Spindle blank glue ups
Andy in Raleigh
>After my recent gouge break, I had another spooky experience with a small bowl blank. It appears that I was working with some forgiving blanks (or under the watchful eye of a forgiving creator) to make my first few bowls (to use the term loosely). Anyway, I have decided to stick to spindle turning for a while until I get a chance to spend more time with a local bowl turner.
I have a fair amount of 4/4 stock on hand in a few varieties: oak (mostly white, some red), maple (lot of soft, a little hard and a few small pieces of curly), walnut and a little purpleheart. I also have some pear in log form that I could mill square to join.
Anyway, I am planning to do some various combinations of contrasting wood and wanted some input. As an example, let's say I was creating 3" blanks. I could cut 6 boards 1/2" thick, 3" wide and stack them to get that zebra look. I could cut 9 pieces all 1" x 1" and glue them in a 3x3 square (one layer at a time, planing the faces after gluing each layer before joining layers, right?) to get more of a checker board effect.
Any tips on which woods work best or worst together, things to aid in glue up or other suggestions or feedback would be appreciated.
-Andy