Wanted: resource for wood turning

How about making your own barrels?

Start by getting a wood dowel (or a broom stick, etc if correct size) the diameter you want and cut off the length you need squarely.  Use a tri square metal ruler with a center finder and mark the center of each end.  Drill a small pilot hole through the exact center of your piece.  Drill it out to fit a 2 inch long bolt at least 1/8 inch dia.  Place the bolt in the center of the the piece and add a washer and nut and tighten it down.  Mark up the piece where you want the slate hold down grooves to be to make it look like a barrel.  Also make a cardboard cut out to use a pattern of the groove you want.

Place the extra length of the bolt in your electric hand drill or drill press if you have one.  If a hand drill, figure out a way to hold the drill on a bench or in a vise wrapped in a towel.  Use knifes and/or small metal working files to be held against the drum piece in the running drill and carefully let the files remove extra wood to make the piece into a drum shape.  Use fine files and sand paper against the spinning barrel to finish its shape.

Charlie

There are all types of barrels at craft stores or Amazon.

hi guys

thanks!  I have a particular size and shape of barrel I need that does not seem to be commercially available.

Like a larger version of the Standard Gauge ones Lionel made  (rounded sides, not straight).

After coming up empty for a long time I finally decided to see if there was someone who might make them.

John

Check your local area for woodworking clubs.

Steve

As you’ll see in the link, she actually an artist.  But, she may take the job or refer you to someone who will make your barrels.

ashley harwood

Ashley may make them but you won't be able to afford them. Look closely at the size of the lathe she uses and the products she makes.

Your best bet for hand-made barrels is to buy your own pen lathe and have at it.

Here’s a better link.  www.ashleyharwood.com
Ashley actually made her “bones” making the most delicate finials for sale.

Thankfully, Turkey Hollow, you and I don’t have to worry about the cost, OP’s decision.😉

@turkey_hollow_rr posted:

Your best bet for hand-made barrels is to buy your own pen lathe and have at it.

Why?  Where I live we have plenty of people who can handle this sort of project.  No investment in a lathe is necessary.

A good event near me with many such craftspeople present has been the local Maker Faire, held every July (except for the last two, due to the pandemic).  Now I realize that most people might not have one of these near them but there are many traditional craft shows returning, re-opening in spite of the pandemic, with woodworkers attending if you're lucky.

Mike

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

Why?  Where I live we have plenty of people who can handle this sort of project.  No investment in a lathe is necessary.

A good event near me with many such craftspeople present has been the local Maker Faire, held every July (except for the last two, due to the pandemic).  Now I realize that most people might not have one of these near them but there are many traditional craft shows returning, re-opening in spite of the pandemic, with woodworkers attending if you're lucky.

Mike

Have you ever asked one of them to create a custom item for you? And these are very small items to be turning, they wouldn't be made on 3' long lathes.

It may be possible to find someone who is just learning how to use a lathe who may do it for the experience. Whether or not you end up with what you want is another issue.

Choo Choo Charlie had a great idea and you don't need a lathe. Drill press would work also. Some basswood and sandpaper.

@turkey_hollow_rr posted:

Have you ever asked one of them to create a custom item for you? And these are very small items to be turning, they wouldn't be made on 3' long lathes.

It may be possible to find someone who is just learning how to use a lathe who may do it for the experience. Whether or not you end up with what you want is another issue.

Choo Choo Charlie had a great idea and you don't need a lathe. Drill press would work also. Some basswood and sandpaper.

Yes.  My late mother was a gifted "maker" and sold many kinds of items, mostly floral and/or hand painted, at craft shows for more than 40 years.  Woodworkers were frequently present at these and also selling their own craft items at most of them.

It was, and I assume still is, frequently the case that makers help makers.  She would frequently come home after a craft show weekend with new ideas, and a source for new wood parts upon which to base them, by visiting the other craftspeople around her.

BTW - I agree that most might prefer a small lathe to make small parts, but you can still make them on a big one.  It's just not as precise, and obviously harder to wrestle with.

Mike

I get artists doing things for other artists, but I don't think CPF3 is in that situation or he wouldn't be asking here. The artists are passing value to each other, otherwise I'd be surprised if they picked up a gouge for less than some minimum price. BTW, most of their gouges are way, too big for this. You might be surprised to see one of them walk over and chuck a small piece pen lathe or in a drill press.

I'm liking Charlie's ideas more and more, maybe use a long finishing nail through the wood. Once you get the shape you want, carve the slates with an exacto knife. The only issue is how to hide the holes. Wood filler?

I have a metal and wood lathe there not hard to make would only need the dimensions if the barrels are used on the old Lionel log car accessory !

Alan

@turkey_hollow_rr posted:

I get artists doing things for other artists, but I don't think CPF3 is in that situation or he wouldn't be asking here.

Then WHY is he asking here?

Dan, perhaps we should stop all the postulating, and let John answer before we chime back in?

Mike

hi guys!

thanks for all your thoughts!

Basically I am looking to acquire barrels that are  a scaled up version of the Lionel Standard Gauge barrels of that era.  Maybe about 25% bigger.  So they serve as a prototype.

I am interested in good quality or I would have at it myself.

I can provide photos/dimensions.  Looking for a minimum of 6; max of 18.

Why am I doing this?  I recreated wooden gondolas from the 1902 Lionel 2 7/8 era.  I have pretty much gotten all the details down.  But they originally came with wooden barrels.  I have one photo to go by that allows me to estimate the dimensions.

I have looked for commercially made barrels with no luck.   The work is took un-original for most wood turners - no real creativity involved.

Every so often I get geared up and take another shot at it.  Thanks to your suggestions I have emailed a couple of wood turners in hopes of getting lucky.  Money is money and it pays the bills,

So, as Paul Harvey used to say, now you know the rest

of the story!  

thanks!

john

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

Yes.  My late mother was a gifted "maker" and sold many kinds of items, mostly floral and/or hand painted, at craft shows for more than 40 years.  Woodworkers were frequently present at these and also selling their own craft items at most of them.

It was, and I assume still is, frequently the case that makers help makers.  She would frequently come home after a craft show weekend with new ideas, and a source for new wood parts upon which to base them, by visiting the other craftspeople around her.

BTW - I agree that most might prefer a small lathe to make small parts, but you can still make them on a big one.  It's just not as precise, and obviously harder to wrestle with.

Mike

Years ago I made dollhouse railing spindles (about 1" long) on a lathe in our shop in NYC that had a 10' bed! (No I can't do these barrels- I don't have a lathe anymore and haven't turned anything in years.)