Making stools, small tabletops, etc

[TobyB]

I had problems with my first go at a 3-legged "milking" stool, and the advice here that the piece of horse chestnut wasn't a great choice proved worthwhile ... tried again with a piece of olive ash and it came out OK ... although finding smooth curves/flats on larger surfaces difficult.

But, since this was a first go, and thought I might make a few more, perhaps some 4-leg versions, and also would like to make a small "occasional" table too ... I'd like to know about making the tops.

My method seems very wasteful of wood. I'd picked out a largish bowl (or perhaps platter) blank perhaps 30-35 cms diameter and about 6 cms thick. Screwed it onto a faceplate using as shorter screws as I dared - about 8-10mm of bite. Trued and partially shaped the edge, flattened the base, cut a recess in the base for a chuck and some more cuts inside of that to make it appear decorative, then sanded and finished that side. Used the index and a jig to drill 2cms holes for the legs. Took it off the faceplate and mounted it on the chuck. Cut away loads of wood - 1 cms at least - to loose the screw holes - then finished the top face and edge, sanded and finished, etc.

So - the 6 cm blank ends up about 4 cms thick in the end. On a stool, where I wanted enough thickness to securely mount the legs, that's OK. But if I wanted to make something a little larger ... a 40-50 cms tabletop that I only want a couple of cms thick ... it's expensive to throw a third of that away because of the faceplate screwholes.

Is there a better way? I wondered about the idea I've seen of gluing a bit of waste on ... but only seen this illustrated for small projects ... didn't fancy a heavy stool/tabletop flying across the workshop when the glued interface shears!

One other question ... for a stool a curved edge and gently dished seat was OK. But how would I get the best flat tabletop ... scrape and then sand a lot? Bowl gouge? Plane it on the bench when the shape is made?

Maybe this is all obvious to the assembled masses of experienced experts out there, but it's not to me, and the books on bowls, boxes, hollowing, etc don't touch on this much ...

Cheers

Toby

 

[PowerTool]

Something about 30-35 cm diameter should be okay hot-melt glued onto a scrap block - I've used this method for off-centre turning of bowls,and it's been quite safe ; you just end up having to sand the surface that's been glued,but best to have it as flat as you can to start with.
As for making a flat surface over that width,I tend to use a wide flat scraper,a long straight-edge to check it,and as wide a sanding block/arbour as you can find.

Hope this helps (or at least makes sense :wink: )

Andrew

 

[NickWelford]

If you take a face plate and heat it up, then use hot melt glue to stick it to the table top. Heating it first means the glue doesn't instantly go hard. I have used this method to mount quite large disks with little wastage. It isn't all that easy to dislodge either!

 

[CHJ]

Toby, although THIS LINK is not exactly what you are trying to achieve I think some of the methods may be of help.

If you do not want to leave a chuck recess or spigot on the underside then glueing a scrap piece of wood to the first finished side with hot melt, whilst still mounted on the lathe, so that you can form a temporary spigot works fine.

To remove the scrap when finished carefully splitting it on the endgrain (on the edge of the bench) with a chisel will make it easier to remove, and as has been said finish sand the area off the lathe to clean up.

These Plates were done as per the basic method in the thread, starting with 20-25mm thick timber.

 

[TEP]

Hi Toby.

I seldom make the milking type stool any more, but when I did I used a shop made face plate for all the tops.

Method

Mount a piece of MDF onto your lathe face plate, making the dia. just smaller than your planned stool top. Round off the MDF on the lathe, then on the MDF centre point mark a circle equal to the circumference of the centre point of the legs where they will fit into the top.

Now work around the circle and mark three equidistant points, drill a hole through at each point to take No 8 screws. While your at it mark these three holes, then measure around the circle once more but space out for four holes this time. Drill through and mark these holes.

Now when you want to make a stool 3 or 4 legged, just use a blank which is as near the finished thickness that you can. Plane and sand smooth the bottom of the blank, then centre the MDF faceplate over the smooth side of the blank. Put a screw through either the 3 or the four holes depending on the legs you plan on fitting. make sure the screws are short so as they don't go through the blank.

Fit the work to the lathe and turn the edge and top face to a slight hollow. When you have finished the top remove from the faceplate and use the screw holes as the points where you drill the holes to take the legs.

With this method you have no mounting point, and no measuring the legs holes as long as you make stool tops to match the face plate size, and you don't need to start with a oversized thick blank and waste wood.

 

[TobyB]

Thanks for this ... so scraping might be OK for a tabletop ... and hot-glueing a spigot for the chuck or a block for a screw might be a safe and workable way forward .... brilliant! Those platters are a smaller-but-similar project really ... feel prepared to give it a go ... do I need to use slower-than-normal speeds or anything (like I would with the button jaws when reverse-finishing the bottom of a bowl)?

Hot-glue guns ... not got one ... yet! Any advice on choice, make, size, things to look for, electric v's gas, etc? Looked on this forum ... surprised nothing to advise on make, expensive v's cheap, etc. Anyone delighted with their purchases, regrets, disapointments, etc?

Cheers

Toby

 

[CHJ]

If you have button (cole) jaws will they not hold your pieces well enough?

I have a couple of glue guns, one a cheapy, it works and that is about as good as it gets.

The other is a Bosch (230volt) with a fine nozzle and that works very well and is my preferred user.

 

[loz]

Lidl Ireland have some in at moment, not sure about UK though.

Loz

http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20081030.p.ParksideGlueGun