Dave C. Brown
10-11-2006, 7:36 PM
I'm totally new at this, but finally got my lathe and tools and I have a quick question about finish turning the bottoms of small vases, pots, etc.
I started with the blank between center and turned the outside shape. Then I parted in to separate the bottom and the top. The problem was the cut on the ends was fairly rough. I tried to sand it, but I think it could be better, especially if I could use a skew. But my jet mini lathe only came with a live center that has a cup on the end so if I'm working small, it's hard to get into the end with any tool.
So my quesiton is how do you hold these small pots to work on the ends? I've seen methods using compression chucks for the bottom of bowls, but that won't work with tall thin shapes, will it?
I have a nova g3 chuck, but the standard jaws require the piece be fairly large (2 inches minimum?) and the thing I turned was miniature -- say about 1 inch in diameter.
I'm hoping to recover from the initial tool layout before buying more, so shopmade or cheap would be great.
Thanks in advance for any help.
--Dave
I started with the blank between center and turned the outside shape. Then I parted in to separate the bottom and the top. The problem was the cut on the ends was fairly rough. I tried to sand it, but I think it could be better, especially if I could use a skew. But my jet mini lathe only came with a live center that has a cup on the end so if I'm working small, it's hard to get into the end with any tool.
So my quesiton is how do you hold these small pots to work on the ends? I've seen methods using compression chucks for the bottom of bowls, but that won't work with tall thin shapes, will it?
I have a nova g3 chuck, but the standard jaws require the piece be fairly large (2 inches minimum?) and the thing I turned was miniature -- say about 1 inch in diameter.
I'm hoping to recover from the initial tool layout before buying more, so shopmade or cheap would be great.
Thanks in advance for any help.
--Dave