Would metal spinning be considered metalworking?

[John Fabre]

Would metal spinning be considered metal working? I’m thinking of getting back into spinning some bowls.

[Wes Grass]

Considering it's metal, and you're 'working' (forming) it; yeah, I'd consider it metal working. Probably more so than machining.

[Kenneth Sternberg]

Yes. From way back.

Would metal spinning be considered metal working? I’m thinking of getting back into spinning some bowls.

[John Fabre]

In high school (after the last ice age) I used aluminum to spin bowls, now I would like to try copper, what other metals can be used?

[Dan Hintz]

You can use almost anything, but aluminum and copper are the best choices because they're:
a) Easy to get a hold of in large quantities
b) Safe to handle
c) Highly malleable (with annealing, in the case of copper)

I cannot think of anything else off of the top of my head that matches these specs...

[Perry Holbrook]

Pewter is by far the easiest to spin. Does not work harden. But it is soft and needs a rolled edge or other technique to make it stiff. It is the best to learn on except it is more expensive.

Perry

[John Oliver35]

John,

If you decide to do this please post! I have never seen much about it but it has always seems interesting. I would be good to see your rig and some progress pictures!

John

[John Fabre]

Sure will share, may not be pretty at first.

[John Aspinall]

Spinning is something I'd like to try too. I would love to hear more about:


Tools. What's the basic starting set look like? Make them? Buy them?
Tool rest. Looks like several holes for a moveable peg to lever against? Make it? Buy it? Fits in a woodworking lathe's banjo?
Live center for the tailstock. Can you use a machinist's live center, or is it a specialized one?
Forms. Since you're spinning against a wooden form, this seems like a perfect intersection of wood and metal skills. What does a wood turner need to know about making a form?

Here's one piece of tutorial material I've found:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/prl/documents/html/spinning.htm

[ray hampton]

the link will provide a good starting point to begin with, I
would be sure to make a dimple in the form and a convex
point in the tail stock form to fit

[Jon McElwain]

Metal working would be correct, but metal shaping is more accurate. Metal shaping is the term used for the crafts of shrinking, spinning, stretching, etc. - basically any metal work involved with taking a piece of metal (usually sheet metal) and changing the shape without cutting or welding. The tools are the lathe (for spinning), English wheel, power hammers, planishing hammers, louver presses and dies, bead rollers and the like.

Oneway sells tool rests for spinning, and they have some links including the Stanford one referenced by John above. The site http://www.metalspinningworkshop.com/ sells tools for spinning as well as DVD's.

Also, do a search for the book "Metal Spinning" by Reagan and Smith. It was originally published in 1936, but it is a great reference book for beginning metal spinning tools, techniques, metals etc.


187733

[John Fabre]

Metal working would be correct, but metal shaping is more accurate. Metal shaping is the term used for the crafts of shrinking, spinning, stretching, etc. - basically any metal work involved with taking a piece of metal (usually sheet metal) and changing the shape without cutting or welding. The tools are the lathe (for spinning), English wheel, power hammers, planishing hammers, louver presses and dies, bead rollers and the like.

Oneway sells tool rests for spinning, and they have some links including the Stanford one referenced by John above. The site http://www.metalspinningworkshop.com/ sells tools for spinning as well as DVD's.

Also, do a search for the book "Metal Spinning" by Reagan and Smith. It was originally published in 1936, but it is a great reference book for beginning metal spinning tools, techniques, metals etc.


187733
Great information, thanks Jon. I can't wait to get started.

[Charles McKinley]

That may be the book that Lindsay Books reprinted. (no affiliation just a really cool catalog and happy customer) They have offered a couple recently. Try not to fall over when you price copper. Scrap is over $3 a pound now.

[Michael Mills]

Here is a link you may like for a couple of books (old). One link for Crawshaw is a duplicate and the first link is to his book broken. You can read them on line but their reader is really dorky so I down load to read in Adobe. The downloads are free.
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=%22Metal%20Spinning%22%20AND%20me diatype%3Atexts
or
http://tinyurl.com/4fczeys
There are others where parts of the book concern metal spinning.