Cheese and Cracker Platter
with granite tile and custom knife
by Dennis Daudelin

 

Step 3- Cutting recess for Marble Insert

Set your compass to 1/2 the size of your marble insert. In this example, mine is 6" so I've set my compass to 3".

After having made a center point using the live center on my tailstock, I can now mark out my recess. I like to be conservative here so that I'm not making a recess that's way too big.

I like to double-check my measurement!!

Using a parting tool, I cut the outside line. Then I use a bowl gouge to clean the middle out. Here's my first stopping point.

I like to check for size as I fine tune the recess and start the bead on the outside of the recess.

Here's what it looks like when I'm done with the recess. You can also see that I've cut some of the outside. That's because I want to make a nice bead to surround the tile. I want to make sure that I don't cut too much of the recess's inner edge as I'm rolling my bead.

You don't need to sand the recess if you've got a nice clean cut and it's fairly flat. I'll often use a small block of wood laid on it's side in the recess to make sure that my recess is flat. I'll keep cutting until it is flat.

Let's move to Step 4 - Cutting the Cracker Holder

Click here for Step 4