Stickin' it out there and looking for critiques

[Christopher Zona]

Ok. Here it goes. I'm new to the forum and have been looking around a bit and chiming in hear and there since about the start of the year.

I thought it was about time to sign up for some critiquing. I learned to turn when I was 12, had some wood shop lessons and haven't turned since. About twenty years have gone by and I decided to get back to turning about a year ago on an old Delta Rockwell on loan from a friend.

I'm quickly finding the limitations of fixed drive speeds. I can only get down to 900rpm, and then next jump is to 1700. This makes bowl turning a real challenge for me. Some of my experiences are pretty close to the unofficial "Don't Do This" thread.

I’m having a problem with a lot of tear out. I think this stems from two main reasons, but not limited to, tool sharpness and cutting in the improper direction in relation to the grain.

Christmas time brought forth a bunch of turning books including Ernie Conover’s “The Lathe Book” and Michael O’Donnell’s “Turing Green Wood”. They are great resources and are helping but I haven’t been able to find any suggestions as to turning speeds, other than a few other sites that suggest 26 feet per second. I'll have to fund my calculator and turn that into rpm versus a given diameter. :confused: Where did I put my Machinery's Handbook? Is this a respectable rule of thumb?

I’ve posted the pictures on our family web site so that I don’t clog up the forum. I hope you stop by so that I can get some valuable critiques. http://web.295.ca/cnklzona

Thanks.

[Nancy Laird]

Chris, I went to your site and all I can see is little red "X"s in a box - no pictures. Don't know if it's me or your site. Anyone else having this problem?

Nancy

[Jim Ketron]

Just looked at your Turnings, Nice job Chris!
The tearout you are getting is exactly what you are saying. probably both tool sharpness and tool presentation, that will get better with time and also sanding your work!
After you make your shaping cuts take a few light passes to clean up the toolmarks and tearout before sanding. there are many finishing cuts that will almost eliminate tearout on most woods. The best advise I can give would be to watch someone else turn to pick up some tips or get one of the many videos that are out. Bill Grumbines "Turned Bowls Made Easy" he shows some good finishing cuts that might help you.
Keep on spinning and things will fall into place.

[John Chandler]

I just went to the site and went into the index files and was able to view the .jpg files. I am new to this site and have a lathe on order so I am at a pre-beginner stage. There are a lot of people in SMC that will be able to give you some good advice. Keep up the good work.

[Christopher Zona]

Hopefully I have fixed the technical difficulty.

[Gordon Seto]

Red "X" in Internet Explorer.
Can see all the pictures except one with FireFox.

Gordon

[Steve Schlumpf]

Chris, went to your site and viewed your work - really like the bowl you made for the saw mill owner. Is it spalted maple? Great form and a really nice finish! Hard to give something that nice away - but then again, that's when you know you really made something good.

Keep turning and have fun! Look forward to seeing more of your work!

[Christopher Zona]

Yes, it is spalted maple. Sorry if I forgot a description or two. Late night, I get forgetful.

[Christopher Zona]

I'm stumped. Did the html on Word. I'll have to dig deeper tomorrow. Please bear with me.

[Jonathon Spafford]

I can see 'em all... you have some nice work on there! I really like the last bowl with the bark and everything on it. Looks like an interesting piece of wood! Would make a nice candy dish for a cabin. It looks like to me you are right on track. The turnings looks good... I would now start to focus on design. After you turn a lot you kinda figure out what the most pleasing shapes are and where the improvements need to be. For example, those tops don't have crisp lines... (Tip: when sanding don't hit the corners with sandpaper until 220 grit. You don't want to sand the whole piece like it is one piece; you want to sand one detail at a time.)
But I think you are doing a super job and I think if you watch really closely and see what you do/don't like in your pieces and what you do/don't like in other peoples pieces you will get an idea on where to improve. Your at the fun stage in turning. Where you have most of the cuts mastered and you know how to turn out some nice stuff... now you just are working on making the shapes exactly how you envisioned them. Keep up the good work!!!

[Bill Boehme]

The red "X's" are most likely due to a very slow Intenet connection.

Bill

[Stephen Mushinski]

Chris,

The best and quickest way to fast track the learning process is to join a turning club.

There is one in Pickering which might be to far to drive to but there is also a new one in Barrie that just opened in the last year or so with around 30 -40 members.

If you are interested I will try and contact someone from the Barrie club to get you the information.

Pickering club : Woodturners Guild of Ontario - www.wgo.ca (http://www.wgo.ca)

Email the webmaster on the wgo web page for the infor on Barrie.

[John Hart]

Welcome Chris! I can see all the pics and they look pretty good! All I can say is pay attention to what you did....learn from that...then improve on it. ....oh...and do that for the rest of your life...in every aspect of your life. That's the journey.;) :)

[George Tokarev]

I'm quickly finding the limitations of fixed drive speeds. I can only get down to 900rpm, and then next jump is to 1700. This makes bowl turning a real challenge for me. Some of my experiences are pretty close to the unofficial "Don't Do This" thread.

I’m having a problem with a lot of tear out. I think this stems from two main reasons, but not limited to, tool sharpness and cutting in the improper direction in relation to the grain.


Everybody has problems with tearout. By now I'm convinced that most are using the wrong technique to try and get rid of it. There's no way you can avoid picking up the grain on a cross-grain piece entirely, so the name of the game is to keep the edge as close to 90 degrees to the grain as possible. Some of the current crop of grinds and gouges make this real difficult. One of the oldest types making a comeback makes it real easy.

If you've looked about you probably know that you're not limited to that high speed if you want to drop bucks and/or time into your machine. Everything from DC motors to countershafts are possible without losing much torque, or variable frequency synchronous with a bit of loss. I replaced my old friend a couple years ago primarily for capacity, but the 680 minimum speed was a bit much for my sphincters on a rough, wet chunk. I can now rough down into the 200s, but don't go up beyond 680 anyway, even on ornaments. Chicken.

Looks like you've the courage and the perseverance after looking at your site. Now work on the least portion of the equation, the equipment.

[Bob Hallowell]

Chris,
They look good. I would also reccomend Bill Grumbine's dvd. I visited him in person but also bought the dvd for my wife. She has a hard time learning form me! She says I take the tool out of her and to quick.:confused:

Bob

[Christopher Zona]

Ahh.. DuBois. Not all that far from the home digs. I Grew up in Erie, Pa.

[Christopher Zona]

Stephen,

Thanks for the info. I've been looking for something a bit closer to home. For me, it's either Pickering or Grey-Bruce. I'll look into the Barrie club and see if I can find them.

[Jim Becker]

Chris, please post the photos here in SMC. You're not "clogging up the forum". ...'just the opposite: you'd be insuring that the subject of your post stays intact over time. Our preference is for photos to be attached to posts rather than linking to them at another site. We have the bandwidth and we have the space.

Jim
SMC Moderator

[Glenn Hodges]

Christopher, I salute you. Turning bowls this size and starting out at 900 rpm's takes some kind of intestinal fortitude (guts down here in GA.). Now you have gotten by this, work on the tear out with sharp tools, use some type of scraper to get a smooth finish before sanding, try power sanding if you haven't, and look at every bowl you can to get ideas about design. Think about the foot of a bowl should only be 1/3 of the width of the top. You have a lot of talent, and I commend you, keep at it and I look forward to more pictures.

[Mike Ramsey]

Chris, I went to your site and all I can see is little red "X"s in a box - no pictures. Don't know if it's me or your site. Anyone else having this problem?

Nancy

In my case little red x's in IE mean cookies are being blocked from
his site. It happens when people use photobucket to host pics also.
For me anyway...

[Bernie Weishapl]

Christopher your website looks good. You have some beauties that you have turned. I agree with the rest it is probably tool presentation and sharpness. I got the old standard bowl gouge from P & N as per Mike Mahoney and on bowls it works great on tear out.

One more thing you got more guts or moxie than I do because when I get some big blanks on at 400 rpm I cringe. :eek: