I have a new rolling pin! After several coats of tung oil, my rolling pin is done. I will probably wait about a week to use it to make sure the tung oil is solid, but I’m very excited to get back to making sourdough discard crackers, and maybe some pie crusts.
I hope you enjoyed this series. I did draw it out quite a bit, but decided to run it sequentially, which I don’t normally do, so the thread is easier to follow for those that stumble across it later.
(Part 8 of 8 in this blog series)
I love, love my wood burned Celtic knot morning glories on my rolling pin, but I feel it could use some color. With the lines solidly established, I felt confident adding some diluted acrylic paint to make the design pop.
I know from experience that acrylic paint does well under coats of tung oil, so I am not in fear of losing this design to mineral spirits. But I have a new problem. The old rolling pin handles are a different wood and thus a different shade than the new rolling pin center. Not pleasingly, either. Paint to the rescue. I sanded down the old finish on the handles to prep for paint.
I used the darkest blue acrylic paint that I used in the design to paint the handles. Next step, finishing!
(Part 7 of 8 in this blog series)
I was gifted a professional wood burner setup last December, and it has been waiting for me to clean up my craft space and find a project to burn. The wait has ended. I liked the pencil drawing on my wooden rolling pin so much I thought wood burning would be the best next step. I read through my instructions and flipped through a detailed book, then practiced on one of the rolling pin’s cut off ends.
I am in love. The wire writing tip for the wood burner is absolutely fantastic. There is a bit of learning curve with temperature settings and speed of burn, but I am loving the results.
The writing tip burns the line I want without making deep marks that would transfer to dough. The burn is deep enough, though, to hold up to light sanding to remove stray pencil marks. But not so deep that I can’t use a blade to lightly scrape away mistakes.
So exciting! This opens up a whole new world for my wood work.
(Part 6 of 8 in this blog series)
I love morning glories and Celtic knots. Years ago I started on a Celtic knot style morning glory vine drawing. For my refurbished rolling pin, I wanted to add art, so pulled out the sketch and transferred it to the wood with tracing paper.
Even though I’ve had success with acrylics on wood in the past, I was leery of trying to paint such small precise lines with even a small paintbrush. So I used Primacolor colored pencils instead. The color was gorgeous and the pencils were so nice!
I was so excited to have my rolling pin done and back in use that, as soon as the drawing was done, I rushed off to start the tung oil sealing process. Tung oil is a food safe sealant and even though it takes some time and many applications, it is my first choice for wood sealant. The first coat of tung oil is diluted 50/50 with mineral spirits to help the tung oil soak deep into the surface of the wood. Mineral spirits dissolve wax. Colored pencils are made with wax. My intricate drawing turned into a heartbreaking smear across the wood. Sigh. I took the rolling pin to the sink and scrubbed off the color with soap and water, then when it was dry, sanded it down again. Though this was a rookie mistake, I did learn (as you do) if I want to seal with tung oil, I can’t use colored pencils. Also, looking at the finished design, I was not happy with the knot orientation. Since I have to redo the art anyway, I will use the opportunity to improve the design. But not today.
(Part 4 of 8 in this blog series)
I’m working on replacing the center part of my broken rolling pin. Marble is such a delicate and hard to repair material, so I am replacing it with maple (plus, I already have maple on hand). I cut a section of a 3” round maple blank (which is marketed as a baseball bat blank) to 15” in length, which is about 2” longer than I need, so after I turn it, I can cut off the marred ends. I used my center finder (that I blogged about yesterday) to find the centers of both ends, and made 1/4” pilot holes on my drill press. I was hoping to drill the center hole on my lathe, but my lathe isn’t that fancy.
The drill press did well to start the holes, then I used a long 1/4” drill bit to drill halfway through on both ends. Miraculously, the two holes matched up in the middle with barely a jog.
After getting the hole drilled, I mounted the blank on my lathe. It was amazing how much work needed to be done to get the blank into round. It took me around two hours to get it roughed in and smoothed down. “Simple” straight cylinders are not simple to turn! I sanded down to 400 grit, then cut off the ends with the chop saw.
I cleaned up the steel rod and nylon flanges from the old rolling pin and tried them out. The fit was a little too tight, so I reamed out the hole with a 3/8” bit, and indented the ends about a 1/4” with a 1/2” bit to accommodate the flanges. It assembles and works! Now to “art” it, as my husband says.
(Part 3 of 8 in this blog series)
Happy Mother’s day to all those that mother! I’m trying out a new format with this series of posts, and didn’t plan for holidays. Oops. Live and learn. This too shall pass. Fussy babies go ni-night. (Getting in my Mom quotes.)
Critters and Craft 