Woodturning is nothing new; you see woodworkers chisel away at logs all the time. Now “cinnamon turning” – the act of turning cinnamon on a lathe – that’s something you don’t see (or smell every day).
According to Villy of Villy woodturning, turning cinnamon isn’t that different than how you would turn something else that isn’t wood on a lathe. You still have to cast the material in resin to create a workable material, and yes, your workshop will still be chockful of shavings of the said material as you shape it.
Villy made two cinnamon resin casts in his case – one large cast to make a bowl and a smaller cast for the cover. The bigger cast’s cinnamon sticks were placed somewhat haphazardly and had more space in between each stick. On the other hand, the small cast was composed entirely of smaller, vertically aligned cinnamon sticks and packed together for a browner hue.
After a trip to the pressure pot, Villy brought the casts to the lathe. You wouldn’t want to inhale resin shavings, but one can only imagine how delicious Villy’s workshop must have smelled while he was turning his cinnamon casts.
The sides of the big cinnamon cast were rounded to make the bowl. The top, however, was flattened, and Villy drilled a hole in the middle to connect the smaller cast. The small cast had less work done on it – as it was whittled down to make it easier to connect to the top of the bigger piece.
Villy used some wood adhesive to stick the two pieces together. With only one giant piece to work with now, he worked full speed ahead to complete his masterpiece.
As more of the piece gets removed, you start to see the different swirls of the cinnamon sticks. The random placement of the cinnamon on the main bowl made these different patterns on the side. In contrast, the uniform vertical placement of the cinnamon on the lid created this more solid, almost wood-like pattern.
With the bowl nearly completed, the only things left to do now were hollowing it out and giving it a nice finish. Villy made the walls so thin that you could see through the resin and into the bowl. This transparent nature also had the bonus of accentuating the swirls, dismissing any doubts that this bowl wasn’t truly made from cinnamon sticks. Some sanding and polish later and the bowl/ lid combo is done.
You can find more of Villy’s lathed projects on his YouTube channel, Villy woodturning. While most of his works involve using wood, he also has gems like this one where he uses something that isn’t cut down from a tree.
