DIY: Wooden Ring

I have always liked rings but they never fit me right and they seem cost to much. So I decided to make my own ring. I had some beautiful scrap wood lying around and I thought that it would look amazing as a ring. I made two rings then thought 'Hey this would be a cool instructable'. The rings fit me perfectly and were free except for the tung oil and the sealer. This is how I made them.

You will need:

-A Rotary Tool or Large Drill Bit

-Sandpaper

-Steel Wool

-Tun Oil

-Lacquer

-A Saw

Step 1: Step 1: Finding Worthy Wood

For this step you will need to find some thick sticks. I found my stick in our firewood in my backyard. If you can't find one in your backyard I would take it as an opportunity to go on a hike. I chose a stick without and side branches because I couldn't cut a straight ring blank with a branch with side branches.

Step 2: Step 2: the Start of the Ring

For this step I clamped the stick down and sawed off about 1/2 of an inch. This will be the ring. I left the bark on because later on it gets taken off as the shaping of the ring begins.

Step 3: Step 3: Rough Shaping

Next I took the ring blank and used my rotary tool to do the rough shaping. Make sure to make it a little SMALLER then what you want the final ring to be. In the next step I did a lot of sanding that plus the stain and sealer will make it fit just right. I used three main rotary tool bits: a flat sanding one, a round tip sanding one and and flat tip skinny sanding one. Make sure to leave about 1/8 around the edge for sanding. If you're using a drill bit just drill out a hole that is a little smaller than what you want it to be. If you don't have a rotary tool then you can just sand away the excess wood around the edge.

Step 4: Step 4: Sanding and Sealing

This is the most time consuming part of the instructable. So I knew that I wanted this to be super smooth, so I made sure that I spent a longer time on this part then I probably should have. I started out with 80 grit sandpaper and then moved all the way to the highest grit I had then went to steel wool. But its up to you how high you want to go. For basic shaping I used 80 grit then slowly moved up to steel wool. Make sure to sand the inside. Then I stained it with Tung oil then allowed it to dry then applied the sealer.

Step 5: Step 5: Finished

I'm really happy with how the rings turned out, I will definitely make more in the future. You could engrave the ring with a message or a name. If you do make a ring of your own please post pictures of it because I would love to see them! Thank you for viewing this as it is my first instructable!

Comments

[sdfultz]

Tried it yesterday and they came out great. I did cheat a bit by using my drill press to "turn" the blanks down to a decent circle.

[Woodman350]

that is what did as well

[MoundofMittens]

Wonderful! I would love to see pictures!

[Woodman350]

what is the price of matrials if i buy a chuck of wood doing this for C.T.F

[Zhyi]

How does the steel wool do to help create the ring and if it does help how is it done?

[JemmaP]

my bf asked me to make a pair of these, ill update you when i get round to making them

[jneitzke]

I made one today

[meeeeep]

Making this as a present. I'll post updates when I finish!

[MoundofMittens]

Great! Thanks for posting pictures :)

[sblake3]

looks good bud.. was curious what ya used as a sealer. .

[MoundofMittens]

I used just some basic wood workers polyurethane, from a local store. You could find it at Lowe's or Home Depot

[jmiller47]

Ever have the wood crack on you as your drilling or sanding the hole? My two attempts both cracked as I was sanding.

[MoundofMittens]

Sorry I didn't reply back faster. Yes my first few rings did crack as I was sanding them. One I tried drilling and it cracked then shot across the room. I like to do just the rough shaping with my rotary tool then use sandpaper, and when rough shaping I keep the rotary tool on a medium to low speed to avoid cracking. I would love to see pictures of a completed ring, hope this helped!

[Eldalote]

My first attempt cracked too.. But I used a soft wood and it was just about 2mm thick

[TuttleDB]

Thanks for sharing! You could also use a wood burner to add a name or designs before sealing.

[MoundofMittens]

That's a great idea!

[pacharanero]

Wow! great job showing how such an item can be made without needing a lathe. This is exactly what Instructables is all about.

[MoundofMittens]

Thank you!

[wparkin]

i recently saw an Instructable for Glowing Shelves; there should be no reason why one couldnt use a rotary tool to carve out letters or designs on the ring, place tape around the inside of the ring (to prevent it flowing through, of course), and pour a small amount of the glowing epoxy in the patterns.

[MoundofMittens]

That sounds like it would perfectly!