# ***** March Round Platter Challenge *****



## Blister (28 Feb 2011)

March 2011 Round Platter Challenge

Platter as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary 

1 A large flat dish or plate for serving food.
2 A meal or selection of food placed on a platter,

Rules for this Challenge 

A round Platter Any diameter ( some forum members have smaller lathes )

Must be flat across ¾ - 75% of the top surface
¼ - 25% outer rim can have a radius or have a retaining lip and be enhanced with beards coves or V groves 

The underside can be enhanced visually with beads coves or V cuts 

No Texturing / piercing / colouring / carving / burning / engraving 

The Platter can sit directly on a table or on a ( up to ) 2” - 50mm high single foot 

No segmented work ( foot can be a separate piece ) 
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Any wood type, / natural edge, bark, inclusions ALL allowed
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NO Critique or comments on any work until April Please, After the Judging and results.
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Completed entry's ( 3 photos ) to be uploaded from midnight on 25th March. Up until 10pm on the 27th March, after this time the forum thread will be locked for Judging.
Results will be posted by 31st March

The Judge for March will be Barry Cook ( cookie777 )
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The Judges decision is final
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Please state item size, width and height and wood type if known and a little about how you made it and what finish you used ( this helps the judge )
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Please post 3 images of your work 
1 side profile 
1 showing the top face detail
1 showing the underneath 
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Image size please use image size 640 x 480 0.3 mp, same as January and February 
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Can you PM me when you have your project ready so I can mark you off the list of entrants? 

Have fun and be safe !!


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## Hudson Carpentry (26 Mar 2011)

I found it very hard to get inspiration but did what I did in unsuitable wood to get my 1 point  

Made from Sereya this measures 135mm by about 60mm tall (including foot).

I turned this by gluing up the blank then gluing that to a chuck i screwed some wood to. Shape made with a small gouge as big one just ripped chucks off. Skew for final shape. Turned flat using a parting tool and skew. The coves was done with a bowl gouge. Sanded to 240grit then danish oil.


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## skeetoids (26 Mar 2011)

Hi,

Here is my March platter entry:

180mmx22mm, Oak, sanded to 400 grit and then treated with boiled linseed oil.

Began by truing and turning the foot between centres to give me enough depth in the platter area. Created a bead around the edge higher than the platter, and a few accent lines.
















Aw the best to everyone,

Lee.


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## DougieH (26 Mar 2011)

Hi All, this is my March platter entry.

Not sure what the wood is, possibly teak? Size is 5.5in diameter by 1in high. Blank held on the 3in faceplate with double sided sticky tape, and the base and foot shaped and finished same as the top. Peeled of and reversed to true up and flatten the top. Used 3/8in DFG, 3/4in skew, and 3/4in rounded scraper. Then sanded to 340 grit, coat of Rustins Button Polish, allowed to dry, then 000 wire wool lightly with the lathe running at 750 revs. Another coat of Rustins, allowed to dry, then polished with soft cloth, then two coats of Black Bison wax paste, polished with a soft cloth with lathe running. Peeled off the faceplate and another coat of polish on the base to remove traces of sticky tape. 
Good luck to all.

Doug


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## Jonzjob (26 Mar 2011)

I have no idea as to what the wood is. Quite hard with a slightly open grain. 6 1/2" diameter X 1/4" high and 3/64th (1mm) thick in the middle. Weight 25 grammes so not a heavy wieght. It was an exercise in how fine I could get it. The blank was glued to a wooden faced face plate and the bottom and dovetail turned. Then mounted on my K8 chuck with the expanding jaws. The K8 used to come with a set of jaws and these were used. All done with a 3/8" spindle gouge.

Friction polished and buffed with my Beal system.


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## Paul.J (26 Mar 2011)

This is my March entry  
It is a piece of either Sycamore or Maple with Burr patches on,and slightly spalted.
The overall dia is 12" and is 1-1/4 high.
The outer rim i left plain and blended it into the inner flat area,which is about 5/8" deep.
The rim is 1-1/2" wide,which makes up the 25% required,i hope :lol: 
The bottom was finished off using my home made vac chuck and again was all blended in to give a nice concave finish,leaving a rim of 6" for the platter to sit on.
Finished with Lemon Oil.


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## Daven (26 Mar 2011)

Here is my attempt. Beech 10 3/4" diameter by 3/4".

Never done a platter before so was quite interesting. Original timber was 3" thick, screw chuck to round it off and a tenon cut on face to re-chuck the platter blank. I then used a thin parting tool to make two thin blanks. Platter blank re-mounted and face and outer edge of back turned - then I used Duct tape to remount it to the other blank to turn the base! 

Finished with wax.

Dave


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## Wood spoiler (26 Mar 2011)

Here is my "inspiration" mk II

I went to my friendly local woodturning shop and asked John of John Davis Woodturning for a blank to make a nice platter out of for our competition. Having looked all through his stock he concluded that he had nothing special - so we went through to his workshop where he raided his private stash!

He had this blank, a rippled sycamore, which I have not come across before. I was really pleased with it. If you look at the picture you can see the rippling running at 90 degrees to the grain. With such a lovely piece of wood I thought simplicity was the key. I love the "flame" effect on the side profile.

Not sure my photography does it any favours but hey ho

The bead runs into the undercut cove to join the bottom 75% flat of the platter.

Made between centres to turn spigot and underside, face turned on the spigot and then reversed to remove the foot

Dimensions: 375 mm x 45 mm

Side






Top






Bottom


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## myturn (26 Mar 2011)

Hi everyone,

Here's my March platter, made from a zebrano blank I bought at Ally Pally especially for this task.

It's 4 cm high, 24 cm in diameter with a centre flat section of 18cm and rim of 3cm, give or take a smidgen :-$ .

The blank started out at 25cm X 5cm, mounted on a chuck-held faceplate to shape the side and bottom. 
This was done using bowl gouges, skew and shear-scraper.
Sanded down to 600, cleaned with a tack-cloth then sanding sealer applied, sanded with 600 again and polished with microcrystalline wax. No sealer applied to the base of the foot as I next glued on a wooden block and turned a tenon on the bottom of that to fit the chuck.

Then reversed to mount the wooden block in the chuck and the top side attacked. I first shaped the rim to determine where it would end then hollowed out the middle, again with bowl gouges but also a large flat scraper to make the bottom nice and flat. The top got the same sanding treatment and finish as applied to the bottom.

Next I parted off from the sanding block to leave a very thin piece of the block on the platter's foot. This was removed by hand with a head-gasket scraper as that gets under the hot-melt glue nicely but doesnt marr the wood.

To finish the bottom I then reverse mounted it on cole jaws, used as a friction drive as they would not have anything to clamp on to. Tailstock brought up with a home-made nylon centre in my revolving centre and a spindle gouge used to tart up the bottom with a groove.

Sanded as per usual then removed from the lathe and the slight mark left by the nylon centre cleaned up, the bottom sealed then polished.

This was the first time I have used hot-melt glue, apart from 1 practice run just to see if it actually owrked, and I was amazed at how strong it holds.

Mick


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## gus3049 (26 Mar 2011)

This is my entry for March.

As I didn't have a lathe until a few days before closing day, I am having to use one made for a client. The design is as agreed with them and it was made in a bit of a hurry!!

The top is flat across the 75% with a three surface lip. The foot (which I anticipate may be criticised) is 'single' in that there is only one of them but it's not a 'simple' profile. Not sure that was specified though.

The foot is exactly 50mm (2"). The overall diameter is 288mm (11.375")and the flat section is 220mm. (8.75") Overall height is 75mm. (3")

The wood is walnut , finished with two sealing coats of catalyst lacquer and then walnut oil - its has four coats at the picture stage and will get another six.


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## nev (26 Mar 2011)

nevs platter for march  my first and only platter, Iroko (i think) approx. 18cm across and 3cm high. done almost entirely with 1/2 inch round scraper and 1inch flat scraper, then sanded 100, 180. 240, and 400, cellulose sealer, 400 and finally 0000 wire wool. then a coat of liberon lathe polish and a wipe with a stick of carnuba wax (which i wish i hadnt, a bit tooo shiny, but you live and learn  )
hope it fulfils the criteria for a platter, (tis flat across at least 75% of the top surface, and you could put food on it!)
comments welcome.
have a nice day


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## Elaine (26 Mar 2011)

Think the wood is burr elm? 
Overall width is 200mm
edge is 25mm
depth 40mm

Finished with cellulose sealer, friction polish and then a soft wax polish.


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## loz (26 Mar 2011)

Here we go !

Oak 6 inch by 1. short foot, finished with Danish Oil. Couldnt seem to get the profile pic in focus.


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## Melinda_dd (26 Mar 2011)

Ok, so here is my 1st attempt at a platter. I will admit, this was not my month!  

It's 14.5cm diametre, and 1.7cm high... only tiny for a tiny lathe!

It's made from beech... local woodturning shop had nothing really special.
Screwed onto a face plate to true up and turn foot and base profile and finished with a few coats of clear briwax. 
Then was reversed and put on my patriot chuck (which I love but on my mini lathe looks like an elephant standing on a thimble!) All was going well

THEN.... disaster struck, I had a huge dig in (as can probably be seen) while I was profiling the front.... it broke the foot and went flying off the lathe (to the back thank god (mask and full face visor was on anyway so I would have been safe))
I didn't have time to start again, so had to finish it. It wasn't true anymore as foot was broke and nothing I did made it any better. So I've accepted defeat and will try again .....one day!

To top it off, being indoors over night, it has now warped like a vinyl left in the sun.... think I went a bit to thin somewhere.
But never mind... another point towards my goal of 12!!

Well done everyone
All advice welcome after thread is unlocked after judging


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## Haldane (26 Mar 2011)

English Yew 13 1/2" dia 3/4" thick at widest point finished with Several Coats of Chesnut Finishing Oil
















Dave


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## callumlovatt (27 Mar 2011)

This is my entry for march, it is made from oak and measures 18cm x 4cm. 
Sanded up to 400 grit and then finished with one coat of cellulose sanding sealer and then woodwax 22. golden brown colour to help bring out the natural beauty of the wood.


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## RATWOOD (27 Mar 2011)

Here is my March platter entry

It is a piece of london plane it is 210mm diameter and 30mm high
it was sanded from 180 240 320 400 600 800 1000 1200 then 2 coat's sanding sealer and 2 coat's wax 
hope it fulfils the criteria for a platter


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## spasm (27 Mar 2011)

Here is my platter for the March challenge,

This challenge gave me the ideal opportunity to make a donut chuck been meaning to do it but never got round d to it. 
The platter it’s self measures 11.5” x 1.5” tools used 3/8 bowl gouge standard grind parting tool and a half round scraper, and finished with food safe oil
the platter was made out of a nice bit of beach.
















spasm


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## Silverbirch (27 Mar 2011)

Hi Folks,
This is my entry:
Native ash, diameter 340mm(13 3/8") height 34mm (1 1/4")
First mounted on a screw chuck. As the blank was quite shallow I glued a piece of scrap to the base and turned a spigot for holding in the chuck jaws when turning the top. The platter was later reverse mounted and the spigot turned off.
It sits on a foot 165mm diameter by 4mm deep.
Finished with Organoil and buffed.

Ian


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## Blister (27 Mar 2011)

My March Platter Entry 

Bur Elm ( Ulmus minor var. vulgaris ) 13" Diameter x 1 3/4" thick 

Detailing kept to a minimum ,

Foot made from spalted beach 1" height 

Platter blank mounted on a face plate to true up outer edge , shape bottom , detail , sand through 120 to 1600 grit turned using a bowl gouge and a point tool , chuck recess made using a parting tool

Mount blank on chuck true up top face Top outer section of the face is flat 25% , slight radius down to second section 75% flat leading to the center , again sand through 120 to 1600 ,
sanding sealer x2 , wet sand last sand with sanding sealer in forward and reverse direction to make sure no lifted fibers 
Treat with food safe finish then woodwax 20 

Foot turned from spalted beach to fit inside chucking recess , bottom of foot turned and detailed first then reversed onto Cole jaws to finish 

Top photo 




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Bottom photo 




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And a side profile


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## dennisk (27 Mar 2011)

First platter. Butternut picked up in Quebec this past fall. Bowl is 11'' by 3'' high. Started with the foot on a screw and turned it and finished it completely (danish oil 3 coats with sanding in between coats) then turned the tenon and parted it off. Then platter blank on a screw again, turned the bottom with the recess for the tenon and the chuck jaws. Danish oil as per foot, then use the chuck and recess and turn and finish the top. 
I drilled the foot out from the top and put in 8- 1 ounce used tire weights and it nicely anchors it and gives it just a bit of heft. Turned mainly with my Crown 3/8" bowl gouge with side grind, and the excellent Crown scrapers. Thanks. Forgot to mention,buffing done with the Oneway kit.


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## miles_hot (27 Mar 2011)

OK, here's mine - my first ever Natural Edge which was stressful wondering if I'd be able to keep the bark on; especially as it turns out to have some areas which are rather eaten away. The wood is apparently Burr Walnut kindly donated by a chap at work who's had them at the back of his garage for 15 years after he gave up the idea of wood turning having had one detonate on him.

The platter is between 9.25 and 10.5" in diameter and just under 1" high. It sits on a simple raised ring which has a gentle concave curved base (very proud of keeping the edges nice and crisp!) which is undercut to mimic the top. The base mirrors the curve of the top to give a nice even and light feel to the platter. The top face is flat (oh boy that was hard to do) across the required 75% and then it raises up into an OG curve like a wave which is sharply undercut. This delimitates the circular section of the platter from the Natural Edge and gives the user's thumb something to hold rather than then natural edge. The outer section rises in a gentle curve to the same height as the inner rim on the outer most section. The bark stayed on (!!  phew) and that whole outer section is a fascinating range of wood structures ad worm attack.

The whole thing was sanded to 320 by hand as I couldn't get the rotary sander into the base section, I was worried about whipping off the bark or rounding off the edges on the top. I then applied one coat of Chestnut Spray Sanding Sealer and allowed to dry before sanding with 400 wet and dry. Initially I then coated the whole platter in Chestnut Gloss Lacquer however I was very unhappy with the finish this gave on the central section - it seems to have a very fine speckle which totally obscured the wood at some angles and wasn't very glossy. So I rubbed that off on the central section (400 and then 600 wet and dry) by hand and buffed and applied my normal canuba wax finish which also has the benefit that it further differentiates the central and outer sections of the top.

Overal I am intensely happy with this platter but it will only be used to display things for eating etc - I don't think I could face cutting cheese on it  I think I will always remember the gut tightening feeling of cutting the edge that I couldn't see and only being able to cut inwards and not just fade a cut back to address a thickness issue.

Hope you like it as much as me  

Miles


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## cambournepete (27 Mar 2011)

This is my badly photographed effort.
It's some kind of rosewood (I think), approx 10" diameter and 1 3/8" thick.

Cut from a short plank approx 2" thick, mounted first on a screw chuck to form the outside profile and recess, then mounted using the recess to do the face.
I was originally going to leave the recess, but reverse chucked using my cole-type jaws to form the base which has a few circles for decoration. (SWMBO complained that my finishing was rough until I pointed out they were meant to be there... :roll: )
Sanded to 600 grit then finished with woodwax 22 applied with webrax-type pads (all from Chestnut).

I kept the base wide deliberately - if it's too narrow you cant easily use it as a platter...


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## duncanh (27 Mar 2011)

Top view
The centre part is completely flat






Bottom view
The centre part is concave by about 8mm






Profile (obviously!)


Diameter: 35cm
Thickness: 2cm
Wood: unknown but hopefully food-safe. There was pretty much no smell from it during turning. Perhaps mahogany?
Finish: IKEA food safe oil

The board was hiding in the back of the wood store and looked a bit manky but was about the right size for me and would have ended up as a platter anyway so I thought I might as well give it a go.
With it only being 2cm thick I didn't want to waste wood with a spigot, couldn't be bothered to wait for a glue block and I don't like recesses so I thought I'd try turning it from start to finish using a vacuum chuck. It was so flat that an excellent grip was held throughout so no problems with the vacuum method.
The design is based on one in Mark Baker's book.

The top is flat and can be used for chopping at any point on the surface. I considered adding a decorative bead around the top lip but decided against as it would get in the way of any cut. Also, the wood is incredibly figured with tightly locked alternating grain and gentle ripples (although it doesn't show up well in the photos) and any bead would have been a distraction.
The platter can be used either way up and the centre part of the underside is slightly concave so it can be used for anything that's likely to roll around (like fruit).

The symmetrical rim has 2 functions - it allows your fingers to get underneath to pick the platter up and the shallow dip next to the centre element will catch any crumbs when in use.

The finish is a new one for me - IKEA food oil which has been mentioned a few times on the forum.

Turned using 1/2" bowl gouges, 3/8 spindle gouge, a home-made tool for the shoulder and a shear scraper. A tricky wood to turn with the interlocked grain and I had to resort to 80 grit more than I would like  

Duncan


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## como (27 Mar 2011)

This is my entry for March, the platter.

This was originally 10" diameter, however, after an unexpected design change (where the rim decided to detach itself from the platter), the platter was promptly reduced to a diameter of 6.25". 

Made from Oak, and finished with danish oil.


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## monkeybiter (27 Mar 2011)

Hers's my effort;

Spalted beech [I think]

I concentrated on flatness and 75%, perhaps to the detrement of the rim shape.

Overall diameter 230mm, central flat surface 175mm ie. 76%.

Finished with a few coats of cellulose sanding sealer to harden the surface for finish turning and sanding, then a couple of coats of melamine laquer buffed up with the monkeybiter buffing system.

Good Luck Everyone


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## Pvt_Ryan (27 Mar 2011)

Wood: Unsure
Size: 10" dia, 5/8" high
Finish: Burnished in shavings and then several coats of Boiled Linseed Oil

Underside is intentionally curved but (75% of) the top is flat though it is hard to see due to the grain of the wood. 

Beads (?) on underside done with Skew.


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