Handy turning supplies that might surprise you.

[Russell Neyman]

We all keep plenty of glue, finish, dust masks, and everyday woodworking supplies in our shops. Those things are a given. But what things do you keep near your lathe that you can't do without? What some of us use might surprise the other Creekers, and sharing your items might prove useful for novices.

For example, here are a few handy things I always keep within reach:


DIXIE CUPS-- I use small wax-covered cups on a daily basis to hold everything from a small quantity of finish to a collection of screws that I need to keep track of. I use them to mix two-part epoxy, too. And when a neighbor stops by with a bottle of wine or tequilia, they make pretty handy drinking glasses.
Q-TIPS-- I go through ten a day applying CA glue to bottle stoppers. They're cheap, they fit into small corners, and they create a smooth finish. I sometimes clean my ears, too.
BUTCHER PAPER-- I purchased one of those huge rolls of butcher paper from a restaurant supply company a few years back, and hung it on a dowel from the wall. I use it as a drop cloth for finishing small projects and to protect my bowls from damage when I mount a semi-finished bowl on my Cole jaws.
STRAWS-- Those tiny drinking straws/stirring sticks the espresso shops keep near the napkins make great glue applicators, so I keep several dozen nearby. You all know the trick; you dip it in the finish/glue, put your finger over the end to trap the liquid, then move it over the desired area, and lifting your finger releases the liquid. These also work as neat stirring sticks for two-part epoxy.
ASSORTED SAWDUST-- Filling a void or crack to make it appear to be a "natural" feature (and not look like a patch) can be tricky, but a bit of CA glue or epoxy, mixed with an appropriate sawdust, does the trick. I keep quantities of ebony, rosewood, and walnut in small cups (see the above comment about Dixie Cups) so that I can fill holes and cracks.


OK, that's a start; what do you guys keep on hand?

[Jack Gaskins]

A large 24x18 metal shallow baking pan I picked up from GFC food/resturant supply store for only $8. I keep it on my shop desk and anything I stain, glue or dye I do it on that pan. It has saved me from MANY spills. For appling dye or stains to small turnings I use the foamy triangles you can buy from Sally Beauty supply store. Cut them down in half and use tiny needle nose pliers as the handle to grip them with. Another item is vitiman bottles, when empty I cut the tops off and use them for stir bottles or mixing stuff. I have a box full of these and getting bigger.

[charlie knighton]

earth magnets duct taped to lathe, saw it in American Woodturner Tip section

[Mike Peace]

Candle to rub on my tool rests and on wood threads I cut to make them thread easier. Craft sticks (what we used to call pop cycle sticks) to mix glue. Bamboo skewers to plug tiny holes, apply small amounts of glue and use for reinforcing small glueups.

[Robert Henrickson]

Tin cans of various sizes. The standard tuna can is great for keeping track of all sorts of small stuff.

[Reed Gray]

One of those long handled grabber/pincer sticks for when things drop down behind the lathe. Getting down isn't too much of a problem, it is getting back up. I also keep a number of bungee cords handy for my floor lamp so it doesn't fall over when I bump it and for holding the DC hose up.

robo hippy

[Russell Neyman]

One of those long handled grabber/pincer sticks for when things drop down behind the lathe. Getting down isn't too much of a problem, it is getting back up. I also keep a number of bungee cords handy for my floor lamp so it doesn't fall over when I bump it and for holding the DC hose up.

robo hippy

Gawd, I hate to admit it, but I use those, too. On a day-to-day basis, it's probably the second or third most used piece of equipment in my shop.

[Russell Neyman]

A large 24x18 metal shallow baking pan I picked up from GFC food/resturant supply store for only $8. I keep it on my shop desk and anything I stain, glue or dye I do it on that pan. It has saved me from MANY spills. For appling dye or stains to small turnings I use the foamy triangles you can buy from Sally Beauty supply store. Cut them down in half and use tiny needle nose pliers as the handle to grip them with. Another item is vitiman bottles, when empty I cut the tops off and use them for stir bottles or mixing stuff. I have a box full of these and getting bigger.

I'm going to sound cheap, but I just use an old piece of plywood. When it comes to getting old cookie sheets and things like that, I'd go to the Goodwill Store.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Disposable chopsticks. Use them to mix glue, spread glue, sticker your bowl to dry the finish. All sorts of little jobs. Cut a sharp chisel point and you can use it to scrape glue squeeze out from joints. The wood is so soft, it won't damage the turning.

IF you're REALLY cheap, you can get them free from the Chinese take-out counters.

You could use them for dinner too.

[Philip Duffy]

Kyle stole my thread! I use chopsticks for a dozen things, including filling in a lose screw hole in the furniture I repair when I do my vol. work at Habitat for Humanity store. And, they are free, as he said. Philip

[Scott Lux]

+1 for chopsticks! Also nitrile gloves, plain white paper towels, and coffee grounds.

[Bernie Weishapl]

1/4" glue brushes are rather handy. Also brass key filings, coffee grounds, sanding dust and epoxy.

[Thom Sturgill]

Before I got into a new shop with air, I used drinking straws to blow out HFs, especially ornaments.

[Gordon Vizecky]

Magnetic parts dishes from Harbor Freight, I've got one that sits on my headstock that holds the metal bits that can get away (screw centers, chuck wrenches, allen wrenches, drill bits). I also keep a big magnet on a stick nearby for those ocassions when I drop something important (like a screw center) into the six inch pile of wet shavings on the floor. It is much easier to poke around a bit with the magnet than it is to sift through the shavings.

[Thom Sturgill]

+1 on the magnetic dishes. I use mine to hold MS while wet sanding, just set it on the banjo post.

[Reed Gray]

Well, I never used chop sticks for anything other than eating, but do keep popcicle sticks handy along with toothpicks and the bamboo shish-k-bob skewers for everything from stirring 2 part epoxy to micro dowels.

Another handy thing I got was a syringe from the wallpaper part of the local big box store. I was making a bunch of the wooden waste blocks for making threaded boxes. Cut 2 inch square pieces of pine, drill a hole, and insert a 1 inch by 8 tpi locking nut into the hole. I needed to epoxy them in place. I used a bunch of the medium thickness CA glue, and it took days to set up, and shrank a whole bunch so I had to do two applications. The syringe idea came to me, when I found it in the store. Bought some of the 2 part (two tubes, one plunger) 30 minute epoxy, squirted about half of it into the syringe, stirred it up with a bamboo skewer, inserted the plunger for the syringe, and the tip nozzel fit perfectly into the holes on the sides of the nuts for totally filling the hole. I did maybe 100 of them that way, and could get 4 or so fillings in the syringe without it clogging up.

robo hippy

[John C Lawson]

I use a number of these things, but the one thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is aluminum foil. Tear off a piece and use it to mix epoxy on and put anything that might leak, run, drip, etc. It'll never soak through to the bench and doesn't stick either. Then just crumple it up making sure the contaminated side is toward the inside, and it never leaks and sticks to the waste can. Along with 1/4" glue brushes and skewers, gluing small things remains tidy and under control.

[Prashun Patel]

Rubber drawer liners. For the jam-chuckers out there, it prevents the inside of the bowl from getting marred up when finish turning the bottom.

Long stem ice cream spoon. Bend the scoop about 45 deg and it makes a great chip shovel when hollow forming.

[Reed Gray]

Oh yea, another thing. I have an old small Delta high speed grinder, maybe 6 inch that I keep a wire wheel mounted on. Great for cleaning off the slop on my tools that has dried on after turning sloppy wet wood. Also great for removing burrs on things where you don't want a sharp edge.

robo hippy

[Harry Robinette]

Rubber bands,flat twine (plastic wrap),plastic butter dishes,finger nail emery boards sanding close places,carpet pad for reverse chucking,
medical forsipes, clothes pins hold sand paper in stacks, small ball and loop bunge cord hold electrical cords and lamps,medicine bottles storage,
and what everyone else said.

[Steve Schlumpf]

I use regular plastic grocery bags to cover a turning when left on the lathe, resealable plastic margarine containers for dyes and finishes, a spray bottle full of water for turning green wood and green scratch pads for evening out a surface.

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

241918 I have a pair old scissor jacks with points welded to them. I put them on the lathe bed to hold & lift heavy logs while mounting them on the lathe.241920 I also keep laminate sample around to make burn lines, quicker & safer to use than wire, there free from most home centers.
Another thing I use all the time is a set of cone centers made by Advanced Lathe Tools LLC. threaded on my tail stock.
One more thing I use to lift logs on the lathe is a hydraulic lift table from Harbor Freight. It won't lift high enough on it's own but with a couple of blocks on it and it works great. After I get them up on the lathe then I'll use the jacks mentioned above.

[Grant Wilkinson]

A roll of wax paper. I use it to mix epoxy and to put a puddle of CA glue on that I can dot into plate with a toothpick. I also put a strip of it between the glue line on glue ups and my Bessey clamps. It keeps the clamps free of dried glue. Nothing sticks to it.

[BILL DONAHUE]

Popsicle sticks with sandpaper wrapped around them to sand tight places and, of course, as stirrers.

[Robert Henrickson]

Foam pipe insulation for rounded sanding pads.

[ray hampton]

One of those long handled grabber/pincer sticks for when things drop down behind the lathe. Getting down isn't too much of a problem, it is getting back up. I also keep a number of bungee cords handy for my floor lamp so it doesn't fall over when I bump it and for holding the DC hose up.

robo hippy

I got the gripper in every room in the house and they get a workout

[Russell Neyman]

Rubber drawer liners. For the jam-chuckers out there, it prevents the inside of the bowl from getting marred up when finish turning the bottom.

Long stem ice cream spoon. Bend the scoop about 45 deg and it makes a great chip shovel when hollow forming.

That's a good idea. Or-- keep an old bicycle tube and cut it into squares for chucking, too.

[Mark Hix]

+ 1 on the wax paper for glue ups.
I also keep some of those ugly little bowls that just did not come out right as small parts bowls.
assorted rubber bands. They are great for holding the caps on ornaments, small glue ups.....

[Kevin W Johnson]

I have small wooden stir sticks from ChicK-Fil-A. I discovered them on a trip there once. I inquired about buying them by the box on a return trip and the woman gave me a partial box. They are like a small popsicle stick, and will fit thru the 7mm hole drilled thru pen kits. I use them to apply epoxy to the inside of the blank when installing the brass tube.

[Jamie Donaldson]

Small plastic drinking cups for mixing dyes, and fingernail sanding sticks from the beauty products department work very well for detail sanding. They're dirt cheap and have different grits on the 2 sides.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

What a great thread!

I used that idea to use aluminum foil to mix epoxy. Works great, the excess, just fold it up and toss it out. You just gotta love this forum! I always had to hunt around for a scrap piece of something to mix the epoxy on.

Thanks for all the ideas!

[Russell Neyman]

Toothpicks. They can be used to drop a dab of something in a small space, or to fill that tiny screw hole. Gets a wood chip out from between your teeth, too.

[robert baccus]

Small coated paper bowls, ice pick, tounge depressers, small leftover lidded cups/bowls-throwaway, epoxy in several time zones and Acetone for sure. ever glue yoself to your lathe? Oh yeah--several bushels of fresh shavings too.

[Carl Civitella]

Stick em Notes. for mixing two part epoxy. Just stick them down on bench, mix up glue and throw away, or keep to see how well the glue dries. To save money cut up stick em size paper with used computer paper on a cheap paper cutter.

[Russell Neyman]

Small coated paper bowls, ice pick, tounge depressers, small leftover lidded cups/bowls-throwaway, epoxy in several time zones and Acetone for sure. ever glue yoself to your lathe? Oh yeah--several bushels of fresh shavings too.

Don't let anyone tell you that CA Glue (aka, Super Glue) won't stick to metal. I was applying a CA finish to a bottle stopper ON the lathe, and spilled it down the tool rest, locking it into place. I took me a good 45 minutes to get that darn thing loose.

When I'm at the doctor's office, alone -- waiting -- in the examining room, I often help myself to one or two of the tongue depressers stored in a jar on the counter. At $200 an hour, I don't feel guilty.