Speedy spindle gauge

While manually duplicating spindles on my lathe, I grew tired of constantly set-ting and resetting my calipers to check the various diameters along the workpiece. So I made this simple hardwood storyboard to speed up the process.

I drew a centerline on a scrap of hardboard and drilled holes of diminishing sizes with my Forstner bits. At the tablesaw, I cut to one side of the centerline, ripping the board in two and discarding the waste side. On the remaining strip, I marked each half-circle with its diameter. By placing the desired-size semicircle over the spindle, I quickly check my progress at critical diameters.
—Byron Manthey, Hutchinson, Minn.