Turning smaller tenkara line spools

I turned a new set of tenkara line spools earlier this week out of a piece of mimosa wood.

From the last set of spools I turned, I gifted the smaller one and kept the larger two-tiered one. After using it for a couple months, I decided that I wanted a smaller, thinner one to use.

After I finished up a different project in the workshop and had a bit of free time, I grabbed a chunk of mimosa wood and went to work.

First I roughed out four spools.

Next I turned them a bit thinner and sanded them the best I could.

Then I took them off the lathe and separated them.

Then drilled center holes.

Then back on the lathe for more sanding, this time with a different set of jaws. I got this set for turning smaller ornaments, but it comes in handy for things like this.

Then, like last time, I drilled the holes for the magnets, glued them in, and finished with some Tried and True Original.

The original mimosa blank had a crack on one side, so the final spools have a slight crack, too. I’m using that natural crack instead of cutting a notch to hold the line.

They work great on the river!

Next time I think I’m going to skip the original roughing step and just cut out spool-sized blanks from the cylinder, drill the center hole, and then put them on the lathe to cut the line groove and sand them. Roughing them out with a bedan or parting tool with the grain running in this direction gives too much tear out.