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- Step 1 Shaping the Wood. The shape of the wood beads is achieved by using a “puncher”. …
- Step 2 Drilling the holes. Using a hole puncher, the rough beads are drilled through. …
- Step 3 Rough Stranding. …
- Step 4 Refining. …
- Step 5 Buffing. …
- Step 6 Re- Stringing. …
- Step 7 Drying.
Table of Contents
What is the best wood for making beads?
Bayong has been commonly used hardwood for making wooden beads.
How to Make Wooden Beads Tutorial
Wood beads are derived from natural wood and go through a process of cutting, turning and polishing before being sold as finished products. They have the advantage of being much lighter than a gemstone bead, making them easier to add to jewelry without adding additional weight. They are also available in different colors and patterns depending on the type of wood. Below are 5 different types of wood used to make beads.
ebony
Ebony refers to the various types of dark, black, or dense hardwoods. They are often used to make wooden beads that are dark or brown in color. Ebony is known for its refined and tight wood grain that shines well when polished. They come in various blends of dark brown and black hues with band patterns, making them suitable for making beads for use in jewelry.
graywood
Graywood is another type of wood used to make wooden beads. They are known for their distinctive glossy smoky gray appearance. Graywood generally belongs to a specific species of wood, but wood that is gray in color also falls under the graywood category. Graywood beads are lightweight and smooth, making them ideal for incorporation into jewelry.
rosewood
Rosewood is another type of wood used to make beads. They are a hardwood and are known for their pink and dark color used for making a number of decorative ornaments. Rosewood beads are known for their hardness and loose wood grain, as well as their smooth surface. They also come in light brown shades with circular and parallel patterns useful for making beads.
palm wood
Palm wood is obtained from various types of palm trees such as coconut and date palms. They are mainly used to make ethnic jewelry due to their distinctive gray and black markings on the surface. These markings give the palm wood beads a unique look. The wood is also light, smooth and textured for use in ornaments.
Bayong
Bayong has been widely used as a hardwood for making wooden beads. Besides beads, it is used to make various other types of jewelry due to its high durability. It is reddish brown in color along with a beautiful wood grain pattern that adds to its look. Bayong pearls are also shinier, making them perfect for jewelry.
What is bead reamer?
A bead reamer is a pointed, round needle file that is used to either smooth the edges of the drill-hole in a bead, or to enlarge or straighten the hole itself.
How to Make Wooden Beads Tutorial
It was said that a good
can be your best friend.
A bead reamer is a pointed, round needle file used to either smooth the edges of the drilled hole in a bead, or to enlarge or straighten the hole itself. A reamer allows you to use beads that may appear unusable because the stringing hole is too small, misaligned, or has burrs or sharp edges. It’s also important to smooth down the rough edges at a bead’s stringing hole, as they can wear down or rub away the wire or cord of your design. Finally, a bead reamer helps the designer achieve smooth centers and larger bead holes without damaging the beads.
Bead reamers have distinctive properties and selecting the right tool for a particular material is important. Fire Mountain Gems and Beads® offers an excellent selection of bead reamers, and learning more about choosing the right reamer can help design success for jewelry and bead artists:
Extra fine bead reamer
According to jewelry making expert Esther, “pearls are softer and the fluted double helix pattern of this extra fine pearl reamer allows you to enlarge or smooth the pearl’s drill hole size.” This reamer is ideal for freshwater pearls because it can be fragile. It’s most effective when you use a slight twisting motion. Made of stainless steel alloy and constructed with a special S-shaped cross-section, this reamer is shatterproof.
extra fine bead reamer Diamond Dust-Coated Bead Reamer Set
“The reamers in this four-piece set act more like files,” notes Esther. “They are very good for gemstone beads to increase drill hole size or remove unwanted burrs from the hole. These reamers remove a small amount of material from harder gemstone surfaces at a time to reduce the risk of damage. They’re a good choice for opening the end of a bead that has an incomplete or half-completed hole.” Encrusted with industrial-grade diamond dust, these steel tools come in a variety of shapes and widths and work well on stones with very strong ones Holes small drill holes or unwanted burrs.
Steel Tools Diamond-Coated Wire Bead Reamer
This reamer increases the drill hole size evenly to the desired size, starting at 1mm. The diamond coating makes this reamer ideal for harder gems or pearls. It can be used on most stones, glass and ceramics. The size of the reamer is 1mm wide.
reamer interchangeable 4 piece bead reamer set
Great gem reamers, the diamond coated tips in this set will enlarge and straighten drill holes and smooth any surface or rough edges around the holes. These reamers are also great for polymer clay and wood beads, as wood beads often have loose fibers or splinters in the hole that get caught on thread materials like satin cord when used.
Diamond coated bead reamer
This diamond coated steel bead reamer is essential for many of the most common reaming needs. Use them both for increasing diameter and straightening holes. Keep it handy for use with acrylic beads, art clay, or bisque beads. 1.8mm wide.
For beads 8mm or smaller,
holds the beads in place when working with a reamer. Also, it is recommended to rub your beads and stones wet or in a bowl of water. Water acts as a lubricant to protect the beads from chipping or cracking from the frictional heat generated by using these tools. Water not only protects the component from damage, it also reduces wear on the reamer itself. For your safety, always wear eye protection when using bead or bead reamers.
Finally, Esther offers excellent advice on using a reamer effectively. “Use the smallest tip to begin with because the tips are specifically designed to take a little at a time. Don’t force the reamer to do the work, let the tool do the work for you so you don’t damage the pearls.” You can also use a jeweler’s saw as a pearl cutter, as shown in this short video:
.
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How to Make Wooden Beads Tutorial
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How do you seal wood beads?
Once dyed wooden beads are dry, you can spray them with a varnish to seal and protect the color.
How to Make Wooden Beads Tutorial
There are several ways to color wooden beads. The technique you choose to dye wooden beads will depend on the materials you have available, the type of project you are undertaking and the effect you want to achieve.
Scroll down for the step-by-step tutorial to learn three different methods of dyeing or dyeing wooden beads. Hand dyed, painted and dyed wooden beads make excellent craft supplies for jewelry making and DIY projects including homemade garland, beaded necklaces and wooden bead bracelets.
Related: How to color wooden blocks
Colored wooden beads craft supplies
This collection of colored wooden bead craft supplies contains different kinds of art supplies that you can use to color wooden beads. liquid watercolor paint, food coloring, acrylic paint, tempera paint, and extra-fine-tipped or brush-tipped crayons. There are even more consumables you can use than what we’ve listed.
The type of accessories you need will depend on how you want your colored wooden beads to look when they are finished, or you can use the materials you already have to make it easy – it’s up to you!
First, choose the method you want to use to dye, stain, or paint wooden beads from the three techniques detailed below. Next, gather supplies from the wooden bead color options listed here:
Scroll down to find instructions for three different wooden bead dyeing techniques. We’ve also included instructions in the form of video tutorials to make learning to dye wooden beads even easier!
3 easy ways to dye wooden beads
There is more than one way to stain, paint and dye wooden beads, so we have provided three main tutorials with a few variations for each wooden bead dyeing technique.
Related: How to start and end a pearl necklace or bracelet
How to dye wooden beads
Using liquid watercolors
or food coloring for coloring wooden beads is the easiest way to color wooden beads. All you have to do is put a few drops of paint in a mason jar and add a wooden bead or bunch of beads to color it. Of course you need more than a few drops of color if you want to color several wooden beads at once. 😉
If you want to see what liquid watercolors look like on wood, check out the rainbow colored wood blocks to see all the colors! We even have a color comparison guide using two different brands so you can see how each will look at full strength.
How to color wooden beads with liquid watercolors
Put a few drops of liquid watercolor or food coloring in a mason jar or lidded bottle from the trash. Add more than one color to create new colors! (Note: You’ll need more than a few drops of liquid watercolors and a 16-ounce, wide-mouth jar or larger if you’re going to color a lot of wood beads at once. Add a few drops of water to thin the color. Skip this step, if you want the deepest or most vibrant color.Place a wooden bead or wooden beads into the mason jar or recycled bottle.Put the lid on the mason jar or recycled bottle and shake gently and twist to color the wooden bead or -beads. Pour into a small bowl or tip the mason jar on its side. Next, insert a toothpick into the wooden bead hole to pick up each bead. Place the stained wooden bead or beads on a piece of parchment or wax paper to cover Dry. Alternatively, toss them in a colander over the sink and then place them on an old rag or paper towel to dry. Repeat p Repeat the process with more beads and/or use more colors and color combinations as needed. Don’t forget to wash your mason jar between each color—unless you plan on mixing them, or course! Once dyed wooden beads are dry, you can spray them with a varnish to seal and protect the color. (optional) Please note that dyed wooden beads may bleed if they get wet, even if sealed and protected. Don’t shower with them on necklaces if you’re hoping to preserve their color.
Step-by-step video tutorial on coloring wooden beads
Watch the video tutorial below to learn how to dye wooden beads with this easy dyeing process!
Related: Wooden Bead Bunny Craft
How to paint wooden beads
There are several ways to paint wooden beads
with acrylic paints or tempera paints. Acrylic paint can cover wood better than tempera paint, so we prefer acrylic for coloring wooden beads.
One method that can be used to paint a wooden bead requires an extra long toothpick and/or brush
. While another painted wooden beading technique requires a small bowl and a toothpick or brush.
You can even make a crazy variation of both… My daughter certainly did! You can see her painting a wooden bead in the colored wooden beads video tutorial below the written instructions.
How to paint wooden beads on a thin wooden dowel or toothpick
Thread one or more wooden beads onto a toothpick. Use a brush to paint the wood bead down from the top of the wood bead with the color or colors of your choice. Flip the toothpick or wooden dowel to paint the other side of the wooden bead using the same technique. Slide the wooden bead from the wooden dowel or toothpick onto a piece of scrap or wax paper and allow the colored wooden bead to dry. Roll it around a few times with a toothpick before it dries so it doesn’t stick to the paper.
How to paint wooden beads in a bowl
Place wooden beads or beads in a small bowl. Using a brush and/or toothpick, roll the wooden beads around to coat the entire bead in paint. Insert a toothpick into the bead hole to pick it up and set it on a waste paper or wax paper to dry. Roll the colored wooden bead around a few times before it dries so it doesn’t stick to the paper.
Once the painted wooden beads have dried you can spray them with a varnish to seal and protect the paint. (Optional)
Step-by-step video tutorial on painting wooden beads
The Painted Wood Beads video shows the colored wood bead methods above in action!
How to color wooden beads with colored pencils
Another fun and easy way to color wooden beads is with crayons.
Extra-fine-tipped and brush-tipped colored pencils make it easy to apply color to beads in countless ways. The only limits are the limits of your imagination.
You can choose to color an entire bead in one color with a paint pen, or choose a few colors. You can even create intricate designs and patterns on wooden beads with crayons!
Look how cool these painted wooden spools turned out! We used metallic brush pens
to decorate the wooden beads in this photo…
…and extra fine colored pencils to paint the wooden spool beads in the next photo.
Once colored wooden beads have dried, you can spray them with a varnish
to seal and protect the paint. (Optional)
We are working on more cool videos and photos of examples of colored wooden beads painted with colored pencils to share with you very soon!
… Stay tuned in and bookmark this page so you can come back to see what we’ve added!
Related: Rainbow Pearl Lucky Necklace
Colored wooden beads for jewelry making and craft projects
Dyeing wooden beads for crafts, jewelry making, and DIY projects is fun and easy. You can also buy colored wooden beads. However, if you need to match a specific color, dyeing wooden beads is the way to go!
Use colored wooden beads to make wooden bead bracelets, beaded necklaces, beaded bunnies and other fun crafts and DIY projects!
Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE!
If you liked this colored wooden bead craft tutorial, you might like it too
Does Hobby Lobby sell wooden beads?
Natural Round Wood Beads – 25mm | Hobby Lobby | 23992.
How to Make Wooden Beads Tutorial
Dimensions:
Diameter: 25mm
Package contains 12 beads.
Process of Making Wood Beads – Too Easy
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History of Wooden Beads | Wood Beads
Wood is generally easy to find and work with so wherever wood is found you will find wooden beads. Regional carpenters and carvers use the most readily …
Source: www.harlequinbeads.com
Date Published: 5/5/2021
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How Wood Beads are Made
How wooden beads are made
Our all natural wooden beads are one of our best sellers. The wood material comes from native trees of the Philippines. In this article we will show you how these wooden beads are made.
The material
Before we start discussing the steps involved in making the beads, let’s first take a look at what materials are used to make the wooden beads. The raw material used comes from different types of wood. Examples include Bayong, Ebony, Mahogany, Rosewood, Redwood (Magkuno), Robles, Ols Palmwood, Coconut Wood and more. Raw wood is purchased from suppliers to make it easier to procure materials.
Step 1 Shape the wood
The shape of the wooden beads is achieved with a “punch”. The machine may look confusing, but its function is the same as your regular office tool punch. The wood is placed on the “shaper”. The machine is switched on and “punches” the wood – creating the shape of the wooden beads. Also, there are different punch shape settings: teardrop, circle and many more.
*Here’s the puncher
*Different shapes can be made with different types of punches
Step 2 Drilling the holes
The coarse beads are drilled through with a hole punch. Using wire, the beads are strung at arm’s length enough for the worker to hold each end with his hand. This process helps the worker achieve the final shape of the pearl by skillfully grinding the pearl into shape with a bench grinder.
Step 3 Coarse stranding
This process will help get rid of flaws and make the wooden beads more crispy. A beading machine is used to polish the wooden beads. Various types of sandpaper are used to polish the beads. In this phase, the qualities #100 and #150 are used.
Step 4 Refining
After the polishing process, the beads are put back into the beading machine. The last and finest sandpaper (#360) is used to fully polish the beads.
Step 5 Polishing
Wax is applied to the wooden beads to increase their luster and shine. To remove the wax, the pearls go through a buffering process using a buffering machine or a grinder with a buffering cloth attached to the wheel. We make sure to remove the wax to avoid the beads sticking together.
Step 6 Re-covering
Once the waxing is complete, the next step is to thread all the beads together. This process is manual; i.e. each individual bead piece is lined up individually.
Step 7 Drying
The beads are then placed on a dryer to remove excess moisture.
The finished product
After the long process, the wooden beads are finally ready!
How to Make Wooden Beads (with Pictures)
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How to Make Wooden Beads Tutorial
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Here’s how to make wooden beads, which make great gifts and can even earn you a little money with your woodworking skills. Wooden beads for charm bracelets are very popular and quite expensive. Luckily, they’re easy to make.
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How to make wooden charm beads
I bought one of these charm bracelets from this brand as a gift for my wife some time ago and soon found that the beads and charms are very expensive when bought individually.
A single bead can range from $40 to $90, and while they’re beautiful, they’re definitely on the expensive side.
Some companies make a range of beads out of wood, and even these aren’t much cheaper than the other beads and charms. As a woodworker, it only took me a short time to find a way to make them myself. For just a few cents each. You can easily make wooden beads in your shop using the instructions in this tutorial.
Choosing a type of wood for your wooden beads
Almost any type of wood is suitable for this tutorial, but the staining process will end up working best on light burl or burl wood. The building process will be the same in both cases, so don’t let the wood hold you back.
I’m using Briar for this tutorial to make wooden beads. Briar is a wood primarily used for tobacco pipes. It is a dense grain wood and takes on a beautiful finish.
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Other wood species that are great candidates for wood beads include mahogany, cocobolo, rosewood, figured maple, and bocote. As long as you like the look and color of the species, you can use it to make a wooden bead for a charm bracelet.
Some woods are beautiful just as they are and can save you time in the finishing process because they don’t need to be stained. The rosewoods are a great example. If you like natural woods, just take a trip to the store and you will surely find something amazing.
See also: How to Make Handmade Charm Bracelet Beads
Preparing and drilling the wooden bead blank
Once you’ve decided on a type, you’ll need to purchase ferrules to cover the ends. You can find these at craft stores, online, and at sewing stores. Look for ferrules that measure 1/4 inch on the smaller part that fits the bead.
Two ferrules are required for each bead, one at each end. The middle pieces are almost touching, so measure the distance between your two ferrules when the small ends are touching. This is the minimum thickness you will need to make your bead. As you get thinner, you’ll need to grind down the ends of the ferrules. It’s more of a pain than it’s worth, so just size your blank accordingly.
For my blank and ferrules, I cut a sheet that was nearly 1/2 inch thick. Then I sanded the faces very smooth until the blank measured 3/8 inch. This was perfect for my ferrules.
Cut a blank that is about 1-1/2 inches square and thick enough for your ferrules to both be pressed in flush.
Then drill a hole through the center for a pen making mandrel. In most cases these mandrels are made with a 1/4 inch shank. Choose a drill bit that fits the mandrel, then drill a hole. Make sure there is a scrap piece on the bottom of the piece to prevent the hole on the bottom from blowing out.
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The shaping process takes place on the lathe and there is a bit of prep work to be done. To facilitate turning, the blank must be roughed.
First, draw a circle around the drill hole that is slightly larger than 1 inch in diameter. Then saw off the excess wood with a hand saw or band saw. This is unnecessary wood and will extend the life of your lathe tools.
After that, use a sander to refine the edge and remove any sharp or pointed areas from the sawing. Then sand the surfaces flat with 400 grit, making sure all scratches are removed. The faces don’t get much touching on the lathe, so remove the scratches now.
Once the piece is on the lathe, the faces will be difficult to reach. Place a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface and simply sand the surfaces back and forth. Once you get to 400 grit with no scratches, you can rotate it.
See Also: 29 Ways to Maximize Your Woodworking Shop Layout
Turning a wooden bead on the lathe
Mount the wooden bead blank onto the pin mandrel. Use a 7mm socket on both sides and keep it as close to the headstock as possible.
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Load the rest of the shaft with whatever you need to get to the spot where you can tighten the knurled nut at the end and attach the wooden bead blank.
It’s important to keep your twists as close to the headstock as possible. This is a more stable area and there is less chatter when turning. Use the tailstock to steady the other end of the pin mandrel and lock everything in place as if you were turning a wooden pin.
First, turn the wooden bead blank round with a roughing tool. This can be a roughing gouge, bevel or carbide turning tool.
I made a whole set of carbide turning tools that I describe in another article. These have saved me a ton of money and now I don’t have to buy sharpening equipment.
Rotate the wooden bead concentrically to the mandrel shaft and then make it smaller. This is a matter of personal preference as wooden beads can be made in any desired diameter. For most beads, anything from 3/4 inch to 1 inch is perfect. I made this bead a little on the large side, so I turned it down to 1 inch with my homemade carbide turning tool.
In general, sometimes growing up can have a positive effect. Something bigger than normal is noticeable. This means that it is more noticed and more talked about. Going slightly larger than normal is usually fine, but don’t go too big. Subtlety still wins.
Next, decide on a shape. Most pearls are just rounded, but some are more pointed in the middle. Some are even made with beveled sides and have a more geometric look.
Use a fingernail tube or detailed carbide tool to create the desired shape. If you are interested in a traditional look, just walk around the corner.
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It is important that you make the shape you decide on symmetrical. Take some time and really check your work while it’s on the lathe. This is the easiest time to make sure your wooden beads are looking their best. The lathe is a quick way to remove material, so take advantage of that and make your shape as good as you can before proceeding.
Grinding the bead into shape and smoothing it
Once you have created your original shape on the wooden bead blank, you can now start sanding the surface smooth.
Briar grinds like a dream and polishes fairly quickly. First look at your sanding marks and decide which grit to start with. In most cases, starting at 150 is usually a good choice.
The 150 grit sandpaper is rough enough to remove material quickly, but not so rough that it leaves super deep scratches. After that, switch to 220, then 400, then 600, then 0000 steel wool. Be sure to completely remove any scratches from the previous grit before proceeding to the next finer grit.
Here’s a close look at the wooden bead on the lathe. This is after sanding down to 0000 steel wool.
Briar has an incredibly smooth appearance, which is normal for this type of wood. The style you choose may or may not be as smooth depending on whether the grain is open or not.
At this step it is important to ensure that the surface is completely scratch free before proceeding with staining. The dyeing and finishing process does not remove scratches. In fact, it will only strengthen them. The lathe does most of the work. Spend the necessary time to make the surface completely smooth.
See also: 10-step guide to wood finishing
Finishing of the wooden bead with color stains
Color patches are great. You really can’t put it any other way. If you’re new to coloring, make this your excuse to buy a few bottles.
Fiebings leather dyes are under $10 each and last a very long time. Invest in a few colors and you will be impressed.
For the finish, I’ll explain how to use black, saddle brown, and yellow to create a contrasting finish. You can use any color, there’s just a loose rule. They must have a very dark spot and a strong spot. Your dark can be brown to black, and your light can be almost anything else lighter.
These dyes are available in leatherworking shops, online of course, and in some woodworking shops. The black is an alcohol leather dye and the other two colors are the pro dye which also has some oil in it. If you are interested in different colors, they have a lot to choose from. The Fiebings brand is excellent to work with.
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The first step to a great-looking contrasting color is to apply a dark undercolor. After sanding, the briar looks pretty simple. It’s nice but nothing special. The contrast dyeing process brings out the details.
While the lathe is turning, gently dab a paper towel with black paint on the wooden bead to allow it to absorb paint.
As the lathe spins, it only takes a few seconds for the paint to dry on the surface. Apply another layer at this point. Repeat this until the bead is very dark in color. You need to be sure to get some paint on the sides as well, but remember that the ferrules will cover the areas right near the center holes.
Sanding off the understain color
Allow the paint to dry completely. Using a heat gun on low heat for a few seconds can help set the stain. Now start revealing the grain.
The contrast coloring process works by coloring the grain lines in the briar darker than the rest of the wood. This is achieved by coloring the entire piece black and then sanding it.
Turn on the lathe and sand with either 800 grit sandpaper or 0000 grit steel wool. The steel wool is a little more forgiving, but it will take a little longer to remove the paint. The goal is to remove all of the color from the flake but leave the color in the grain.
Stop the lathe frequently when the color gets lighter and lighter. Continue until you see a contrast that you like.
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For this project, I want to show more of the top color than the bottom color. Because of this I sanded the surface to reduce the black to barely anything. This will look great once a top color is applied.
Be sure to get around the sides of the wooden bead as well. This can be a little tough, but if you fold the sandpaper you may hit the sides. Leave the sides a little darker than the rest of the bead and you will have a nice transition from dark to light.
Adding the top color to the wooden bead
Examine your cut for the black spot and when satisfied move on to the top color.
This can be anything you choose and for this tutorial saddle brown and yellow will be used to create the top color.
First apply a layer of saddle tan. Turn on the lathe and blot the paint with a paper towel while the wooden bead spins. This is different than applying black. The goal here is to get a good, even coat of paint on the pearl. If you want the color to be stronger, apply a second coat. However, a good coat while the lathe is spinning should be enough to add the top coat of paint in most cases.
Allow the top coat to dry completely, which can be further accelerated with a little heat and air.
In order to apply the yellow, part of the saddle tan must be removed. Because yellow is lighter than saddle tan, the color won’t show if you just rub it on top.
Using 0000 steel wool, gently sand the center of the bead while the lathe turns. This will only remove a small amount of the brown stain from the wooden bead. If you want a stronger transition, remove more of the saddle tan. However, you don’t want to remove everything. For this bead I barely lightened the middle of the wood. This is just enough to see a slight variation in the final product’s color.
Here is a picture of the bead turning on the lathe. This makes it much easier to see the middle part.
Use 0000 steel wool until the center part of the bead looks lighter than the rest of the bead, which allows the yellow to show through very slightly.
As you can see, the center area of the spinning bead is definitely a bit lighter than the sides and shoulders of the bead. Again, if you want to show more yellow then grind more. What you don’t want is to remove all of the paint. When you do this, instead of a nice transition, you’ll see a yellow stripe down the middle.
Applying the second top color to the bead
Turn on the lathe and apply the yellow dye to the entire bead. The areas where the saddle tan is at its fullest do not show much change.
The center of the bead will appear slightly yellower than the sides, giving the finished piece more depth of colour.
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This coat is the same as the saddle tan coat as both are top patches. The goal is to simply apply an even coat of paint to the wood bead and then allow the stain to dry completely before moving on to the next step. Allow the lathe to spin for about a minute, and the spinning will help the dye stain dry.
Here’s a look at the wooden bead on the lathe after the opaque paints have dried. There is a very subtle color change from the sides up, and the color has depth and vibrancy.
When you get to this point, you can finish the wooden bead directly on the lathe as you like. You can use any finish you’re comfortable with, although some friction finishes can remove too much paint.
For hand applied finishes use something like Tru-Oil, Arm-R-Seal or Danish Oil. Simply apply all this with a cloth and then let it dry. Thin coats win the last game, so be sure to apply very thin coats and allow them to fully dry in between.
Hand applied finishes don’t get the recognition they deserve. Sprayed finishes are very popular and are sometimes considered superior to manual finishes. While spray painting is good, hand painting is some of the finest in all of woodworking.
If you haven’t already, spend a little time working on your crafting skills. If you really just learn a few pet finishes, you’re good for almost anything. Learn how to use Tru-Oil and Arm-R-Seal and you can finish just about anything, big or small.
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Polish the wooden bead to a high gloss
To finish small pieces of wood and achieve a very high gloss, there is nothing better than polishing.
I wrote an entire article about buffing with the Beall Wood Buff System that I use in my shop. If you’re thinking of buying a buffing setup, it’s worth it.
First, remove the bead from your mandrel and thread it over a 1/4 inch dowel rod. The rod allows you to hold the pearl and there is much less risk of it flying off. First polish the wooden bead with Tripoli and then switch to White Diamond. Finally, polishing with carnauba wax seals everything and adds shine.
Here’s a look at the bead after polishing. The color and the surface get an incredibly smooth and shiny appearance.
Once you’ve polished wood, you’ll never want to finish any small project any other way. This wooden bead was finished by the lathe in just a few minutes. You can also touch the piece immediately afterwards.
Thanks to the contrast dyeing process and polishing, the grain really pops on this piece of briar. A good finish will do the same, although it may not be quite as smooth depending on the sanding.
The benefit of polishing is that you’re really just sanding the wood with fine abrasives.
Polishing pastes are actually nothing more than abrasive grains in cake form. The buffing wheel picks up the grit from the compound, and then the cloth rubs the compound against the wood.
The effect of the polishing process is that you have sanded the surface with very fine grits that make it very smooth. You can also do the same thing by hand with micro mesh papers, you just have to leave the wooden bead on the lathe. Micro Mesh is a great alternative for those who don’t have a buffing setup and can also produce a very smooth finish.
Installing the ferrules on the bead faces
Finally, the ferrules are attached. The easiest way to secure the ferrules is with CA glue, although it can sometimes come loose if the bead takes a good hit.
It takes longer, but I really like using two-part epoxy to attach the ferrules. It takes longer to dry but the bond is incredible.
Mix up a little 5 Minute Epoxy and dab some onto the faces of the wooden bead with a swab. Be careful to confine the epoxy to the areas under the ferrule. Also wipe a little in the center hole, but not too much. Sometimes pushing the ferrule in can clog the epoxy if you put too much in the middle.
Press the ferrules in place after applying the epoxy to both sides. Look into the center hole to make sure the epoxy hasn’t pooled outside of the ferrules.
Also check the faces and make sure the epoxy hasn’t spread onto the wooden bead.
If you have epoxy where you don’t want it, just wipe it off with a rag before it has a chance to cure. If you skip this step, losing weight later on will be miserable. Examine the bead well and then set it aside to harden. Most epoxies take a few hours to reach light handling strength and 24 hours to fully cure. Before you give this wooden bead as a gift, be sure to give it 24 hours.
Here’s a look at the finished bead. It’s a little larger than some of the store-bought beads, but it will stand out on a charm bracelet.
These beads are very light as they are made of wood. The extra size is not noticeable in the weight of the piece.
These thread onto most store bought charm bracelets and look great alongside any of the other charms. Wood comes in almost every color, so you can use a species or stain color that goes well with the existing charms and beads on the bracelet. Beads like these are sometimes $40-$90, and you just made one for just pennies.
This is one of those projects where the time and cost is very small compared to the selling price. Yes, you might not be able to sell them at the same price as the big ones, but even at half price you can still do very well.
I spent about an hour making this bead for the tutorial. Assuming a cost of $1 and a selling price of $25 each, you could make about $24 an hour making beads. If you end up making several of these and selling them, once you have the tools and a good manufacturing process in place, your time investment can cut in half.
If you don’t plan on selling these, they make excellent gifts. Something like this will be a treasure for the recipient. They will have it with them every time they wear their charm bracelet and people will ask where they bought it.
If you have any questions about making wooden beads please leave a comment and I will be happy to answer them. Please also share my work online with your friends. It gives me the opportunity to share my love of woodworking with even more people. Happy building.
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