I wanted to build a proper jig for the glue up, but I was foiled by the diagonals. So I ended up just putting one big C-clamp across the middle, and a number of smaller ones on the edges. From what I can tell, it was pretty effective.

Next, I had to trim the excess from the glue up in order to get a clean rectangle. Looks so nice! But, I had to ruin it and cut it in half. Actually this allowed me to create a pretty cool barber shop/candy cane like appearance.

Once I started turning this piece it was like a dream, though. I'm not sure if it was the plywood type, the fact that the ply was diagonal, or the fact that this was my second go-round, but I had a much easier time this time than my first try. I also realized that leaning into the lathe from my center, rather than from my shoulders, allowed me to exert much less energy in applying force than I had previously done.

Finally I had to turn a handle and dowel pin. The handle is pine from scrap, and the pin is cut from a dowel I found on the junk shelf.

Sanded altogether and with a little bit of oil, and boom - the piece literally glows.

What a fun project! Very tiring and time consuming. But ultimately awesome.

And now I have this fantastic gavel to judge my friends with.

Final pictures first. Isn't it great how swirly it looks, and so diagonal as well? I wish I took photos of my clamp-up, but it was not pretty. However, it worked! thanks to 5-7 C clamps.

I had to rectify the fact that these sides were a bit off from each other. But eventually I figured I could just sand it down rather than cut it down. A few hundredths of an in is ok wiggle room in my opinion.

So I got to sanding! 180-3000 grit. Pretty incredible how the piece starts to shine when the grit rises above 1500.. and it just feels so good to touch as well.