Olive wood cufflinks

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Dan Masshardt

Dan Masshardt

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Just got the hardware in. I've been waiting to do some of these.
 

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I've been wanting to do cufflinks. I figure it's a good use for all those pen blank cutoffs I keep saving.
 
My daughter makes cufflinks to match the high end pens she sells. She doesn't charge for them, but uses the waste from the blank to make them quickly, and the buyer loves the bonus!

I used a dead center (I have far too many laying around) and ground it down to the diameter of the cufflink insert, essentially making a mandrel/bushing combo. She uses heavy duty double sided tape to stick the blank onto the end and turns/polishes it in just a couple of minutes. Using the mandrel as a size gauge, she can press fit them into the cufflink hardware. They fit so nicely she doesn't even need to glue them!

The green and brown set are turned from the same blank of Liquid Money. They look really neat in person as they have contrasting amount of green vs brown. The blue set is TruStone and has specks of gold in them.

Next time I am out in the shop I'll shoot a picture of the mandrel I made.
 

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Drb007 said:
My daughter makes cufflinks to match the high end pens she sells...Using the mandrel as a size gauge, she can press fit them into the cufflink hardware. They fit so nicely she doesn't even need to glue them!
Click to expand...

Be careful about "snap fit" (no adhesive), if using wood. The wood disk could dry in whatever is its future environment, thus shrink a bit, and fall right out.:redface:
 
Drb007 said:
My daughter makes cufflinks to match the high end pens she sells. She doesn't charge for them, but uses the waste from the blank to make them quickly, and the buyer loves the bonus! I used a dead center (I have far too many laying around) and ground it down to the diameter of the cufflink insert, essentially making a mandrel/bushing combo. She uses heavy duty double sided tape to stick the blank onto the end and turns/polishes it in just a couple of minutes. Using the mandrel as a size gauge, she can press fit them into the cufflink hardware. They fit so nicely she doesn't even need to glue them! The green and brown set are turned from the same blank of Liquid Money. They look really neat in person as they have contrasting amount of green vs brown. The blue set is TruStone and has specks of gold in them. Next time I am out in the shop I'll shoot a picture of the mandrel I made.
Click to expand...

Cool I'd like to see the mandrel

I just put the blank in pin jaws and round and whip them off

I've only done a couple though so I'm not very fast yet
 
Timberbits still has them for sale. Wonder if it'd be worth getting 10 sets of each finish. Aside from eBay, anybody know who else might sell the hardware?

Only other place I found them at was at cuffcrazy.com. they even have a square set.
 
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Those look sharp!


I have made several pairs in sports themes and order them from Rio Grande

Cuff Links and Tie Components

Etsy has a nice selection of people selling hardware. I was burned on Ebay by a bad batch. The metal was so thin half of them were bent when the arrived. There are several other jewelry supply stores that carry them if you google it!
 
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Well got my cufflinks yesterday, made my center, just have to get the double sided tape this morning to hold the piece on the center. Then going to try my hand at turning a couple.
 
Thanks, just went between centers, rounded to size the cut off tailstock end with coping saw. Then used double sided tape to hold wood on wood center I made the sanded and finished.

Double sided tape was said to just hold it so you can turn but that was not true.
 
Neededwill said:
Thanks, just went between centers, rounded to size the cut off tailstock end with coping saw. Then used double sided tape to hold wood on wood center I made the sanded and finished. Double sided tape was said to just hold it so you can turn but that was not true.
Click to expand...

In the pin jaws it's rock solid and you can get the size about right for both at the same time - or 4 or more depending on how much material you have.
 
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