Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)
Somebody said that we needed to try something new with this swap and really push ourselves. I may have taken it too far.I got the inspiration from a few youtube videos and a website (www.marchland.org/woodturning/list.htm) that explained how to get a twisted tapered turning. Given the amount of time we had to work on our projects, I figured I could give it a try and still have time to do something else if it failed.I began with three glue-ups, walnut, maple, and cherry, with the idea that I would have multiple attempts and that I may want to mix-and-match the species to create different sets. Each blank would yield two shakers and I figured the maple would be my prototype and the cherry and malnut would be the final products.
I turned the blanks as identical as I could, with matching tenons in the middle and on each end.
Next up was the jig to hold the blanks. It consisted of two 10” circles from 3/4” plywood which would be endplates for the jig. Each endplate was marked up for three equidistant holes sized to firmly hold the end tenons on the blank. In the end I didn't use the whole 10” capacity, keeping the holes as tightly spaced as I could while also getting the max twist from the blanks.
I was only 6 holes so I planned to simply drill the holes on the drill press by eye, but I realized that the holes actually needed to be tilted and a jig was preferable to make sure the holes were indexed correctly. I used a faceplate and a centering pin to locate indexing holes where the screws go, and then those holes could be used to space the mortices for each tenon. Clear as mud?
Once I got that thought through and made (and it took awhile as I'm no engineer), I put it all together and got it on the lathe without too much trouble. The tenons are screwed through each endplate to secure everything. I didn't put any thought into how I would index each face on the blanks, but I should have at least marked the endplate and blank in their starting positions.
It didn't take long for me to realize I had a long, slow process ahead of me. Me and my old Craftsman lathe really took a pounding with the interrupted cuts and it was a slow slog. 
After awhile, I realized that the pounding had actually caused the blanks to rotate slightly, which caused a slight misalignment. I ended up adding additional screws but since the diameter of the tenon was relatively small they couldn't be spaced apart very far, the rotation was something I had to keep checking for.
The fix was to cut deeper than I originally wanted, but I made it work. After the first half of the first face was done, I created a template in a peice of scrap to repeat it on the other half and on each additional face.
I created a mirror image of the template and rigged up a holder so that I could do the rough shaping by eye.
I spent all day on the first face and I was spent. I knew I needed a better way to at least get the rough shaping done. I improvised a sliding trim router holder and using a 1/4” ball-end bit I freehanded most of the rough removal. The lathe was not running, just the router. I positioned the router and then rotated the blank jig manually to bring the blanks into contact witih the spinning bit. No CNC here! Ideally, I would have rigged up a way of using the template and a follower to guide the router, but that's for later.
After each face was roughed, I followed up with regular turning to bring it to final shape.
After a very long time, I had all faces turned and it was time to remove the jig and cut each blank into its two items. This is where those middle tenons come into play. I was able to use those to drill the center from either end.
Now that the bodies of the shakers were roughly done, I stared with the bottom plug/base. I was thinking wenge and maple for salt and pepper, but the walnut was suffering from alot of tear out and I was really liking the maple, so that called for a rethink. Instead I opted for the same contrasting wood on each, wenge for both maple and cherry, maple for the walnut “prototypes”. These were just 3” squares of 4/4 material on which I turned a tenon with space for a rubber o-ring sized for the bored holes.
I traced the outline of the main body on each to match, then trimmed to within about 1/4” with the bandsaw. Final shaping was with the belt sander and hand files.
Final hand-shaping and sandiing was done mostly on the lathe to use it as a rotisery. I finished the bodies with simple wax and alot of hand buffing.
The last touch was the matching black and white buttons that were glued into a small recess on the top with 5 minute epoxy. I will say that I should have partially bocked the holes for the salt and it pours out too easily.
I ended up selecting the maple shakers for Bill. The walnut shakers need loads more sanding due to the tearout and the cherry set needed a repair to one of the bases. Overall, I like the results. I've never tried to make anything this sculpted before. I would note that cutting the blanks in half resulted in less twist for each half, so the effect is a little underwhelming and may not even be noticed at first. I definately achieved the goal of trying something new and having fun while doing it. Swaps are a great place to interact other LJs and I highly recommend joining the next one!JD77