Woodturning is said to be the safest form of woodworking, that said it can still be dangerous and care should be taken at all times

The methods and procedures I show here are what I do at the moment and feel safe doing, I am not suggesting that you should do things the same way, that is up to you, if you don’t feel safe doing it one way find another way of doing it.

Above all take care and remember if this is your hobby it is supposed to be fun so enjoy it.

This is the bit I was always a bit wary of as I had tried it before and completely messed it up then I was shown this way by another turner.

Lock the lathe spindle and put a tail center in, I use a cone center as the one I have fits nicely over the end of the tap but with a Beall tap there is a hole in the end to take a normal center.

Fit the tap into the hole and bring the tail stock up to support it and also make sure it is held square on to the wood.   You will also need a spanner to turn the tap.

Now it is a simple matter of just turning the tap and cutting the thread, well maybe simple is not quite the right word but doing it this way is quite easy.

What you have to do is turn the tap and at the same time keep light pressure on it with the tail stock to make sure it goes in straight.   Every couple of turns remove the tap and clear out the shavings, when putting the tap back in be careful you dont cross thread it.

Keep going until you hit the bottom of the hole, you now have a threaded bit of wood.

At this stage remove it from the lathe, still in the chuck, and try it on the spindle to make sure it fits.

As you can see this one does but only as far as the register, so remove it and put the chuck back on so that you can now cut the register recess.

Mark the diameter you require, in this case it is 34mm then using a small square scrapper or similar remove the wood to the required depth, for my Hegner that is 11mm.

Once again try it on the spindle and it should be a good fit.

If I wanted to it is at this stage that I would flood the thread with thin superglue and leave it a couple of hours to harden before running the tap through it again to remove any extra glue.

This piece is now finished apart from rounding it out ready for use.   If you were making a boss for a larger face plate you could turn it around and part of the thickness you want the start again and make at least one if not 2 more from this piece of wood.

Before being shown this way of cutting the thread I had tried several times to do one and messed it up every time, using this method I have made about 30 different items and they have come out right the first time.   You can now go on to make as many different face plates, cup chucks, vacuum chucks or a variety of other bits and pieces to make turning easier or as a way to get that tricky job done.   Have fun and enjoy yourself but above all work safe.

Below is a picture of the piece ready for action, I would put a cushion of router mate over the end then the bowl and bring up the tail stock to hold it in place so I can remove the spigot.

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