Having become known as a woodturner occasionally involves one in special projects for workplace colleagues. One such project involved making a wooden lid to suit a 'Moconna' style coffee jar. After finishing this small faceplate job I realised that the job didn't involve a great deal of expense. The job was reasonably challenging and gave me a chance to use small pieces of timber that are too small for bowls, too good to toss and didn't involve pens or goblets.

The whole job should be accomplished using a detail gouge and involves cutting a spigot to an accurate dimension, making a groove in it and rounding a large face and rounding over a couple of edges. A piece of wood was placed in a Nova chuck, squared up on the end and a piece of friction material applied to the end to provide a positive drive for the initial between centre work.

While the job is still between centres the spigot is cut, the two bottom edges are rounded and the groove is cut near the end of the spigot. The job is then removed and the rough section where the tail centre was is sanded off and the hole drilled in the end of the spigot to take the screw of the screw chuck. The back of the job is oiled (waxed, lacquered, painted, stained etc.....your choice). The job is fixed to the screw chuck and the face is turned, sanded and finished to your liking.

The plastic cap is applied to the back of the lid and the finished job is presented to the missus who will absolutely love it (we can all be hopeful!).