Woodturning Baby Rattle with 3 Captive Rings

Well after my first attempts at woodturning i went to a demonstration at Joe Lairds Woodturnings (www.joelairdwoodturning.com) where he was demonstrating making baby rattles.

So when i got a chance to make one and having 2 children both under 2 years of age i jumped at it. I started by getting some 6 x 2 x 2 beech which is a safe wood for baby rattles as well as most fruit woods, stay away from exotic woods if you plan on making children's toys.

I roughed the square piece to make it cylindrical. i then marked were the ends of the rattle would be and also where i would turn the captive rings on, leaving room to get in from either side of the rings.

I used a parting tool to make quick work of narrowing out the centre around the captive rings. From there i used a small gouge and with the bevel resting on the part i had just narrowed out i slowly pressed in towards the ring as close to the narrow piece as possible. when i was as far in as about half way i then done the same from the other side.

When the ring was just about parted from the rattle centre i rounded over the outer edges of the ring so there were no sharp edges.

I done this for all 4 rings, i lost one ring due to the fact that the centre of the rattle wasn't narrow enough for it and i shattered on parting.

In order to sand the inside of the rings i glued a strip of 320 grit sandpaper to the rattle and turned on the lathe, i could then position the rings and rotate them over this sandpaper to sand the inside. i finished off by rounding off both ends making sure they were thick enough so the rings couldn't slide off over either end.

It is not advisable to put any finish on baby items, simply sanding to a fine grit such as 600+ and burnishing it with its own shavings gives it a great smooth safe finish.