Wooden ring: advice please

thebouldwhacker

I have found myself posting here thanks to slowburner. I want to make a piece of jewellery (finger ring) out of wood.
Having grown up on a farm I am not alien to timber but I have never taken on something like this before.

I guess I'm looking for help picking the timber, how to cure, make a ring and everything in between. It will be a simple piece but I want something durable which will last.

Thanks!

Posted by slowburner


You asked for it
First the bad news.
You might notice in your picture, that there are cracks radiating out from the pith (heart) of the log section. These are called radial splits, surprise, surprise.
This happens because the pith (heartwood) is much harder than the surrounding sapwood.
As the softer sapwood dries, it shrinks and when it meets the harder pith, it has nowhere to relieve the stress, so it cracks.
Imagine stretching a worn old elastic band to the max around a steel cylinder - same thing happens.
The bad news is that if you work with pieces of timber with the pith still in and including sapwood, it will crack outwards from the centre.

Now the good news.
Some timber species do not have a tendency towards radial splitting.
Boxwood would be one of the best known for this quality but it is hard to come by in decent sizes and is consequently expensive.
Our own native Yew is another and is probably one of the most exquisite of all timbers IMHO.
But Yew is toxic - I am not sure how this would impact on a person wearing a ring made of it, though.
Sycamore is ok too - but dull.
Many softwoods are less prone to radial splitting but would be too coarse fibred for making rings.

Most wood is sawn out of the tree in what is called a 'through and through' method of cutting.

As you can see, this leaves the central board with the pith in and most wood workers would cut out and discard this section.
Where the tree rings are at, or close to 90º to the surface of the board, the board will be most stable (less prone to warping, cupping or splitting) and most desirable as a consequence.
You might notice that the top and bottom boards in the diagram, will suffer most distortion.

And why this long winded explanation? Well, it is to show you where in the tree you should be looking to source your timber.
Nothing will show up a badly chosen piece of timber more than a circle. If you end up with timber from boards where the rings meet the surface at an acute or obtuse angle you will end up with ovals, not rings.

Which brings me on to seasoning.
You can generally buy two sorts of timber: kiln dried or air dried.
Kiln dried has a moisture content of between 8 - 14% and is not going to change in shape when worked compared to air dried wood which in this country only ever achieves around 30%.

So you need to beg, borrow, or buy kiln dried timber ideally.
The next best thing is to source timber which has been indoors for more than a year per inch of thickness.
It is unlikely that you will require large quantities of timber so going down the route of seasoning your own, probably wouldn't make much sense.
I think the reclamation route would be a good option. You might be lucky and get your hands on some nice exotic, seasoned timbers this way.
If you were lucky enough to know a cabinet maker, they often have off cuts that they wouldn't mind giving away.

As to making.
Without doubt, turning would be the best way of making rings.
To do this you would need to invest in a lathe, chisels and various other bits and bobs.
For more advice on turning or indeed other possible methods for making rings (more ways to skin a cat?) - why not pay a visit to the Woodcraft forum?

slowburner

After a long, rambling and frankly, probably not very helpful post; I came across an alternative to the method I would use.
Here

The author mentions an important point, which I completely forgot in my ramblings.:o

Wood is a sponge.
When it takes on water, it expands.
When it dries, it contracts.
It doesn't have to be immersed in a bath - a humid atmosphere is enough to cause wood to expand. This something you will need to accommodate when making the rings.
In other words, when you make the ring out of wood that is as dry as can be, the diameter of the aperture will be at its maximum.
When the ring comes into contact with moist skin, it will expand as it absorbs moisture.
I suppose the logical thing is to make the rings oversized - but by how much, I can't tell you (even though the figure 10% is knocking around in my head).

thebouldwhacker

Thanks again slowburner... I have easy access to most of that gear so happy days. Now to find a few inches of dried hardwood..........

woodturner

They are relatively easy to make if you have a wood lathe. There are some helpful videos on youtube.

thebouldwhacker

Thanks for that wood turner, I reckon a ring could be one of the easist things to make. I guess all it is are two holes stuck together but I want one that will last and will fit for years to come....