After bandsawing the blank, mount it on the lathe and use a spindle-roughing gouge to work it down from octagonal to cylindrical. Once the blank is round, mark a centerline and both end lines with a pencil. I use a 1⁄2-in. bowl gouge to turn the waste at either end down to roughly 11⁄2 in. dia.

To create the overall football or pod shape, start with a roughing gouge and finish with a 1⁄2-in. spindle gouge. As you approach the final shape, pencil lines on either side of the centerline every 3 in. Using calipers, check the diameter at corresponding pairs of reference lines to determine that the form is symmetrical. Now reduce the 11⁄2-in.-dia. waste ends to about 3⁄4 in. dia., so they are just the pine filler.

I fine-tune the pod shape with a shear scraper. Then I lay out lines to turn either beads or coves. Here I’ve chosen…