Some time back I posted about making a pair of large globe stands from reclaimed redwood. I made the leg sections, but put the feet on hold because when cut up I found the wood too wet. Cut to length, with exposed end grain for the moisture to escape, they are now dry enough to finish turning them.
Each blank, about 200 mm long and 180 mm square, was rough turned to a cylinder with a small spigot on one end. I held the spigot in a chuck while drilling a 12 mm hole right through using an auger with a T handle. I then transferred the blank to my homemade chuck with the tapered steel insert (which is proving very useful for this type of work) and turned the foot with tailstock support. Fairly straightforward, but a little nervy, as there is no spare timber – no mistakes allowed! I double checked all measurements and used a spindle gouge for most of the cutting. 8 feet turned and ready for finishing.
The next job was the central pedestals that support the globes. Two are needed, cut from a 600 mm length of 300 mm square redwood beam. The block was only just big enough, I had to cut it in half with a handsaw – it was too big for my bandsaw, and I didn’t think a chainsaw would have cut straight enough even if there was enough length spare for the kerf. Then I used the handsaw to cut off the corners, a total of about 8 feet of sawing. Redwood is quite soft, but seemed to be getting harder as I went on.
The initial sawcut that divided the block left a reasonably flat end grain surface on each piece, on which I could fix a faceplate. On my Graduate lathe, I could drill the axial hole at low speed, then support the block with the tailstock while I shaped the pedestal. I removed some of the surplus wood while still on the faceplate as it gave a very positive drive. Then I switched to my homemade chuck with the tapered insert. When I did so, I found, as expected, that the axial hole was not so axial after all. The auger had wandered a little. On the taper insert, I was able to true it up and continue with the shaping. The redwood is a little soft, and the maximum torque given by the friction was only just enough on a piece this large, so light cuts were essential.
I did not have a pattern for the pedestals, so to some extent I was designing them as I went along. It was very useful to be able to remove and replace them on the tapers without losing accuracy.