Preparing a Piece of Wood for Turning - Faceplate Work

Wood is mounted on a lathe for either spindle or faceplate work. In the case of faceplate turning the orientation of the grain is usually at ninety degrees to the ways of the lathe, or in other words parallel to the wall, not the floor. It generally is held only at the headstock instead of between centers and thus needs to be held securely at one end. This requires some simple preparation.

The oldest method of holding such a piece of turning is to use a faceplate. This is a metal disk with screw holes placed evenly around the circumference and a nut in the middle. The nut screws onto the headstock spindle thus securing the disk in place. Screws hold the disk to the wood.

The screws used get their holding strength from three things; the strength of the steel, the depth of the threads and the length of the penetration into the wood. Because the depth of penetration is usually desired to be as short as possible the other two rise in importance.

There are three types of screws usually used for holding wood to a faceplate; ordinary wood screws, drywall screws and self tapping sheet metal screws. Drywall screws have a lot of threads per inch and hold well but are brittle and tend to break so should be avoided. Regular wood screws are obviously made for work in wood but tend to be thin and have shallow threads. Self tapping sheet metal screws on the other hand have deep threads and strong steel. They can be used time and again and have a solid hold on the wood.

The other necessity for holding the face plate solid to the wood is a flat surface to which it can mate. While the flatter the surface the better, when mounting solid wood to a face plate and the wood is mounted to the face grain, the cut from a chain saw will usually be sufficiently flat for a good hold. This is often the case for bowl blanks. Smaller pieces can have the bottom faced with a plane or sander before the face plate is attached.

On the occasions that a face plate is attached to end grain the surface for mounting should be as flat as possible as the screws hold better in face grain than in end grain. Some turners use a slightly longer screw but set it at an angle so as to engage more cross grain and thus hold better. When in doubt, more and longer screws are a good idea. Also the wider the screw the better the grab and for most turners a number fourteen or one quarter inch diameter self tapping sheet metal screw is a minimum.

A flat surface to mount on, a solid face plate and good screws will allow for the safe mounting of face plate turnings. This is an old and trusted technology that we have used for years and will continue to bring enjoyment to thousands of wood turners.

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