DIY Carbon Fiber and Wood Ring

What's happening Instructables, Dan Rees here from www.ZebranoWoodCraft.com and I'm back to you with another tutorial!

(I'm sorry, I know it's been like a really long time but I've just been setting up a whole new workshop).

In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to make a cool little carbon fiber ring with a wood interior.

This isn't actually as complicated as it sounds to make, so keep watching/reading. Maybe I can show you that you don't need a massive workshop to have a good time (after all it's not the size of the boat, it's the motion in the ocean!).

Please check out more videos from my channel and Subscribe if you like my content!

https://www.youtube.com/zebranowoodcraft

You can also shop for bent wood rings in my Etsy shop here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/zebranowoodcraft

All of the materials and tools I used can be found in the links below on Ebay*

Lathe

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2i3zkA8

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2ikzGOa

Wood veneer – I used Walnut in this video.

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2jKqbO1

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2ksgfWr

Carbon Fiber Tube - I used a tube with 22mm inner diameter

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2esZt7k

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2x0vC1C

Super Glue

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2vTQzpN

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2wwp4EC

Socket Set

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2iQ2MdM

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2wsIThP

Zona Razor Saw

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2vAuVvw

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2wwtCLa

Drill Press Vice

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2gzukDN

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2xERWe2

Metal Ruler

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2gAxeYD

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2wwij5K

Craft Knife

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2x0hBkn

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2vAytxE

*Please note I am an affiliate of Ebay and I receive a small financial reward if you use one of my links to make a purchase.

To make the outside of this ring I used Carbon tube I bought off Ebay that had an inner diameter roughly the same size as my finger (22mm). This actually felt a little bit like cheating to me but I don't care.

To make the wooden interior of the ring I wanted to use a bent wood method. To do this I needed to find a socket that was slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the tube.

My wood of choice for this project was a standard thickness walnut veneer and I started out by cutting a 10mm strip with a craft knife and metal ruler.

To prepare the wood for bending, I sanded one end of the strip to a paper thin point. I soaked the strip of wood in hot water for about 30 minutes.

I wrapped the wet strip of wood around a socket and secured a bit of tape around it while I allowed the wood to dry. This stage just trains the wood to be round and makes the wrapping stage easier.

A little while later I got bored of waiting so I used a hair dryer to speed things up a little!

When it was nice and dry, I test wrapped the wood around the socket until there were 2 overlapping layers and then cut off any excess with a scissors.

I sanded the freshly cut edge down to a taper just like before to help give me a smooth ring shape.

Now for the fun part: Glue up time. I Used a cocktail stick to apply small amounts of glue to the wood, before carefully wrapping the wood around itself to form a bent wood ring. The important thing to remember here is to keep those wraps nice and tight.

With my ring formed I sanded the inside and outer seams until they blended in nicely and looked a bit more presentable.

I used sandpaper to clean the edges of the wooden ring.

Pro tip: using a figure of 8 motion keeps the ring width nice and even.

With the wooden portion of the ring done I needed to cut a 10mm section of the carbon fiber tube.

To do this I set my trusty calipers to 10mm and scored a line around the carbon fiber tube.

Using the score line as a guide I cut the tube with a razor saw.

When the cutting was complete I cleaned up the edges of the ring once again using the figure of 8 technique on sandpaper.

To glue the bent wood ring inside the carbon fiber ring, I applied a layer of super glue around the outside of the wood ring and pressed it in to the carbon fiber.

Frustratingly I accidentally glued my ring to the socket! I was a little too generous with the glue and had a bit of overspill but with a little brute strength I managed to get the ring off without any damage.

After prizing my ring off the socket I once again sanded down the outer edges.

The inner seam of the ring needed gluing so I used a craft knife to lift up any bits that weren't stuck down. I used a small amount of glue applied with a cocktail stick and then pressed down the inner seam.

Mounting the ring on a spindle on the lathe I used a few grits of sand paper to round off the edges, before polishing the ring with micro mesh (working up to 12,000 grit) to get it nice and shiny. A light rubbing with a bit of car polish really finished the job.

I sanded and tapered the inside edges of the ring using progressively finer grits of sandpaper until the ring was nice and smooth.

To finish the wood I used jojoba oil for a bit of protection.

I'm loving the look of these rings with the futuristic looking carbon fiber exterior and that natural oiled, wooden interior. I think they make really cool pieces of jewellery.

I'm sure that some of you will be keen to find out how to do that shiny, C.A finish inside which I might release a video for.

Tools and Materials

I've put links to all of the tools and materials in the "Tools and Materials" section of this Instructable so check them out if you need any supplies. Making Ebay purchases through my links really helps me out and doesn't cost you anything extra so thank you in advance if you use them!

Please subscribe to my channel, watch more videos and until next time … stay safe.

Subscribe To My Channel On Youtube

Please check out more videos from my channel and Subscribe if you like my content!

https://www.youtube.com/zebranowoodcraft

My Bent Wood Rings On Etsy

You can also shop for bent wood rings in my Etsy shop here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/zebranowoodcraft