Cake Server WIP

[Robert Burns]

It's been a loooong time since I have posted anything and frankly a long time since I have made anything interesting, so I thought I would share this as a  WIP. I am getting remarried this fall and wanted to make something special for the occasion. I decided to go with a cake server. I was having trouble finding inspiration from existing cake servers so I instead took inspiration from stilettos. At this point the blade is solid sterling silver, a "neck" of bronze, and the handle will be faux ivory g10. Some of these design elements will change over the course of the process as frankly I'm being indecisive. But enough of that and on to the photos.  

 

The starting materials, 1/2 round bronze rod and 1 inch round:

 

And the silver for the blade with bronze for inserts on the blade.

 

 

 

I do not have a lathe or mill anymore since I stopped doing knifemaking fulltime and have downsized the shop. So I used the old poverty lathe in the form of my drill press to rough out some details.

 

 

Then I moved on to files to add in the facets:

 

 

Then I put a 1/2 inch diameter hole in a slice of the 1 inch round.

 

 

Then I faceted the 1 inch round to prepare for drilling:

 

 

Then I was able to drill holes in all the facets:

 

 

I then textured the faces of the facets and attached the pins:

 

 

This is now ready for bending the neck and joining to the silver blade. More to come soon.

[Don Abbott]

That has the beginnings of a fine piece.

 

The lathe work and the file work are really good.

 

I'd definitely like some more details on your lathe method. I've done wood in a drill press but never brass.

 

 

[Alan Longmire]

Welcome back!  

 

Awesome re-introduction for those who haven't seen your previous work.

[Robert Burns]

Thanks Alan! Don, my process for the poverty lathe was fairly straightforward I roughed in the taper (removing the bulk of the material) on my grinder then put it in the drill press to true it up. The grooves were done with a 1/16th inch band saw blade and a 1/4 inch round file. 

[Robert Burns]

Some progress on this today. I had been putting off bending the neck for a while now and decided I just needed to go for it. I missed the photos fitting the bronze into the silver and soldering it, but the two pieces are now at least fitting together and roughly placed where they will be.

 

 

 

The bronze inlays will be antiqued and there is much work to be done on the blade. I feel the next step will be fitting the handle and finalizing the bends and alignment on everything before thinking about more detail work.

[Alan Longmire]

You know, there's a ceremonial mason's trowel in the Vatican museum that looks sort of like that.  But not as nice. 

[Robert Burns]

Haha that's great, thanks Alan!

[Pieter-Paul Derks]

Now this is a very cool project, I once made a damascus cake server, but that was nowhere near as fancy as this one is going to be.

 

[Joshua States]

Nice to have you back Robert. Congrats on the impending matrimony. This is a very cool project.

[Robert Burns]

Thanks Joshua! I was finally able to make a bit of progress on this project this week. Here is what has been going on:

 

I ended up adjusting the angle of the blade and neck to make them a bit steeper which I felt made the piece feel a lot better, then I finally fit the block of ivory g10:

 

 

Then I rough ground it up to a 320 grit finish:

 

 

 

I think the bright white will really make everything pop once it's all together:

 

 

I then began to lay out the fluting:

 

 

The lines aren't very precise, I'm working with a pretty basic set up but I also feel confident I can make them straight even if they look drunken now!

 

G10 is pretty rough on files so I opted to rough in the grooves with a dremel first and next I will go in with files.

 

 

My "shop" is still being run off an extension cord from the house (we just moved in this December, and can't bury cable until the spring is officially here). But I officially have a jewelers bench again and have new magnifiers on the way to help with all of the file work and polish ahead of me.

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Robert Burns

[Brian Dougherty]

That is turning out great!

[Robert Burns]

Thanks Brian! I only have one update for the next minute, I'll be sanding these flutes for some time. At this stage most of the flutes have been sanded to 220 grit. They will need to be brought to 2000 grit prior to buffing. If you haven't worked with G10 before it can be someone difficult to sand containing both hard and soft materials it has a tendency to clog sand paper quite quickly. 

 

 

 

[Joshua States]

This is looking great!

[Robert Burns]

Thanks Joshua! Here is a small bit of progress, the handle here is at 800 grit, still some problem areas to fix but it's getting there.

[Robert Burns]

Okay well after long last I received the photos back from Jim Coop.

 

This project was an interesting challenge and a very joyful project with it being used in my wedding. Let me know what you think!

 

 

[Alan Longmire]

Perfect!  And congratulations. 

[Charles dP]

Congratulations (on all counts). You must be pleased (again on all counts). What kind of cake was it?

[Robert Burns]

Thank you both for the congratulations! The cake was a white cake with strawberry filling and butter cream. Quite tastey.

[Dick Sexstone]

 I liked the two handed use of it too…… sweet….congrats…. 

[Joshua States]

Awesome Robert.

congrats all around 

[vlegski]

That's one beautiful piece of work

[Robert Burns]

Thanks everyone!