Keith Cope
07-06-2007, 11:17 AM
I bought an old Oliver 2159 about 3-1/2 years ago--sans tool rest holder and tailstock. I watched the online auctions diligently and finally found a tool rest holder a few weeks ago (still looking for a tailstock...). About 2 weeks ago I got the 220v circuit in and powered the beast up. At last! I was ready to turn!
I've been putzing around a bit with various chunks of wood, just getting a feel for the tools (I'll probably take a class, but want to develop my very own bad habits first!), but haven't really completed a finished turning yet. But the immediate gratifcation center of my brain took control and I decided to leap in both feet first...
I had this idea in the back of my head for a long time. I had seen chunks of parallam--engineered lumber--and thought that it could be made into something pretty cool. After getting great inspiration from the many postings here and getting a couple of big chunks of parallam off-cuts from a buddy of mine, I set out to make something interesting with them. I decided on a simple pencil cup form--with a twist, of course. Not content to just keep things simple, I wanted to make an all end-grain segmented turning. So, I laid it out, cut it up, glued it together, glued a scrap on the bottom.
The glue was set, and the assembly was ready to spin this a.m., and so I mounted it on the lathe and got started. Got the outside round, albeit with a lot of tear-out, and went to work on the inside. I got the wall down to a nice even thickness along the full height and was taking one last pass to smooth it and....wham! :eek: The gouge caught and pieces flew! Surprising to me, I didn't soil my trousers having just experience my first nasty catch! The pictures tell the rest of the story.
I've decided that I'm learning from my 2-year-old--I may be a little too big for my britches here! :D
So my questions are: 1. Should I glue it back together and try to finish it up? and 2. How to deal with that nasty end grain and tear-out if so. or 3. Scrap the whole thing, put the training wheels back on the bike and start to work on some real wood and leave this stuff until later?
Thanks!
Keith
I've been putzing around a bit with various chunks of wood, just getting a feel for the tools (I'll probably take a class, but want to develop my very own bad habits first!), but haven't really completed a finished turning yet. But the immediate gratifcation center of my brain took control and I decided to leap in both feet first...
I had this idea in the back of my head for a long time. I had seen chunks of parallam--engineered lumber--and thought that it could be made into something pretty cool. After getting great inspiration from the many postings here and getting a couple of big chunks of parallam off-cuts from a buddy of mine, I set out to make something interesting with them. I decided on a simple pencil cup form--with a twist, of course. Not content to just keep things simple, I wanted to make an all end-grain segmented turning. So, I laid it out, cut it up, glued it together, glued a scrap on the bottom.
The glue was set, and the assembly was ready to spin this a.m., and so I mounted it on the lathe and got started. Got the outside round, albeit with a lot of tear-out, and went to work on the inside. I got the wall down to a nice even thickness along the full height and was taking one last pass to smooth it and....wham! :eek: The gouge caught and pieces flew! Surprising to me, I didn't soil my trousers having just experience my first nasty catch! The pictures tell the rest of the story.
I've decided that I'm learning from my 2-year-old--I may be a little too big for my britches here! :D
So my questions are: 1. Should I glue it back together and try to finish it up? and 2. How to deal with that nasty end grain and tear-out if so. or 3. Scrap the whole thing, put the training wheels back on the bike and start to work on some real wood and leave this stuff until later?
Thanks!
Keith