I have a sort of crazy obsession for ring making, and I thought it would be a good idea to make a tutorial to show others how to make wooden rings too.

Things you'll need:

Wood
Drill Press or Hand Drill
Band Saw
Sanding tools (Foredom or dremmel, Belt sander, sand paper)
Forstner Bit
Cutting board oil

Step 1: Choose Your Wood

The first step is picking out what kind of wood you want to use. For this ring I used Birdseye Maple.

Step 2: Drill the Hole

Now it's time to drill the hole. I used a 5/8 Forstner bit. If you don't have a drill press you can use a hand drill.

Note: A 5/8" bit cuts a hole that's about a size 5 in US ring sizes. This size bit works best for me ( I wear a size 7) but you can use whatever bit is closest to your ring size.

Step 3: Cut to a Manageable Size

All I did here was cut the "ring" into a smaller more manageable chunk. I used a band saw but if you don't have one of those you can try using a scroll saw.

You'll see here that I drilled two holes, just disregard that! (It's for a separate project. )

Step 4: Rounding the Edges

Next, you can start cutting out the shape of the ring. See those white lines? That's where you cut! This creates the "bottom" of the ring. Eventually you will round it out a bit more but for now it can be a bit rough.

Step 5: Adjust the Width

At this point, the ring is pretty wide so it's time to cut it down. See those white lines again? That's where you cut!

Hint: I use another piece of wood to guide/push my ring through the saw. This is just a safety measure that will (hopefully) prevent me from slicing my fingers!

Step 6: Sizing Your Ring

To size up the ring, I use a sanding barrel (150 grit) attached to my foredom (you could also use a dremmel.) To ensure a more even hole, flip the ring over every few seconds and sand from either side.

Hint: A 5/8 hole is about exactly the same size as a standard dremmel brand sanding barrel, so use caution when you start sanding out the inside of the hole. I have had the foredom grab the wood and rip it out of my hand on multiple occasions.

Step 7: Shaping Your Ring

It's time to head back over to the band saw and make a few more cuts. To give this ring a really chunky and geometric feel, I cut off the corners of the top of the ring until I achieved the look I wanted.

Step 8: More Shaping

For this step I used a belt sander because it allows for a lot of control when shaping the ring. Sanding where the white lines are will smooth out the cut you made earlier and make it more uniform.

Step 9: Design Options

This step is optional, but I added a few cut marks to give this ring a rustic feel.

Step 10: Finishing Up

I wanted to keep the rustic feel of this ring so I used 400 grit sandpaper just to smooth out the sharp edges.

Hint: Rolling sandpaper into a tube makes it easy to sand the inside of the ring.

Step 11: Add a Protective Coat

I finish up my rings with a nice mixture of beeswax and flax oil.

Step 12: Finished!

You're done! Enjoy your one of a kind ring.

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34 Comments

Timber Pirate

4 years ago

Pro tip: use superglue as a finish. It’s incredibly tough and also very waterproof. Dap a dot of glue and use a paper towel to spread it on ONE SIDE AT A TIME. You will have to set it down to dry and don’t want to stick. Once dry, you can polish with 0000 steel wool. Obviously: Wear gloves And have a small fan blowing over the project so you don’t inhale fumes/the fumes don’t hit your eyes. (Very stingy and uncomfortable.)

BELANTARMA

8 years ago

so nice

Porda

8 years ago on Introduction

Awesome looking rings! This is a great first ible.

sir_ghattas

These are great, I usually don't like larger rings, but these look really good probably because of the mix of the rustic and clean cut looks. Anyways, they look awesome, keep up the good work!