Small stoppered tubes
Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2020 5:01 pm
After messing with elder canes for a pocket bellows, I started thinking about what else hollow wooden tubing could be used for. I tried making a whistle...that didn't work even a little bit, but while carving fipples for it, I realized that a wooden tube could be quite cool.
I reamed the pith out of a well-dried cane of elder and then used a drill bit to widen the bore to 3/8". I took some 3/8" poplar dowel and cut a small disc off of it, which I glued into the bottom of the tube. I then cut the top off the tube and inserted a longer piece of dowel that stood proud of the tube itself, to make a stopper. I drilled a small hole through the stopper, which I carefully widened to make a lanyard. The stopper is a very good friction fit.
I intended this as a sewing kit, but while fine for needle storage there's not much of a good way to store thread in such a narrow vessel. In retrospect, though, shorter versions of this could make excellent spice bottles--lighter and less delicate than glass, while still being reasonably waterproof once waxed.
Here it is all finished!
I reamed the pith out of a well-dried cane of elder and then used a drill bit to widen the bore to 3/8". I took some 3/8" poplar dowel and cut a small disc off of it, which I glued into the bottom of the tube. I then cut the top off the tube and inserted a longer piece of dowel that stood proud of the tube itself, to make a stopper. I drilled a small hole through the stopper, which I carefully widened to make a lanyard. The stopper is a very good friction fit.
I intended this as a sewing kit, but while fine for needle storage there's not much of a good way to store thread in such a narrow vessel. In retrospect, though, shorter versions of this could make excellent spice bottles--lighter and less delicate than glass, while still being reasonably waterproof once waxed.
Here it is all finished!