Yes, teacher(s), I did my homework....

[Jamie Straw]

Gordon recently suggested I get tough with myself and turn some 2x4 stock -- get that "instantaneous feedback" it provides so willingly. Well, I grabbed a piece of Douglas Tir I'd tried to turn several weeks ago -- man was it ugly! Took the roughing gouge to it, re-figured the cylinder to <=2" and started playing with it.

Proud to say it went great! I worked on three things that'd been on my mind -- making tapers both downhill-left and down-hill right (the tough one), making roundovers and beads with a skew instead of a gouge, and getting three small beads close together. Also worked on long-point down skew work, which I really like!

Nice, baby-smooth surfaces for the most part. What a rush!:D Thanks, Gordon and everyone else.

[Mike Peace]

Sounds like a good practice. Some folks feel like all of their turning needs to produce a finished product without working on the required skills for the project.

I am glad the Army runs soldiers through a lot of training and battle drill before they put 'em into combat for real. Makes sense to me.

[Dan Forman]

I have done those sorts of drills, and still do when I need to brush up. The practice is invaluable. Better to learn when there is no pressure of possibly ruining a piece, and when you can go back and figure out what happened and correct it on the spot.

Dan

[Gordon Seto]

Jamie,

Glad that you have built up your confidence. With Richard Raffan as professor and SPF (spruce pine fir) as teaching assistants, you should be doing fine.

I think I lied in your post about buying new tools. You may want to consider the #2 MT Safe Drive
http://oneway.ca/spindle/safe_drivers.htm
or the cup dead center
http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=packard&Category_Code=lathes-acc-dc-dcc
(The dead center from Amazon are mostly for metal turning, they don't have a cup. Some of them are over hundred dollars. Besides they are dangerous for woodturning. It acts like a wedge and likely to split the spindle.)
If you allow the tail stock a little loose when you are using a safe drive, the spindle would just slip and limit the effect of a catch especially when using a skew. That is safer than using a 4-prong drive and allow you to be more relax, instead of a death grip on the skew. Alan Lacer talks about the Safe drive in his skew DVD.
Congrats, getting a smooth finish out of 2 x 4 construction lumber is not easy.
BTW, do you have a full face shield? Don't forget to stand out of the firing zone when you switch on the lathe. SPF are likely to airborne.

[Jamie Straw]

[snip]BTW, do you have a full face shield? Don't forget to stand out of the firing zone when you switch on the lathe. SPF are likely to airborne.

Yep, I have the shield, and I actually use it every time I turn. I was a little lazy about it at first, but then at another forum someone offered up the tale of a friend's trip to the hospital, broken jaw resulting from a lathe mishap. I can take the pain, but a liquid diet for a month or more. Yikes, please, no!!:eek:

I'll keep the Safe Drivers in mind, might get one when I transition to bowls. Right now (knock on wood), I'm not getting catches that are very bad at all, and I only had one last night.

My current spur-driver is a 4-spur with a spring-loaded center. Not quite sure what the advantage of that spring-load characteristic is.

[Gordon Seto]

The Safe Driver is not for bowls. In your former posts, you seemed to be intimidated by the skew. If you have already passed that stage, you will be fine with the regular drive.

[Jamie Straw]

The Safe Driver is not for bowls.

Doh! You'd think I'da figured that out! My only excuse is that I was sitting at Austin Chase nursing a peppermint mocha and a chocolate bar, not paying attention.:D Today is my pseudo-day-off, brain is coasting.