Turning a Square Dish From Scrap Wood

In this post I turn a square shaped dish/ plate from scrap wood laying around the shop, wood which may otherwise have been thrown away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To begin I dug out a bunch of small scraps of wood which I had been saving. Many woodworkers would probably have thrown these sized pieces but this was in fact a great use.

With all the joining faces planed smooth I glued all the pieces together with plenty of PVA in an order as random as possible. I think it looks best that way!

With a little clamping pressure the strips came together nicely.

 

 

 

Once dried I cut the blank into a square using the tablesaw.

 

 

 

To mount this turning to the lathe I used a chuck, to do this I drilled a large hole with a forstner bit, in the centre of the blank, to give a place for the jaws to grip.

 

 

To mount the blank true I tightened the chuck off the lathe so it sits flat against the wood.

 

 

 

With the wood mounted to the lathe I was able to turn the bottom of the dish to shape using a bowl gouge.

 

 

 

Once shaped I hollowed a small cutout at the bottom of the dish. This is so when the dish is flipped round, like before with the forstner hole, I could mount the dish to the lathe using the chuck.

 

 

After some sanding to the bottom of the dish and the turning flipped round I could hollow out the inside.

 

 

 

With the turning finished I sanded the inside of the dish, I supported the sandpaper using a foam pad.

 

 

 

Once sanded I applied a few coats of finishing oil to the turning and later polished it with some finishing wax.

 

 

 

 

Check out the following video to see me turning this cool little dish:

 

 

Here are some images of the turning for you take a closer look at:

 

You May Also Like: