MyTurningshop » Learning Turning

Happy Mothers Day – Silhouettes

admin — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:03:52 +0000

Here is something really special that you can turn for your wife or mother. A piece to be treasured for years, nake a silhouette of your favorite mom’s children.

For these I began with a digital picture of our 2 children. I had the kids hold a ruler vertically in front of their nose while taking a picture of their profile.

These pictures were printed out on a full sheet of paper. I carefully cut out their profile and used this as a visual template. I prepared two cylinders of dried walnut. Slowly and cautiously I began taking waste material out. Once most waste was removed I began working towards the desired profile. Fine tuning as I went, once I had the basic shape, I simply followed the form until the profile was cut deep enough.

The results were well received!

Gotta love a vacuum!

admin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:55:13 +0000

Unlike professional turners, and unless you already live in or near a forest, wood is not always easy to come by. I love finding sustainable and environmentally friendly sources like neighbors fallen trees. Sometimes I buy from local lumber supplier. I also often troll e-bay looking for those special pieces of grainy wood, burls, or exotics. Spalted woods often attract my attention but I have found mixed success with these pieces.

On several occasions a costly but beautiful piece of spalted wood arrives that has been… overspalted, if I can coin a word. The latest piece of Maple arrived well sealed in wax. I admired this block for weeks while I was overwhelmed with my day job. I couldn’t wait to get past this big project and begin making sawdust!

You can imagine my disappointment, when I was finally ready to turn, I discovered that the block had spalted to the point that “spalting” was no longer an appropriate term. Significantly rotted is a much better description. The wood was so soft, I could literally pinch chucks of wood out between my fingers.

A couple quick hours of searching the web and I discovered that there are many different theories on how to best stabilize wood. For me however, a penturners website showed the most promise and seemed the most logical.

With and idea and some direction, I had to come up with a vacuum chamber large enough to hold a 10″ x 5″ block. I elected to try some leftover PVC pipe I used to plumb my dust collector. With a threaded end-cap on one end, I used a forstner bit to make a recess on top to accept a piece of lexan as a view port. A couple of fittings as well and the vacuum chamber was complete.

The only challenge I encountered was the lack of an adequate seal. This was solved by coating the threads with paste wax. With that I was easily drawing and holding a vacuum.

The wood was placed inside and completely covered with polyurethane. I then applied the vacuum and watched the bubbles form as the air was pulled from the wood. I allowed the wood to sit overnight to ensure the polyurethane had ample time to soak it.

After two days of drying, I mounted the block and began turning. While I did experience some tear-out the wood remained solid.

Ultimately, I was able to finish this piece of wood that by all accounts would have been nothing but trash. In the end, I am so thankful, because it turned out to be one of the most striking pieces I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Looking the finished piece, it is only the small amount of reddish wood on the left that was naturally solid, all remaining wood is stabilized.

Jigs n Fixtures… another must have/ must make!

admin — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:18:16 +0000

Admit it, you’re addicted! You can’t turn enough wood or make enough sawdust. Unfortunately, you are also afflicted by the same condition as everyone else, a lack of time.

When turning is your livelihood, you’re missing out if your are not thinking about your efficiency and it’s costing you money. When turning is your hobby, inefficiency also costs you, but often the cost is in time.

Regardless you should make the most of your time turning. If you turn much, a 4-jaw chuck is the way to go. A clean tenon or recess on the bottom of a block and your off to the races. Ever cut a tenon that is too big or too small for your chuck? You end up rechucking between centers to try again?

Save yourself the aggravation by making a guage for your chuck. These are easily made using a piece of scrap 1/4 ply. On one side, cut the minimum tenon and maximum recess, the other obviously has the reverse.

Make the most of your time and make the most sawdust. The 15 minutes it takes to crate a guage will be well worth the effort, forever eliminating the need to double chuck.

Affix a magnet on the back, used to store this on the leg of the lathe.

Homemade Vacuum Chucks

admin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:24:33 +0000

You decided to take the economical route to vacuum systems, you finally have suction, you’ve piped through the headstock and now you need chucks. Why not have a little fun on the lathe and turn a few chucks yourself?

For this you only want kiln-dried wood. I happened to have a block glued up of some exotics from an earlier project gone wrong (another story).

After glue up, turn your blocks into solid cylinders. Cut a tenon or recess on one end for clamling with a 4-jaw chuck. Drill the appropriate sized hole in the other end and tap as deep as possible with a Beall Tool Co. Lathe Spindle Tap.

Remove the piece and mount on the lathe spindle. Hollow out the cylinder until you near the lathe spindle. After squaring up the facing edge glue a piece of 1/8″ closed cell foam available an any craft store. After curing I left about 1/4 inch of excess foam on either edge.

Though an odd pick, I sealed the chucks with wood glue. When mounted to the spindle with a washer I made of the same foam material, it easily pulled a strong vacuum.

Below you see one on its first run with a block of maple.

Turner’s first tool – centerfinder!

admin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:03:17 +0000

Recently I was asked what was necessary to start turning as a hobby. I thought of what the masters might have written in books I have read. I pondered all the magazine articles I’ve seen, and then tried to give sound advice. After mentioning various schools and speaking of local chapters of AAW the obvious came to mind. A lathe, centers, a skew, one gouge, a parting tool and something about safety came to mind.

From there, I warned, it seems the sky is the limit; all depending on the type of forms you may be interested in turning. Spindles, bowls or platters or just pens each could have a dedicated catalog of related tools and merchandise. Reading some articles by professional turners it would seem that a 6 figure investment would still leave you wanting for one more tool.

Unfortunately, I hear many of the tools end up being “collectables” for their owners. Collectables meaning they collect dust! While I have made my share of mistakes, there have also been times, in retrospect, when I wished I purchased a tool much sooner… had I known how beneficial it was.

A case in point would be a center finder. If you are new to turning or just never went to the trouble, do yourself a favor and make or purchase a center finder. I get ticked when I think of the time and agony spent over years, measuring for center and adjusting blocks or rounds on the lathe in an attempt to balance the weight or maximize use of the wood.

With a decent center finder and a couple of marks to reference one side to the other you can have blocks mounted in seconds accurately. A correctly positioned block reduces time to round significantly and reduces the excess waste of blocks that are out of balance.

This jig was made in less than 30 minutes and will save hours in measuring and adjusting. If your new to turning, or like me just never got around to it, do yourself a favor and make or purchase a center finder!

The Joy of Teaching

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:33:06 +0000

$thousands in lathes and equipment…..
$10.00 for pen kits…..
$6.00 for wood…..

The joy of children learning woodturning and their excitment of accomplishment…. Priceless!

Turning books for free on Google!

admin — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:07:02 +0000

When starting out with wood turning you can quickly blow any budget you had and then some.

There you are with your new lathe, a few gouges, and looking for free wood.

Without spending money you can find some great resources on turning…. or anything else by checking out GoogleBooks (http://books.google.com/books). Google is in the process of digitizing thousands of books and many can be read on-line for free. Check it out!!!!