Measuring spoon turning guide

Measuring spoon turning guide:

Tools needed:

Calipers

7/32 drill bit

Live and dead centers

Sand paper

Finish of choice

Parting tool

Wood turning tools

5 min epoxy

 Small dowel or Scrap wood for shims  (optional)

 These are the steps we use when turning handles in our shop this is more of a guide to help you on your way. there are also a lot of great YouTube videos for turning handles out there and sometimes watching someone do it is more informative than reading

 Mark Center on both ends of the blank

 Drill a 7/32 hole in one end of your blank for the tang of the measuring spoon (roughly 3/4” or 19mm  deep)

Centre mark or drill a small hole on the opposite end of the blank to mount between centers. Mount blank of choice between centers and turn round

Once rounded use a pencil or marker to mark where the end of your handle will be this will be a reference mark to part off the end of the handle later (I like to go around 4” for most handles, but this is up to your discretion)

Next use calipers to measure the size and depth you need to cut a tenon for the ferrule (collar)  You want to end up roughly 7mm in from the end of the blank and for the depth of the ferrule, measure the inside of the ferrule for how small to turn the tenon. (roughly 1/2” or 12.7mm)  use the calipers often to check on your blank as you cut into it for an accurate fit. 

 (I’ll usually  check multiple times while cutting the tenon in and then when I’m happy with the size I’ll remove it from the lathe to test fit)

Next Turn the rest of the handle to your desired shape and part almost all the way though the blank at the point your handle will end make sure to not cut all the way through!  Sand and finish with the finish of your choice. Then finish parting the handle off the rest of the way, touch up the end with sand paper and your finish

I like using craft coat when doing handles like this because after fully parting the end off I can sand to touch up the end and wipe on more craft coat to finish it off.

Once your handle is finished and ready  for assembly there is a couple options for gluing the tang of the spoon into the handle. You can just load it up with some 5 min epoxy set your end in and make sure you keep the spoon straight while the glue sets. or a little trick I learned from a knife maker is split a dowel or make small shims to go on either side of the spoon. This will help hold things centered while the epoxy sets

Repeat for the rest of your handles