2012-10
I'm not really sure how exactly I got the idea, but somehow I was prompted by my 9th grade history teacher to make a gavel. I set to work carving by hand a simple gavel mallet head out of a piece of oak and after a few days I decided to call it good. I drilled a hole in it and fitted a oak dowel in it for the handle.
Proud of my new creation, I brought it to school and showed some people. I got some good feedback and I thought I was done with making gavels. But when I showed it to my dad he told me I should use the lathe to make a new one. I agreed to give it a shot so he cut me an octagonal prism of oak on the table saw, which at the time I was not allowed to use, and showed me how to use the lathe. After coaching me on how to adjust the speed and how to use various tools and make various cuts, I was on my own. I found using the lathe to be quite a lot of fun, and after an hour or two had shaped and sanded my new gavel using the lathe.
I made the handle and the mallet head from the same piece of wood, so I cut them apart, sanded the ends, drilled a hole in the mallet head, coated the components in mineral oil, and assembled the gavel.
Though it was my first time using the lathe, I found this project to be very fun and it has inspired me to try making other things on a lathe. Since then I have considered making chess pieces and a segmented bowl among other things.
-Erik