On 25 Jan 2004 19:17:47 -0800, (daryl1138) wrote:

I have a good idea how you would cut the male thread but how would you
get the matching female thread?

Generally you use a metal-cutting tap. These are hard to find, but
they do sometimes show up (old tooling from steam engine fitting works
for me). You might like to grind the flutes bigger to give more chip
clearance, but they'll usually cut fairly well. A die OTOH, doesn;t
work for threading wood.

In big sizes, then find Diderot's encyclopedie (or similar ancient
reference book) and look for illustrations of how it used to be done.
The usual way is with a point cutter and a couple of pointed guide
pins, suitably arranged to form the helix. It's a painstaking process,
because you have to make sure it doesn't slip out of the guidance
groove as it first starts to cut.

Another good way (and how I've done it) is to use a metalworker's
screwcutting lathe. Clamp the wooden "nut" to the cross slide and set
up a boring bar between centres to carry the threading tool. Once you
have it set up, you can bang them out in no time.
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