How to make a skew woodturning chisel from an old file

I wanted a really large skew chisel for my lathe but those tools can be really expensive. As a result I decided to make a homemade one, out of an old file and a piece of walnut for handle. I used a file because files are made of pretty hard steel.

First of all I used a chalk, to mark the areas of the file, I wanted to remove.

I then used the angle grinder to cut the areas I did not wanted.

I then used my desktop grinder for some rough cleaning with the stone disc.

I then cleaned up the chisel using a belt sander. Since the file was pretty hard steel, I had to change belts quite often.

To clean up difficult areas, I used my rotary tool with a cylindrical stone bit.

I then used a marker to mark the basic bevels of my chisel. I rough shaped the bevel on my belt sander. Because I wanted to avoid hardening the tool, I often dipped the edge in water to avoid burning.

I cut a piece of walnut on the bandsaw to act as my handle.

I used flat chisels and a V carving chisel to cut the groove that would receive the tool’s handle part.

To duplicate the first opening, I sprayed WD40 and kind of printed one wood on the other.

I glued the two pieces together.

After the glue dried, I flattened the edges on my disc sander. I also removed material using my block plane, to save me some time on the lathe.

To turn the handle on the lathe, I glued a piece of wood on the hollowed edge. This way I can mount the piece on the lathe between centers, without ruining my hole.

I used a scraper and a skew chisel to shape the handle. I also cut a metal cylinder with my rotary tool. I measured it’s diameter with a caliper, and used a parting tool to make a cylindrical tenon on my handle to receive it. 

I then sanded the piece on the lathe and applied a few coats of wax and olive oil finish, while my handle was still mounted on the lathe. 

I then cut of the pieces I didn’t want on the bandsaw.

I used my disc sander to sand the metal cylinder flush.

I glued everything together using two part epoxy. I also used epoxy o fill any remaining gaps.

To sharpen my chisel, I used a flat wooden piece and strips of sandpaper. I used 100, 240, 500, 800, 1000, 2000 grit papers and polished it with leather. I also applied polishing compound on the leather.

At this point my tool was ready. It works pretty nicely and I am really happy with the way it came out. I also learned so many things while making it!

I hope you like it.

How to make a disc sander for the lathe

I did not have a disc sander, and I decided to make one. After watching a few other people (on you tube)  that had already converted their lathe into a disc sander, I decided to make one too.

You can watch other people’s builds here:
Dema's WoodShop
George Fotinakes
Patrick's Work Shop

I made this build with whatever scraps I had in my shop.

I begun by salvaging a few boards from a pallet, using my circular saw.

I squared the ends of the boards on my table saw, using a cross cut sled.

To create some thicker stock, I glued and clamped two boards together.

After the glue dried, I flattened the piece with my hand plane.

I cut it to size with a saw and a miter box and reduced it’s thickness, using my hand plane again. I did that in order for that piece to fit snuggly in the lathe’s runners.

I then used my angle grinder, to cut a metal piece on which I drilled a hole in the middle, using my drill press.

I then used my band saw, and cut two pieces in a way they fit together with a half lap joint. I glued those pieces together and drilled a hole on them to receive an M6 screw.

I then cut out a screw’s head with a hacksaw.

I connected the wooden block, the metal piece and the screw with butterfly nuts and washers. This is actually the base of the sander and it’s mounting mechanism.

I cut a circle on the band saw from 10mm plywood. I mounted on my face plate  and used a scrapper to turn it even all around. I then glued on a piece of sandpaper using spray adhesive. I trimmed the sand paper flush with an exact knife.

I then cut and drilled the rest of the pieces on my bandsaw and drill press.

I predrilled, counter sinked and screwed the pieces together. For the moving parts I also used M6 screws, washers and butterfly nuts.

To make the sanding platform, I cut a piece of melamine to size, using my circular saw and a guide rail. Because the cut was across the grain , I used masking tape to reduce tear-out.

I then used a 90 degree straight edge to mount the platform at 90 degrees. I screwed it in place.

My sander is ready, it works nicely with around 100 grit sand paper.

I hope you like it,it is a really useful tool to have in the shop!

How to make a DIY judge's mallet ( gavel )

 

I had a few pieces of firewood in the shop. I think it is from apricot tree. It had really nice grain patterns and I decided to make a mallet with those. I thought a judge’s mallet would be an interesting woodturning project.

I begun with the mallet’s head. I roughly cut a piece on my bandsaw. I then chucked it on the lathe and shaped it with a scraper. I added a couple of decorative elements using the skew chisel.

To kind of flatten the edges, I chucked the piece on a homemade jam chuck and used the scraper for that job.

I then cut another piece of wood on the bandsaw to act as the mallet’s handle.

I used my drill to make a hole that would receive the handle. I measured the depth and the diameter of the hole with my caliper.

Using the parting tool, I created a tenon at the end of the handle to fit snuggly in the mallet’s head hole.

I shaped the handle, with a scraper, a skew chisel and bowl gouge.

I sanded the handle and cut it to size on the bandsaw.

I glued the handle and the head with wood glue and applied to all, a coat of teak oil.

I then cut a piece of wood for the gavel’s base. Because one side was not flat enough. I mount it on my vise and used a hand plane to flatten the base.

I then fasten it on my base plate and rounded it over with the scraper on the lathe.

After turning it to the shape I wanted, I cut it out with a handsaw.

My little judge’s mallet was now ready. It was a fun woodturning project, I hope you like it.

How to make a turned bowl for your cat

I wanted to make a DIY food bowl for  Mickey, my neighborhood cat. I thought this would be a nice and easy wood turning project.

First of all, I took a spruce board and cut 3 rough squares out of it, using the bandsaw.

I then glued them together, with wood glue and clamps.

I drew the diagonals and marked the center with an owl.

I cut out a rough circle on my bandsaw and mounted the piece on my lathe using a face plate chuck.

Using the scraper tool I rounded the outer side of the bowl.

I drilled a depth hole on my drill press, to establish the desirable depth of my bowl.

I then used the bowl gouge to hollow out the bowl. I also used the parting tool to make the inner sides of the bowl straight.

I sanded it on the lathe.

I used blue masking tape to mask the name of the cat. I used a marker to write the name and an exact knife to cut out the area I wanted to paint on.

I painted the name with black spray.

At this point my little bowl was ready to receive some nice food for Mickey the cat.

I hope you and he, like my little wood turning project!