Hi, Alan Stratton, from As Wood Turns. (www.AsWoodTurns.com)
This project’s video is inspired by a recent club demonstration and by an article in the
American Woodturner. The concept is simple. Let’s make a rolling pin. We should be able
to take laminated stock, turn handles on it, and away we go.
Well, not quite. We can do better. Just as in the food series, Chopped, a chef there
is given ingredients but then is expected to transfer, to enhance it in some way, shape,
or form- not just to heat it up and serve it.
So, the same thing applies with our woodturning.
We need to escalate this more. I think we
can do better than the demonstration and what was contained in the article in the American
Woodturner. To me, a laminated stock that has the handles
coming thru that are also laminated is a little bit tacky. We can do better. And, by doing
better, it’s just a little bit more work but this is within our grasp, to have a rolling
pin and a handle that does not show the laminations. So I’d like to do that in this video.
I had been of the opinion, that when I did a rolling pin that it needed to have a ball
bearing in it. That would have been the highest level of a rolling pin. But, according to
a former pastry chef, at the club meeting, that is not so. A ball bearing rolling pin
will push dough in front of it. What you really want to do is to have the pin roll over it
and that takes the integrated handles.
So, in this case, I want to make a laminated
rolling pin but these handles are separate. And not only are they separate, I’ve incorporated
some additional interesting elements in it that are actually one-third of a Celtic knot.
So, let’s take this and transform this rolling pin into a higher order rolling pin.
I had a variety of thin wood scraps left over other projects. The first task is to clean
it all up then glue it all together. I’m using TiteBond III for more water resistance.
Its longer set time also helps with so much surface to spread glue on. Hotel key cards
make great glue spreaders. A helper is a must. Now to prep the wood for the handle. All that
I want to do right now is to rough turn it round into a consistent cylinder.
Similar to last week’s video, I need a template.
This time, I made a hexagon for a six loop
Celtic knot. I plan to offset every other loop by about ½ inch by putting a spacer
at the end of the blank in the cutting sled. Now, I’m screwing the plywood template to
the end of the wood bank. This time, I’m remembering to apply hot melt to keep the
plywood template from rotating on the screw. Then reset my sled for the angle and distance
from the end for this Celtic knot. Hot melt glue is sufficient to keep stops in place.
After adding the top reinforcement, I can make the first cut. Then flip it around to
cut the other end. Same angles so why not two at the same setting.
And glue in the slice. While waiting for the glue to dry, I’m starting
to rough out the main part of the rolling pin. I’m using a gouge for the rough part.
Then switch to a skew for skew practice. I’m cutting a tenon on both ends of the pin portion
since I’ll want to mount both ends in a scroll chuck.
Since I want separate handles from the pin, it’s time to drill the ends.
However, for
something this long from the spindle, I’m going to use my steady rest to support the
rolling pin during the drilling. With the steady rest, the cylinder is as steady as
it could be. Now for cut number 2. I’ve reinforced the
cylinder, inserted a spacer, and make the cut. Then glue in the slice. Here’s where
I changed my plan. I noticed an interesting pattern emerging. With the loop being offset,
I think the interplay of the two loops is interesting. I went to my wife to discuss
stopping with two loops instead of completing the full knot.
With the two ends drilled out, I need to finish the pin but cannot hold it any longer with
the tenons. With holes in both ends, I cannot mount it between centers. So, I’m turning
two end plugs to fit into the handle holes so that I can mount the rolling pin between
centers. Now I have the rolling pin mounted again between
centers. My skew is my preferred tool.
I don’t want to take it down very much – just enough
to remove some defects and to get the cylinder to have a consistent diameter thru its length.
One of the challenges of a rolling pin is turning the cylinder totally consistent. I
have it close so I’m now using a piece of plywood with 80 grit on its surface. As I
sand, I’m noting that one of my wood plys is almost gone. I decided to take it down
just a little more so I don’t leave just a trace of the ply.
Another side effect is
that the glue portion is a little harder to sand. I can feel the difference. I’m switching
back to a skew. The skew is not affected by the difference in hardness.
Then powersand. I’m using the toolrest to help support the drill and to apply consistent
pressure with the sander. I’m hoping this will prevent oversanding softer wood.
Now it is sanded but I still need to address the ends. This is the scary part. My plugs
are only a press fit in the ends. I need to cut off the tenons and clean up the ends.
However, my fears were overstated. I was able to cut away the tenon by parting down to the
plug. No problem. I’m using a sanding disk mounted in a Jacobs
chuck in the headstock to sand the two ends. Now for the handles. I made a story stick
with the measures. I’ve laid out the measures. Next, I’m parting down to critical points
such as the tenon into the pin, the beginning of the cove, the maximum diameter of the handle
and such. I’m being careful to match the two handles to each other.
After sanding, I’m parting at the point between the two handles.
Since I have a tenon, I can mount the handles in my scroll chuck to finish off the end of
each handle.
Finally, Glue in the handles and apply walnut
oil. I do not like the look of laminations going
thru handles on other people’s rolling pins. So, I’ve transformed my rolling pin—it
looks very tasty. I’ve saved expensive wood from being wasted with the smaller handles.
I could have left the handles plain but did transform them also. The partial Celtic knot
on each handle looks good, maybe I should call it some sort of swoosh. Since I have
a great Celtic knot process, I can now deviate to achieve different effects.
We’ll see you again next week for another woodturning video. Please give this video
a thumbs up, subscribe and tell your friends. Always wear your full face shield –goggles
are not enough. Until next week, this is Alan Stratton from As Wood Turns dot com. Keep
on turning..