Mary Ostler

I have a commission to make 60 spools up for a local merchant that deals with dyed textile goods. She bought a few when I was merchanting last fall, but wanted a slew more. Since then my original source of head scratching cheap dogwood billets has disappeared. I am now using scrap Cherry and Walnut from my off cut pile. I knew their was a reason I never throw stuff out.

I cut down the wood on the table saw till it was roughly square and  4″ long.

Image Laden Post after the jump.

Used a center finder to establish the center of the squares.

Used a pick to makes a whole for the centers on the lathe.

Slapped it onto the lathe centers.

Using a roughing gouge to turn it cylindrical.

I use a parting tool to establish the size of the spool end button, eyeball the side wall thickness, and the use the parting tool to cut down to the size I want. The other side of the spool will get turned down later.

Using a caliper to make sure the spool spindle is roughly the right diameter.

Using the roughing gouge to waste away the left over wood between the spool ends.

Using the left over wood dust I burnish the spool to make a decent burnished finish. This only works well if I have made fairly fine cuts while turning the spool.

I flip the spool over to finished the other end. Its easy to break the finished end at this point by applying to much force from the end stock.

Eight down, Fifty Two left to go!