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Tonight was my first time.

Started by DR_Buck, December 13, 2012, 09:57:14 PM

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DR_Buck

 ;)    About 3 years ago I ran across a deal for a Jet Mini lathe with the bed extension for a real good price.  Since I didn't have a lathe I bought it.  The following week I was at Harbor Freight so I picked up a set of cheap turning tools in a nice wooden box.  :D    Then last year I came across an online Cyber Monday  deal for a complete  Barracuda chuck set with all kinds of parts and pieces for 1/2 price.  :)

Well tonight I was bored and wondered into the shop and started poking around.  Before I knew it I was playing with the new (?) lathe chuck, wondering if it would fit the lathe or not.   Next thing you know I was out digging through my wood storage building looking for something to put on the lathe.  ???   I found a pretty good hunk of cedar and decided that it would do.

I took the cedar and cut it roughly round on the band saw and then fiddled around with the lathe and chuck until I had it clamped in.   Then i dug around looking for those high quality turning tools I put away 3 years ago.    :D

After I found the tools, and before I turned on the lathe I actually looked at a few pages in my new (last year) "How to Turn" book.   :P    Then I flipped the switch!   8)    I was making dust!   After a few minutes without much progress I went back to the book.  ::)

An hour later I had a pretty decent looking (well to me anyway) looking bowl.  I'd say it is about 80-90% done.    8) 8) 8)

This was my first time using a wood lathe.  I had used a metal lathe way back in high school shop but never a wood lathe.   I learned a couple things tonight.

1 - Lathes make a lot of mess
2 - I need to buy some better tools!  Something that will hold an edge.
3 - Cedar is hard to turn, especially with knots in it.  :o

Can't say I'm addicted or if anyone is getting turned presents for Christmas this year, but maybe next year.   I'll post some pictures of my first turning project when I finish it.   I just hope it will be this year, and before the 21st just in case the Mayans were right.
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

Leigh Family Farm

Nice job at rediscovering your tools!
There are no problems; only solutions we haven't found yet.

pigman

Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

Tree Feller

Wood turning is not called the "vortex" for nothing. It's fun and addictive.   :)
Cody

Logmaster LM-1 Sawmill
Kioti CK 30 w/ FEL
Stihl MS-290 Chainsaw
48" Logrite Cant Hook
Well equipped, serious, woodworking shop

Lud

My wood lathe is  a time machine.I start turning and the hours just disappear!

And I haven't met a woman yet who doesn't like wooden bowls.

Keep your tools sharp , sand it out to 600, and use mineral oil and beeswax for a foodsafe finish. 8) 8)
Simplicity mill, Ford 1957 Golden Jubilee 841 Powermaster, 40x60 bankbarn, left-handed

Dan_Shade

turning is like everything else, nice tools make it easier.

put the harbor freight tools in the stove, and buy some good ones  :-)

Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

Tree Feller

Quote from: Dan_Shade on December 14, 2012, 10:04:28 PM
turning is like everything else, nice tools make it easier.

put the harbor freight tools in the stove, and buy some good ones  :-)

More importantly, get a bowl gouge if you are going to turn bowls. Spindle roughing gouges have a narrow tang that goes into the handle. That tang is not robust enough to withstand the forces placed on it by a large faceplate turning like a bowl. It will bend or worse, break, and the results can be very dangerous, indeed.

A bowl gouge (or three), an 8" grinder with an 80 - 100 grit white or pink wheel and a wolverine jig will make your bowl-turning life much easier.   :)

BTW, Benjamin's Best turning tools (at Penn State Industries) are very inexpensive and serviceable.
Cody

Logmaster LM-1 Sawmill
Kioti CK 30 w/ FEL
Stihl MS-290 Chainsaw
48" Logrite Cant Hook
Well equipped, serious, woodworking shop

Lud

Doug Thompson of Thompson Tools does a cryogenically hardened powdered steel half inch bowl gouge that will be a favorite tool forever.  Maybe it was a 5/8th that I got 3 year  ago but it is my favorite tool by far.  Made my handle out of a branch ......just wonderful.
Simplicity mill, Ford 1957 Golden Jubilee 841 Powermaster, 40x60 bankbarn, left-handed

Tree Feller

Quote from: Lud on December 15, 2012, 07:58:29 PM
Doug Thompson of Thompson Tools does a cryogenically hardened powdered steel half inch bowl gouge that will be a favorite tool forever.  Maybe it was a 5/8th that I got 3 year  ago but it is my favorite tool by far.  Made my handle out of a branch ......just wonderful.

Ditto the Thompson tools. That's my brand, too.
Cody

Logmaster LM-1 Sawmill
Kioti CK 30 w/ FEL
Stihl MS-290 Chainsaw
48" Logrite Cant Hook
Well equipped, serious, woodworking shop

Dan_Shade

I like the Alan Lacer skews manufactured by Hamlet tools.

I do almost all of my spindle turning with a skew. 
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

Okrafarmer

I may get my lathe back soon and so some more turning. I actually have a few bowls I roughed out several years ago. They should be dry enough to finish now.  ;D
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

Jemclimber

Ditto on the Thompson tools and Treefeller's advice on the bowl gouge and grinder. Sharpen often. I have a bunch of finished stuff and a few..... hundred roughed out bowls.  :D  Rough turning bowls for me is how I relax.  I'm in a zone  making curly chips.
lt15

Lud

I tried the dishwasher detergent soak on 3 green, rough turnings last week.  There was a 10 year old thread here and I gave it a go.  Pretty interesting result for a $20 experiment.  Have any of you tried it yet?

I bought 2 big, cheap plastic containers and 4 jugs of liquid dishwasher soap at Walmart.  Poured it all in one of the containers and added water to double the amount. Stacked the bowl blanks in , one at a time, and they floated!  So I put a few bricks in a crock to hold them down.  Left them for a day and a half  , pulled them and scraped off the surplus soap  and let them dry a bit.

I used a big trash bag as a gasket and nested the 2 containers so the system is ready to go again.

The blanks turned very slick and smooth.  And no sign of cracking and minimal ovaling.  8)

Simplicity mill, Ford 1957 Golden Jubilee 841 Powermaster, 40x60 bankbarn, left-handed

DR_Buck

Anyone have comments on Marple turning tools?  My guess is they are high quality and fetch a high price.  I think they are made in Shefield England.  Might have an opportunity to get some. 
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

Lud

Marples have been a name brand in a competitive market.  Tujrning tools are like golf clubs with someone always pedaling "new and better".

The best steel and the best sharpening tech  is what gets you best result.

Old files, truck springs and lawnmower blades are all good sources of good steel ...and cheap too!
Simplicity mill, Ford 1957 Golden Jubilee 841 Powermaster, 40x60 bankbarn, left-handed

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: Lud on December 19, 2012, 07:14:16 AM
Turning tools are like golf clubs with someone always pedaling "new and better".


You got that right!
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

DR_Buck

I bought a set of 8 Marples turning tools and 1 Sorsby tool included on ebay. Cost me $112 which I think is a pretty good deal since the Sorsby alone has been selling for $50-$75.   

Time to put the harbor freight turning tools in the yard sale box.  ;D
Been there, done that.   Never got caught [/b]
Retired and not doing much anymore and still not getting caught

Busy Beaver Lumber

My passion is turning bowls. My wife absolutely loves turning pens. Right now I am gluing up a bunch of very neat layered and segmented pen blanks for her.

Her and I also like to glue up segmented wood bowl turning blanks and we sell these on ebay and on our own website. Must be doing something right with them because we have sold well over 250 of them in the past two years.

Here is how the glue up begins as individual rings. When we glue rings, we do about 150 at a time in a few hours.



 

Stack of rings getting ready to be sanded flat. Sanded rings then get sorted on 12" long peg board hooks in the garage for easy selection when picking rings for each bowl.



  

Into the hydraulic bowl press I built from a $39 cheapo bearing press kit. Works awesome


 

Finished bowl blank


 

We absolutely love to turn wood in this house. Even have 3 of our 5 daughters and 2 son-in-laws doing it. Once you get going and try turning different items you will be hooked too, but as others have said, a good set of tools, and knowing how to keep them sharp is a must and only ads to the enjoyment
Woodmizer LT-10 10hp
Epilog Mini 18 Laser Engraver with rotary axis
Digital Wood Carver CNC Machine
6 x 10 dump trailer
Grizzly 15in Spiral Cut Surface Planer
Grizzly 6in Spiral Cut Joiner
Twister Firewood Bundler
Jet 10-20 Drum Sander
Jet Bandsaw



Save a tree...eat a beaver!

Lud

Good looking system for production.  Looks like a yellow glue you're using.  What brand?   Any issue gluing the exotics?
Simplicity mill, Ford 1957 Golden Jubilee 841 Powermaster, 40x60 bankbarn, left-handed

Busy Beaver Lumber

Lud

You are correct my friend. That is in fact titebond II glue. Love the stuff and go through about 3 gallons a month. Never had a single problem with that glue. Use it on everything from cutting boards to laminated pen blanks.

The setup does work very nice for me. If I remove some boards from the bowl press, I can actually get up to 3 boards at a time into it and really kick production up a notch.

Other than purpleheart, I dont use a lot of exotics. The one wood I have had very poor luck gluing up is yellow cedar. The end grain soaks the glue up like a sponge and tends to starve the joint. You really have to sand the ends real smooth to have a good glue joint, whereas just about any other wood can normally be glued into segments right of the chop saw cut.
Woodmizer LT-10 10hp
Epilog Mini 18 Laser Engraver with rotary axis
Digital Wood Carver CNC Machine
6 x 10 dump trailer
Grizzly 15in Spiral Cut Surface Planer
Grizzly 6in Spiral Cut Joiner
Twister Firewood Bundler
Jet 10-20 Drum Sander
Jet Bandsaw



Save a tree...eat a beaver!

Okrafarmer

One of my colleagues, Greenhorn Artisan, has a really nice cut-off saw with a really expensive blade on it for fine woodworking. It puts a very smooth professional edge on the end grain. I've seen how it looks on red cedar and black locust-- very very nice. I'm not sure what the name of the blade is, but I can find out.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

Busy Beaver Lumber

Quote from: Okrafarmer on December 22, 2012, 11:01:52 PM
One of my colleagues, Greenhorn Artisan, has a really nice cut-off saw with a really expensive blade on it for fine woodworking. It puts a very smooth professional edge on the end grain. I've seen how it looks on red cedar and black locust-- very very nice. I'm not sure what the name of the blade is, but I can find out.

Would definitely be interested in trying that blade. Thanks much
Woodmizer LT-10 10hp
Epilog Mini 18 Laser Engraver with rotary axis
Digital Wood Carver CNC Machine
6 x 10 dump trailer
Grizzly 15in Spiral Cut Surface Planer
Grizzly 6in Spiral Cut Joiner
Twister Firewood Bundler
Jet 10-20 Drum Sander
Jet Bandsaw



Save a tree...eat a beaver!

Okrafarmer

I'll have to look next time I go back to work. I called him just now, and he said he can't remember the brand or exactly what it is called. It is a fairly large diameter blade, at least 12", maybe more like 14 or 15. He said he bought it at Home Depot and it is just a nice high quality blade designed for cutting trim wood, moulding, etc. The saw he has it on is a big miter saw. Rigid, I think, though I could be wrong.

In one precise cut, the end grain is instantly cut smooth as a table top, or close.  ;D
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

Dan_Shade

I've been pleased with the cut of Forrest blades.  They have different blades for different uses.

Blades that leave a very nice finish are expensive
Woodmizer LT40HDG25 / Stihl 066 alaskan
lots of dull bands and chains

There's a fine line between turning firewood into beautiful things and beautiful things into firewood.

Okrafarmer

They are expensive, but it's all relative if you want that nice finish for your projects.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

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