Kids flower presses...

Just a quick post, I meant to get this done a while ago but time seems to have run away with me.

So every year we try and make the kids a few things for their Christmas stockings (yes I know Christmas was a while ago) and this last year I decided to use my wood threading kit to make them some flower presses.

I've made simple flower presses before, which you can read about here (opens in new window) but thought I'd make a slightly more kid friendly press this time, the one in the other post is a bit basic, more functional than anything else.


Here they are -

No they're not upturned tables.

At first glance they do kind of look like little upturned tables, which is what the kids thought they were at first, which made me chuckle I have to say.

The wood for these cost nothing, the plates are made from an old book shelf, and the four screws are made from an old hardwood spindle, obviously a press like these would require a thread cutting kit, either a shop bought one or home made for cutting the threads, I also had to turn the spindle down a bit on my lathe, but you can always try out the how to in the link I posted above for a simpler version which works just as well.

To make these I cut four squares of wood (two for each press) then I drilled four holes in each square of wood, the holes in one half need to be slightly bigger to allow the screw to pass through, but not so big that the plate can slide off it, the holes in the other half need to be the right size for your threading kit.

Here's a picture of one of the screws - 

The screws are quite chunky.

And that's about it really, it's basically a wooden clamp, all that's left to do is cut some squares of cardboard and find something to press, I made these so the kids can press flowers or leaves for use in their various crafting pursuits, I'm also planning on making a much larger press, but for pressing apples and such like.

 With card to pack things out - 

Just needs something to press.

I did also make them some small mushroom ornaments, I've made a few to sell and the kids seemed to like them, so I made some in brighter colours, there's only two in the picture, but I did also make some red ones with white spots for my older daughters who also seem to really like them.

Mushroom ornaments - 

Colour schemes chosen by the kids.

Thanks for reading.

Wood threading kit...

For some time now I've looked at making threads in wood, and although I've found many solutions, I've not really been that sure I'd be able to replicate what I've seen, so to that end I decided to buy a ready made set, this one came from Axminster.co.uk it's a great kit...


Here it is -

Looks familiar ?

If you've ever done any type of metal work, specifically making threads and such like then this may look familiar, it is basically a tap and die set for wood, and works in pretty much the same way.

You make a hole in the wood, and using the tap you make the internal thread that the bolt part will bite into, it helps to oil the tap before hand, I used linseed oil.

Like so - 

Oiling the tap first makes a difference.

The cut internal thread (the nut if you will) - 

Not very clear, but you can make out the thread.

 

To make the bolt (external thread) you use the cutting box, using a bit of oil on the wood and leaving it for a few minutes makes a difference, you get a much cleaner thread.

The cutting box - 

You can just about see the cutting blade.

Wood ready for threading - 

I used some oil on it to make cutting smoother.

Thread cut - 

Nice and neat.

It's a good tool to have and I'm thinking of numerous things I can make with it, apart from the stuff I've already made that is, the parts I'm making in the pictures above are for something I've made for the kids Christmas stockings, but I can't tell you right now what they are as there are beady eyes everywhere.

One of the things I've made so far are nut crackers, I've made two so far, the first being a test using some scrap wood, but it turned out well, and it works, I had though the pine I used for the bowl part would crack under the pressure, but it's holding up well, the second one I made is a bit bigger, probably too big, but again it worked well.

The nutcrackers - 

Test piece made from scrap wood.

 And another, this is made in part from pallets - 

Despite it being a bit big I'm quite pleased with it.

After I made these I started to wonder what else I could make, and as it happens we were in need of a new tape dispenser (our old one broke) so I thought hey lets see if I can use the thread cutting kit and make a new tape dispenser, again it's made out of scrap bits of wood.

The tape dispenser - 

Slightly over engineered it has to be said.

I cut the basic shape out of some old shelves, the centre ring that holds the roll of tape is also made from old pine shelves, the nut that holds the ring is made from part of an old beech table leg (there's a reason it's not pine) I reused the tape cutter from the old dispenser, I was going to make a new one, but it was easier to use the old part.

The various parts of the tape dispenser - 

If you're going to do it, you might as well over do it.

As you can see the wooden ring goes inside the tape roll, and sits in the middle of the dispenser, and the bolt holds it in place, not to blow my own trumpet, but this works better than the old one, the old dispenser had a habit of spitting the roll of tape out, this doesn't plus it would probably withstand a small explosion, it's a bit heavy.

The reason I didn't make the bolt part out of pine as well is because it doesn't take a thread very well at all, even with oiling first the cutting box just chewed the wood to bits, which is why I used beech for the bolt part of the nut crackers as well.

As you can see here - 

Not great.

A wood with a tighter grain seems to work much better for making the external thread, although pine seems okay for the internal thread which I don't mind as I like to combine woods now and then, I'm looking forward to making loads of other things using wooden threads, and I'm probably going to get some more of these kits, but in a smaller size, I may even try my hand at making some of my own.

Thanks for reading.