A Wooden Ring

It’s been too long since I’ve been woodworking! Life as a wildlife professional has kept me away from home and shop. Sadly, at least from a woodworker’s perspective, I’ll be traveling again and won’t have much woodworking time between now and then.

A whittled canoe from Congaree

While away, I’ve been missing those creative outlets. It’s quite impractical to take my woodworking fascination with me on the road. However, I thought about hand tools or even carving. Looking at the cost of a decent set of knifes, I thought that I should try whittling first. Wow, it take a long time, even with a sharp knife!

Nonetheless, on this rainy afternoon, I decided to indulge my creative side by making a project that I’ve been meaning to try for a long time – a wooden ring. Earlier in the week, my friend Glenn reminded me of this idea. He was looking for a simple yet thoughtful gift. That evening, I coached him through the construction and then, I perfected my method the following day.

Made on the drill press, I was mindful of the sequence of steps. I decided that I would only find the center hole at first. Cutting the outer diameter before the inside meant that I could easily chuck the ring into the drill press and shape the outside edge. Then, I used the drill press like a lathe to sand and shape the ring. Lastly, I bored out the center and hand sanded the ring, inside and out.