Based on the interest from a recent post, I wanted to take a few minutes and share my process for making lathe turned noggins.
In this first photograph you can see my tag board template laid out over a piece of western big leaf maple. The pattern is for a making a 3" diameter noggin. Big leaf maple is not my wood of choice due to it being soft and wanting to tear out, but it was what I had laying around.
This next picture shows the band sawed blank with a hole bored in the center approximately 1 1/4" deep. For a 3" diameter noggin I want the overall height to be between 1 3/4" to 1 7/8". I used a 1 1/2" diameter Forstner bit for the hole because that is the largest size bit I own. I need to get a 2 1/4" bit for this operation. We will be using this hole to mount the turning blank to the 4 jaw chuck for the initial turning process.
As you can see, I have the turning blank mounted in my 4 jaw chuck. I have positioned the tool rest so I can perform rough out rounding of the turning blank. If you do not feel comfortable using only the 4 jaw chuck to secure the blank, you could opt to run your tailstock with a live center mounted in it up against the blank for additional stability.
In this picture I have rounded the blank, flattened the underside of the handle and turned a tennon. I turned the handle down to just slightly over 3 /8" thick leaving just enough wood to clean up the top side. The tenon is approximately 3/8" tall and 2" diameter . Look at all that tear out. I told you western maple is not the best choice, but not to worry, with SHARP scrapers it will all come together later on.
I now have the outside of the noggin rough shaped. I will go back later and do some final shaping to adjust the wall thickness to coincide with the inside.
Here I have removed the noggin from the lathe and using my band saw I remove the waste wood in the area where the handle interferes with turning.
I completed the wood removal by rasping the remnant flush with the O.D.
Now the turning blank is mounted in the 4 jaw chuck on the previously turned tenon and I am starting to remove the wood from the inside of the noggin. In this step I will also clean up the top edge and bring the handle down to final thickness.
Once you have the inside shaped and sanded like you want it, you will need to remount it in your lathe to complete the outside turning. To do this, you need a way to hold the noggin. What I use for this operation is a turned down piece of scrap wood with a piece of leather glued to the end to protect the finished inside surface of the noggin. A mouse pad also works well in lieu of leather. I call this a cup chuck.
With the noggin sandwiched between the "cup chuck" and the tail stock we will start the final shaping of the outside. The friction from the pressure of the leather against the inside of the noggin causes the noggin to rotate..
To acquire the final shape you will need to reduce the diameter of the tenon. As you can see in the photo, my tenon is about 1/4" to 3/8" diameter. Also during this phase, I will remove the noggin from this setup several times, feel the wall thickness and remount it and remove the wood in the thick spots until I get a nice uniform flow between the inside and the outside. Now scrap and sand the outside as much as you can. From this point on, after you remove the noggin from the lathe, it is all hand work to blend in and round over the lip area as well as giving your handle its final shape. I call it quits after I reach 220 grit.
Here is a picture of the belt hook. It is just basic spindle turning.
The completed noggin. I drilled holes and then enlarged them by pushing a hot wire through both the noggin and belt hook. After staining the pieces I used a piece of leather boot lace to lanyard the 2 parts together. I finished the project by applying several coats of butcher block conditioner. Any food safe salad oil or similar product will work fine.
