Cut a wooden disk without a lathe

I needed to make a quarter wheel section for the press drill I'm making, (instructable coming soon - being written as I go), with better accuracy than I could achieve through hand shaping with abrasive paper (my only real alternative).  I don't own or have access to a lathe, but started thinking about how I could turn the piece of wood against a cutting tool in some other way.

I came up with the solution illustrated.  It is more like planing a circle than wood turning.  It's slow going, but I did end up with a far more circular piece than I could have achieved otherwise.

Step 1 Materials and tools

Tools:
* Tenon saw
* Chisels
* Coarse sandpaper
* Sanding block
* A vice
* Drill and bits

Materials:
* Wood to make the disk out of
* Dowel or bar to use as a spindle
* Wood to make base board, 1" thick, wide and long enough to accomodate workpiece and chisel
* Screws
* Wooden block to hold chisel

Comments

[billrehm]

Your chisel assembly looks like a jury-rigged plane. Why wouldn't you just use a plane (maybe a skew plane to help with tear-out)?

[throbscottle]

That's a really good point. Several reasons:
1) I never thought of it.
2) I don't own a plane apart from a really rubbish one that I might have thrown away (though I suppose I could keep the blade to make a better plane, if I've still got it).
3) I suspect mounting a plane in a suitable position and adequately solidly would be more difficult than mounting the chisel

Skew plane - I never heard of one of those. Does that mean the blade is ground at an angle? Sounds like a really good idea. Unfortunately I have limited tools and an even more limited budget.

Thanks for the comment.

[sharlston]

will have to try this soon 4* thanks

[throbscottle]

Great! Will you please let me know how it goes when you do?
Cheers.

[sharlston]

it went pretty well,i was going to post pictures but my cameras messed up anyways thanks