Wine Bottle Stoppers

Written by Bob

User Rating: / 7
PoorBest 

The process in making a wine bottle stopper begins with the choice of wood.  I have turned bottle stoppers using olivewood,  tulipwood, walnut, mahagony, maple, cocobolo, bubinga, che-chen and have built up laminated wood blanks from maple and cherry. There are many other woods available and other woods I will use to make laminated blanks.  I wish, eventually,  to try turning stoppers using them all.  Unfortunately, with exotic woods, available doesn't always mean affordable.  Eventually though, they will go on sale and I will grab up as much wood as I can afford.

Wood stopper blanks are approximately 1.5" x 1.5" x 2".  There are a few ways to hold the wood on the lathe so it can be turned.  The method I use is a metal mandrel held in a drill chuck that has an end that is 3/8" x 16 tpi.  Therefore, I drill one end of the wood blanks approximately 1/2 " deep with a 5/16" bit and tap the hole with a 3/8 x 16 tpi tap.  It is then threaded onto the mandrel which is already in the drill chuck on my lathe and is ready to turn.

I never really have the total shape of a stopper in mind when I start to turn it.  I round the blank first and then decide how I want to shape the end.  I stay away from ends that are pointed prefering rounded shapes.  From there, the final shape of the whole stopper comes from a combination of curves and shapes I hope will add up to an eye pleasing finished form.  By the way, I turn shapes that I find pleasing hoping that you will agree :)  When I am satisfied with the finished form, it's time to start sanding and finishing the piece.

Sanding is done on the lathe and is a multi step process starting with 120 grit  sandpaper and progressing through grits of 180, 240, 320, 400 and then micro mesh of 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200 and 3600.  Not one of my favorite things to do :)

Finishing is also a multi step process.  I seal the wood twice using Zinsser's universal sanding sealer.  I then spay multiple coats of a high gloss laquer onto the wood or use a gloss brushing laquer and apply multiple coates using brush or rag.  After allowing a week drying time I then use a buffing wheel on the wood to give it the smoothest, silkest feel I know how to apply and add a buffed coat of wax as a final touch.

The finishing touch is adding the metal wine stopper to the wood.  You will see a variety of metals used by others for their stoppers.  They are all good and will last a reasonable amount of time.  I, however, feel that the only metal that will not eventually give pitting or flaking problems when used on red wines or very dry wines is stainless steel and therefore all of my stoppers have solid stainless steel as their metal components.  A little more expensive but well worth it.