How do I get a silver band into a channel cut in a round or oval
wooden handle without using super glue and the joint is solder shut
so it will not rotate or come apart.
Thanks in advance.
Terry
How do I get a silver band into a channel cut in a round or oval wooden handle without using super glue and the joint is solder shut so it will not rotate or come apart.
Laser weld.
Neil A.
You can make a lap joint and pin it. Make sure to use a tapered pin
and file it flush so you don’t see the wire.
Jeff Herman
I would suggest you first make the handle complete with the groove to
take the silver band cut oversize by the width of a saw cut. Draw an
alignment line along the handle for later assembly. Then cut the
handle in the middle of the groove. Carefully mark the centre of the
handle on both pieces on the saw cut faces and drill to take a
wooden dowel. Alternatively drill one side and use a dowelling plug
to mark the other side. Cut a length of dowel to fit both holes and
allow the handle to be reassembled with no gap, Then fabricate the
silver band to fit over the handle in the groove tightly Check that
it fits the groove when the handle is re assembled. Disassemble the
handle and smear a high strength non staining glue (e.g., epoxy or
polyurethane) in the dowel holes and across the cut face. Place the
silver band in the groove on one part of the handle, place the dowel
in the hole. Place the other part of the handle over the dowel, line
up the two parts of the alignment line and press the two parts of the
handle together to hold the silver band in the groove. Twist as
necessary to line up to align checking with a straight edge. Once the
glue is set then finish the woodwork and the silver band.
All the best
Jenny
One traditional woodturner’s way is to make the handle in two
pieces, with the division under the silver. A dowel or steel pin can
be used to strengthen the joint.
A second method if you are using silver as a color, rather than
"real" silver, a tight fitting wooden collar can be slipped over the
channel. and molten pewter poured into the space between the handle
and the collar through a notch carved on the bottom of the collar,
on the inside circumference, intersecting the channel.
Both presuppose that you have the handle in a lathe, and will clean
up the wood around the channel on the lathe in the first method, and
in the case of the pewter, the surface of the metal as well.
I have successfully done both, but not a lot, as they were a pain in
the donkey 
Terry, if U cut the channel correctly with a thin knife or whatever
you file /sand down the silver ribbon to a thin “knife” (use
sterling) and start tapping into the channel.it shouldn’t be
solderedl. if you do it correctly the silver will butt up with itself
on the other end of the circle and show virtually no gap. The natural
tension of the wood will hold it in if the silver ribbon is about
1/8th inch (depth in the wood). no glue is used for this work,
ever.
Dear Jenny
This is a wonderful solving of the inlayed silver band! The
suggestion is going into my file immediately! Thanks
Rose Marie Christison
How do I get a silver band into a channel cut in a round or oval wooden handle without using super glue and the joint is solder shut so it will not rotate or come apart.
I was thinking about this. Perhaps you could saw the wooden handle
in half through the channel, then use Carpenter Glue to bond them
back together again with the silver band now secured between the
pieces in the channel. The glue should hold it together or you can
use Liquid Nails.
Just a thought on how it could be done.
Michele
I was thinking about this. Perhaps you could saw the wooden handle in half through the channel, then use Carpenter Glue to bond them back together again with the silver band now secured between the pieces in the channel. The glue should hold it together or you can use Liquid Nails.
That sounds like a great solution to the problem Michele! The silver
band will then be “set” into the wood more securely and the silver
band CAN be soldered closed prior to “setting” in the wooden handle.
Perhaps drilling into the ends of the wooden handle halves, and
using a dowel and wood glue, might give an even stronger result?
Helen
UK
I remember an old blacksmith (my grandfather) putting the steel rim
(tire) on a wooden wagon wheel. The steel rim is in the form of a
hoop that is a bit too small to be forced over the wooden wheel. The
rim was heated in a big wood fire which caused the rim to expand as
do most things when heated. The rim was then placed over the wooden
wheel, adjusted to satisfaction then doused with cold water. The
chilling caused the rim to contract to form a durable tight tire and
to greatly reinforce the wooden wheel. This procedure might work with
a sillver band on a wooden handle. It seems worth a trial.
Gerald Vaughan
I remember an old blacksmith (my grandfather) putting the steel rim (tire) on a wooden wagon wheel. The steel rim is in the form of a hoop that is a bit too small to be forced over the wooden wheel. The rim was heated in a big wood fire which caused the rim to expand as do most things when heated. The rim was then placed over the wooden wheel, adjusted to satisfaction then doused with cold water. The chilling caused the rim to contract to form a durable tight tire and to greatly reinforce the wooden wheel. This procedure might work with a sillver band on a wooden handle. It seems worth a trial.
Sure it would work, but you have to be very quick.
I saw a similar demonstration at a pioneer village here in
Australia, the demonstration was a wagon wheel.
The metal rim was made undersized, heated to red hot, placed over
the wooden wheel, then water was quickly poured onto the hot steel.
It had to be done really quickly so that the wood would not burn.
Regards Charles
This procedure might work with a sillver band on a wooden handle. It seems worth a trial.
I would imagine the steel rim on a wooden wagon wheel technique
would indeed work, but the heat of the silver would more than likely
char the wooden handle, no?
Helen
UK
Hi Rose Marie,
I tried to send this as an individual e-mail but I couldn’t get it
to work.
Thanks for the kind words. I realise now that there probably a few
gaps and assumptions in my description which you will need to fill in
particularly about getting the silver band to fit snugly. It’s a bit
like fitting a bezel strip around a stone. If it is very slightly
undersize it’s usually easy to expand it slightly by hammering it
against a mandrel with a soft hammer. Shrinking involves cutting and
re-soldering which is obviously best avoided.
Anyway I hope it all goes well and I would love to hear hoe it turns
out.
All the best
Jenny
Here is another approach to inlaying a band: make the band much
thicker than required, to begin with. Polish the inside and round the
inner edge slightly. Prepare the wood handle/rod/whatever to nearly
it’s final outside dimension, but don’t finish sand it. If it’s
tapered, at least slightly, it will help immensely. Then cut the
groove in the wood just slightly over-size to the silver band
internal diameter, to insure a tight fit. If you wish, you can also
give the band a very slight taper so it’s a tiny bit wedge-shaped
with the narrower side on the inside where it will seat in the
groove. That helps make the final seam between the metal and wood as
small as possible.
Now what you do is force the band down over the wood using a
non-marking pusher (make one from hardwood or plastic). Tap it down
gradually over the wood and into the groove. It will compress the
wood some and stretch the band a bit as you are doing it. When it
snaps into place, if you have measured correctly, it should be a
tight fit. If not, wrap some wet rag strips around the inlay section
to expand the wood fibers a bit. Now file and rough-sand the silver
flush with the wood, and final sand and finish the piece.
A knifemaker shared this technique with me when I asked how it was
done. IMHO, this is a more precise way of fitting it than trying to
heat-shrink it on. Silver loses heat so much faster than steel that I
doubt whether the heat-shrink technique would work very well, in any
case. A steel wagon tire stays hot for long enough because the heat
doesn’t radiate as way nearly as fast as it would from a tiny piece
of silver.
Regards,
Bob Edwards
Chromis Designs
San Francisco
Inlayed silver band: restorer’s approach
It’s funny, the approach I took to inlaying was from a restorer’s
point of view. I was naturally thinking the handle was already made
and required that a silver band be replaced. Lots of great ideas out
there.
This was my answer:
You can make a lap joint and pin it. Make sure to use a tapered pin
and file it flush so you don’t see the wire.
Jeff Herman