After a good sanding I set up the tool rest (also on my work mate) and with care was able to turn the top of the mast into a pleasing dome shape.
I will leave the very top of it to be finished later but for now I wanted to coat the whole thing in Epoxy. This will have two functions. One is that it will seal the mast and two it will provide a slightly harder wearing surface than varnish alone.
Next I drilled two holes and cut away the timber between them with my jigsaw to form a slot in which I will fit a pulley later.
I was in the process of putting resin on my lee boards of which more later and had some left over so I set up an extra slow rotation device in the form of a cordless drill attached to the lathe via a rubber seal from a piece of drainpipe.
The purpose of this is to keep the mast rotating whilst the resin sets avoiding it all ending up on one side. Too fast and it would be flung off!
I had to change the battery a few times during the day but I have to say it worked a treat.
and there I left it till next time :-)