of rolling pins...
Turned a rolling pin, a french-style tapered one, for a friend who wanted to give one as a gift.
It was more difficult than I expected. I've done fairly complex turnings before - victorian stuff with fairly large amounts of detail, all sorts of rings and undercuts and such - but unlike the more ornate pieces, a the curve of a proper rolling pin is apparently a gentle chord of a circle, slightly flattened on the end - not quite parabolic, but close. The curve has to flow smoothly across a twenty-one inch span with a center of a hair over one-and-a-half inches and ends of about seven-eights plus a bit. It took about two hours. After completing the basic taper, I used a scraper to smooth it, and then sanded it from 36 through 1200 grit while on the lathe. Once it reached 1200, I misted it with water to raise the grain, let it dry for an hour, and then resanded it to ensure that the grain wouldn't raise during use. Once it was complete, it was amazingly shiny, as if it had finish on it. I considered testing it to see if the high polish would resist sticking to pie dough but elected to simply deliver it instead.
I'm making another one this week, because turning it led to thoughts of Pie, and Pie, once uttered, must not be denied. Can't wait.