Turning Brass on the Wood Lathe

[danmosheim]

I had occasion this week to revisit a discovery I made several years ago regarding turning brass details on a wood lathe. It's an interesting thing to do provided you are already something of a wood turner and wear proper eye protection and proceed carefully til you get the hang of it. We have used it to make custom turned leg details when the hardware proper to our design was not readily available. More details on my blog ...

looks like I still don't know how to open a picture in a thread ...

I have sorted the picture for you.
DaveL

 

[Anonymous]

Neat job Dan, very reminiscent of the ferrules on bagpipe drones.

The brass in the pic looks a bit steely... have you applied an antiquing finish or is it the photography?

Enjoyed your blog...it's not very often that tradesmen share their secrets, thanks :wink:

 

[TEP]

Great blog Dan, what tools do you use to hand turn brass?

I've done some small work making brass hooks for pocket watch stands. I used a graver and some small woodturning scrapers. Never done any on the scale you are doing.

Again thanks for sharing your methods.

 

[danmosheim]

Hi ... Thanks for your comments ... On my blog, the 'turning brass' entry shows the bright brass and the main tool we use, a 1/2", freshly sharpened, round nose scraper. In the post above that one, 'cutting brass on the cnc', the brass foot has been 'antiqued' with a patinating solution I got from a friend who makes custom light fixtures. It's a standard commercial patina that we apply and then rub lightly with 0000 steel wool to achieve the small shine ... You can see similar chemicals at the link below. The one we use works GREAT on brass, copper and steel ... very handy for repair and restoration work... I'm sure similar chemicals are available there in the UK ..
http://www.artchemicals.com/Antiquing_S ... _s/166.htm