Small turning to fill important request

The original turning,
 about 8" x 6+" round.

I have been very busy in the shop lately now that I can focus my non-work time on woodworking tasks. A number of tasks have been long outstanding and I am starting to get caught up. I have been doing some turning for an important project which I can't discuss right now; and was asked by my oldest son to make him a counter-top holder for his kitchen utensils. This would help to free up some drawer space in his apartment. Of course Dad is going to oblige these rare requests. I had made one for us a few years ago so it would be modeled after that.

This unassuming pile of off-cuts looks like a turning to me!

The first question was wood choice and I love segmented turning as a way to use up small pieces of wood. In this case the cherry I had saved from the dining room chair projects seemed to be ideal. There were lots of oddball pieces that would create a nice variety for my segments.

The pieces all cut to 2.75" long and 22.5 degrees
on each end. This part takes lots of time.

I milled the pieces to 1.25" wide on the bandsaw and cut as many pieces as I could get from the pieces. Let me say not much of this wood went to the burn box - this is a very efficient way to use this material.

All the individual pieces were marked and cut on the bandsaw and the angled edges sanded smooth on the disk sander; cutting on the bandsaw is much safer than the tablesaw for these short pieces. Many guys labour over the angles being exact, my approach is to make them close, glue up half-circles (see photo) and sand the two halves so they join together, this make-up joint give perfect results every time. All the gluing is done freehand by rubbing the pieces together for a few seconds and holding - have never had a failure yet. The two halves get a quik-grip to hold them together, but otherwise no clamping.

A selection of round rings and the base ready for building.
The edges of the rings are rounded on disk sander to avoid tear-out

The turning is started with one solid piece for the base and each ring gets one side sanded flat on the wide-belt sander and glued to the base right on the lathe, this section is turned and finish-sanded on the inside, the face made flat, the next piece sanded flat, glued on, turned and face-flattened for the next piece (x3). I find turning and sanding as it goes makes it much easier to control the piece as the spinning mass is reduced as you go.

Voila!

The finished project. I added a ring of Cherry/Ash for visual interest.