After roughing out most of the straight grain cherry and some of the holly I picked up last weekend, I felt the need for a change. Picked out this burl and laid a template on it to see where to cut the ends.
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Split it through the pith
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Then rounded off the corners.
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Carried it inside thinking I was going to mount it between centers so I could adjust as needed. After setting it on an old scale I keep in the shop and seeing 98#, I decided to screw on a faceplate. Mounted it on the lathe thinking I would round the back a bit first to get rid of some weight and perhaps balance things out.
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With no room for the banjo between the blank and the headstock, I used an offset I had from my old lathe to reach. Worked well until I had a catch, then it was a dumb idea. (thought I had a picture somewhere but its still broken)Could have done it outboard but hadn’t used real long screws so wanted the tailstock to help out.
Turned a recess in the top, so I could flip it and turn the bottom,
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