When I drug a piece of beautifully spalted maple inside and cut into it the other night a bit of inspiration hit. I'd always got out a protractor, scribed a circle and used my bandsaw to cut out the rounds and then turn - sometimes between centers, sometimes on a faceplate. When I did the latter I would not always get the blanks centered up close on the faceplate. Often they were up to an eighth of an inch off. Yeah, yeah an eighth but hey, I shoot for getting as much out of the wood as I can. Well I realized there is a small hole in the center of each of my faceplates so I put a screw through it and then on into the wood. Three more screws and I was good to go.
A tip (that may already be common knowledge)
Nov 14, 2010
3 Replies
I turned some oak to 3/4 and put a brad in the center of the end . I put the peg in my face plate from behind and pick up center on the log with the brad.
Jerry
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I use one of these:
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Not only helps you find and mark the center, but since you can see through it, you can pick the best part of the blank to use.. YMWV mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
I drill a 9/16 hole where I want the center and it fits on the pin of my bandsaw jig. After making the blank round I use the same hole and drill a 1 1/8 hole with a brad-point bit and slip it on a 1" pin chuck to turn the outside and dovetail foot.
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