The other day I was doing a small carving and was getting frustrated with fixing it down on my work surface with each different position I needed, so I came up with the following. I call it “a carvers turn table.”
Out of 3/4″ ply I cut two discs of about 12″ dia. In one I cut a 3″ hole with a hole cutter and then turned a 3″ disc to fit the hole snugly. I then cantered the 3″ disc on the solid disc gluing and screwing it in place. This I call the bottom disc. The 12″ disc with the 3″ hole is then fixed to a short piece of 4×4 cut to a length to give you a comfortable carving height when clamped vertically in your bench vice. The solid disc with the 3″ tenon (the top disc) is then placed on top of this, located by the 3″ mortise .
A series of suitable counter sunk holes on say a 30 degree pitch are drilled through the top disc for holding down the work piece. With the work piece screwed to the top disc (consideration must be given to the fact that there will be at lest a couple of screws buried into you work piece that you can’t see) and located on the lower disc you can now turn your work piece just like a “Lazy Susan.”
– Peter Grice
Cyprus
