How to Make the Perfect Hard Wood Tatting Shuttle with Proxxon Tools

I remember my grandmother sitting on our front porch swing, and tatting. When I was old enough to learn, her eyesight was too poor to teach me. So, as a young adult I taught myself to tat. My tatting has taken a back burner to other fiber arts that I enjoy, but I recently resurrected my tatting supplies. And, I decided to make a tatting shuttle. My Proxxon tools were perfect for the task.

Here are the supplies and equipment that you'll need to make your own tatting shuttle:

• 3" x 1" x ¼" close grain hard wood blank
• Tatting Shuttle Template
• Proxxon Bandsaw MBS/E or Proxxon Scroll Saw DS 460
• Proxxon Bench Drill Press TBM 115
• Proxxon Delta Sander OZI/E

Let's make a tatting shuttle:

1. Print the Tatting Shuttle Template. Mount the pattern pieces on the wood blanks. Cover one side of the blanks with painter's tape. Mist the back side of the pattern with spray adhesive, and mount on the taped blank. The painter's tape made removal of the pattern easy without leaving any sticky residue.
   
   
   
2. Drill the holes using the bench drill press fitted with a ¼" bit.
   
   
   
3. Cut the shuttle shape using either the bandsaw or scroll saw.
   
   
   
4. Sand the surfaces using the Delta sander and progressively finer grits of sandpaper. I use the Delta sander mounted in the Precision Vice FMZ so both hands are free to manipulate the piece I'm sanding. You want to sand the shuttle until it is smooth as glass, so the fine threads used in tatting don't snag on any part of the shuttle.
   
   
   
5. Wrap a skewer or thin dowel rod with sandpaper, and sand the interior of the holes. 
   
   
   
6. There you go!! You have a tatting shuttle. If  you don't already tat, I encourage you to learn. There are many good how-to videos online.
   

Carole