Custom Turned Ring
nicfouts Mar 02, 2019
My first foray into the arena of turning jewelry, this size 11 ring features a stainless steel core wrapped with yew wood. Topping it off is a silver inlay around the center and tough polished finish for long life. I'm proud of how it turned out and am looking forward to making many more.
This project is special because two friends asked me to make their wedding bands. They wanted specific materials and that was going to make any store-bought rings ridiculously expensive. Bulk materials and a little shop time turned this into a fun weekend project and something to treasure forever.
Start by gluing in the ring core after rough turning a block down. The thickness should be very nearly exact to the thickness of the core.
Looks great! Oh, I guess we'll have to turn it down a little.
That's better. Still a bit thick, but we can start to see where we're going.
Still fits kind of awkwardly, let's keep going.
There's the final shape! We also turned a small groove down the center to house the silver inlay.
Silver inlay getting glued in place. Silver is a very soft is beautiful to work with.
A few coats of finish and a final hard UV-cured protective layer produces the deep sheen. It also makes the Yew safe to wear, which is important in jewelry.
