Turning a Cake Stand
by Chas Jones
(click on any image for a larger view)
Page 3
The piece is now taken off screw chuck spigot and reversed on the jaws
to finish the top.
If you have difficulty in producing a flat surface try the method
shown above, (pencil centre spot only for demonstration)
With flat ended scraper flatten central area so that scraper when positioned
either side of centre is rubbing on surface, (this proves you are at right angles
to the surface) then proceed to take small plunge cuts with the scraper until
the scraper contacts the previously cut surface, working to the periphery, if
you have kept the scraper square on then a steel rule placed on the surface should
show no ridges or depressions.
Lightly sand and finish with Nyweb.
Then seal buff, apply wax and finish buff.
Now starting on the Base, as there is no reason why a hole cannot be
hidden in the stem, the blank is just drilled to suit the screw chuck.
The socket size is then marked and the same gauge used to make
guide marks for the foot bead etc. I prefer to shade the ‘to be
cut’ surfaces with the pencil for ease of subsequent turning.
(As a matter of interest the socket gauge sitting on the rest
located by the pin with the lathe turning) and the foot bead portion
is isolated with a parting tool.
The bead is then accentuated with the point of the skew and round off.
Sanded, sealed waxed etc.
The base is then taken off the screw chuck and mounted on the dovetail
jaws, and the recess in the base of the top measured. This dimension
is transferred to the top of the base piece; together with a witness
mark for the external dimension of the bead. I use a pencil for this
as I find it easier to work up to a dimension by slowly removing a portion
of the pencil witness mark than a scribed line.
The shallow spigot and bead is formed and the rest of the base shaped.
Followed by a final sanding and polishing.
And finally the two parts are glued up using the lathe tailstock as support.
