head stock and a chuck. Like on a metal lathe. (Just for fun I turned a nine foot long dowel on my three foot lathe that way.) The thing here is I would want to know exactly what the pins are for and which of the dimensions and tapers etc. are critical. I would like to have the pin in hand to copy. If possible it would be nice to have the part of the chair to insert them into to test each for fit. The first step would be to find a suitable teak dowel or to make one. Once you have the pattern and the wood, the rest is easy. Find a local turner and let him hold the piece and the chair while he does it.
This has been an interesting discussion. I hope it helps Tara and here customer a lot when she finds someone to turn the pins for them.
I had (temporarily, I hope) forgotten about a set of reproduction balusters I had turned a few years ago. I basically used the same method you did, with a story stick and a row of numbered outside calipers. By the time I was half way through the dozen or so, I was getting pretty quick, and more important, the turning details (beads, vases, etc.) were getting a lot closer to looking the same. When doing installation, just remember to put the first one and the last one as far apart as possible.
One thing that helps is to put the one to duplicate just behind the lathe as a reference. The PM 3520b comes with brackets and fake centers for this exact purpose.
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