Knobs 219, 220, 222 & 223 – colored with fabric paint

Posted on September 30, 2016 by admin

All four knobs are made from a Cali Bamboo woven strand Eucalyptus flooring sample, which has a lot of iridescence.

knobs-0219-0220-600Knobs 219 & 220

Knob 219 has been refinished, and did not turn out as well as hoped.  It was supposed to be translucent purple-blue-turquoise with iridescence showing through, but ended up so dark it’s almost black.  Knob 220 turned out a bit better, with alternate layers of generic superglue and fabric paint (Setacolor Orange & Raw Sienna).  The groove in the top of 220 was filled with Lemon Yellow on top of Buttercup, when Buttercup turned out to be too dark.  Kiwi neutral shoe polish completes the top finish.

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Knobs 221 & 222

Knob 221 uses alternate layers of generic SG and Setacolor Crimson Red, with Fushia trim trim.  Knob 222 uses alternate layers of generic SG and Jacquard Textile paint in Apple Green, with additions of Setacolor Moss Green, Pernod Yellow, Buttercup and Turquoise.  Both knobs show some iridescence and are finished with a top coat of Kiwi NSP.

These knobs could have been better; a couple look a bit worse for wear, without any actual wear.  It may work better to use a lighter wood and an airbrush with fast-drying acrylic airbrush paint.  Anything good takes experiment and practice.

 

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Three Bubinga knobs, 215, 216 & 217

Posted on September 22, 2016 by admin

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Knobs 215, 216 & 217

0.614 to .651″H x 0.919 to 0.932″D

Bubinga, or African Rosewood, is a pale, reddish hardwood with dark rose streaks.  As you can see from the different viewing angles, the side grain is highly iridescent (not the end grain) when highly polished.  It cuts very well with carbide tools, without as much smearing of the end grain or splintering as other woods.  These knobs have been finished with generic superglue primer and Kiwi neutral shoe polish.  #215 on the left uses a long set screw for a pointer, and the others use a yellow glass bead (#848432, Czech Glass Beads from Hobby Lobby).

These will not be sold, having been presented to a friend.  Please note, they are a choking hazard for small children and adults with chemo brain.

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Knob 207 recut – Knobs 213 & 214

Posted on September 19, 2016 by admin

The middle band of knob 207 made it too hard to grip:

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So it has been recut to a profile that is easier to grip:

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Knob 213 ( below left) is a wide knob, suitable for a rotary switch, with several finger-grip rings around the top.  Knob 214 (below right) has a more angular profile, with a smaller top and a yellow glass beat pointer.  Both are solid woven strand Eucalyptus, with a generic superglue primer and Kiwi neutral shoe polish finish.  Again, getting the evident iridescence requires a high polish on the bare wood before finishing; followed by more fine polishing.

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Knobs 213 & 214

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Eucalyptus Knobs #210, 211, 212

Posted on September 14, 2016 by admin

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Having a ridge or grooves at the top of a wooden knob serves the same purpose as knurls on a plastic knob.  It helps the fingers grip.

knobs-209-208-210-600Knobs 209, 208, 210

knobs-212-211-600Knobs 212 (left) & 211 (right)

Note the high iridescence at certain angles.  The colors in all the images in this post have been desaturated.  I may have gone too far, but they just didn’t look realistic compared to reflected light.  But that is the nature of digital images on monitors.

 

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Knob 209 – Eucalyptus

Posted on September 11, 2016 by admin

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Knob 209

Shot more from the side than knob 208 to show the profile better.  Finished with superglue and shoe polish.  The colors in the image look a bit more red than the real knob.

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Knob 208 – Eucalyptus

Posted on September 11, 2016 by admin

knob0208Knob 208

This is a better design than 206 and 207 (from the same flooring sample), created with round and flat carbide tools, and round and flat files.  It offers more finger space between knobs than 206, and a better grip than 207.  The hole is threaded for a 5-40 set screw.  After polishing the wood with very fine abrasive cloth, Kiwi neutral shoe polish over superglue finish the wood.  The two images illustrate the resulting iridescence.

You can’t get a knob like this from plastic.

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Started on “Fossilized” Eucalyptus Knobs

Posted on September 10, 2016 by admin

These knobs come from Cali Bamboo “Fossilized” strand woven solid Eucalyptus flooring samples at Lowe’s, Product Item #759166.  The usable area of the sample is about 4-7/8″ by 3-15/16″ by 17/32″ (122 x 100 x 13 mm), large enough for 20 knobs.  It looks like strips of Eucalyptus are glued together under heat and pressure with some kind of hard plastic or resin.  This material chips less than the “Fossilized” bamboo, but is easier to burn with friction using files to shape and smooth.  Very sharp tools, preferably carbide, need be used to avoid gouging and smearing of the grain.

The following pictures show one knob each in two different orientations to show the dramatic iridescence when this wood is highly polished.  These were finished first with superglue, then with Kiwi neutral shoe polish.

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Knob 206

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Knob 207

Hints of scarlet show in some of the darker grain, but might dim with exposure to light.

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New knobs up to S/N 205

Posted on September 5, 2016 by admin

2016-09-05 knobs incl #205Using Cali Bamboo ™ flooring product 759151, “Fossilized” (apparently meaning glued and injected with a hard plastic) strand woven solid bamboo, carbonized at the factory to a dark brown, TSG serial-numbered knobs now go up to s/n 205.  They run from 0.511″ to 0.556″ high by 0.794″ to 0.860″ in diameter, all with horizontal grain.  The first one, #188 was polished to a high gloss and finished with generic superglue.  Because that made it too dark to see the mottling in the end grain, the rest were polished to a high gloss and finished with Kiwi neutral shoe polish.

Here are some semi-matched sets of knobs with similar contours.  The pictures look a little weird because of close-up camera fisheye distortion, which is partially corrected with the perspective edit in PhotoShop.  The original digital images looked to saturated to be real, so in PhotoShop ™, the saturation was dropped by -15.

2016-09-05 dark bamboo knobs-a

2016-09-05 dark bamboo knobs-b

2016-09-05 dark bamboo knobs-c

2016-09-05 dark bamboo knobs-d

In this last one, #188 with superglue finish shows on the right, compared to the other two with shoe polish.  Note that with superglue, the colors are darker, and a little redder and more saturated.  It’s all a matter of subjective personal preference.  Pictures on a monitor can’t tell the full story – they look a bit different when seen directly.  If you look closely at the knob on the left, you can see some chipping on the top that is common to this material.  It can also crack along the grain, where the “strands” are glued together, as did two of the 20 knob blanks.

If you want perfection, get molded plastic.  Wood knobs each have their own unique character, which will sometimes include flaws that were not discovered until after finishing.  Then again, when you get to be 70, you can entitled to bad days, too.

Here is an older set, made of Padauk.  See if you can find it in the first picture.

2016-09-05 Padauk knobsThe middle knob has been rotated compared to the other two in order to show the natural iridescence of the wood.  My notes don’t show the finish, but at the time, I was priming with superglue and finishing with polyurethane.

 

 

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Got knob tooling set up again

Posted on August 19, 2016 by admin

2016-08-19-bamboo knob P8191796-400This carbonized bamboo knob, from a Cali Bamboo ™ “fossilized woven strand” floor sample, and finished with superglue, has some iridescence in the caramel-colored streaks.  Although hard to see in this image, the end grain is mottled dark brown, with the fiber ends looking something water in a like a boiling pot.

The material is fibrous and chips easily, but also polishes well.  It does make fine cuts easily, but it looks like filing might work better than cutting to avoid chipping.  Cutting without a lathe tailpiece allows high-frequency chatter at the end away from the lathe headstock.  But since the plank was only about 0.544″ (14 mm) at the thinnest part, The tailpiece punched through into the cavity for the pot shaft.  A plank 5/8″ or 0.625″ thick works better.

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USPTO Official Gazette notice for 9/13/2016

Posted on August 15, 2016 by admin

Patent 9,401,134

Acoustic-electric stringed instrument with improved body, electric pickup placement, pickup switching and electronic circuit

Will appear in the 9/13/2016 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Official Gazette, listed as being offered for license (only, not sale).

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