Hi Bart
Bart I assume that your ebony is square, without a chuck I can think of
a couple of ways to do the turning.

1) screw a block of wood to your face plate, drill a hole the size of
your ebony, then square up the hole so you can hammer or press the ebony
in, then use your tail center to steady the end and turn to size.

2) If you have a drill chuck with a morse taper you could hack or
whittle, sand or whatever, to make a short end fit into the chuck and
then again use your tail center to steady, and then turn your dowel

If you don't have a drill chuck with a morse taper arbor Busy Bee has a
morse taper #2 with a Jacob's taper #3 and a Econo Chuck (cheap
chuckG) that goes 1/8" to 5/8", the arbor is on sale for $5.99 and the
drill chuck is $14.99, something to think about, and you should get one
anyway I think.

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo


Bart V wrote:

Hi folks,
I need to make a short length of spindle, approx 2" long & 1/4"
diameter (does not have to be exact), out of ebony (hard & dense). I
do not have a chuck on my lathe, all I got is a face plate (yup, Santa
is aware of that...). Any down & dirty tricks, do it on my drill press
perhaps?
Bart.
P.S. no pics yet, but been playing up a storm on that banjo I just
made ))
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