How to Make a Bud Vase From Two-By-Fours

 

What Are Bud Vases?

I discovered turning bud vases by watching other woodturners online. They are used as small decorative pieces that can have flowers, weeds, and even twigs stuck in them. Whatever you fancy fits your decor. The techniques I use in this article were first applied to turning small candlesticks. My first bud vases were actually turned from sections of thick branches I'd scavenged. Combining the two came quite naturally, and the results are pleasing. If you want to practice woodturning, they are a terrific item to make. They are small, and the amount of wood used is minimal. You can scavenge enough material from a two-by-four cutoff scrap pile to keep yourself busy for a while. They do not require that you hollow out the vase. All they require is a three-eighths-inch hole drilled down into them (Other diameters can be used depending on the size of the item turned). Not only that, but any turnable chunk of a thick branch can provide a great deal of additional material. Below is a quick slideshow of items I've turned out of two-by-four materials using the same techniques I use for turning bud vases.

Please note that you shouldn't put any water in your bud vase unless you give it a waterproof finish first.

How To Prepare The Blank

The blank for this project is simply two two-by-fours glued face-to-face. However, there are several considerations that will give you better results.

• For starters, select clean two-by-fours. Gluing dirty or weathered material will yield a much poorer glue joint, and your glue line will be dark and noticeable in the finished project.
• Secondly, take a look at the end of your material. Grain pattern can be important, especially if you live in a very humid environment. Try not to select boards cut from the middle of the tree trunk. If it is, you will see the circular pattern on the end of the board. I find these boards will expand in the middle as they take moisture from the air, and this could cause the edges of your glue joints to open up over time.
• Finally, most boards naturally cup even if it is only slightly. When you glue your pieces together, face the cupped faces toward each other. That will give you your best glue joint. If the sections were cut from the same two-by-four, you will have a more or less symmetrical grain pattern on your finished project as well.
• As always with two-by-four material, I recommend cutting off the corners of your blanks to save wear and tear on your lathe chisels.

How To Mount The Blank To Your Lathe

For safety and stability, I always turn my blanks in two steps. In the initial step, I will mount the blank between centers. With a roughing gouge, I will turn the entire blank round, smooth the surface with my large skew, and then cut a tenon so that it can be mounted to my chuck. While it is possible to turn bud vases without a chuck, it would be difficult. I highly recommend purchasing one if you don't already own one. Adding a chuck to your equipment will open a lot of possibilities for your woodturning. I purchased mine on Amazon. It was the least expensive I could find at the time that was suitable for my purposes. It might not be the best quality one they offer, but I've been quite happy with mine. I've already done a considerable amount of work with it.

This is my shop-made drill bit tool. You do not have to have an extra-long drill bit.

Turning Your Blank Into a Bud Vase

I start by roughing out the general shape that I want. The possibilities here are virtually endless. Because you are working with Spruce, which is prone to chipping and tearing out. I would keep your design simple. It will need sanding, so keep that in mind as well. The biggest challenge is making the hole for whatever you plan to put in your little vase. If you have a Jacobs chuck for your tailstock, that won't be a big deal. I didn't have one at the time I wrote this. Instead, I made a tool that is basically a drill bit mounted into a handle. I purchased an extra-long drill bit from the dollar store and turned a handle for it on the lathe. Drilled the necessary hole to accept the drill bit shank and epoxied it all together. To use the drill bit tool, I cut a deep dimple into my blank where I want the hole with my lathe skew, making sure that the point of the dimple is well centered. Then I push the tool by hand into the work while the lathe is turning. Using this technique, I've had very little trouble with the hole getting off-center. Of course, now I just use my Jacobs chuck to mount a drill bit.

The finished bud vase made for this article

It is sometimes helpful to watch the process on video. Take the time to watch the video below. It may help to explain the process better.

Taking It To Another Level

Practicing woodturning by making bud vases like the candy bowl from my previous article is a stepping stone to bigger and better things. The spindle turning techniques that I use here have been used by me to make bedposts, candlesticks, oversized chessmen, and a number of other items.

You could expand out into making table lamps, wooden goblets, and a host of other practical and decorative items. It really is up to you what you do with this from here. I will continue to make more articles in this series. Stay tuned. I will try to have something new every week until I start running out of time and/or ideas.

My wife picked some quick wild flowers to show off our work

How to Turn a Bowl From Two-By-Fours

 

How I Got Started

How I got the idea to make this is a bit of a long story. If you're only interested in knowing how to make them, feel free to skip down to the section "How to Prepare the Candy Bowl Blank".

It started with a chocolate bar selling fundraiser my kids put together to try and raise money to buy an educational CD for their homeschooling. They really wanted it, but we couldn't really justify buying it. They found a company that would provide the chocolate bars and worked very hard selling them door to door in our rural community. The excess stock was returned as per the supplier's policies. When all was said and done, they made very little for an impressive effort. We bought them the CD anyway, but couldn't help thinking there had to be a better way.

I came up with the idea of turning small six-inch shallow bowls from our two-by-four cutoff scrap pile, having my wife make homemade candy, wrapping them in cellophane with a bow, and then selling them on the corner of my desk at work. They sold far better than I expected, and soon I was selling them on consignment through a local hair salon. They sold so well leading up to Christmas that my scrap pile ran out, and I had to start buying material to fill the demand. Sales continued into January the following year and then slowly dried up. Considering that my market was a rural hick village, the results were impressive.

How to Prepare the Candy Bowl Blank

Step One

Cut two six-inch pieces of two by four. Split those two pieces down the middle lengthwise, making four pieces roughly six inches long, one and three-quarters inches wide, and one and a half inches high.

Step Two

Take two pieces cut from the same section and place them side by side with the saw cut side down. Then place the other two pieces on either side of them in the same orientation. Glue and clamp them in this configuration, trying to keep the blank as square and flat as possible.

Step Three

Once the glue has cured, you can take your blank out of the clamps. At this point, I will mark an x on my work with a pencil from corner to corner. If you have a faceplate with four or eight screw holes, this is the best way to center your faceplate on the blank.

Before screwing my faceplate into place, I will cut off the corners of my blank, giving it an octagonal shape in the name of saving wear and tear on my lathe chisels.

If you only have a faceplate and no chuck, attach it to the flat side of your blank. All your turning will be done in that orientation.

I have a chuck, so I start out with the opposite face of the blank attached to the faceplate. I will turn the bottom of the bowl first, take off the faceplate, flip the blank around, mount it in the chuck, and turn the inside of the bowl.

Turning the Candy Bowl

Make sure your tools are sharp before beginning. Spruce two-by-fours are prone to chips and tear-out. How you design it is entirely up to you. My only recommendation is that you keep your design fairly simple, keeping the limitations of this kind of wood in mind.

Take a look at the short gallery below showing some of the bowls and bowl-style candle holders that I have turned from these blanks.

More Turning Ideas

For me, a six by six by one and three-quarter inch wooden bowl blank will always be called a candy bowl blank. From a woodturning perspective, though, this is only a beginning point. Sure, you can turn a virtually unlimited number of different little bowls out of it, but there are so many other things that you can make.

Very early on, someone suggested I start making the same sort of thing into candle holders. I embraced the suggestion and made a line of candle holders, which customers did buy. Then I turned one into an egg cup with a wide brim just for fun. I really like it. I have a spot to put my eggshells without putting them on the table or the plate I'm eating off of. I've also turned these same blanks into bases for low pedestal display plates and platters. How many different things do you think can be turned from this one bowl blank?

If you can see beyond the size limitations and realize that you can then make larger and/or thicker, you may start to glimpse how far this can take your woodturning.

All I can say is take this and run with it. It is my intention to do additional articles on pieces that can be turned expanding on the work in this article. If you elect to make stuff based on this article, I'd love to see it or even just hear about it.

Turning a Small Bowl

How To Turn Two-By-Fours - An Introduction

This article is the first in a series of articles showing how to turn many useful and attractive items out of the lowly construction two-by-four.

Ten-inch by ten-inch lidded pedestal box turned entirely from

 construction cutoffs scavenged from a worksite.

The same turned box opened.

My Start in Woodturning

I turned my first bowl in middle school before I even went to high school. I still have it. Later, I got to turn the legs for four toddler-sized chairs on my older brother's lathe. That was pretty much it until after I got married and managed to save up enough money for my own lathe. The only problem is that I had the lathe but no materials for turning anything. All I had were two-by-four cutoffs left over from building some outbuildings. While not the ideal wood for the job, I persisted in creating things on my lathe, and this article is a distillation of the knowledge gained.

What You Need to Know Before You Start

Most construction-grade two by fours in Canada and the United States are made from either Yellow Pine, Douglas Fir, or Spruce. Spruce is divided into three native species: Red Spruce, White Spruce, and Black Spruce. In addition, Norway Spruce has been introduced and harvested within the lumber industry. I live in Eastern Canada, and virtually all construction-grade two by fours I have access to are made from Spruce. I have turned at least two of the four different species, and I find there is no qualitative difference between them when it comes to turning them on a wood lathe. They are all prone to chipping and tearing out. I cannot speak directly to Douglas Fir or Yellow Pine, but I have heard they have similar problems. Hopefully, someday I can get my hands on some samples and assess them directly. Spruce is my focus here, and I want to address the most important question: Can you turn a piece of Spruce on your lathe in spite of its drawbacks and create something useful and/or beautiful? My answer is an emphatic yes. Check out the slideshow of my past work to get an idea of what I mean.

Keys To Success

You're only going to get good results from any material if you work within its strengths and weaknesses. I think Spruce two-by-fours are a great material to learn woodturning with because it's not very forgiving. If your tools are dull, your technique is bad, and your designs ask too much, you're going to be making firewood.

Spruce tears out and chips easily. Don't fight it. You'll lose.

Keep Your Tools Sharp

You don't have to make sure the cutting angles on your tools are perfect, so you don't have to be a master tool sharpener before you begin. You do need to be able to put a keen edge on them, though. The better you are at sharpening, the better work you'll be able to do.

I would suggest starting out with a cheap but adequate set of lathe chisels. They can bear the brunt of your learning. Take the time to learn from an expert. There are plenty of them online on YouTube. Watching these videos has helped me improve immensely.

Turning Spruce is hard on your cutting edges. I don't know why entirely. I've read some sources that blame silica in the wood or chemical reactions between the resins and the steel in the tools. I just know that when I turn Spruce, I spend additional time sharpening tools compared to when I work with some of the more common woods I have access to. To help, I always cut the corners off my turning blanks before I even mount them on the lathe.

Work On Your Technique

All the instruction I got at the beginning was watching a shop teacher turn a small bowl with a round nose scraper. I started out using all my tools as scrapers. That kind of technique will only take you so far. I continue trying to improve my technique, but I would not consider myself even close to being an expert. I can recommend several YouTube turners that have been very helpful to me. Any of these people can make you better: Brian Havens, Mike Peace, Ashley Harwood, and the guy on the channel wortheffort. There are probably quite a few more that I haven't mentioned, but I don't have the time to listen to everybody.

If it's any comfort, you will improve with practice.

Design

Trying to cut fine details into Spruce is a mistake. I find that no matter how sharp my tools are and how carefully I approach my cuts, there are details that chip or tear out. I don't mind a chip here and there. That often adds character to one of my pieces. When most of a fine bead chips away, it's time to reconsider what you are trying to do.

My recommendation is to simplify your designs and try to avoid details that are likely to fail. Simple, elegant designs can be just as effective as finely crafted details.

If you take the time to take these three points into consideration, you are well on your way to making beautiful things with two-by-fours.

Big Upside For Two By Fours

Two-by-four material is one of the most economical sources of wood out there. Companies and people will often give away cut-offs for the asking. Even if you have to buy full two-by-fours, they are about the most inexpensive woods going. The advantages don't stop there, though.

I don't own a jointer or a planer yet, but laminating two-by-fours into turning blocks is no problem. They are cut to dimensions, and they are planed. As long as they are clean, there is no preparation needed; just glue and clamp them together.

I glue them into simple blocks for turning bowls, and also glue two face-to-face to make large spindles. That is only the beginning of what you can actually do. If two-by-fours are the only material you can get, there is no reason to give up on turning.

Hidden Cost

Turning two-by-fours instead of prime material does have two hidden costs that you should be aware of before you begin. Because you have to sharpen your tools more often, they will wear out and need to be replaced sooner. The other hidden cost is sandpaper. This material does not cut as cleanly as top-notch turning woods and will require more sanding before applying finishes. While these two costs are not huge over time, they do become significant.

How To Make Inexpensive Rustic Hairsticks

 

Seven-inch chokecherry carved hair sticks

Hair sticks are one of the oldest fashion accessories known to humankind. They have been used to secure long hair in virtually every culture on Earth over the millennia. They are not difficult to use, and better yet, they are easy to make. This article will show you how to transform a couple of small sticks into a pair of elegant, practical hair sticks.

Equipment

• Loppers, hand pruners or a small saw

• Whittling or carving knife

• Sandpaper

• Finish

Before You Begin

Hair sticks vary in length, anywhere from about ten inches down to about four. The most common length that I've encountered is about seven inches, and that is roughly how long I make mine. What is best for you will depend less on how long your hair is than on how thick it is. Decide on the length before you begin.

Two dead twigs pruned from a tree close to my home

Selecting Your Material

I live in a thick forest and just go for a walk with loppers or pruners in hand. I look for sticks that are about as big around as my wife's index finger or my pinkie finger. If you have stonemason's hands, your material will be too thick. You can make hair sticks from a thicker material, but you're making more work for yourself. Whittling them down to size will take longer.

• Try to find two sticks of the same species of wood. Otherwise, they are not going to match when you're finished.
• Using moderate pressure, try to break the stick in two. If it breaks easily, it isn't strong enough. Just move on to another stick.
• I cut my sticks to nine inches, which is about two inches longer than my finished product. Once I have the sticks I want, I take them home.

The terms hardwood and softwood are ambiguous terms. They don't tell you how hard the wood actually is. For the purpose of carving hair sticks, you will know how hard the wood is when you start whittling. The harder a wood is, the harder it will be to carve. I carve them anyway because the wood is often beautiful. Many softwoods contain a lot of sap and/or resin. To use them, the wood has to be very dry, and a finish should be applied to avoid getting sticky resin in the user's hair.

Dry deadwood is also harder to carve than green wood with the sap in it. For some species of wood, I only cut deadwood because I don't want to remove any living growth. For other species, it doesn't really matter.

Cutting away from myself

Step One

Remove the bark. I use a knife and can whittle the bark off my hair stick blank within a matter of minutes. Remember to keep the hand holding your work behind the cutting edge and the direction of cut. Always cut away from your body.

Whittling away the bark

Step Two

Continue whittling until you have your hair stick-shaped and sized the way you want it. To be practical, it does need to come to a blunt point on one end. That will make it easy to insert into the hair when it is being used.

If you like the hair sticks the way they are, you can happily stop right here and use them (My daughter and I call this the anti-vampire stake stage). Just make sure there is nothing to snag the user's hair, and you're good to go. Most people prefer to sand them at this point and apply a finish of some kind.

Anti-vampire stakes. I've left extra material on because 

I will be machine sanding to bring them to their final shape.

Step Three

Sanding allows you to refine the shape and make everything nice and smooth. If you watch my video, you will see that I flip my belt sander upside down and work on it like it's a bench sander. You don't have to do that. Hand sanding takes more time but offers greater control. Beautiful results are easily attainable either way.

Sanded and ready for finishing

Step Four

Adding embellishments is something I feel compelled to do. I don't feel like my hair sticks are complete until I've carved some kind of knob or pattern into one end. I use simple carving tools and find that my options here are only limited by my imagination and skill. At the end of this step, fine sand your work if needed.

Various treatments on the ends of the hair sticks

Step Five

Raw wooden hair sticks will absorb oils from the hair of the user; however, I would recommend putting a finish on your work on purpose. Finishes like walnut oil or linseed oil will bring out the natural beauty of the grain. Stains can give your work a rich colour. Lacquer, varnish, or shellac can enhance and protect the wood as well as make it even smoother to the touch. The choices are up to you.

Oiled and ready for use

All Finished

Your hair sticks are all ready. They're beautiful, and you made them yourself. If you're at a loss as to how to use them, here is a video that will show you how. YouTube, of course, will suggest several other similar videos when you're done looking at this one.

Watch the Author Make a Hair Stick

I think with this article alone, it would be easy to make a hair stick. Sometimes it helps to see someone in action. In this video, I carve a hair stick out of Speckled Alder sticks. The wood is soft and green, and the process goes very quickly. Even with stops to discuss shooting with my videographer and reshoots, I was able to complete and oil this set of hair sticks within thirty minutes.

Carve a Better Hair Stick

Since I started carving hair sticks, I've learned a lot. Carving a triangular profile on your rustic hair stick will make a big difference in the performance. If you have "difficult to hold" hair, this profile will keep your bun in place significantly longer.