Beginner Turning Project

Now let's go make some wood shot glasses!

- By Jake Drews

What you will need

• Besides some scrap wood, you may want some of the following tools: (but these are not necessarily required)

• 1 3/8 forstner bit

• Carbide turning tool

• Sanding spindles

• Mineral oil

I've always thought it would be cool to make some wooden shot glasses for camping, and now that I have a lathe, I finally could! One thing I really like about this project is that you do not need an expensive lathe chuck to make these little wooden cups. All you need is some wood, some turning tools, a lathe (obviously), and a lathe face plate (your lathe probably came with one of these).

Step-by-step guide

Step 1: To create the blank for the shot glass, we need a block of wood that is approximately 75mm long and 65mm square. I used some scrap 1 wood I had left over from a cutting board I made last Christmas. Because the scrap wasn't thick enough, I had to cut it down on the table saw, then used a hand plane to flatten it.

Once the glue dried, I could cut out my blank. You could save a lot of time a on this step by just buying some premade blanks from your local wood store.

(Note: These blanks might be a bit small, but they should work if you are careful).