How to turn a disk
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This is very basic, but using a lathe, how would I turn a simple disk? The issue I am running in to is that the head attachment will leave a mark where it is attached to the wood. And if I use a much larger block and cut it off, I waste a lot of wood.
Any simple tricks?
Make a wooden block you can put in your chuck, then Hot glue your piece to it.
You can then separate it after you have turned the piece.
This is a good example:
Darren.
Thanks for that. I guess double sided carpet tape would work too?
Depends on the size of the piece, how sticky the tape is etc.
Hot glue grips really well, but either way I would give it support from your tail stock, and keep the revs down.
And wear a face shield 🤣😂
I’m assuming your work has the grain running perpendicular to the lathe axis and not parallel to the bed. This would be the orientation for a bowl or platter, for example. The linked video, above, is NOT an example of this and is spindle turning with the grain parallel to the bed. For grain perpendicular to the lathe axis, which is what I’d expect if someone says “turn a disk,” the first thing to make sure you know is to not use your spindle turning tools, especially the spindle roughing gouge.
I’ve not heard of using hot glue. A more common thing is to put scrap onto a faceplate with screws and glue that to the work, but put a piece of heavy craft paper between the scrap screwed to the face plate and the work. Later, you can separate the two. Essentially all of my turning is spindle turning, so you’ll need to look up details because I’ve not done this for a long time. Given that you are asking about mounting, I wanted to make sure you knew about not using inappropriate tools, especially the spindle roughing gouge.
Thanks for the info. If I cannot use my turning tools how am I to turn the disk? Yes it will be in the traditional orientation with the grain running perpendicular to the bed of the lathe, parallel to the head. I always assumed from my books you can use a gouge to shape it? What am I missing? Or is a spindle gouge different than a bowl gouge? Sorry – it has been 30 years since I last used the lathe. This is what I have:
Update: Found this https://turnawoodbowl.com/bowl-gouge-vs-spindle-gouge/ – learnt something today. I used to do spindle work exclusively (table legs, chess pieces etc) so face plate work is new to me. Will get a bowl gouge and use the rest of the set I have for detailing.
Thanks Ed – I did not know the difference between a spindle gouge and a bowl gouge. Got almost in trouble as I picked up the former yesterday. Will grab a bowl gouge. I used to do spindle turning exclusively (table legs, chess pieces etc.) so I am new to bowl turning.
Ed is quite right, I should have been clearer in my note.
The video was intended to only show glue chuck construction in general, and was not meant as instruction for turning a bowl, platter etc.
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