Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Crafted Workshop: Resin & Burl Tap Handles”.
What’S going on everybody, I’m Johnny Brooklyn crafty workshop back for another video here on the make magazine YouTube channel. So today I’m turning this really simple, maple, burl and resin tap handle so next month’s project, I’m going to be building a smart kegerator that tracks the volume left in the kegs in my kegerator, I’m gon na be serving coffee and my home brewed beer, and so That’S going to be awesome, but I wanted some really cool tap handles to go with it. So again, this is a simple turning project turn this on a very inexpensive lathe. If you want to get into turning, you can get into it for pretty cheap and all the link in the video description to all the tools I used, but without further ado. Let’S go and get started with the bill, so I got two stabilized maple burl and resin turning blank from my friend heat knuckles, who has a ton of videos that show his process for making these blanks, so these blanks are really perfect for all kinds of small Turned items including the tap handles I’m making here this blank was big enough to get four tap handles out of so my first step was cutting it into four equally sized pieces. I did this at the bandsaw, but you could certainly do this with a basic handsaw. If you don’t have access to a bandsaw – and this was my first time working with a resin blank and this stuff just makes a massive mess next, I needed to mark the center on the pieces so that I could drill a hole for the threaded insert, which Will be used to attach the tap handle to the tap faucets themselves, and these inserts are a standard size across the board at pretty much every bar in America and I’ll have links to the exact inserts in the video description below. So I initially tried installing these by drilling a slightly under sized hole and then threading the inserts in, but I just ended up breaking both the resin and the insert when doing this. So I eventually figured out that the best method was going to be to drill a hole big enough that the insert would fit in and then use epoxy to keep the insert in the hole.
So I drilled the holes on the drill press then put epoxy in the holes and put in the inserts and it’s important to have some kind of bolt threaded into the insert, so the epoxy doesn’t get into the threads and keep the threads from being functional. So let the epoxy cure for about an hour, and then it was time to get to turning so to get the tap handle started, I used a spur, cinder came with my lathe, and this holds the piece in place on the lathe. I found a disperse Center into place with a mallet and then mounted it on the lathe in the tailstock of my lathe, I installed a live Center, which also came with my lathe and tightened it down. And finally, I positioned the tool rest so that my turning tool would be roughly centered on the piece and then made sure the blank could spin without hitting the tool rest to start the turning process.
I first needed to roughly bring the blank into round, and so I used carbide tools for this entire project and I’ll have a link to the exact tools in the video description below. So I started with the square tipped carbide tool, which is really good for roughing out a piece I was getting a lot of chipping in the resin, though so I just kept kind of increasing my speed as I got this piece closer to round, and this really Helped once it was roughly round, I switched over to my round tipped turning tool, and with this I started to define the shape of the tap handle, which was just a simple taper. With a rounded end, I just kept taking small passes, making sure not to dig in too quickly, otherwise the resin would chip out really easily and when I was using the round tip tool.
I’D brought the RPM on the lathe up to around 3000, and this gave me a really nice smooth finish so with the piece getting closer to its final shape. I switched from the spur center to my drill chuck, so I put a piece of threaded rod into the threaded insert in the tap handle locked it in place with two nuts and then chucked up the threaded rod in my drill truck on the other end of The blank I inserted the live Center into the hole left by the spur Center and I was ready to roll so once I got the shape to where I wanted it. I used the diamond-shaped carbide tool to create a few grooves in towards the end of the tap handle next again using the same tool.
I turned away any dents left by the spur Center and started to shape the very end of the handle. So with the piece still well supported, I went ahead and got to sanding. I started with 120 grit, then moved up to 220 grit and then moved up to this micro mesh system of sanding pads. They start at 600 grit and go all the way up to 12,000 grit and are pretty essential to get an ultra smooth surface on resin. So I worked my way up through the grits until the tap handle was super smooth and then I removed the tailstock and started working on the end of the handle. So first I filed down the small bit that was supporting the piece and then continued to file until the hole from the spur Center was totally gone.
Next, I send it up to the grits again, starting with 120 grit and working my way up through the micro mesh and then finally, it was time to apply to finish so. I used a friction finish, which means that the finish has a small amount of abrasive in it. That brings out a really high shine when buffed out on the lathe, so I applied to finish with a shop towel while the lathe was off and then turned on the lathe and buffed out.
The finish and the final result, as you can see, is a beautiful high gloss finish that really made the color in the resin and maple burl pop and, with the finish applied, the tap handle was done all right. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this one. This is a really simple build.
Turning is a great way to get into woodworking. You can get a lathe for very inexpensive delays. I used here was less than $ 250 new. You can also find them used on Craigslist for really cheap and it’s a lot of fun. Just very organic. You kind of see the piece take shape in front of you.
So thanks again for watching guys, if you don’t already go ahead and get subscribe to my youtube channel, I put out new project videos like this. Every Tuesday and again I’ll have links in the video description to all the tools and materials I used in this build thanks again for watching guys until next time, happy .