Reference · How-tos · Guns

Turning the quoin handle from a satay skewer

Chuck a satay skewer in a mini drill and turn it into a handle of about 4 x 1.7 mm with small turning tools and sandpaper, because turning from a square walnut strip went wrong too often.

The handle on the red-painted quoin, stained walnut colour; about 4 x 1.7 mm.
The handle on the red-painted quoin, stained walnut colour; about 4 x 1.7 mm.

What you need

Tools

  • mini drill (or small lathe)
  • small turning tools
  • fine sandpaper
  • hobby knife for cutting off

materials and suppliers

  • wooden satay skewers (or toothpicks)
  • Kolderstok walnut stain
  • PVA glue

Dimensions

  • handle about 4 x 1.7 mm
  • 10 pieces, for the guns visible from above
Time
an evening
Difficulty
moderate
When in the build
Phase 8,
From the log post
A quoin handle from a satay skewer · forum

Before you start

The quoins are on the carriages and painted red. We started with a square walnut strip in a small lathe; that went wrong quite often and cost a lot of time. So reach for a satay skewer straight away.

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  1. Take an ordinary wooden satay skewer: it is already round, straight and strong enough to turn quickly. A square walnut strip first has to be made round and breaks too often in the process. Anyone with small copper belaying pins left over is done even faster: HMSFly used the leftovers from his Constitution as handles, no turning needed (Ships of Scale, 12 November 2024, forum post).

    Tip from Stephan Kertész: Satay skewers or toothpicks turn well.

    Watch out: Our first handles from walnut often went wrong and so took a lot of time. Staining afterwards makes up for the colour difference.

  2. Clamp the satay skewer in a mini drill and let it spin. Work along it with small turning tools and then sandpaper until the handle has its shape: a knob at the end, a narrow neck and a thicker part towards the skewer.

    about 4 x 1.7 mm

    The satay skewer in the drill chuck, the handle already turned to shape with knob and neck.
    The satay skewer in the drill chuck, the handle already turned to shape with knob and neck.

  3. Cut the handle to length off the skewer and treat it with Kolderstok walnut stain so it matches the rest of the wood. Only judge it from a distance: the photos are not very forgiving, but in reality it is tiny and looks fine.

  4. Glue the handle to the wide, rear end of the quoin, in line with the wedge. On the carriage it then just projects behind the carriage.

    A gun with the quoin in place; the handle projects at the left behind the carriage.
    A gun with the quoin in place; the handle projects at the left behind the carriage.

  5. Of the 28 guns on the gun deck, ten are visible from above. So make ten handles and leave the remaining guns without; that is not too bad.

    10 pieces

    The first guns lined up on the gun deck, seen from above: these are the ones that remain visible.
    The first guns lined up on the gun deck, seen from above: these are the ones that remain visible.

Result

With the satay skewer the turning works first time and after staining the handle matches the rest in colour. Hans Groenenberg thought the quoin alone was a nice detail, but that the handle makes it sublime.

In the same series: Guns

  1. Lowering the gun in the port by setting the axletrees deeper
  2. Blackening brass gun barrels with blackening solution
  3. Detailing a kit gun carriage with bolts, linchpins, quoin handle and breeching ring
  4. Turning the quoin handle from a satay skewer
  5. Milling gun carriages for the 9-pounders on the cross-slide table
  6. Making washers and linchpins from brass pin heads
  7. Carronades: trucks from brass tube and a working elevating screw

All how-tos · Guns, carriages and carronades in scale