# Niles Bottle stoppers



## jttheclockman (Jan 7, 2009)

I just seen this on another forum and it is a little alarming. I have used Ruth's bottlestoppers and she is a member here. I will continue to support her and hope you do too.

 FYI on bottle stopper kits 

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I'm a happy customer and consider myself a friend of Ruth Niles (www.torne-lignum.com) though we've only met once and talked on the phone a few times and chatted through various forums. I haven't seen this information here so I want to cross post that Ruth's stainless bottle stoppers are supposedly being copied by a guy (http://www.dfi-stainless-steel.com/) in Canada and shipped back into the US, which violates Ruth's patent. In a post on another forum, Ruth said the guy actually bought stoppers from her and then used her specs to copy them. Wow...

If you're interested in the stainless stoppers, please call Ruth and leave this other guy with his inventory sitting on a shelf. She's too nice a lady to have what little revenue stream she gets from this endeavor dwindle to someone who is copying her work.

Ruth does have a legitimate Canadian distributor if you're north of the border and don't want to deal with the shipping hassles so there's really no excuse.

Sorry to be a little alarmist but I had seen this on two other forums and wanted to get the word out.


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## Sean Troy (Jan 7, 2009)

I agree, Ruth is a great lady with great supplies.


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## bitshird (Jan 7, 2009)

I just wish her stoppers used the same arrangement as the PSI and the ones from AS. also Kmart is selling a bottle stopper that looks exactly like Ruth's but are made from diecast. and plated, they have  a round metal ball on top, marketed as part of the of Martha Stewart, (remember her? the Jail Bird???) collection.


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## Skye (Jan 8, 2009)

Man, that friggin sucks! If she's got a patent on it, she needs to go after them, asap. I'm sure there's lawyers out there who would jump all over a slam dunk case of patent/design infringement. Those things look *just* like hers.


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## low_48 (Jan 8, 2009)

The Canadian knock-off artist shows the IAP logo on his penturning site. Is he a member here? I can't find his name on a member search for people in Quebec. Anyone know the guy?


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## Skye (Jan 8, 2009)

How do you know he's got a woodturning site?


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## low_48 (Jan 8, 2009)

http://www.donaldfontaine.com/en/


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## arioux (Jan 8, 2009)

Skye, his name has pop up on Canadians wood worker forum .

Therer a discussion going on et the  Canadian Woodworker forum about this 

http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/showthread.php?t=24811

And on Woodcentral (I think Russ Fairfield initiate it)

http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/turning3.pl?read=198392

Wood turner is a tight community, the word is spreading fast.  

What is bugging me the most is that he live about 30 minutes from my place.  I might see him at some show this summer , i might pay him a visit.


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## Skye (Jan 8, 2009)

Lol, don't go getting yourself arrested.


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## bdonald (Jan 8, 2009)

bitshird said:


> I just wish her stoppers used the same arrangement as the PSI and the ones from AS. also Kmart is selling a bottle stopper that looks exactly like Ruth's but are made from diecast. and plated, they have  a round metal ball on top, marketed as part of the of Martha Stewart, (remember her? the Jail Bird???) collection.



Hi, I'm confused on what you mean by same arrangement?  I havent used her stoppers, but I'm almost all out of my PSI ones, and figured I'd throw my support her way since this isnt the first post I've seen where her and her stoppers are held in such high regard.  The bit size looks the same, is there an issue with the threading or sizing on the PSI mandrel?  Even if so, I noticed that she explains how to make one in the bottlestopper 101 page, which was pretty darned nice of her.  I know where my next batch is coming from.


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## woody350ep (Jan 8, 2009)

I think the PSI and others have a different thread than hers.  I don't know exactly but I think hers are a finer thread, so if you have a mandrel that screws into the blank, it wouldn't match threads


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## Glass Scratcher (Jan 8, 2009)

Ruth's stoppers are 3/8 x 16 which is the course thread.  AZ uses the same threading.  You can make a mandrel for Ruths and AZ's out of a standard 3/8x16 bolt screwed and glued into a block of wood and put that in your chuck or just clamp some threaded rod into your 3/8's collet if you use one of those.  Or you can buy either the mandrel from Ruth or from AZ.


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## tbroye (Jan 8, 2009)

Donald can't even spell.  Lath, look how he spells career and a few other words.  His opening statement is on of the biggest BS jobs I have seen.


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## holmqer (Jan 9, 2009)

Glass Scratcher said:


> Ruth's stoppers are 3/8 x 16 which is the course thread.  AZ uses the same threading.  You can make a mandrel for Ruths and AZ's out of a standard 3/8x16 bolt screwed and glued into a block of wood and put that in your chuck or just clamp some threaded rod into your 3/8's collet if you use one of those.  Or you can buy either the mandrel from Ruth or from AZ.




So the diameter of the base of the stopper of Ruth's stoppers is the same as the AZ or PSI stoppers? I have the AZ mandrel and was curious if its bushing matches the Ruth Niles stopper.


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## bitshird (Jan 10, 2009)

bdonald said:


> Hi, I'm confused on what you mean by same arrangement?  I havent used her stoppers, but I'm almost all out of my PSI ones, and figured I'd throw my support her way since this isnt the first post I've seen where her and her stoppers are held in such high regard.  The bit size looks the same, is there an issue with the threading or sizing on the PSI mandrel?  Even if so, I noticed that she explains how to make one in the bottlestopper 101 page, which was pretty darned nice of her.  I know where my next batch is coming from.


 Ruth's stoppers are the same thread 3/8 - 16tpi. but since I make more stoppers for bottles other than wine, her 3 O ring style don't seal as well as the AS/PSI style, also on the Martha Stewart pieces of junk,  have an internal thread, but do use the ribbed rubber part like the PSI/AS stoppers do,  most of the stoppers I've made lately are for Crown Royal bottles with the top of the original cap embedded. so now I've been using the ones with the wood post, and silicone seals, living in a cheap area sucks!!


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## Glass Scratcher (Jan 10, 2009)

holmqer said:


> So the diameter of the base of the stopper of Ruth's stoppers is the same as the AZ or PSI stoppers? I have the AZ mandrel and was curious if its bushing matches the Ruth Niles stopper.



No, the base sizes are different.  The threading is the same.

Ruth Niles mandrel diameter measures .81 on my caliper.

If I could find my AZ mandrel and bushings I would measure them out but I don't remember either large or small bushing being the same as the Niles mandrel.  Just turn a bushing to the diameter you want or need.


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## holmqer (Jan 10, 2009)

Glass Scratcher said:


> No, the base sizes are different.  The threading is the same.
> 
> Ruth Niles mandrel diameter measures .81 on my caliper.
> 
> If I could find my AZ mandrel and bushings I would measure them out but I don't remember either large or small bushing being the same as the Niles mandrel.  Just turn a bushing to the diameter you want or need.



In case anyone is curious, the AZ bushing is 0.95 and the AZ SS stopper is .94, so about an 1/8" larger.


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