If you’re in Minnesota or elsewhere in the Midwest, you (like us) are probably getting a bit tired of the rollercoaster weather this year. One day, it’s 70 and sunny and we’re out in our T-shirts and shorts, and the very next weekend, we’re facing another winter storm warning.
While those nice days can feel like a pleasant reprieve, they can also make the return to winter even more disappointing. You want to get into the shop to do some serious woodturning, but the howling winds and feet of snow can make the idea of lounging in front of the TV more than a little tempting.
Never fear! When the weather is wearing you down, we have perfect answer: small, satisfying woodturning projects that can be finished in an afternoon or weekend. Each of the projects listed below will not only take your mind off the constant cycle of thawing and freezing, but they will also help you practice some new skills.
It’s not quite time for spring cleaning in the woodshop, and holiday projects are long-since completed. You might have taken us up on some of our challenges the past few months to find a woodturning class or event near you, but those opportunities might have slowed down in March, and spring events and classes won’t get underway until April or May.
Now is the perfect time to start some small projects that you’ll be able to finish easily. That way, you won’t be stuck with a huge time commitment if your motivation is low. Small projects like the ones included here also provide the perfect chance for you to practice skills that you might need later this year as you plan out gifts or build inventory for craft shows and fairs.
This is also a good time to use up any scrap pieces of wood you have lying around, which will make the shop that much easier to tidy when spring really does arrive. And even more exciting, these projects will get you thinking of spring!
One of the most basic skills a woodturner needs to master is spindle turning. Spindle turning involves using tools like a spindle gouge, roughing gouge, and skew chisel. Each of these tools require slightly different techniques.
For instance, the roughing gouge is a fluted instrument that needs to be pointed in the direction of travel, while the skew chisel has a flat end that requires pressure to be put on either the corner or the point depending on what kind of cut you are trying to make.
Getting familiar with these tools and the techniques they involve will allow you to turn a variety of items.
The first project you might attempt this month is a bud vase. Bud vases use spindle turning techniques, giving you a chance to practice creating consistent, smooth shapes, which will be helpful for many other projects.
Bud vases also allow you to get as creative as you want if you have a hankering to practice turning items with beads and coves, and they encourage you to get inventive in experimenting with different proportions. Because they are small, they are quick to turn and can offer you an opportunity to use up small scrap pieces of wood or blanks you might not be able to otherwise turn.
These vases are great transitional projects heading into spring, ensuring that you’ll have a place to put your first picked flowers in a month or two. And while you’re practicing, you might turn a set of two or three with different but complementary shapes.
Yet another small project to get you thinking about spring is a garden dibber (or dibbler—both terms are correct). If you’re not familiar with garden dibbers, they are “…long-ish stick[s] that come to a point, with a handle on the end, that you use to push into the ground or planting pot to make a hole for your seeds or small bulbs,” according to Gardens Illustrated.
While gardeners can obviously dig holes with their fingers or other tools, a garden dibber can help you ensure that each seed is planted at an optimal depth and correctly spaced from other plants. Using a dibber can make the process of planting much faster and keep you from getting so much dirt under your nails.
These tools are traditionally made from wood, making them a perfect item to turn as you or a loved one plan a garden for springtime. Most dibbers also feature grooves or lines marking every inch or half-inch, which gives you a chance to practice not just spindle-turning techniques, but also making grooves with a skew chisel and adding burn marks; most woodturners recommend using a wire to add burn marks to the grooves to make the dibber easier to read.
Additionally, some garden dibbers are made with a simple ergonomic knob or longer shaft as a handle, while others feature a T-shape. Making the latter could give a woodturner a chance to practice fitting two pieces together by drilling holes, fitting pegs, and adding epoxy to create a durable bond.
Yet another project that will help you develop your spindle turning skills is a wooden mallet. As a bonus, this project might become immediately useful in your shop!
Wooden mallets are often used in woodturning to set wood blanks onto lathe centers, drive spur centers into the end grain of wood blanks, and loosen locked chucks. Wooden mallets are helpful when you want to apply force but want to be sure that you don’t damage the wood blank or equipment that needs pounding.
Those who have been around woodworking for a while will know that there are different kinds of mallets that might be useful in the shop, like joiner’s mallets, which have rectangular heads and are used for things like chisel work or assembling/disassembling pieces that need joining, or carving mallets, which have cylindrical heads and are used for carving with gouges.
No matter the kind of mallet you choose to make, you will be able to practice creating even, smooth cylinders as well as balanced, ergonomic handles. You can also experiment with different kinds of wood; depending on what the mallet will be used for, you can make mallets with hardwoods like oak or maple or softer woods like poplar or birch.
As with the other small projects we’ve mentioned thus far, this is a good time to use up scrap pieces or small blanks that may not be suitable for larger projects.
While beginning woodturners might want a chance to practice spindle turning techniques, using spindle gouges and skew chisels to create smooth, accurate curves, a woodturner who is more advanced might take advantage of this late winter season to practice making more precise or decorative forms.
The first project you could make that will help you with your precision turning is a small, lidded box. These small containers are often used to store jewelry or knickknacks, which means that they should not be easily tipped over and the lid should remain fastened if the box does get bumped.
Turning such an item requires a good amount of skill and accuracy; many times, lidded boxes are turned from a single small wood blank, which means that you will need to carefully part the lid from the bottom and hollow out the inside, making sure that the grain matches up and no warping occurs.
It’s also important to ensure that the lid, while fitting tightly, can be lifted off the box with relative ease. This requires precise measurement of the mortise and tenon joint. Calipers are useful when making these kinds of measurements, so if you have not introduced a set (or two or three) into your stash of woodturning equipment, now is the time to become familiar with the extra exactness they can lend to your turning.
Small boxes like these also usually have thin walls on the sides and bottom, and sometimes the outside is a different shape from the outside. Creating hollow forms with thin walls requires precision to ensure the wood is not damaged and you do not tear a hole with one misplaced movement.
Perhaps the best part about turning small boxes is that nothing you do is “wrong;” every mistake can be turned into a learning experience, especially because you are using small blanks and scrap wood to get the hang of precision turning on a small scale.
Another item that requires delicacy and precision to turn is a tea light candle holder. Any type of candle holder or candle stick will require the same kind of spindle turning techniques we mentioned above, but turning tea light candle holders needs an even greater measure of care and patience, as you are turning a smaller form.
Additionally, a tea light candle holder is often closer to the flame than other candle holders, which means that you will need to be more careful about measuring the diameter and depth of the holder so that the tea light sits just the tiniest bit above the rim of the holder, not flush with it.
The holder also needs to leave a small pocket of air around the tea light, which acts as insulation so that the heat from the candle does not transfer to your wooden holder, so you will need to measure the hole you are hollowing very accurately.
As with other projects, there’s no right or wrong way to turn a tea light candle holder, so this is another item that can encourage experimentation with round and flat shapes, coves, and beads, as well as sets and multiples. Tea lights can also be a cozy addition to a winter centerpiece or a light and delicate addition to a spring display, making a nice bridge between winter and spring projects.
As most woodturners know, bowls are the most popular wood-turned projects, so we couldn’t put together a list of projects to practice making without including an option to help you perfect your bowl shaping. And there is no better way to get better at turning bowls than to turn bowls!
While you can certainly practice turning bowls with full-sized blanks, this month we recommend that you try turning some mini bowls. These aren’t full-sized production bowls, just a chance for you to experiment with different tools and perfect your techniques.
Beginning woodturners may not realize that turning a bowl requires specific attention to the formation of the base, the body, and the rim. Different techniques are used to shape each part of the bowl, so as you turn each mini bowl you can practice different methods of blending the curve of the base into the body using a bowl gouge and creating different kinds of rims.
While a bowl is not a bowl without the body and base, the rim is where the woodturner can make the bowl really stand out. Rims might be flat or round, undercut or flared, and are often a perfect place to add decorative touches. This is a good place to experiment with texturing, inlays, beading, or even live rims.
Turning small bowls also gives you a good chance to use up small or imperfect blanks and to try turning both end grain and side grain bowls.
If cabin fever is starting to set in, a few small woodturning projects can be the perfect cure. These items, each of which can be turned in an afternoon, will help you practice important techniques, use up scrap wood, and prepare for the busy turning season ahead.
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