Assembling the Barrel

The body, or "barrel" of the Big Daddy is made up of the brass tube/foot assembly and the wood tube.  The wood tube is longer than the brass tube; I do this so that I can press the wood onto the brass and be certain that the wood will completely cover the brass.

To assemble the barrel, I press the wood onto the end of the brass tube -- usually, I can get about 1/2" of the wood pressed onto the brass before it is too difficult to do by hand.  I then apply a thin coat of epoxy to the tube, and use a 6" bench vise to press the wood slowly into position over the brass tube.  This operation has one of two outcomes: 1) the wood covers the brass tube and fits snugly against the lower trim ring; or 2) the wood cracks and I start cursing and grumbling.  Fortunately, 2) rarely happens.  This picture shows the wood being pressed into position using the bench vise:

Once the epoxy has dried, the next step is to trim the wood. Although I haven't shown it here, I've used the lathe to remove the excess wood from the barrel, so that the end of the barrel is now flush with the end of the brass tube.

Next, I trim the wood down to the same diameter as the brass foot.  Notice, in this picture, that I'm using a "left-hand" (left-to-right) cutting tool -- I want to start cutting at the brass foot and work my way toward the other end of the barrel.  Also, I'm once again using the live center to support the workpiece:

Next: Assembling the Cap

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Last modified: 12/08/02