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After turning my Valentine’s heart, I decided I needed to refine my process for this type of project. Thank you for all your suggestions. The differences are a bandsaw sled; a collet; hollowing the heart.

Key to the bandsaw sled are elevator bolts. Elevator bolts are better for woodturning jigs because they have a large almost flat head that works better for MDF because they will not pull through the MDF as easily. I’ve also tried hex bolts, carriage bolts, and toilet bolts. The elevator bolts work much better and are not expensive.

The exact dimensions for the band saw sled are not critical. It needs a board to ride the miter slot in the band saw, a board to set the cut angle, and a hold down. With small adjustments to the actual project, it worked well. I felt much safer and out of danger.

The collet is modeled after metal working collets but use a woodturning chuck for clamping pressure. This design can easily be made in most wood shops. Best of all it is not expensive; it is easily adapted to different sizes of spindles. If it is damaged, no problem, throw it away and make another.

The collet is used to hollow the spindle from the middle and to trim the ends. If the fit is too loose, simply sand the collet faces to obtain a perfect fit that does not damage the spindle.

Now my wife has two different hearts for her choice for her necklace. The wood is some variety of Gum.

Enjoy!