I have been working with wood and metal materials for a close to 8 years, so when I found a new broken 3/8th Forstner bit I had to jump on the opportunity. The idea that instantly popped into my head was making a wooden ring with the drill bit in place of a diamond. It seemed like an interesting concept to combine these two items that are originally used to break and eat away at the other. This experimental project was overall a great success but it did not come without any challenges. Here are the following steps to build your own!

Step 1: Gather Materials and Tools

You will need

1 broken drill it maximum size 3/4 of a inch
a piece of wood twice the size of you finger
5 minute Epoxy
Drill and a drill bit a little bigger than you finger
Dermal and Dermal attachments for sanding (Not required But Recommended)
Blow Torch
Used Coffee Grounds
1 clean tin can
Pliers
File
Hack saw
Vice
Polishing supplies
Sand paper
I small piece of wood with a nail glued up right on it

Step 2: Find a Nice Piece of Wood

The second step is to find a piece of wood for the ring body. I chose the very brittle wood of Padauk for my ring. To get around this challenge I chose to cut the wood into 1/4 inch strips (6.35 millimetres) and then glued them together. This changed the orientation of the grain in each piece. By doing this step you increase the strength of the wood and also add an eye-catching look to the final product.

Step 3: Shape and Design

The third step is to design what you want the final piece to look like. For my design, I had to shape the ring to my index finger and hand. My hands have more webbing on my palms; therefore, rings do not fit if not shaped properly. I have made the best of this defect in my hands and call it “Webage Syndrome”.

Step 4: Size the Ring

The fourth step is to size the ring to your finger by drilling a rough estimate or trace an old ring into the wood then filing. (Remember to check the ring size on your finger every so often) You are going to want to allow the ring to fit loosely on your finger as the final coat of epoxy will build centre diameter of the ring. I will get into further detail about that later on.

Step 5: Shape the Ring

Now that you have sized the ring it is time to beautify. When I was completing the rest of this project the Dremel rotary tool was my best friend, but if this tool is not available to you the remaining steps are doable by using a low grit file or drill.

Step 6: Sanding and Setting Up to Mount the Drill Bit

Now that you have your rough shape you can sand the wood and prep it for the epoxy. Before applying the epoxy you need to prepare the drill bit to mounted in the ring. For mine ring, I clamped the wooden base in a vise and used the broken drill bit to drill the hole in the top of the wooden ring to later be used for mounting.

Step 7: When Sanding

Before cleaning up, collect some of the sanding dust from the wood. I collected the dust so If the wood were to crack or chip I could fill the broken or missing pieces of the wood when mixed with glue.

Step 8: Prep the Drill Bit

The eighth step is to prep the drill bit is optional. Although this step is optional I decided to let my artistic side flow. When looking at the orange wood I referred to the colour wheel. If you look at the colour wheel, orange is opposite of blue and the two colours pop when together. This is the same idea as a traffic light where red is opposite of green. To add this colour effect, I filled a tin can with damp coffee grounds. Then I heated the bit too red hot with the blow torch and then I dropped it into the coffee grounds. I repeated this step several times until the drill bit became blue. This step also allows the process of cutting the bit to be easier.

Step 9: Coating the Ring

The ninth step is rather simple. First I mixed a decent amount of 5 min epoxy. Then I glued a nail head down and then placed the ring as I did in the photo. After this, I poured the epoxy on top of the wooden base and let the epoxy run over the ring. I left the ring base to cure for 15 to 20 min to prevent putting fingerprints on the ring. While waiting for the ring to dry refer to step 10. Once dried you will have to file the epoxy down a bit to make the ring smooth. The epoxy will turn white after being filed or sanded. Do not worry this will be covered in how to fix this problem in the last step.

Step 10: Polish the Drill Bit

While the Epoxy is curing, grab the polishing kit and polish the drill bit. When I was doing this I used the polishing wheel on the Dremel rotary tool. I found that light pressure worked best. DO NOT over polish. When a marble effect becomes visible STOP polishing. Sadly, I did not stop at this point and took off some blue colour on the drill bit.

Step 11: Mount the Drill Bit

For the second to last step, grab a small round file in addition to both the bit and the wooden ring. Put the bit on the pre-drilled hole in the orientation you like. You may need to re-drill or file some epoxy away to make it fit. When I was doing this step I had to re-drill. Once you have put the bit in place, mark and cut where the excess drill bit is protruding into the middle of the ring. Make sure to cut or file the drill bit so there are no sharp edges. Once you finish that, I found that if you put more epoxy than you think you need will make the ring more comfortable. After that, I simply filed the epoxy until it is smooth again. Of course, make sure it is dry before you do this.

Now that you have mounted the drill bit, grab a rubber glove or clean paint brush that is ok to be used once. Put on the glove, and put some epoxy on the brush or on your finger. Now rub or brush the epoxy on to the white parts that you sanded or filed and they will turn clear.

Step 12: Wear It

Congratulations you have done it.

After I made this ring I realised that is is more useful than I thought. I am the kinda person that likes to be prepared for anything, and looking at this I can say I this ring has potential. The potential I see is art because you can't really wear this ring around town safely. This ring is the type of ring that you add to your collection to show off, but not to say it is not handy. I have used it to "cut" the tape on boxes and little thing like that and it worked well. Nonetheless, this is something to be proud of. Be proud that you made something that is small and intricate as well as something that would have been thrown in the garbage at the end of the day. That to me makes this ring priceless.

Introduction: Wooden Drill Bit Ring