A newbie question

[Matt Ranum]

I've played around with some scraps to work on the mechanics involved and I think I have the basics down and I was going to try and turn some tea light holders as a house warming gift for some friends. I was going through my pile of scrap and decided on some quilted Maple boards. The boards are 3/4" so I decided to glue 3 pieces on top of each other to get the thickness I needed.

My question is, do I need to be especially careful because of the figured grain? Does it chip easily? I work with hand tools quite a bit and figured wood presents its own significant issues with hand planes and such.

I made extra blanks just for the learning curve.:D

[Greg Just]

Matt:

Welcome! The quilted maple should not present any real issues. The most important thing is that your tools are very sharp! Good luck and we all will want to see pictures of the finished product.

[Curt Fuller]

Matt I've never worked figured wood with hand tools. But I'd guess it's a similar process for turning. The closer you get to the finished form or shape you're looking for the lighter cuts you take.

[Matt Ranum]

Thanks for the opinions guys, with any luck I can try to throw some chips in the next day or so.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Matt...I'll add one more to Curt and Greg's advice.....when you are just about finished.....stop...resharpen and using light cuts...make your finishing cuts.

[Steve Schlumpf]

About the only thing to add is to be sure to go through all the grits when sanding! You won't want anything to distract from that wood! Looking forward to seeing the photos!

[Bob Hallowell]

Since you gluing wood up maybe put some thin peices of walnut or another dark wood in between layers.

Bob

[Matt Ranum]

Since you gluing wood up maybe put some thin peices of walnut or another dark wood in between layers.

Bob

Actually I found both some Walnut and Maple that I had planed down to 1/4" on my rack. No idea what it was for been a long time ago so I thought I would play with that a little. Should make a nice effect.

I have a spool of electric fencing wire too, any reason I can't use that wire to try some "burn" marks along the sides of the Maple?

I don't have a chuck, just faceplates and a spur drive so I think I'm going to have to use the hotmelt glue gun trick while doing the top & sides then make a jam chuck for the bottom. Never done either one so should prove to be interesting. At least I have some sacraficial blanks to work on before I do the nicer ones.:D

[Steve Mawson]

I have made some tops for bird houses gluing 3 pieces together. Used some heavy grain maple. Works fine, just lite cuts like everyone said.

I have found that about any wire will work for the burn marks, works best with high speed, no need for lots of pressure just speed.

[Matt Ranum]

I worked on the first couple of sacrificial lambs:p last night. I'll try and get some pics here pretty soon but I gave these to LOML and of course she loved them but I need some more practice for them to go to someone else though. One was Walnut and the the other was spalted quilted Maple. The Maple turned fine but the Walnut was just killing me, or should I say I was killing it.:p Catches and gouges all the time seemed like. I finally ended up using a scraper to work most of it. They came out respectable though for a beginner. I wasn't using a set pattern just doing what came to me for form.

I sharpened and resharpened all the while I was having trouble and I have realized I need a better jig for my grinder. I figure the edges on my tools are 80% of my problem and the rest being I just don't know what the hell I'm doing yet.:D