Making Buttons

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navy1990

navy1990

New User
Matt
My wife is one of the really crafty types. Not the sneaky "crafty" ones, but one who likes to do arts and crafts. She knits, spins her own yarn, weaves, and sews (and I thought I was crafty). So she came to me with a project she wants to work on for our church for Mother's Day. She is making these little change purse-type wallets for all of the mothers. The design calls for a decorative button on the front. She asked if I could make some buttons. Of course, being asked to work with wood is like getting an invite to a once-in-a-lifetime event, so I said "sure."

I thought for a little while about how I would make them, since I don't have a lathe. Then it hit me to use wood that was already about the size that she wanted for the buttons. I went to the Woodcraft website and purchased pen blanks. They are the perfect size and I can cut them on a scrollsaw to the thickness she wanted. Then I used my chisel to knock off the corners, making them more of an octagonal shape. I used zebrawood and olivewood for the first batch, but I am going back to Woodcraft to see what other types of wood to use.

Any suggestions for beautiful grains and colorings would be greatly appreciated.

P.S.: To all of you who read my intro thread and wished me well on my upcoming retirement, I just want to say thank you. The retirement is no longer upcoming. I retired from the Navy last Sunday (2/28/10) after 20 years of service. Now the real work begins.
 
navy1990

navy1990

New User
Matt
If I can teach myself how to put photos on here, I will surely put them up. Maybe I will work on that today.
 
Trent Mason

Trent Mason

New User
Trent Mason
Sounds like a cool project. The closest thing I've ever made to buttons are guitar pics. I just cut those out on the band saw and sanded them to where I wanted them. One of the members on this site "skeeter" has turned some pendants, but I think those are a little bigger than what you may be looking for, maybe 2" in diameter. If I were going to do that, I would cut them out on the band saw or scroll saw to get them round, then sand them. Of course, if it is as small as a pen blank I wouldn't advice doing that though. :nah: As far as wood species, I think you've started with two excellent choices. I'd probably pick the wood according to what would compliment the color of the purses. :thumbs_up:thumbs_up I'd love to see some pictures of those. Tried to find the posting that explains how to do it, but couldn't find it. :icon_scra

Basically, from the Home Page, click on "Photo Gallery" (third blue tab from the left),

Look down a few lines and you should see "My Photos · My Albums · My Favorites"

Click on "My Albums"

If you haven't created an album yet there should be an option for you to create an album.

Then you can upload your pictures, pretty self-explanatory,

Once you've uploaded a picture, click on it and scroll down and you will have to copy and paste the link to it into the thread. I usually use "Best Size:"

In the thread Reply Screen (open in a separate window), select this icon

pastephoto.jpg


Paste the link from your photo in your photo gallery in the pop up box and click "ok."

That should do it. I hope this made some kind of sense. :icon_thum
 
Trent Mason

Trent Mason

New User
Trent Mason
Yep, the link works. Very nice, if you put some finish on them they would look even better. :thumbs_up:thumbs_up Another thing you could try is if you're using pen blanks, you could turn them on the lathe, just like you're turning a pen. Get them round, take them off the lathe and mandrel, put them in a vise and saw them into little slices with a coping saw, etc. :eusa_thin
 
navy1990

navy1990

New User
Matt
Trent,

Thanks for the tip about the lathe. Only problem, I don't have a lathe yet. What finish would you recommend to put on them? I have been using a bit of clear spray-on urethane, but I would be willing to try others too.

Andy,

Thanks for the tip about the plugcutters and tenon cutters. My eyes got really wide when I saw that. I just might have to order some of those.

Well, gotta get back to making a bit of sawdust before doing some real work.
 
gator

gator

George
Corporate Member
Dowel stock might work for round buttons. Just slice off the thickness you want.

George
 
Trent Mason

Trent Mason

New User
Trent Mason
gator said:
Dowel stock might work for round buttons. Just slice off the thickness you want.

George
Click to expand...

Another great idea. I just thought about it and if you did do it on the lathe, you couldn't use a mandrel as you would have one big hole in the middle of them instead of two smaller ones. George's idea is probably the easiest way to go, the only problem is that you might be hard pressed to find dowel stock in the species you've been using. You could probably find some in more domestic species, like walnut. :eusa_thin I'm pretty sure they carry that at Woodcraft too.
 
CarvedTones

CarvedTones

Board of Directors, Vice President
Andy
Without a lathe, I would almost definitely go with the plug cutters I linked to earlier. Not just because it is my idea :rolf:, but also because that allows you to use side/face grain and get it from scraps/offcuts. You can go dumpster diving at a cabinet shop. I don't know how long that sale at MLCS will last; plug cutters for under $15 is a smokin' deal.
 
Gotcha6

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
The buttons look nice. Handmade buttons aren't supposed to be perfectly round, IMO. I'd be careful about hole placement, though. Think about the stress line the button thread will place on the wood. Drilling the holes parallel to the grain may result in the button splitting and cause a 'wardrobe malfunction'. :eek:
 
NCTurner

NCTurner

Gary
Corporate Member
CarvedTones said:
Without a lathe, I would almost definitely go with the plug cutters I linked to earlier. Not just because it is my idea :rolf:, but also because that allows you to use side/face grain and get it from scraps/offcuts. You can go dumpster diving at a cabinet shop. I don't know how long that sale at MLCS will last; plug cutters for under $15 is a smokin' deal.
Click to expand...


#9289 Includes 3/8", 1/2", and 5/8", 3/4", and 1" tenon cutters Individual Price $64.95
SALE $49.95

Not $15.00
 
CarvedTones

CarvedTones

Board of Directors, Vice President
Andy
NCTurner said:
#9289 Includes 3/8", 1/2", and 5/8", 3/4", and 1" tenon cutters Individual Price $64.95
SALE $49.95

Not $15.00
Click to expand...

I meant under $15 each; I didn't say anything about sets or multiples.

plug_cutters.JPG


Or, in the set you quoted the price of, under $10 each.

Everytime I have seen them individually, they were much more than $15, especially the 1".
 
navy1990

navy1990

New User
Matt
The olive wood is fun to work with. As I cut it, it released the scent of olive oil into the shop. Nothing too heavy, but just enough to know the scent was there. I have never worked with olivewood (or zebrawood for that matter) and it is great to work with.

Thanks for all the compliments, information, and ideas.
 
navy1990

navy1990

New User
Matt
UPDATE on the button situation: My family sent me 2 gift cards from Woodcraft for my retirement. I ordered a few variety packs of pen blanks. Some will be made into buttons, some will eventually turn into pens. There are many different types from Ash to Cocobolo to Rosewood to Zebrawood, with many others in between. I think I got somewhere in the range of 150 blanks. I will post a few pics of the blanks as well as some pics of the previous buttons that I coated with Tung Oil. I oiled them last night before I went to bed and checked on them this morning. They need a 2nd coat, but they are beginning to look good with only 1 coat.

Thanks for all the advice and tips on here. The amount of knowledge I can gain from y'all is amazing. Makes me feel like a small splinter in a big woodpile. :gar-Bi
 
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