Tips for threading

[steve355]

Hi

I recently acquired a three-quarter inch wood threading kit from Axminster. I’ve not had a gigantic amount of luck with it so far. I’ve watched loads of YouTube videos on woodthreading, soaked the dowel in BLO, but still, I seem to get some kind “crumbly” tear out. It certainly isn’t a pretty thread. The dowel was bought from Wickes, perhaps I should turn my own dowel and that may work better.

Any tips appreciated.

Steve

 

[Algarin]

I assume this is a pine or similar soft wood dowel?
I would avoid anything soft, you want relatively hard and dense for threading with these kits.
Beech or birch works great.

 

[steve355]

I assume this is a pine or similar soft wood dowel?
I would avoid anything soft, you want relatively hard and dense for threading with these kits.
Beech or birch works great.

I assumed that it’s a beech dowel, I think that’s what they are made of. But good point, it may not be. I will check it out.

edit - Wickes website says “light hardwood” whatever that means!

 

[Algarin]

I assumed that it’s a beech dowel, I think that’s what they are made of. But good point, it may not be. I will check it out.

edit - Wickes website says “light hardwood” whatever that means!

It very well might be beech. You could try soaking it in oil for longer, a few hours, which could help.
Backing out of the cut if you meet too much resistance and resetting/clearing out the cutter can also help.

 

[steve355]

It very well might be beech. You could try soaking it in oil for longer, a few hours, which could help.
Backing out of the cut if you meet too much resistance and resetting/clearing out the cutter can also help.

Tried soaking overnight… and cutting a quarter turn, then backing off. That produced the “thread“ in the pic above.

 

[recipio]

It's very much down to the species of wood. I found maple very ' crumbly ' and ash a much better wood. The dowel should be round of course - commercial lengths of dowel rarely are. Assuming you are using a thread box the cutter is adjustable to take a full deep cut and I use furniture wax as the lubricant. Take no more than half a turn then back out to clear the waste. Threaded joints are amazingly strong - I use them a lot in toymaking.

 

[mi2021]

When I make threads I use a variety of hardwood dowels but I soak them in raw linseed oil it penetrates deeper and doesn't have driers in it so acts as a lubricant. I couldn't say what's the best length of time to soak them as all timber varies but overnight hasn't hurt any yet go slowly back off regularly and you should be fine

 

[colourfieldproductions]

This a very timely thread
I’ve recently had a chest of drawers knob come off, think its dowel is too short / degraded.
Does anyone have any ideas about where to obtain a one-off replacement? Don’t have the space or budget for a lathe or similar yet, so thought instead of seeing if there’s a local workshop who might do one for me. Not sure if these are the sorts of things one might buy commercially, assume not

 

[the great waldo]

Tried soaking overnight… and cutting a quarter turn, then backing off. That produced the “thread“ in the pic above.

That wood doesn't look like beech. It looks like some kind of far eastern wood with a fairly open grain. Maple or beech is the way to go or any kind of tight grained wood is going to stop the tearout. You could try some paste wax or soap, that normally helps in driving in screws !!
Cheers
Andrew

 

[steve355]

That wood doesn't look like beech. It looks like some kind of far eastern wood with a fairly open grain. Maple or beech is the way to go or any kind of tight grained wood is going to stop the tearout. You could try some paste wax or soap, that normally helps in driving in screws !!
Cheers
Andrew

I’m going to turn a beech dowel today and try it with wood I definitely know is beech!

 

[TRITON]

Possibly taking too much off at the one time.
edit:
Just watched this(no doubt you have too)


Certainly doesnt seem to need soaking in oil, and tbh i think that would cause more probs later if you attempt to put a finish on.
Also says it should be undersized, so maybe as you say turning your own might help, only there you'd have to be very accurate getting it parallel.

 

[steve355]

Well, I turned a little beech dowel, and it threaded perfectly. When the die got to an area that hadn’t been soaked in BLO, it started tearing a tiny amount. But otherwise, it was the rubbish Wickes “hardwood” dowel that was the problem.

I used the tap as well and that was easy.

New clamps coming very soon!!

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice

 

[the great waldo]

I'm not sure if i'd use blo to soak the wood as it may cause it to swell. Maybe a mix of alcohol and paste wax might work as a lubricant. I use this Buy lubricant paste Waxilit 22-30 P online at OSTERMANN
stuff . It's great for all sorts of things like planer tables or on guitar fingerboards pretty much any thing that needs waxing or lubrication wood or metals,
Cheers
Andrew

 

[TRITON]

Best follow Waldos link, as googling 'lubricant for wood' might not get you the desired results

Nice to see its turned out better Steve. Must have been darned annoying and disheartening for it to chip out like that.

All's well emergency over

 

[rob1693]

Mineral oil is the suggested medium for soaking blanks in prior to threading

 

[steve355]

There we go, not perfect but ok for a first try. I didn’t have the patience or enough oil to soak them so I used the oil as a lubricant while cutting the threads.

 

[niall Y]

A beautiful result. I have an old one of these in my workshop but when it gets damp in the atmosphere, it sticks.

 

[steve355]

I made another one today, this time I used (kitchen) vegetable oil as a lubricant, as I’d run out of BLO. I soaked it for a couple of hours. The thread cut without any messing about and is pretty much perfect. In fact I’m now thinking that kitchen oil is better than BLO!

However, one problem. I can’t cut the bottom of the thread nicely (see second pic).

I made the handle as a single piece. Would people usually make the handle and screw thread separately, then drill and glue?