I am often asked how I turn pedestals and finials, and more specifically - how I chuck them throughout the turning process. The following article demonstrates the steps I use most often. I do not claim that this is the only way, or even the best. But it works.

Note that the process for turning a lid/finial is very similar to the steps shown below. The differences are left as an exercise to the reader. ;)

Also note that all chuck jaws mentioned in this article refer to Oneway jaws. The names/numbers of your jaws may differ for other brands.

Preliminaries:

1) Turning a pedestal piece involves planning ahead. Pedestals that have been added to a piece as an afterthought often look like they were added... well, as an afterthought! When turning the body of the piece you'll need to consider how you are going to join the pedestal to the body. This method utilizes a tenon and recess approach, with the "foot" of the bowl being used as the tenon.

Also pay attention to the slope and/or curve of the body and try to match it with the top cup of your pedestal (as closely as possible).

2) Use whatever wood you like but keep in mind that your end product will be a delicate spindle. It will break if you get too heavy-handed. Light or porous woods (i.e. walnut, etc) may be a challenge depending on the brittleness of the wood and your own personal skill level. This is one case where denser woods will be easier to work with.

The wood you select should also complement the body of your bowl or hollow form. A nice color contrast usually works best. Try to avoid woods that are too close to the same color.

African Blackwood (shown below) is my preferred wood for pedestals, finials, etc. It's easy to work with and takes a nice high polish. And as the fairer sex knows, basic black goes with anything.

3) Most of my lid/finials and pedestals are turned from 2"x2" stock. They can be done from 1-3/4" but there's little or no room to spare. And yes, I waste a lot of wood in the process.

4) My method for judging the height of the pedestal (in order to cut my stock) is very scientific. I hold the hollow form body up to a ruler and make my best guess. I've even gotten it right once or twice.

On with the turning!

5) I start by turning a big fat tenon with a 1" wide x 1/8" deep recess. This will be the base of the pedestal. I'll be compression gripping the tenon for roughing, then switch to an expansion grip of the recess in the final steps (so I can clean up the base).

This part is basically completed at this point. I'll sand the bottom (including the recess) to 800 being careful to preserve the edge on the recess. The chuck jaws will need to expansion grip this later so I don't want to round the edge.

6) Next I flip the piece over and compression grip the tenon (from step 5) with a #2 jaw. I then turn a 1/2" wide recess on the opposite end. This will be the top cup of the pedestal. A similarly sized tenon (i.e. foot) in the hollow form body will be glued into the recess. The width and depth of this recess vary depending on the size of each hollow form's foot. Planning ahead when turning the hollow form body is advised.

The match has got to be an exact fit or I start this step over (and thus shorten the piece). Note the bevel in the rim to ensure a snug fit to the contour of the HF body. Also note that I'm careful to preserve the live center divot. It will be used to help in truing up the piece again (when I switch jaws prior to step 9).

7) Next I pull up the live center and start roughing. My tenon is strong enough to hold well (with the live center in place) so I can be fairly aggressive at this stage.

I'm very visually oriented so it's easiest if I mark off the position of the elements during roughing.

8) It is important to work down the thinnest elements first, being sure to leave plenty of support wood on the drive end.

WARNING: Do NOT work this close to the chuck if you aren't comfortable doing so. It is perfectly acceptable to leave a bit of wood on the top of the base (near the chuck jaws) since it will be turned away in the next step. Note that the top elements are already thinned at this stage. My goal now is simply to turn away as much excess wood near the base as possible while I have the benefit of the compression grip.

9) Still working proportions down on the lower elements (near the headstock). The top elements (cup and upper stem) are complete.

At this point I'm into lighter fine tuning so I can switch to expansion gripping the base recess (using #1 "step" jaws - see recess in step 5 above) giving me access to the top of the base. Note that any chuck marks left on the tenon don't matter since that area is going to be turned away to form the top of the base.

10) Turned, sanded and ready for finish.

11) Add a touch of finish and voila! Ready to be mated to the HF body.

12) Final assembly.