Ruth's products are the best on the market and her customer service is second to none!

I himmed & hawed at my last in-person show while I visited Ruth Niles' booth. I have been looking to add her Joyner off center jig to my toolbox.... Both for the eccentric function, but also as an upgrade to replace my 15-year old PSI mandrel. Thanks for this video and for the reminder. When it comes to supporting small USA businesses, there is no better example than Ruth Niles.

Great gift idea Mike.

Good point about using the Laguna lathe...I just got one and nice to see you using what a lot of people have in their shop. Cheers and stay safe.

As always, a great video. Thanks Mike.

Very timely and well done video. Never too early to start turning Christmas gifts. One thing I do is create a slight (less than 5 degrees) undercut on the hole end of the blank to ensure a seamless fit where the wood meets the metal, similar to the way you undercut a bowl bottom so it sits flush on a table.

Mike Enjoyed the video! Appreciate the info and your Time. Thanks Tim 👍🏻🇨🇦

Nice work, as always. I, too, am impressed with Ruth Niles products. I just received a bottle opener that I will turn a handle to fit. If I like it, and I think I will, I intend to do a number of them for my family. Bottle stoppers on the way, too. Thanks for the project video!

I've been wanting you to do this video. Thanks for demonstrating.

Agree wholeheartedly with your comments about Ruth Niles and her stoppers. Her stoppers are far superior to the plated junk sold by some other vendors, and she is a really nice person to talk with at shows. That said, I usually give away my turnings; every time we go to a party or dinner where I take a bottle of wine, I always include a stopper. Ruth's stainless steel design is a bit spendy for the majority of the stoppers I make. But I do have a few of Ruth's on hand if I need to make something special. One area where I differ from you relates to the hole - because the axis of the hole aligns with the grain of the wood, threading the hole can be tricky, and the threads aren't very strong. So I have been making 5/8" diameter threaded inserts from face-grain wood that I glue into a 5/8" hole in the bottom of the stopper. The inserts are made by drilling and tapping holes in scraps of wood, drilling into face grain so that the threads are parallel to the grain of the wood (threads in face grain are far stronger than threads in end-grain), cutting them apart, and then mounting them on a stopper mandrel to turn down to 5/8"cylinders. I batch out a bunch of the inserts that I keep on hand so that it doesn't take any time at all to drill a hole and glue in an insert when I'm making a stopper.

I have never been motivated to make stoppers, Mike, as I didn't appreciate their gift value; especially themed ones, such as the chess rook. Now I must make a series before next Christmas, and know exactly where to send them! Very enlightening. Thanks once again. Bernard.

Thanks for sharing

Great video

Thanks mike, nice to have some smaller projects to practice on and not be abusing larger more expensive "exotic" wood..Fun to watch a pro making oopses, and leaving them in the final cut..Blessings,

Pick up the pace, Bubba! 😁

Great video. Very timely - I've been giving some thought lately to making some bottle stoppers for gifts. I have the same lathe. Where did you get that small tool rest? The one Laguna supplies has proven a little too big, even with my limited experience.

Great video. Thanks from a new turner. You are correct that we subsidize China's shipping. It comes from China still being declared a "developing nation." SereptenzA has a great KZfaq video on why this happens (and needs to stop!)

I love your videos. They've been super helpful as I'm learning to turn. I've made the sanding paste and abrasive paste you shared in a different video. I have a question. Do you find the wax or oil interferes with other finishes you put over the top? Is there a special prep you do for finishing after using the pastes? Thanks.

What finishes can be applied over a coin? I am aiming for a shiny glass like finish. I love turning but hate the finishing process (just can’t seem to perfect it yet) so anything straight forward without several steps would be best for me.

Thank you for the instructions. I have the Ruth Niles self-tapping mandrel, but I’ve had the issue of it stripping the threads when turning. Do you have any solutions to prevent that?

Excellent demo Mike. Question: Ruth Niles has a Beginner Stopper Kit which includes two thread taps. I don't see where they are used. It appears the bottle stopper is screwed into the same hole the mandrel used when turning. Can you elaborate? Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.

can you do a video explaing the numbers on the back of the chuck not the jaw numbers i know what there for