On Sep 16, 5:48*pm, TWW wrote:
A picture is worth a bunch of words and these Usenets are all words.
There is a crude picture on the September 16th entry for the bloghttp://warpedwoodturner.blogspot.com/

I probably should have said I was thinking of a 6" 'yoyo' *with the
center axle (right word?) about 1" in diameter. The area the 'string'
would go in would be about 1" wide (as would the axle *be 1" wide as
well as the 1" in diameter already mentioned). *The walls of the yoyo
would be perhaps 3/8" thick. *It has been nearly 50 years since I had
a yoyo so I've forgotten some of the terms.

(The 'clamshell' comment catches the concept of what I was trying to
describe much better than how I first said it.)

Then you take the yoyo and glue a base to it or in it. Finally, you
cut the axle away. I was thinking a hand saw would do that. What is
left would be a napkin holder capable of holding 1" of napkins held
vertically. The wood on both sides would also match.

So that was what the initial post should have said. *Napkin holders do
not sound like mainstream lathe projects which is why I was curious if
anyone in this group had done anything similar.

Thanks for the replies.

Take a disk of wood approximately 6 inches in diameter and 1-1/2" to
2" thick. Mount if between centers and round over the edges to a nice
curve. Then using a heavy duty parting tool or a 1/2" beading and
parting tool, cut a slot one inch wide down to about a one inch center
diameter. Cut as clean as possible, because it will be difficult to
sand in that slot. Glue the two sides to the base and hand saw out the
center piece.

Another possibility is to use two boards and a one or two inch dowel
that is glued between the boards. I would drill a shallow hole in the
center of each to accept the dowel. Make the dowel of the proper
length to give the spacing that you need. Use spacer boards on each
side of the dowel while it is being glued. Then mount the assembly
between centers and turn the outside to suit. Then glue to your base
board and saw out the dowel. This keeps you from having to sand a
space that is hard to get to.

Good luck. Sounds like an interesting project.

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com