turning a rosette in a square for door

allen levine

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new york city burbs
I had a new screen door put in today, part of my sprucing up my little house.
I want to cut and build my own outdoor entranceway moldings around screen door.
Its a tiny home, so it will be nothing elaborate,(ofcourse, Im making it, it will be simple) Ill pick up a router bit to try some fluting, and build up a few pieces of wood on top to make a header(I believe its called a header)
I also want to put 2 4x4 or 5x5 blocks on top of fluted molding and sides of header, and I want to have small rosettes cut in the blocks.
Rosette bits start around 50, plus shipping, for 2 blocks, its just ridiculous for me to spend the money.
Any tips or suggestion if I put a 4x4 block into the lathe and try(using 1/4 inch bowl gouge)turning a few circles on face? I figured Id mark with marker each block so the circle is in same spot on each one, maybe turn 3 circles.
 
I'm thinking this is a job, really, for a scraper, since the profile you're cutting won't give you any really good place to rub a bevel and just SCREAMS for a catch. It might be worth doing to custom-grind a scraper just for this job - maybe one of the cheap old black-oxide Sears scrapers? Or... considering the small size and the near-one-off nature of the project, a fella could even grind a large old screwdriver into a suitable scraper; it doesn't have to keep its burr for very long.
 
It's very doable, Allen. If the wood's thick enough, you can even use a faceplate to make it easy to mount on the lathe. (And you wouldn't need to worry about hiding the screw holes in the back of the rosette.)

For me, a bowl gouge would be easier to do this with than a skew, but as Bruce mentioned, a spindle gouge or a parting tool could also do it. Not trying to dispute what Bruce has said, but the success with a bowl gouge would depend a lot on the profile of the grind. I'd think a swept-wing Ellsworth style gouge could cut the beads or flutes pretty easily (especially flutes), but a traditional grind bowl gouge probably wouldn't work too well. Just try a few different tools on some scrap to see which one(s) work best for you.
 
I made my whole house these.

P1050015.jpg


Simply attached a piece of plywood to a faceplate then took a scrap sample piece, located the center and moved the tailstock in close and aligning the tail cupcenter with the wood's centerpoint I pressed it against the plywood mounted on the faceplate. Then penciled the outline of the square. Using some 3/4 x 3/4 stock I screwed a guide fence around the square.

Then I took double sided tape and held the square w/i the corral that I had made. Back at the lathe I used scrapers to shape the contours of the Rosette... Of course mine have a flat bottom to glue in the small Pineapple (my wife is the Pineapple Princess collecting Pineapple anythings)

The two sided tape works for mounting at least 2 of the rosettes maybe 3... Takes just a couple minutes per, I did all mine including painting and hanging (replacing the existing rosettes) while she was off on one of her trips, weekend...

BTW the pineapple was made from a candy mold, I poured Durhams Rockhard to make the casting. (secretly in prep for the surprise) Sanded the backs flat and glued to the bottom of the rosette, when painted, it looks as though it was carved into the block (I think)
 
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Just a thought, you can buy the Rosette blocks ready made and a reasonable price, even the BORG's have them.

I have some beautiful mahogany that I figured I might as well use for the molding and header. I havent looked for mahogany rosettes, but I will take a look, I know Ive seen pine and oak rosettes all over.
 
I agree with Vaughn. I forgot to include. "Try different tools. We ALL have our favorites, that seem to work better for us."

Also, don't know what profile you want, so an Elsworth grind Bowl Grind may work very well.

Bruce
 
It was very slow going for me, mostly the flatwork, because I was milling and doing each set of pieces individually.
Usually I group all the pieces so I can mill, saw, rout all the same time.
I wanted approx 4.5 inches wide molding,(pillister?) approx 7/8th thick.
I ended up with 4 and 1/8 wide, almost 7/8 th thick.
I was building a fluting jig, when I realized I only wanted to put 2 flutes down it, so why not use the router table with a fence and just flip the boards so its same distance from sides, and thats what I did. I made 8 inches extra on each piece, will cut when Im ready for final fit.
Made the base pieces(of the pillister, not sure what each piece is called) 8 inches high, made a slight bevel on front around sides and top edge, and the base is 1/2 inch thicker as is the rosettes.
Oh the rosettes. simple simon deed, not for a lathe challenged person.
I did my best, practiced on a few pieces of oak laying around, as soon as I got it right with no catches, I went for it, lilke I said, simple simon, but as soon as I put the first piece in, I caught the gouge.
Flipped that rosette, did the other side, caught the gouge again.
But it didnt look bad, did the second rosette with same measurements for circle, then put an routed edge around each rosette. This is where Im at right now, the eyes stopped functioning, so I decided today is shot.

this is risky work for me since if comes out bad, really bad, I will make my ugly house uglier. At least with furniture, noone sees it unless I let them in.

Ill do the header this weekend, start the finishing process as soon as I find the right stuff.
 

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"Pilaster"... and the base is technically a "plinth"... but who's counting? :)

They look really good.

The catches are really pretty much to be expected - it's like putting a cove on the top on a bowl; the surface you have to ride the bevel against curves upward to the right, so it's tricky getting in there without catching.
 
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