Turning Drawer Pulls & Door Knobs
Many pieces of furniture feature a pull or knob. Anything with a door or drawer has a need for some sort of handle, and while trends and fashions change, turned wooden knobs have been with us for centuries and continue to feature on modern furniture.
A search of almost any furniture, kitchen or bedroom manufacturer’s catalogue – online or otherwise – will show a huge array of variations on the classic style. Over the years I must have turned hundreds of them and while the basic design is similar, it’s surprising how small changes in diameter or the addition or removal of a fillet or other detail, can totally change the look and feel of the pull. There are also variations in the fixing method of the pulls and grain direction. In this article I will show the basic turning operation for two knobs in a classic design – one will be end grain, one will be cross grain. I will also explore work holding and fixing options.
WORK HOLDING
As with any turning job, one of the first decisions to make is how to hold it on the lathe. My natural inclination is to work between centres for spindle work, which is fine, leaving just a small parting-off nib to remove by hand at the end. I have also turned cross-grain knobs in this way without a problem. Depending on the design, a very good alternative holding method is a screw chuck. The problem with most commercial screw chucks, however, is that they are designed to hold a bowl blank in the initial
