Big Popper How to/ Blue Streak 3 oz

[numbskull]

Obviously, you first turn your body and thru drill on center.
The next step is to cut the face. To do this I use a drill press and a salty ball (rotary rasp). As you cut the face it will generate a lot of downward pressure on the plug and rotary force as well. Holding it in your hand is ill-advised, so I made a jig. Just a board with a vertical V block screwed to it. At the base there is a 1/8" pin that I can set the tail hole on. Take a compass and draw a circle centered on this pin that is the same radius as your plug's at the max diameter ( which is 2x the radius for Back Beach's benefit), then position the walls of your V block against this circle and fasten it down.

Higher up drill a center hole through you V block to put a screw in. This screw will keep the plug from rotating when the rasp bites it. You can't hold it by hand alone.

[numbskull]

The next step is not immediately obvious, but you don't want to drill/cut on center. This is because when you cut the slant on the plug, it will cut through a sphere and the lower lip will end up thicker than the top (see the first photo). With the Blue Streak it is even more important because the original has an off center cup (the top is thicker than the lower rim). To accomplish this you want to drill/cut off center and closer to the lower rim (see the second photo). How much takes some experiment, for this plug about 3/16" worked well.

[numbskull]

Now you'd think you could cut the whole cup with the rasp, and maybe you can, but that doesn't work for me, so I rough out the hole first using fostner bits. In this case a 1 1/8, 1, and 1/2 ". You can see the idea in the first photo. Then I'll use the rasp to do the rest. Note the brass wire brush. That gets used to clean the rasp several times with each cut....otherwise things stop cutting and start burning.

[numbskull]

Next to the table saw to cut the slant. To keep things level I screw the plug to a board, through a hole 1/2 the diameter of the plug from the edge of the board. Then a pass through the saw with the miter gauge at 73 degrees. And then presto the end result.

[numbskull]

The rest is pretty standard, but there are a few tips that might interest some.
Next I drill the belly holes using a centered V block.
Look closely at the picture and you'll see two things that help. First I use a smaller V block that I can slide under the tail to level the plug. Second I use a square against the slant of the face to be sure the apex of the slant will end up aligned with the belly hole (if you rotate the plug against the square edge the slant moves away on one side.....when both sides touch you are aligned).

[numbskull]

Then I drill the weight hole using a step drill so I stay on center (Paul will undoubtably notice the drill is off line...that is because this body was a misdrill ). Mark the depth with tape.

[numbskull]

Then off to a box of unfinished crap to wait until a few days before Plugfest when it is too late to possibly finish them but I'll feel I need to try.

And that concludes my bit of this little How To.

There are other ways to cut popper faces using router bits, reground spade bits, and a really neat idea posted on SOL by a guy who turns a disc the diameter of his cup in the center of a spindle, then glues sandpaper to its edge, leaves it between the centers on his lathe,holds the plug body perpindicular and supported on his tool rest, turns on the lathe, advances the plug face into the disc, and rotates the plug to cut the face. Impressively clever and clear proof that guy is not from Franklin.

Anybody else please feel free to chip in what they do differently.