Newbie lathe turner questions

[Craig D Peltier]

Hi, let me say I havent turned since 1990. I read alot though so im shaking the rust off. I purchased a 1960s craftsman lathe 39" I believe. It has a very new upgraded 1hp Baldor motor on it and it came with a duplicator and bowl attachment and a 2 sets of chisels for $150.
So I have some very basic questions

1) Whats a great video to get for basics on turning, from attaching wood and setting up lathe to turning. I heard norm has a good dvd but I also heard on here he isnt such a great turner?

2) Should my tool rest be 1/16 higher than the wood at a 45 so it doesnt send my chisel flying? My most important question i think.

3) First tool to use for turning square wood to semi round is the large gouge or the large skew? I think the gouge then skew? (i think skew is the one that looks like a ski slope)

4)Bowl attachment, Ive heard from the buyer that you take a round piece of plywood attach to bowl attachment, then take brown paper bag and glue it to ply and then take bowl wood and glue it to bag, this way theres no screws in bottom of bowl and its easier to remove the bowl afterwards. Is this the ture and tested way?

5)Whats the largest size block you will use before cutting the corners off first? I heard from buyer about 2.5 inches largest before taking corners off? Does that totally depend on wood type? If so any general references here?

6) Is it okay to glue up several i.e. 4/4 pieces and turn it?

Thanks much

[Ron Raymond]

Hi Craig, and welcome to the Creek. There's lots of great turners here who will give you much better advice than I on most of your questions, but I'll toss in my opinion on videos. I started with one of Richard Raffan's books from the Library. I really got a lot from his book, but later on I watched one of his videos. He is a production turner and most of his video seemed to me more like showing off than teaching. It's impressive to watch, but I don't think I got much from the video, other than intimidated. I just recently borrowed Alan Lacer's video on the skew chisel, and I highly recommend it. He takes things slow enough for me to follow, and explains things thoroughly.

Ron

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Craig.....Welcome back to the Vortex.


Videos........Richard Raffan has a couple of videos that are extremely good and SMCs own Bill Grumbine has a couple. Raffans video "Turning Wood" and "Turning Boxes" are great. Bill Grumbine's video "Turned Bowls made easy" is excellent too! I have those 3 and would recommend them.

A book I'd highly recommend is "Wood Turning - A Foundation Course" by Keith Rowley. It is well written and illustrated and is directed towards a beginning turner. He has excellent advice on using different tools and illustrates same. He has a progression of projects that will lead the beginner from basic spindle turning through more difficult projects. I use this book as my go to reference and often have it in the shop by the bench when I'm trying something new.

Norm, IMHO,a self-taught turner does good work related to turnings used in furniture building. Not a great turner but certainly fundamentally good.

I've never used used a glue block for bowls so I don't feel qualified to answer your question regarding same. I use a chuck. I place a blank between centers...turn a tenon....rough out the exterior of the bowl. Place the tenon in the chuck...tighten on the tenon and rough out the interior. After drying, I use my donut chuck to return the tenon to round as it is often distorted during the drying process. I place the roughed out bowl back in the chuck and finish turning it.

Absolutely it's okay to glue 4/4 material and turn it. My first couple of bowls were glued up from 4/4 and/or 8/4 material. After drying overnight, I turned them. There are, in fact, a number of turners here that do some exquisite segmented turing which is fundamentally the same only the glued up material is of a much more intricate pattern.

Good luck with your turning endeavors!

[Barry Elder]

Quickest way into the abyss is to join a local club where you will find many mentors (probably) who will be glad to assist you. "Hands on" advice!

The turners here do fantastic turning and are well-versed in all phases of turning and are always willing to help out anyone with any problem. Have never seen any advice offered here that wasn't sincere and accurate.

[Craig D Peltier]

Can anyone give me answers to # 2? and # 3?

[Bill Grumbine]

2) Should my tool rest be 1/16 higher than the wood at a 45 so it doesnt send my chisel flying? My most important question i think.

3) First tool to use for turning square wood to semi round is the large gouge or the large skew? I think the gouge then skew? (i think skew is the one that looks like a ski slope)

Craig, the answer to #2 is, "It depends..." If you are turning a spindle using a roughing gouge, then the answer is yes. If you are turning it using a skew, the answer is get it a little higher. I like the tool rest to be fairly high when I am using a skew. If you are turning a bowl on the outside, there are tool techniques that will put the edge of the tool all over the place. If you are on the inside of a bowl, then you want the edge of the tool as close to center as possible, at least for the type of cutting I do.

As to #3, you can use either tool, but as a beginner, you will be happier if you are working on your own starting out with the roughing gouge. If you had someone looking over your shoulder, it is an easy thing to make squares round with a skew. And yes, the skew is that ski slope looking tool. The roughing gouge looks like a big U when viewed looking down the long axis.

Oh yeah, DO NOT use a roughing gouge OR a skew on a bowl blank. Neither is a good idea. Once you gain some familiarity with the tools, you can start to think about using a skew for some details like grooves, but that is about it. Others will disagree, but I tell all my students not to use a roughing gouge on a bowl, and many others are of the same opinion.

Good luck, have fun, and don't be afraid to ask more questions!

Bill

[Jason Slutsky]

Craig, I'll give #2 and #3 a shot.

2. Your tool rest should be at or slightly higher than the horizontal centerline of the wood (or right along the axis of the lathe). You said "1/16" higher than the wood"...that's too high. Experiment a bit...if it doesn't "feel" right then move the rest up or down but don't go below center...that can be dangerous. Keep the tool rest close to parallel with your work and your tool at roughly 45 away AND down from your cut.

3. Definitely NOT the skew for turning square stock down to round.

Ken mentioned it but I will also because this book was a great help to me...Woodturning: A Foundation Course by Keith Rowley. Raffan's videos are great too but in the ones that I've seen, he moves the tools very fast which is something that can mislead you if you're just beginning. I've only been turning for 6 months now and I don't even think of handling a skew like Raffan does.


Oh, and If I've given any bad advice...PLEASE let me know!

[Gordon Seto]

1) Whats a great video to get for basics on turning, from attaching wood and setting up lathe to turning. I heard norm has a good dvd but I also heard on here he isnt such a great turner?



3) First tool to use for turning square wood to semi round is the large gouge or the large skew? I think the gouge then skew? (i think skew is the one that looks like a ski slope)

4)Bowl attachment, Ive heard from the buyer that you take a round piece of plywood attach to bowl attachment, then take brown paper bag and glue it to ply and then take bowl wood and glue it to bag, this way theres no screws in bottom of bowl and its easier to remove the bowl afterwards. Is this the ture and tested way?



1) I think "Turned bowl made easy" by Bill Grumbine is a good start on DVD.

3) Spindle Roughing Gouge is easier. Skew is also possible, but not recommended for beginners. Alan Lacer and Alan Batty both have a good DVD on using skew.

4) See 1. I would not recommend using plywood as glue block. You will never know when the laminates are going to separate. Most likely you are going to reverse turn the bottom, you don't need the paper joint.

Gordon

[Craig D Peltier]

Craig, the answer to #2 is, "It depends..." If you are turning a spindle using a roughing gouge, then the answer is yes. If you are turning it using a skew, the answer is get it a little higher. I like the tool rest to be fairly high when I am using a skew. If you are turning a bowl on the outside, there are tool techniques that will put the edge of the tool all over the place. If you are on the inside of a bowl, then you want the edge of the tool as close to center as possible, at least for the type of cutting I do.

As to #3, you can use either tool, but as a beginner, you will be happier if you are working on your own starting out with the roughing gouge. If you had someone looking over your shoulder, it is an easy thing to make squares round with a skew. And yes, the skew is that ski slope looking tool. The roughing gouge looks like a big U when viewed looking down the long axis.

Oh yeah, DO NOT use a roughing gouge OR a skew on a bowl blank. Neither is a good idea. Once you gain some familiarity with the tools, you can start to think about using a skew for some details like grooves, but that is about it. Others will disagree, but I tell all my students not to use a roughing gouge on a bowl, and many others are of the same opinion.

Good luck, have fun, and don't be afraid to ask more questions!

Bill

Thanks Bill for taking the time to explain to me. I just want to get a piece rough rounded an mess with the tools and hope it comes back to me. So if I havent seen a video beforehand im okay with. If you dont ever hear from me again, call my mom:D

[Craig D Peltier]

Craig, I'll give #2 and #3 a shot.

2. Your tool rest should be at or slightly higher than the horizontal centerline of the wood (or right along the axis of the lathe). You said "1/16" higher than the wood"...that's too high. Experiment a bit...if it doesn't "feel" right then move the rest up or down but don't go below center...that can be dangerous. Keep the tool rest close to parallel with your work and your tool at roughly 45 away AND down from your cut.

3. Definitely NOT the skew for turning square stock down to round.

Ken mentioned it but I will also because this book was a great help to me...Woodturning: A Foundation Course by Keith Rowley. Raffan's videos are great too but in the ones that I've seen, he moves the tools very fast which is something that can mislead you if you're just beginning. I've only been turning for 6 months now and I don't even think of handling a skew like Raffan does.


Oh, and If I've given any bad advice...PLEASE let me know!

Thanks for tip on DVD and Book.Also for your explanation.

[Craig D Peltier]

1) I think "Turned bowl made easy" by Bill Grumbine is a good start on DVD.

3) Spindle Roughing Gouge is easier. Skew is also possible, but not recommended for beginners. Alan Lacer and Alan Batty both have a good DVD on using skew.

4) See 1. I would not recommend using plywood as glue block. You will never know when the laminates are going to separate. Most likely you are going to reverse turn the bottom, you don't need the paper joint.

Gordon

Thanks for dvd idea.I havent given much thought about turning a bowl.I like to build furniture so far. I will defintely watch video before I attempt it.
So I guess I will use a hardwood circle to put on bowl blank in the future and glue it right to blank?

[Gordon Seto]

So I guess I will use a hardwood circle to put on bowl blank in the future and glue it right to blank?

Usually there are more than one way in woodturning. Glue block is just one of the method. A lot of people use pine or poplar simply because they are inexpensive and available.

There have been a lot of advancement in woodturning in the last 17 years. I strongly recommend you find whether there is a local chapter of AAW in your area.
http://www.woodturner.org/community/chapters/members.pl?submit=Chapter+List

Usually they have library of books and videos for members to borrow. You may be able to find a mentor to give you some free hands-on guidance.

"Turned bowl made easy" explains everything you need to know on turning a bowl from start to finish safely.

Gordon

[Gary DeWitt]

Here's a place to start. You'll meet a lot of nice people willing to share a bunch of info.
http://woodturner.org/community/chapters/members.pl?submit=Chapter+List

Rip a 2x4 or just center a 4x4 scrap of pine on your lathe and go for it!