Well, I now have a lathe. . .

[Matt Evans]

I had been looking for a lathe for a while, but couldn't justify getting one before moving. The long distance move fell though, and I decided that, as a consolation, I should go ahead and get a lathe anyway.

I found a used lathe, with a whole slew of accessories for, I think, a great price. ($130 plus 2 hours there, 2 hours back) I picked it up a week ago, and got it home, set up and ready to spin within a few hours. It had a few problems that I think I have taken care of temporarily, but they were easy fixes.

The Lathe is a F. E. Wells and Son, but I have not been able to find any information on this model online. OWWM has a few other models, but not this one, and I haven't been able to locate a model # on the lathe itself.

So, I looked around at the small amount of wood I had at home and found some white oak. I turned two small mallets, and discovered something. White oak tears out worse on a lathe than I had thought. I ended up with two mallets much smaller in diameter than I had planed, but both suitable for doing small carving work.

The mallets were really just test runs. I want to get into doing a few pens, turning new chisel handles for all my chisels, and I might do some chess pieces and such.

My questions are as follows:

1. What sort of drive centers do y'all use for spindle turning? I am looking into getting stebcenters, but haven't made up my mind yet.

2. What woods seem to turn with a minimum amount of tearout? Just thinking I might want to start on something easier than white oak.

3. Pen making supplies. . .I want to make fountain pens for my own use, and have had a difficult time finding a low priced supplier of the parts. Any suggestions?

4. Finally, what tools do you folks find indispensable for turning?


Pictures. . . One of the mallets (watco oil then wax finish)
The lathe and tools/accessories pics 2, 3, 4
I fixed the tailstock and toolrest tightening mechanisms with allthread
The Lathe Stand
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/%3Ctable%20style=%22width:auto;%22%3E%3Ctr%3E%3Ctd %3E%3Ca%20href=%22http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/8O8MgHLbgAmVSxB__iHgoA?authkey=Gv1sRgCJea1KKw-bm4EQ&feat=embedwebsite%22%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://lh6.ggpht.com/_elzssgDIjTY/SsAa2fgUEuI/AAAAAAAAJgg/MdC6G_mMK4Y/s800/100_2390.JPG%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/td%3E%3C/tr%3E%3Ctr%3E%3Ctd%20style=%22font-family:arial,sans-serif;%20font-size:11px;%20text-align:right%22%3EFrom%20%3Ca%20href=%22http://picasaweb.google.com/CMDEvans/Lathe?authkey=Gv1sRgCJea1KKw-bm4EQ&feat=embedwebsite%22%3Elathe%3C/a%3E%3C/td%3E%3C/tr%3E%3C/table%3E

[Paul Atkins]

Great looking lathe. Looks like you have plain bearings and maybe adjustable too. This makes it very smooth. Constant loss oiling? Also it looks like there were some metal spinning tools and accessories. If you look up spur centers etc. here you will find I have not used them for 25 years. Steb center looks like the best alternative to what I use. I like having the live center match the drive center so I can turn the piece end for end without worrying about centering and such. Try some maple or beech. Don't know anything about pens. Indispensable tools for me are- rough out gouge -parting tool - 1/2" gouge and a flat fingernail tool used where some use a skew. Although I have 30 tools, I go to 4 or 5 all the time. I turn 20- 50 hours a week.

[alex carey]

don't have a lot of answers to your questions so ill let other people do that stuff, looks like you are on your way though. I have a feeling your gonna get the itch to starting doing bowls though. GL steering clear of the vortex, it seems its already enveloped you though.

[Dan Forman]

First of all, that is a cool looking lathe. I hope you can find time to repaint it, it will be a real looker with a new coat.

I haven't done a lot of spindle turning other than pens, but I will use a steb center at times, or sometimes a dead center (like a live center, but it doesn't spin ---just noticed that you appear to already have one, just to the right of the spur drive) to match the live center, both made for metal lathes. If you pre-drill the piece with a center drill, it will make a very short hole with a 60 degree coutersink, which fits the taper of the live and dead center. This generates enough friction to turn the piece, though it can slip when first rounding off the piece. A steb center can slip too, and will cut a ring into the end grain if it does.

As for tear out, a lot depends on what tool you use, and how sharp it is. Maple, cherry, ash, walnut have all tuned well for me.

I prefer the Churchill FP kit from Berea, and purchase from Arizona Silhouette Arizona (http://www.arizonasilhouette.com/). I like this kit because it is lighter and better balanced than the other ones I've tried, is durable, and has a nice full section (the part you grip). The El Grande kit is is very similar, but with a flat top rather than rounded. I don't care for the Sedona or Baron kits from Berea, or the Jr. series from Craft Supplies, because they all have skinny sections and so much metal in the parts to make them too heavy for me. Many other folks seem to like them though. They do look very nice, but that skinny little section and the weight put me off.

I don't think that any of the kit pens should be used with the cap posted while writing, though many can be. The balance of the pen is thrown way off, and I find it most uncomfortable to write that way. I suspect that many will disagree with me on this too, but production FP's are much better for this than the kit pens.

The skew chisel would be the most indispensable tool for spindle turning, but also a bit of a challenge to learn.

Dan

[Jeff Nicol]

Matt, I have to agree with Paul on what he says about a nice old lathe and the metal spinning tools that are in you pile of goodies! Any of the drive centers will work, but it might be nice to get some sort of saftey center to start out with. They use a spring loaded point and a cup to do the driving. This ensures that if you get a catch the damage can be limited as the blank will stop turning. Any of the spur drives and Steb drives will hold on pertty good and the potential for some big tear outs is there. The saftey type centers are good for smaller spindles that you may not want to wreck. So until you become proficient with the tools it is a good place to start. The Steb type are good for not so perfect faces that you want to start with and to to offset or multi axis work.

Good luck and have fun! Turn safe,

Jeff

[ROY DICK]

Matt,

Nice find on the lathe. Good info already posted here.
If that lathe could only talk.

Roy

[Dan Forman]

The dead center / center drilled blank combo will do essentially the same thing as the safe center that Jeff mentioned - stop the piece in the event of a catch. Here is a link that shows a center drill. This is a great way to start any drilled hole, as it will prevent any a longer drill bit from wandering as it tries to establish an entry, resulting in a straighter hole. Drill each end of a blank, and it will seat perfectly between live and dead centers. http://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1230

In my opinion, these are necessity for pen making.

Dan

[Bruce Yasitis]

A link to another owner of this type of lathe: http://www.owwm.com/photoindex/detail.aspx?id=2230

[Matt Evans]

Thanks for all the comments. I will be ordering a fountain pen kit or two soon, I think, but so far I have been making very simple items like mallets and chisel handles, pegs and dowels. It has been good practice for the more intricate stuff.

I have gotten to the point where I can turn Maple, Cherry, Walnut and Sycamore with pretty good results. Oak, Poplar, Pine and Sapele are still giving me some tearout problems though. I am going to guess that a large part of it is the grind on my lathe tools, which I have been doing freehand. The flat/straight edged chisels and skews are probably sharp enough to use on a pole lathe, since I can follow the same sharpening techniques I use for my planes and chisels.

Other issues I think I am running into are:

Tool rest position during various parts of turning

How on earth do you use the chuck to turn a bowl? I turned a 3/8" lip on a bowl I tried for the heck of it, put it in the chuck and tightened hard enough to leave depressions in the wood, but it still constantly slipped. Any clues?

Anyone have CAD drawings of Lathe tools? I will be making all of mine, and would like to know what dimensions and shapes are either typical and/or useful.

The other face plate I have looks as though I would need to screw into the piece I am turning, but I have seen face plates for bowls that have little "grippers" or "jaws" that stick out from a face plate and hold the piece. Has anyone made their own device like that? I would like to have something to hold the rim of a bowl without screwing into it.


This last issue isn't as much an issue, but a statement. I need a bigger lathe! I only have 23 3/4" between centers, and I am primarily looking to do table and chair legs, newel posts, balusters and such.


And finally, a little tiny vase out of Sapele I turned to hold one of my wifes wire sculptures, and a wall coat rack with pegs I turned.

[alex carey]

looks like your getting this turning thing down, I like your little vase quite a bit, very nice.

I think these are the 2 things you were talking about.
This is the faceplate that holds by the rim.
http://www.oneway.ca/chucks/accessories/jumbo_jaws.htm

This is the screw chuck.
http://www.oneway.ca/chucks/woodworm.htm
Basically just for starting out.


Heres some help with your bowl tenon. What chuck are you using?
http://www.ehow.com/video_4972790_wood-turning-bowl-cut-tenon.html

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Wow, looks like a great deal. Be careful this is a slippery slope!! I have my lathe under tarp so that I don't use it before xmas, too many other requests for xmas presents :)

[curtis rosche]

lucky you, i almost got that lathe.... then i saw how far away it was

[Matt Evans]

These are the Face plates, chucks and attachments that I have. Three jaw chuck.

The last picture is of a piece that is expressly for loosening the headstock assembly. (I think)

That being said, are there face plates out there that are threaded on the male to match the outboard side of the headstock, or can I turn the whole headstock shaft assembly around to do outboard turning?

The other attachments are screw plates and one plate that looks very similar to the gripper plate mentioned earlier. I don't have any of the gripper jaws. Can you buy them separately, or has anyone made their own?