Spindle Turning for Furniture
American Woodturner
Jon Siegel

Essential tips, addressing common concerns

Although there are many types of furniture which do not employ turnings, the development of furniture design and the art of spindle turning are inextricably linked. Historically, before the use of rotating head planing machines, or even table saws, turning was perhaps a quicker way to produce a finished part. Some styles of furniture, such as Windsor chairs, do not require the stock to be squared, but I will primarily discuss the turning of squares in this article.

While the subject of spindle turning for furniture cannot be thoroughly covered in a single article of this size, the topics I have included here have been chosen for one or more of the following reasons:
1) the most frequently asked questions by my students
2) inadequately covered in other works which I have read
3) attempt to correct common errors

PREPARING THE SQUARE Most turnings for furniture have some part (called a pommel) that is left square in the finished piece for the attachment of rails, and these flat surfaces should be dealt with first. It is important that squares of wood for turning be straight, parallel, and truly 90 degrees (not a rhombus). This is usually accomplished by use of a jointer with an accurate fence to surface two ADJACENT sides to a right angle. After two adjacent sides are planed on the jointer, the remaining two sides of the square are surfaced in a planer, keeping the previously finished sides face down on the bed. This method ensures that opposite sides are equal and parallel, and since one right angle has been established on the jointer previously, the result will be a square.
If you do not have a planer, then parallelism can be established with a table saw. The sawn surface can be cleaned up by some hand work, or taking one light cut on the jointer.
Lastly the part is cut to length. Do not cut the stock longer than the FINISHED SIZE, as th

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