Wooden Tankards and mugs How the tankards and mugs are made: Each tankard is cut from

a single board when possible. Keep in mind that all trees do not necessarily cooperate when it comes to this. Each tankard/mug has three coats of exterior finish on it, so the finish should last a lifetime. Now for those of you concerned about 'foodsafe' finishes, to put your mind at ease you can go here to read all about modern foodsafe finishes. I use a minimum of two coats of two part epoxy for the interior coating to keep the essel 'leak proof'. !hen the interior finish has cured, it sets up kinda like the exterior of the old fiberglass cor ettes. !hich to those of you who are not "or ette buffs, it means it sets up really hard with ery good #tack strength#. $hat's why I can guarantee them to ne er leak. %gain, if you are curious, or worried about the finish used on these tankards, then by all means read this. I also ha e the &aterial 'ata (afety sheet for both parts of the two part epoxy. $he resin is here and the hardener is here. If you are the least bit paranoid or worried about the finish, )ust put a note in the comments section when you order re*uesting a 'food safe' finish. I will then put a minimum of + coats of a ,'% food safe finish on the interior of the tankard. -ou should know that it will take an extra . days to add the food safe interior coatings. -ou can read the &aterial 'ata (afety (heet on the food safe interior coating here. /ersonally I don't use the food safe finish on the tankards I use but my wife has pointed out that #not e eryone is like you#. /ersonally I think it would be a much better world if that wasn't the case.... but I digress. I cut each ring separately on my lathe. %fter the rings are cut, I sand them flat. $hen comes the semi0artistic part of the process. I set each ring so that it sits with the growth rings going the opposite direction 1 ertically2 of the ring below it. I then set each ring offset by 34 degrees with the ring below it. $his combination of ertically opposite and 34 degree offset

creates a pattern similar to a herringbone 1my wife's term, not mine2 pattern. %n interesting thing about this combination is that as you rotate the mug, the light rings turn darker and the dark rings turn lighter e ery 34 degrees. $he changing from dark to light is because the wood is going from end grain to face grain e ery 34 degrees. It takes more time to set the rings this way but the effect is pretty cool. $he rings are then glued and clamped together without the bottom on the tankard. 5nce dry, this gi es me unhindered access to the inside of the tankard so I can sand the interior and be sure the edges of the rings are sanded smooth with the other rings, using a spindle sander. $hen I glue the bottom of the tankard to the rings to complete the rough tankard. %t this point I put the entire assembly back on the lathe to finish smoothing the exterior. (ometimes I ha e to use a roughing gouge, sometimes a bowl gouge but most of the time I only use sandpaper because I use a lot of care in the assembly of the rings. I sand the exterior of the tankard and make sure the top lip is made thinner 1my wife's re*uest2. $he sides start out at about 6/78# thick and end up somewhere around a *uarter of an inch thick. $his thickness makes for a much stronger tankard and gi es the glue a lot more surface area to adhere to. $he exception to this is the large si9ed tankards. I actually make the walls of this si9e thinner because isually it makes a better looking tankard 1of course that's )ust my opinion, but I'm the one who makes them2. $he sides on the large tankard are about 7/:# thick, more or less. %t this stage I apply a minimum of two coats of two part epoxy finish to the interior of the tankards o er the course of two days. If the interior shows any spots that are not glossy after two coats, then I apply a third coat which takes another day. I use foam brushes to apply the epoxy to help eliminate any brush marks.

I then cut the handle using a bandsaw and sand it smooth with a spindle sander and a belt sander. I freehand cut the handles 1which means I don't attempt to cut each handle exactly like the others2 then I use the spindle sander to knock off the handles sharp edges. $his gi es the handle a more rustic look. If you look at the pictures you will see that the handle color always looks a little different than the tankard/mug body. $he reason for this is that you are looking at the 'face grain' on the side of the handle and you are seeing some of the 'end grain' of the wood on the tankard/mug body. $he handle is then placed against a homemade sanding disk made of wood that is the same diameter as the tankard and co ered with sandpaper. ;y holding the handle against this disk 1attached to my drill press2 it makes the cur ature in the handle where it meets the tankard body closely match the cur ature of the tankard. %gain, this makes for a much stronger )oint since the surface areas between the tankard body and handle match so closely. $he handle is then glued/epoxied and clamped to the body. %fter remo ing the clamps if I see any hairline openings between the tankard body and the handle, I fill it with "% glue 1(uperglue2 )ust for a little extra strength. $he type of glue I use to hold the actual rings together is a hea y duty, weatherproof, waterproof, exterior glue. I figure if this glue is designed to hold things together that are left outside in the weather then there's probably not much you can do to damage the tankards. $he last step before applying the exterior finish is to close the hole in the bottom of the tankard that was used to hold it to the lathe. Note that not all tankards re*uire this step. (ome times when I'm feeling ambitious, I use my circle cutting )ig on my bandsaw to cut the bottom ring for the essels. !hen I do that, there is no hole to plug. $o plug the holes, I use either half inch dowel rods or hole plugs. If I use dowels, I glue the dowel into the hole making sure it is flush with the top and bottom of the bottom disk. If I use plugs, then I ha e to put

one plug on the top 1interior2 and one plug on the bottom. I really ha en't decided if one way is better than the other. $he hole plugs show 'face grain' which more closely matches the bottom ring grain and is more attracti e in my opinion, but I the dowels ha e more surface area for the glue to adhere to. (o bottom line is that your tankard may come with a plug or an dowel or nothing at all. $he ma)ority of the time I tend to use plugs because, o erall, I think they )ust look better and are less noticeable. If the tankard is made of maple, I sometimes lea e small knots in the tankards for a little extra character. $he knots are really dark and show up nicely against the really light maple. If I ha e left any knots in, then I co er them with "% glue to be sure they remain tight during the finishing process. If I'm going to be applying the exterior finish to the tankards the following day I use an air compressor to blow off the tankard, inside and out. Now it 's time for finishing. I only apply finishes first thing in the morning. $his is because the shop has had all night for all the minute dust particles to settle. !hich means a better finish with fewer dust mote. I use a 'tack cloth' to remo e any remaining dust the may still be attached to the unfinished exterior. ,or the exterior, I use a minimum of three coats of finish and apply them with a foam brush. %fter each coat has dried, I lightly sand with ++4 grit sandpaper to remo e any dust nibs that ha e attached and then apply another coat of finish. %fter this coat has dried for +< hours, I do the same thing o er again. I use a minimum of three exterior coats, sometimes more. If after three coats, there are any spots that aren't showing high gloss, it's because that part of the wood has soaked up a lot more of the finish 1most likely the end grain portion of the wood2 . If that happens, I add additional finish coats until all spots are glossy.

5nce the interior and exterior is finished then I ha e to put a coat of epoxy on the bottom of the tankards to keep them from absorbing any moisture they may come in contact with while sitting on a wet table. I apply the finish to the bottom and then wait +< hours for it to set. $he last step. 5nce the last coat is dry and has set for +< hours, I fill the tankard/mug with water and let it stand for at least +< hours. %fter +< hours with no leaks, it's time to dry it and put it up for sale. $his step is for my peace of mind. I ha e ne er had a tankard leak and I ha e ne er been told of any tankard that has leaked. $he finishing process alone, takes se en days. ,irst interior coat, wait +< hours. (econd interior coat, wait +< hours. %ttach handle to tankard, wait +< hours. %pply first exterior coat, wait +< hours. %pply second exterior coat, wait +< hours. %pply third exterior coat if necessary, wait +< hours. %pply coating to bottom, wait +< hours. $his se en days does not take into account the actual cutting and gluing time either. %ll told it takes about 3 days to make a tankard from start to finish. /lease keep this in mind if you want me to make you 'something special'. -ou can't rush mother nature 1or two part epoxy2. $hese mugs and tankards should last a lifetime 1see the guarantee section2, but there are a few ca eats that should be adhered to. "ommon sense is closer than ca eat, but I kinda like the sound of ca eat, 1I hate admitting I like anything ,rench2. 5n a side note, if you like drinking beer from wooden tankards then you might like the idea of homebrew beer too. $hat site is one of my others and I tried to pretty much put e erything you want to know about how to make your own beer there