DIY pallet wood toy warrior on the lathe

I had a long thick block of wood from a pallet and I decided to make a wood turning project with it.

First of all I cut the piece to size using my bandsaw. 

I used a draw knife to remove as much material as I could, before mounting the piece on the lathe.

I then rounded over the piece on the lathe. I used a  carpenter’s curved chisel as a roughing gouge to do that.

I then made a template of my piece on a piece of heavy paper. I used the template to establish my basic lines on the lathe. I then used a skew chisel to kind of carve the basic shapes on my piece.

I measured the template with my caliper quite often to establish the basic shapes on my blank.

I then used the skew chisel, a spindle gouge and a flat chisel to turn the body of the warrior.

I sanded the piece and removed the tailstock to turn the head. I sanded the piece with 100 grit sand paper.

I drilled the holes for the arms. I enlarged the holes gradually, by using several drill bits. I also made two holes to act as eyes.

I cut the body to size on the bandsaw and sanded the bottom on my lathe disc sander.

I then turned the arms and the sword. The sword is attached to the arm with a hole, which I made on the drill press. To flatten the blade of the sword, I used my disc sander again.

I then turned the shield of my toy warrior. I drilled a hole in the center using the lathe’s tailstock with a drill chuck. I removed the shield with my parting tool. I cleared the back on my disc sander. I also turned a small pin that fits in the shield. 

I glued the pin in the shield. I also glued in the arms. I wanted the shield and the sword to be removable.

My little warrior toy was now ready. Pallet wood is not ideal for wood turning because it chips really easily.

But I think it was an interesting project and turned out nicely in the end!