Burl Noggin part 2

Well, since I made the fancy Gentleman’s Noggin, I now need a high-end chunky button to go along with it.  These chunky buttons were designed to allow someone to hang the noggin from their belt, but still be handy to take it off for use.  It struck me that this function is identical to the function of a Japanese netsuke, which I used to carve.  (To find out what a netsuke is, follow this link:  What is a Netsuke?)


I started with an antler crown (the crinkly part of the antler next to the deer’s head).  I cut it off of the naturally shed antler, and sanded both side flat and parallel.  Since I plan on engraving a metal plate to attach to this antler crown, I need to be able to cut a nice round depressiion to fit it.  I’ll do this with my little Sherline metal (and antler!) cutting lathe.  To be able to mount this wild-shaped chunk in the lathe, I glued it to a sacrificial block of hardwood with some thick gap-filling alphacyanoacrylate glue (“superglue”).


Here is the crown glued to the hardwood block, and the centroid of the crown marked in pencil.


And, here is the crown mounted in a 4-jaw chuck in the lathe.  I turned the flat part you see here down as close to the crinkly part of the crown as I could.  Later, I’ll use the lathe to cut a shallow socket to mount my engraved metal plate.


Leaving the crown in the 4-jaw chuck, I measured and marked an appropriate sized circle on a piece of copper sheet


Here’s the copper round cut out and carefully sanded to size, ready to be engraved.

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