blue glass, bell shaped insulators???

[lacyj]

Hi,
I have a bunch of insulators and want to use them. Most are the blue/green bell shaped glass. I want to use some for feet on a bathroom cabinet. I don't have the threaded, wooden posts that usually go inside. Do you know where I could get some sound posts? Or, something that I could use instead? Or, another way to attach them?
I was thinking of mounting some on the fence posts and putting a small light inside to add light to the driveway. Have you ever seen this done?
Thanks,
lacyj

[agmantoo]

lacyj , you can take a spoke shave or a draw knife and pieces of soft wood and whittle the wood to where it is close to the diameter of the inside of the insulators and they will self thread to where they will stay on.

[Ross]

Pretty expensive but you by the router attachment to make wood treads at Lee Valley Another thought would be to simply glue the insulators to snug fitting dowel

[mightybooboo]

Hmmm....little LEDs inside,what a neat idea.
BooBoo

[lacyj]

The threaded part of the wood dowel is tapered, from about 1" to 1 3/4", then the base is almost 2". If I use a soft wood like agmantoo said, would it be to soft to hold a double threaded screw, to screw into the cabinet? Any suggestions for soft wood? Or, would it be better to drill a large hole into the cabinet and insert, then put a wedge, to tighten?

[Ross]

Cedar is about the softest wood I can think of.

[moopups]

I think I would check out the antique value on those before useing them for legs. Might be a pleasant surprize.

[cowboy joe]

My Grandpa used to collect & sell insulators when I was a kid. There was a pretty fair market for them back in the 70's. I remember the amber colored insulators were in constant demand...less of a demand for the blue-green unless they were in very good shape. I looked on e-bay (search "insulator"). Bids ranged from $1 - $51 depending upon condition & manufacturer.

[Bob_W_in_NM]

I had some brand new oak insulator pins as well as some "rabbit ears" (insulator brackets that mount to the side of the pole without the use of a crossarm).
I can't find either it seems. I might be able to dig up some used pins if you need the "thread pattern". I doubt if they would be very sound though.

[lacyj]

Thanks everyone,
I do have one sound wooden post, that I could use for a pattern, if I was that clever. It's the tapered threads that seem really too hard to do. This isn't a fancy cabinet, or anything, it's just a short cabinet. The insulators are the newer, blue green ones and don't have much value, but would look good in the bathroom. I was thinking that I could even put the larger part of the bell shape on the floor and just indent the bottom of the cabinet to accept the rounded top, it wouldn't be hard to do that, but it wouldn't look quite like real legs. I think I'll try that first...ha...
if it doesn't look good, then I'll have alllllllll winter to learn how to wittle...
thanks again,
lacyj

[silosounds]

I was wondering how many post you would need if you only need three or so I have brand new ones that came from our barnloft fresh out of the crate they look like their made from oak or ash and are very clean for their age would this interest you? we live in northcentral ks.

[silosounds]

how many of these would you need I have a few brand new their made from oak or ash something hard . they do have clear insulaters on them already.

[lacyj]

Hey silosounds,
That is tooooooooo cooooooooool. Yes, I do need three. I'm in California. What are you wanting for them? This is great, yeah.......
Sincerely,
lacyj

[silosounds]

i dont know, how about ten bucks and shipping Ill have to get them wieghed for the shipping and do you need them right away ? just to make sure their what you want they are wood wedged shaped threaded and are used to attach the old style insulaters to the poles. let me know.

[lacyj]

Hi silosounds,
I sent you a PM