In order to prepare for turning, the rim is glued to a face plate. I use Elmer’s white glue with a layer of ordinary white paper in between. It holds the project tight during turning, but it can be easily removed with a chisel when I’m finished.
Most of the turning is accomplished with a large bowl gouge. The tool is very sharp, and this step doesn’t take long at all.
I had a slight gap between the layers. I’m filling it with a paste made of walnut dust and Elmer’s white glue. It will be nearly invisible when I’m finished, but that won’t matter because I’m going to make sure that this spot is hidden by the neck.
Here’s how it looks after the glue has dried and it’s been sanded.
I want to make sure that the side of the rim is perfectly flat, so I’ve replaced my tool rest with the main table of my Shopsmith. I’m using the miter gauge and a long sanding black to get a perfectly flat and square side.
I’m carefully removing the slightest bit of material with my skew chisel. Once again, a sharp tool is essential.
The inside is nice and square.
One final check to make sure it’s the right thickness, and I’m ready for final sanding.
I can do most of the finishing while the rim is on the lathe. I use Tru-Oil gunstock finish. The first two cuts are put on rather dry while the lathe is turning at a slow speed. The third is a thicker “wet” coat, and if you’re going to apply that while the lathe is turning you’d better cover up your machine with newspaper. After that dries for about four hours, I smoothed out any defects with Meguiar’s #2 automotive buffing compound (applied with a rag while the lathe was turning). Then I cleaned the rim, applied two more dry coats, another wet one, and let the whole thing cure overnight. The next morning I buffed it to a nice shine with Meguiar’s #2 followed by Meguiar’s #7.
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