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after trueing up the ends, either with a belt sander or a saw, mark you center, normaly I eye ball it, but here, you dont have alot of extra to work with, so an exact center is a must, find your center by marking the blank corner to corner, or with a center finder...
you will find that when you chuck up the blank on the lathe that it wants to move towards the cedar, or soft wood, this is OK, when you turn the blank, you will be removing a little more of the denser maple than the softer, more boyant cedar, it was part of the plan, originaly, I made the maple 1/4" thicker so I could drilll into the maple...long story short, it was a bad idea and the plug was too bottom heavy, alot of the action was lost..
once the blank is on the lathe, make two marks on one of the flats, 6" appart to mark the front half of the plug ( beggining and end) this will be repeated with the secnd piece for the rear half, be sure to leave the square ends, you will need them.. once the blank is marked, even though you only marked one flat, you will be able to see the ghost image and using your roughing gouge, turn the blank to a round cylinder that will be 7/8" in diameter when it's sanded, so leave a little extra... a word of caution.... use SHARP tools, becase of the difference in wood densities, dull tools are a bad omen... for safety, please wear a full face shield... eye goggles dont help when a blank or errant hunk of wood whacks you in the cheek...
continued in the next frame...
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