3 part spindle turning

[Jeff Wimer]

I am getting ready to make some very ornate spindle turnings. I plan to make each in 3 parts and am curious what would be the best way to put them together? I would imagine turning a dowel end on one and drill a center hole on the other?

When turning I like to leave a wage stub on each end. If I didn’t have the stubs, I could drill each end before turning and use a dowel. I find it quite difficult to find dead center on a round turning. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[Bill Boehme]

One solution is to drill first before turning the cylinder round. The piece could then be mounted on a jam chuck to create the cylinder and do all the detail stuff.

[Marvin Hasenak]

Make a mandrel, I would get a 2x2x8 hardwood blank. Turn the middle 3 inches to 1/2 inch diameter, then cut the 3 inch in 2. The headstock end is your jam chuck driver, the tailstock end mounts in the 1/2 inch hole on your blank and on the live center. If this is a one time use, I would use a 4 jaw chuck to hold the mandrel blank, if for multiple use, I would tap the driver end and srew it on the spindle threads. Drill the 3 blanks with 1/2 inch bit, after turning use a dowel to peg them together. If these 3 piece are real long pieces, you can drill short holes on both ends, but they have to be squared and centered to the blank.
This mandrel is threaded to fit the spindle threads.

Clank with a hole through the center.

[Jeff Wimer]

Thank-you very much for the detailed answer. A couple of the pieces I will be turning on my Legacy ornamental lathe, the third on my standard lathe. The Legacy can be temperamental at times and hate to throw out the entire spindle for one little glitch.