Around the Woods

Turning a Kitchen Spatula. (2)

"Hard to believe, but every cook's dream.
They just do not know it yet."

I am left with a few blanks ready for the lathe. I like to mark the center of the handle for the tail center. It is probably not necessary, but it can not hurt. wood turning spatula image
Now to the lathe. I mount the blank using a One Way four jaw chuck with two of the jaws holding the end of the blade. This is a neat trick. I have turned these between centers and with the chuck holding the handle instead of the blade. This is the best way so far. The tail stock lends support to the handle. woodturning spatula image
wood lathe chuck close up
I turn at 3500 rpm. This took a while and a fair amount of practice to build to. You want to skew down the sides of the blade and then shape the handle. Stop the lathe and see if it is comfortable. If not fix it up and if so proceed to sanding. For kitchen utensils I stop at 220 grit. Oh, do not forget a face shield. I am still not sure where the other piece is but a catch at 3500 can be spectacular. technique error
I could turn the bit left at the end away by using a skew while the chuck holds the blade for turning, but I find it faster and easier to band saw off the nub and then sand it with a sanding pad on the bowl lathe. lathe accessory sanding pad
Next to the table saw where I cut the end of the blade to an angle. I am not sure of the angle, it just works and any way I am sure it varies a bit from tool to tool. table saw cuts
Now to the belt sander. I do not own one so I flip my portable upside down in the bench vise. Using a progression of 36, 50, 80, and 120 grits I sand the blade with a taper to the edge. When I reach 220 I round the corners of the blade so they reach those little rounds at the edge of pot bottoms. finish sanding belt sander
I dip and paint the spatulas in a mixture of 50/50 vegetable and mineral oils and set them to drip dry. My hands stay soft from the work. The extra oil gets collected and reused. I am told that the vegetable oil may go rancid over time, but I have never seen any evidence that this may be so. finishing tip

If you make one please let me know how it turned out.

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