tap handles

Going to make some wood tap handles this week. Unfortunately I'm away from my kegerator. Could anyone give my a rough diameter of the top of the faucet so I don't make these too wide.
At the parents for the week, and my dad has a lathe, which should be able to turn out some nice handles.

I just check mine with a micrometer and they are .7 ,thats a regular faucet , the perlicks are .650.

Hope this helps

norther brew sells tap handle treads. http://www.northernbrewer.com/tap-handles.html
bottem of the page

autoferret said:

norther brew sells tap handle treads. http://www.northernbrewer.com/tap-handles.html
bottem of the page

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AHBS carries them as well.

Figured I'd post a pic of the 2 I turned the other day. They aren't stained yet nor do they have the thread inserts in them either, but they're done for the most part.



The one on the right took a bit more time as it was the first time I'd used a lathe in like 3 years and it's a little more complicated design. Also, the wood it oak... guessing it's age at 75+ years and is damn hard. The table saw bogged a bit cutting it. The wood used was off an oak table that was burned in a house fire, but my dad being the scavenger he is took the table as it was an antique. So I took a leg from it and made the 2 handles. He suggested I use the leg of a chair from the same fire that was made of 100% Brazilian rosewood, but I couldn't jusify using that beautiful wood dating to the 1800's (not to mention pricey) for a tap handle.

z987k said:

He suggested I use the leg of a chair from the same fire that was made of 100% Brazilian rosewood, but I couldn't jusify using that beautiful wood dating to the 1800's (not to mention pricey) for a tap handle.

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I can't think of a better tribute to the life of a tree.

really, I mean that wood today, if you bought a 4x4x12" piece would be like $50 I want him to use it some something for himself, after all he saved the thing.

z987k said:

really, I mean that wood today, if you bought a 4x4x12" piece would be like $50 I want him to use it some something for himself, after all he saved the thing.

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Still.... Oak in the great scheme of things is just a step or 2 above undesierable. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE quarter sawn oak. Don't see very much of it nowdays though and your tap handles are VERY SEXY!!! (I like the one on the left) I do like oak, but rosewood.... man, the grain in that wood is quite unique and out of this world!!! Another material I would love to see in a tap handle is honduras mohogany... Can't get it anymore. Very elegant! Have to use a very light stain on that one to see the grain though. of course I would hate to see a beer lable stuck to the outside of the handle and hide the natural beauty of the grain. Maybe drill a hole in the top and add something as astheticly pleasing as the wood itself to describe what exactly is on tap? Great work!!! and in the immortal words of Winston Zeddemore (ghostbusters)"Ray. If someone asks if you are a god... (long pause) ...YOU SAY YES!!!!!!!!!!"

z987k said:

The one on the right took a bit more time as it was the first time I'd used a lathe in like 3 years and it's a little more complicated design.

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The one on the left looks more complicated - did you really mean the one on the right?

They look great!

OK, now I am jealous. I have been wanting to get some time in on the lathe to make some handles, but never seem to get around to it. I have a brother in law who works for a mill that manufacturers things like high end moldings, etc., so he gets me TONS of the coolest stock. It is all "scrap" material that they throw into a chipper and have hauled away.

One day he showed up with the trunk of his car loaded up with 1/4" thick, 6" wide planks of hickory. The average one is about 6" long, and most of them have some cupping to them, which is why they were cut off the ends of the longer runs. Cupping does not matter when you are soaking them down and throwing them on the grill

Last Christmas we were turning pens out of Brazilian rosewood and some beautiful maple. The rosewood was 1" thick stock that was about 6" wide, and averaged about 8" long. They had been doing a huge run of molding, and based upon the normal cuts, it left 8-10" at the end of each board that was not "useable" for anything else that they needed. I have a TON of walnut in my basement that is the same dimensions. Most people would cry at the stuff that we use for firewood.

I guess I need to get off my butt and fire up the lathe.

Grimsawyer said:

Still.... Oak in the great scheme of things is just a step or 2 above undesierable. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE quarter sawn oak. Don't see very much of it nowdays though and your tap handles are VERY SEXY!!! (I like the one on the left) I do like oak, but rosewood.... man, the grain in that wood is quite unique and out of this world!!! Another material I would love to see in a tap handle is honduras mohogany... Can't get it anymore. Very elegant! Have to use a very light stain on that one to see the grain though. of course I would hate to see a beer lable stuck to the outside of the handle and hide the natural beauty of the grain. Maybe drill a hole in the top and add something as astheticly pleasing as the wood itself to describe what exactly is on tap? Great work!!! and in the immortal words of Winston Zeddemore (ghostbusters)"Ray. If someone asks if you are a god... (long pause) ...YOU SAY YES!!!!!!!!!!"

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This was red oak, and it was old and hard as hell. I can't tell you how hard it was to turn that first one. It took over an hour, partially because that was my first time on a lathe in quite some time. I have a bunch of wood available for free since my dad and his friend kind of have a part time mill thing going. Cherry, hickory, elm, oak, walnut, and a few other hardwoods I can't remember off hand. I know we have some mahogany stock laying around also. I can just go and pick out what I want out the 1000's of board feet in the warehouse. So this summer when I'm back up at him place I'l probably make some more.

Also, the one on the right was, basically, a well I'm running out of time and need another one.

Grimsawyer said:

i LOVE quarter sawn oak.

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I'm sure you realize this, but if you're turning it, it would be a waste to pay for quartersawn oak, their is no face grain on a round part. Not trying to be rude, I just realized it myself when I read your comment so I thought I'd point it out.

Those handles look great by the way, Z.

Yeah, i do realize that. If you look at the edge, not the end, that is what quartersawn is. It's hard to get alot of that for furnature etc... because it is kinda wasteful. However if you get a regular piece of oak and turn it on a lathe then position the edge forward you get the nice quartersawn look, kind of. I LOVE the grain in wood. Oak, maple, etc... Just pointing out in the large scheme of things oak isn't as desireable as maple, mahogany or (mmmmmm) rosewood. The more expensive/fine furnature is the less oak you find. Kind of a moot point really. (Remember, i myself love oak, hehe) Just trying to persuade our brewing buddy to go for broke and next time take up the offer to get an exotic wooden tap handle. then post the beer porn!!!!

As soon as my dad gets his new garage and lathe up and running, I'm finishing up mine out of Bolivian Rosewood. I've only got one done, three more to go.

my to tap handles ar sheoke and jarra 2 wa hard woods

designs! wow, I just stood there and came up with something as I went.