Protect tiny turnings with PVC

Tasked with making a quantity of small turnings from ³⁄₄ " dowel, I initially considered mounting them directly in my lathe’s four-jaw chuck, but realized doing that would mar the dowels. So instead, I placed them in a short length of  ³⁄₄ " PVC pipe. I cut a slot the length of the pipe, enabling it to compress snugly around each dowel as I tightened the chuck’s jaws.
—Arthur Hoff, Lakeland, Fla.