Recent turnings

[John Szarek]

http://www.penturners.org/forum/uploads/doghouse/20041123132655_wengewing.jpg

Wengie winged bowl with olivewood, bocote paduk and cherry bottle stoppers

http://www.penturners.org/forum/uploads/doghouse/20041123132810_bubingholo.jpg

bubinga rolled lip bowl. I learned from this that not only do you have to watch where you are cutting, but it is easy to get your hand against the bowl's lip when undercutting it. (Knuckles are missing a little skin [:)] )

http://www.penturners.org/forum/uploads/doghouse/20041123132925_spaltpopplat.jpg

Spalted Poplar plate. If anyone knows of a better way, I am interested. My cole jaws will not hold a 13" platter, so I have been hot gluing the face plate to the back of the plate. It works, but torching the faceplate to remove it, worries me that I might warp it.

http://www.penturners.org/forum/uploads/doghouse/20041123133129_smmapleburlbowl.jpg

Lastly, this is a maple burl bowl with some more stoppers, Paduk with captive rings and turquoise inlay, wengie, bocote t-handle stopper and another I cannot see.


I have been turning for about 9 months total so far, and about 6 with a lathe large enough for bowls. I appreciate any input or tips to help me improve. As you can see from the bubinga piece, I still have trouble with end grain tearing out a little (or is it that I just have not been spending enough time sanding?) and that I still have not figured out a good way to mount the plates. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Brad Schmid]

Nice work John! looks like you've been quite busy.

Regarding platters, I can tell you what I do:

I put the blank between centers and true up the face that will be the top of the platter. I then hotmelt the trued face to a sacrificial blank (glue block) that has been trued and screwed to a faceplate. The best method for gluing that I've found is 3 spots of glue equally spaced (120 deg apart). I then bring the tailstock up and turn the bottom of the platter and a tennon to reverse chuck the platter. Then, I separate the glue joint with a thin flexible putty knife, replace the faceplate with chuck, chuck the tennon and finish turn the top of the platter.

The only thing left to do is turn off the tennon/finish the foot. There are several methods you could use here.

1) Cole Jaws if the platter fits the size of the jaws. If not, you could make auxilliary jaws that screw to the cole jaw faceplate to extend the capacity.
2) Friction chuck between centers. I'll sometimes use the same faceplate/glue block used during turning, with a protective pad between it and the platter.
3) Vacuum chuck
4) Custom chucking arrangement such as the one Bill Grumbine uses and displays on his website.

Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Brad

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

You are doing great, John. I like all of them. Looks like you have the hang of it.(-:

[Scott Coffelt]

Very nice work on all of them. How did the Wenge turn? I've not turned it yet.

[John Szarek]

The wenge was very nice to turn. I saved the shavings to use as fill. It was the first time I turned and honed with a diamond stone while turning. The result was no tearout what so ever. I could not beleive how nice it came out.

Thanks for the Idea of the vacuum chuck. It may come in handy for other stuff I do also.