davepolaschek

I've made a couple sets of salt and pepper shakers using the Woodcraft Salt and Pepper Shaker kit and am writing up this list so I tackle items in an order which is close to the simplest.

I'm also going to list the equipment I used. There was more than I would've expected as a newbie, and sometimes “simple” projects end up requiring quite a bit of equipment. In this case, you can get by with less, but having all this stuff makes it pretty quick and easy.

Equipment

• Nova chuck with 70mm jaws
• Nova chuck with 50mm jaws – any Nova chuck comes with these
• Nova chuck with Pin Jaw Set
• a 60 degree live tailstock for steps 1-8
• a ⅜” spindle gouge for roughing
• a ½” skew for everything else.
• tailstock drill bit chuck, or morse taper for 10mm hex shank forstner bits
• 1 inch Forstner bit with extension
• 1⅜ inch Forstner bit
• 1.5 inch Forstner bit

Steps

1. Install the chuck with the 70mm jaws on the lathe, and secure a (roughly) two inch square by 4 inch long blank in the jaws.
2. Rough the blank to about a 2 inch diameter.
3. Bore a 1⅜” hole ¼” deep in what will become the bottom.
4. Bore a 1” hole through the middle of the blank.
5. Get the bottom close to the correct outside size. You can see the walls of the 1⅜ hole, and they should be at least ⅛-¼ thick. You can always turn it down more later, but you need the bottom to fit in the 2 inch chuck for the next step.
6. Switch to a 2 inch (50mm) contracting chuck and turn the piece around.
7. Bore a 1½” hole 3/16” deep in the top using a Forstner bit. If it looks like the hole will be off-center, try repositioning the workpiece.
8. Rough the top down to about 1¾”
9. Remove the workpiece from the chuck and insert the tube with medium CA glue. It's helpful to have the top of the tube protruding about ⅛” above the bottom of the 1½ inch bore so the epoxy won't run inside the tube.
10. Put the shaker top into the top of the workpiece with epoxy, making sure not to get any inside the tube.
11. Once the epoxy has had a chance to cure, put the shaker onto the pin jaws on an expanding chuck with the bottom end on the chuck.
12. Finish turning the outside to the final shape. You can get the top edge pretty close to the shaker insert, as the inside is reinforced with epoxy. I aim for a little over 1mm thick on the wood outside the shaker top.
13. Sand and finish the shaker on the lathe. I used tung oil and shellac friction finish, with a final coat of carnauba wax.
14. Blow out the dust, pop the stopper into the bottom and then carefully finish the bottom edge of the shaker. I typically sand it on a piece of sandpaper and then apply a couple coats of shellac.

#technique #woodturning

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