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I will begin this post by also saying that this is my first lathe project. I have had the Excelsior Mini Lathe for almost a year and over the last few months i've thrown a good amount of money in the money pit buying carbide cutters, tool rests, face guards, aprin, sanding strips, etc. Ive found that the Easy Wood Tools are nice and i have not been disappointed with their performance. I digress.

I this project was really brought in all my skills from other projects. The lathe itself was new to use, but there was the bandsaw to cut curves, scroll saw to do intricate cuts, chisel work and carving tools, table saw for angled cuts, my new Cutech planer (works awesome!) drill press, center finder (lol) and so on.

It is hard to imagine that after all this work and all the tools that i have, that in the end one needs a disc sander to flatten dowels. The basics never change, find center and getting an object flat!

I'll admit, turning is fun! My spur center was ok, but i realize a chuck is in need. I also thought that there bigger the tool rest, the better, but for small turnings, a small tool rest works better! Prior to this is watched alot of videos and such, which helped. It was also my first time using calipers . The manual ones will take some getting used to. I went to HF and picked up the $20 digital ones and they only worked one way! Most of it i just eye-balled.

i had to take my time sanding from 120, 240, 360, 400, 600 grit for each piece. It was interesting to realize that you have to be smooth with the carbide cutters or it will easily show up once you get to high grits.

I also did a days of research for finishing and technique and i went with the Watco light brown oil. Although, i did pick up some 100% tung oil, but the time of delivery was urgent so i settled for the oil and wipe on poly, the semi-gloss poly coats on top. Arm-r- seal is in there too! i sanded after each coat, but i found that the poly left a better finish, and it is a normal finish that im used to working with so i couldn't go wrong there. This item would have been 3-4 inches longer, but there were some "design changes" along the way.

in regards to the case, it is Red oak on the front and back, and some other wood for the top and top horizontal bar, and sides. There is a dado cut in the bottom for the plywood bottom. The interior padding is made from a free memory foam pad i got for free on CL a years or so ago and it works nicely! with the absence of a sewing machine, hot glue was the answer to wrap the foam with the material. The top easily shows flaws and is the most tack part of the project, but it serves its purpose. Ideally, i would use those nails used to secure leather to furniture, but that i already far exceeded cost projections.

The leather handle is secured from below where a shallow dado was cut to receive the band of leather and secured with my patented technique ;-)

Well, thanks for reading!

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Comments

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4,567 Posts
Very well done. Great project!!

Jim
 

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73 Posts
Great looking piece - would like to know a little more about the significance of the piece in addition to the great write up on how it was constructed.
 
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