Harder than it seems

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
bitshird

bitshird

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
10,236
Location
Adamsville, TN, USA.
I got my lathe set up, sharpened my tools (they are pretty sharp), and chucked up a piece of wood, and soon came to an interesting conclusion, making pens on a wood lathe is harder than it looks.....[B)][B)][B)]
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
UUUUUUhhhhhhh,
the tube is brass!


Start with a large "roughing gouge" Ken.

Put the toolrest just a whisker below center, as close as possible to the blank. Rest the metal of the gouge on the toolrest with your "back hand" very low, so the blade of the gouge rides OVER the wood. Now, slowly bring the tool down to make contact. The bevel of the tool should be "riding" on the wood, just before you bring your hand down to start cutting. When you learn to "ride this bevel", then start movement left and right, guided by the hand that is ON the tool rest. Your body moves, your hands stay in the same position. Now, when you get that to "feel good", do it for about a thousand hours --- that's called practice and it will make a WORLD of difference.

Let me know when you are ready to move farther ahead!:D:D:D
 
Welcome to the dark side, Ken! I'm tired of all you high falootin', zero-tolerance, "where's my micrometer?" machinist types scoffing at our Holly Hobby setups! hehe

It's pretty easy, you just gotta start thinkin' in hundredths, not thousandths. :D
 
Originally posted by karlkuehn

Welcome to the dark side, Ken! I'm tired of all you high falootin', zero-tolerance, "where's my micrometer?" machinist types scoffing at our Holly Hobby setups! hehe

It's pretty easy, you just gotta start thinkin' in hundredths, not thousandths. :D
Click to expand...
Karl Uh I hate to tell you this, but I worked as a Tool and Die maker for too many years, and then taught Machine Tool Technology for the last 5 years, some things just don't change.
I tried turning a scrap piece of zebra wood round, It's sort of round, just not the same diameter in very many places.
At this juncture I would settle for getting it with in a tenth of an inch. Normally I worked in 10ths of a thousandth.
I got a book, Turning Wood by Richard Raffan it shows some of the basic stuff, fortunately I had a vague idea where to put the tool rest, the roughing gouge isn't too hard to grasp, but I'll be darned if I can get my Skew to cut. I guess I'll be buying Russ Fairfield's videos next.
Now I understand how these kids felt when I'd help them set up their first lathe projects, then watch them wet them selfs.
I think I've got the lathe too high, for starters, it's distracting throwing chips under my face shield, probably wont be showing any thing in SOYP for a while.
I think I'll glue up a couple of slimlines and see what happens, I've still got a lot of cedar I can waste. YIKES this is scary. Heh Heh[:0][:0][:0][:0] sure thought it would be easier than it actually is, I'm starting to grow wearied of these weekly lessons in humility [:eek:)][:eek:)][:eek:)]
 
Tom your confused? until this morning, I had no problem making reasonably nice pens, now I made my life and hobby much harder than I thought, all I did was buy a wood lathe, now before I even try and turn a slimline, I have to make a set of between center bushings, Thank god I know how to use a metal lathe, some people just can't be satisfied [}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)]
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that turning on a metal lathe is lot different then a wood lathe. My only experience is with a wood lathe, so someone will have to let me know how a metal lathe works for pens differently then a wood lathe.:D
 
Among other things, Rob, with a metal lathe, you don't hold the cutting tool--the machine holds it for you; you don't move the tool along the blank to shape it--the machine does that, too: either via a handwheel, or automatically, if you have a power-feed lathe. You only have to decide how long, and to what diameter, you wish to change the blank. (Yes, I know this is an over-simplification, Ken, but it gives him the general idea of the difference between a wood and metal lathe).
 
Originally posted by bitshird

Originally posted by karlkuehn

Welcome to the dark side, Ken! I'm tired of all you high falootin', zero-tolerance, "where's my micrometer?" machinist types scoffing at our Holly Hobby setups! hehe

It's pretty easy, you just gotta start thinkin' in hundredths, not thousandths. :D
Click to expand...
Karl Uh I hate to tell you this, but I worked as a Tool and Die maker for too many years, and then taught Machine Tool Technology for the last 5 years, some things just don't change.
I tried turning a scrap piece of zebra wood round, It's sort of round, just not the same diameter in very many places.
At this juncture I would settle for getting it with in a tenth of an inch. Normally I worked in 10ths of a thousandth.
I got a book, Turning Wood by Richard Raffan it shows some of the basic stuff, fortunately I had a vague idea where to put the tool rest, the roughing gouge isn't too hard to grasp, but I'll be darned if I can get my Skew to cut. I guess I'll be buying Russ Fairfield's videos next.
Now I understand how these kids felt when I'd help them set up their first lathe projects, then watch them wet them selfs.
I think I've got the lathe too high, for starters, it's distracting throwing chips under my face shield, probably wont be showing any thing in SOYP for a while.
I think I'll glue up a couple of slimlines and see what happens, I've still got a lot of cedar I can waste. YIKES this is scary. Heh Heh[:0][:0][:0][:0] sure thought it would be easier than it actually is, I'm starting to grow wearied of these weekly lessons in humility [:eek:)][:eek:)][:eek:)]
Click to expand...
I hear ya!! Been a machinist for 31 years now, and I can't do 'regular' wood work because the darn curcular saw won't hold my kind of tolerance:D. BUT, you can do it! I have faith. The reason I took up pen turning was because there is some tolerance involved in mating the wood with the fittings. It does take a bit to get used to holding the tools, and I still don't skew (don't ask) very well. And besides, once you get close, well, that's when the sand paper comes in.
 
Rob, the difference is like day and night, with a metal lathe the cutting tool is held stationary by a holder mounted on a cross slide that also has the ability to move longitudinally by a long threaded shaft and transversally by a threaded cross slide, with the tool being held in a stationary relationship to the stock being turned.
Most metal lathes have power feeds on both axis, my Jet and most small lathes under 10 inch chuck sizes just have longitudinal power feed and the ability to vary the rate of feed vs.RPM in order to cut threads.
In most ways it is far easier to operate a metal lathe,for me this is a very real learning experience, actually not real bad, thanks to all of the tutorials and links in the IAP library. and the help and support from the members. THIS PLACE IS GREAT [8D][8D][8D][8D][8D]
 
haha Ken I was confused now I get it. LOL

I just didnt connect the change over from metal lathe to wood lathe.

Good luck you will get it quickly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom