No amount of tooling will substitute for good technique. Agree or disagree.

[Brian Kent]

I made a better steady rest and got 100mm chuck jaws. Those both help the leverage when turning the end of a 10" chalice. But if I go below the centerline on the inside of the cup or above the centerline on the outside I can get a catch that at minimum makes me re-align everything.

I am planning the next round of tool purchases, but even with a heavier lathe and a great hollowing system and a bunch of ballast and heavier chuck, I bet I still need to put that cutting edge on or above the centerline on the inside and on or below the center line on the outside.

I invite your comment and examples.

[Reed Gray]

Well, as one who has been on the Brute Squad (no, I am not as big as Andre the Giant...) I discovered a long time ago that brute strength is nothing without technique. Applied to my turning, swimming, and every thing else in life....

robo hippy

[Doug Ladendorf]

Depends. If you don't have the right tool for the job there is no technique to be had. You end up just fudging it with what you have. (This is what I tell my wife. :p)

[Roger Chandler]

The title of your thread says it all, Brian! Cutting below center line will ALWAYS induce chatter.......steady rest, no steady rest, heavy chuck, dovetail jaws, best tools on the planet, rose colored glasses, aromatic perfumes, etc...:rolleyes:

Yep, one of the cardinal rules of hollowing. Sometimes being able to get inside a form with support from your rest will help keep that tool up where it should be, like a box rest, or perhaps a slim style rest that you can put the end into the form so you only have about 1/2" clearance between the rest and the wall where you are hollowing ......especially towards the bottom.

Good luck on your next setup.........sounds like you are working a plan for major acquisitions to your arsenal!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I made a better steady rest and got 100mm chuck jaws. Those both help the leverage when turning the end of a 10" chalice. But if I go below the centerline on the inside of the cup or above the centerline on the outside I can get a catch that at minimum makes me re-align everything.

I am planning the next round of tool purchases, but even with a heavier lathe and a great hollowing system and a bunch of ballast and heavier chuck, I bet I still need to put that cutting edge on or above the centerline on the inside and on or below the center line on the outside.

I invite your comment and examples.

on or below the center line on the outside,
try that with a skew Brian, or even a spindle roughing gouge :eek:

[hu lowery]

I made a better steady rest and got 100mm chuck jaws. Those both help the leverage when turning the end of a 10" chalice. But if I go below the centerline on the inside of the cup or above the centerline on the outside I can get a catch that at minimum makes me re-align everything.

I am planning the next round of tool purchases, but even with a heavier lathe and a great hollowing system and a bunch of ballast and heavier chuck, I bet I still need to put that cutting edge on or above the centerline on the inside and on or below the center line on the outside.

I invite your comment and examples.




Brian,

There are an infinite number of centerlines on a turning, which one do you favor being above or below?

We use horizontal as an arbitrary centerline but that is all it is. We can set up the same relationships anywhere around the circumference of the turning and get the exact same results. I sometimes have due to limitations of tooling. Seems funny turning way off of the horizontal but I have turned down close to 30 degrees below centerline, I have turned way above centerline. Works just fine as long as the tools stay in the proper relationship to the new purely arbitrary centerline.

I "need" a new tool rest or three. Trying to decide if I want to buy them or make them. My banjo has three different threaded holes for the lock lever for the toolrest 90 degrees apart. Trying to hollow deeper than I had the tooling to go I put setscrews in two of these holes so I controlled the toolrest from two directions and forced it firmly into the banjo for the third contact point. That helped a lot with chatter which was messing with my camera after killing my laser.

Hu

[Leo Van Der Loo]

For an example of hollow turning, fast and furious and the centerline is anywhere, it all depends on the tool used, scrapers do have limitation of how and where you can contact the wood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70scy4tFaUM&feature=youtu.be


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk7I31-D4No

[Geoff Whaling]

A better way to describe what you are saying is a horizontal plane through the centerline of the vessel / lathe axis - that is of course if the reader understands what you are describing. :)

Seems to me that having the tool rest height set up so that the cutting edge of the tool is in that horizontal plane or above makes a significant difference with captured and free hand hollowing systems. Although there is no reason the reference plane and tool rest etc could not be inclined or even vertical, however it would not be very practical having to support the full weight of the cutter, boring bar, stabilizing arms, lazer support arm etc.

Purely a pragmatic choice to let gravity work for you, to reduce effort by having the reference plane & tooling in the horizontal plane.

The cutter has to absolutely be in the horizontal plane for tasks like oval turning.

[John Grace]

For what it's worth and to answer the question posed in your title...correct technique with a crisply sharpened tool (even a cheap one) will out-perform a good tool used poorly.

[David C. Roseman]

No amount of tooling will substitute for good technique.


Now you tell me!

[Brian Kent]

For what it's worth and to answer the question posed in your title...correct technique with a crisply sharpened tool (even a cheap one) will out-perform a good tool used poorly.

There you go.

[Brian Kent]

on or below the center line on the outside,
try that with a skew Brian, or even a spindle roughing gouge :eek:

Ouch. Very painful thought. It was such a nice piece of wood.

[Brian Kent]

You guys are talking way above my centerline.

Leo, that video on the nest ing dolls was so interesting to watch. Fascinating use of the hook tool. And I was amazed at the technique that allowed using the same tool rest position for the inside and the outside of the doll.

I really look forward to the lifetime of learning ahead on tools and techniques. I hope with a few decades of practice I will become a beginning intermediate instead of a 4th year rookie :)