Solid Wooden Sunglasses

Mid last year I made these sunglasses and I thought I would share them here. Check out the video above to see how I made them! Thanks to my beautiful baby sister for kindly modelling these! It's much better than seeing them on me.

First up, we'll need some lenses. I ripped some out a plastic pair of sunglasses I got free!

Using the original sunglasses I produced some 1:1 cutting templates. If you are using similar sized lenses you can download the ones I used from my website: http://thiswoodwork.com/making-wooden-sunglasses-summer-woodworking-project/

Next, the templates are stuck to the rough blank with a little wood glue.

Using the scrollsaw the frames are cut roughly to shape, If you don't have a scrollsaw you can do this by hand, it's just going to take a while!

To cut the opening for the lenses drill through the blank and thread through the blade. Leave the cavity slightly over-sized at this point.

The temples (or arms) are cut out in the same way.

Align each lens properly and trace around them with a pencil. Sand close to the marked line, leaving a small rim just under 1mm (IMPORTANT) I used a drum sanding attachment at the drill press to do this.

The final shape cannot be achieved on the scrollsaw, so using a small handsaw cut away the remaining material and use a hand-file to shape. The original sunglasses serve as a good reference when doing this.

Using sanding attachments, sand to the final shape. (If you don't have these some careful filing and sandpaper should work.)

Now to cut the rim for the lenses. Using a rotary cutting disk mounted in the drill press for ease, I cut a shallow groove around the edge of the lens cavity, for the lens to slot in to. This will take some care and a bit of trial and error, but should work if you are careful.

Next is the hinges. I could have made some tiny wooden hinges, but it was far easier to cut them off of an old pair of cheap plastic ones!

To attach the hinges mark the position and cut a small cavity on both the front and temples of the glasses. (I used a small drill bit to do this.)

The hinges were glued into the cavities with some quick-set epoxy.

Finally a finish can be applied to the glasses, before the lenses are pressed into place. For a finish I used mineral oil just to be safe, but I am sure that some spray lacquer would be fine too!