The original turning, about 8" x 6+" round. |
This unassuming pile of off-cuts looks like a turning to me! |
The first question was wood choice and I love segmented turning as a way to use up small pieces of wood. In this case the cherry I had saved from the dining room chair projects seemed to be ideal. There were lots of oddball pieces that would create a nice variety for my segments.
The pieces all cut to 2.75" long and 22.5 degrees on each end. This part takes lots of time. |
I milled the pieces to 1.25" wide on the bandsaw and cut as many pieces as I could get from the pieces. Let me say not much of this wood went to the burn box - this is a very efficient way to use this material.
All the individual pieces were marked and cut on the bandsaw and the angled edges sanded smooth on the disk sander; cutting on the bandsaw is much safer than the tablesaw for these short pieces. Many guys labour over the angles being exact, my approach is to make them close, glue up half-circles (see photo) and sand the two halves so they join together, this make-up joint give perfect results every time. All the gluing is done freehand by rubbing the pieces together for a few seconds and holding - have never had a failure yet. The two halves get a quik-grip to hold them together, but otherwise no clamping.
A selection of round rings and the base ready for building. The edges of the rings are rounded on disk sander to avoid tear-out |
Voila!
The finished project. I added a ring of Cherry/Ash for visual interest. |
It's amazing how you turned what looked like a bunch of scraps into this beautiful object.
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