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Thread: Got some black walnut for the first time

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Atikokan, Rainy River district, Ontario
    Posts
    3,540
    Quote Originally Posted by David Metzman View Post
    I do not know if it just me, but I have been having a lot of tear outs also on another bowl I am making - on the outside. Is that just me?
    Not just you David, Black Walnut can be a real pain at times, as I said in another post, some trees in a species have just different wood, where some work easy others do not, and Walnut is one of those that does this often enough, it is after all not a hard dense wood and that is one of the reasons it act sometimes more like poplar or willow, adding a grain stiffener like wax or oil or even water will help get a better result with turning it.
    Have fun and take care

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Chicago Heights, Il.
    Posts
    2,136
    If you do many natural edge bowls drill out a couple holes in your faceplate and install 3/8” bolts on the face plate after sharpening the bolts to a point. Place the blank (bark side up on the ways. Center the faceplate on the bark and smack it a few times with a mallet. Drill two 3/8” shallow holes through the bark. Place the faceplate back over the holes and drive it into the holes. Mount it on the lathe and secure it with the tail stock. Here’s a video I did for YouTube on natural bowls. It may help with your questions.

    https://youtu.be/4bYWW4rXaYQ


    434FA1F3-1240-4815-98E9-2AC533D47DCE.jpg
    Member Illiana Woodturners

  3. #33
    thanks - sounds like great advice. I always assumed that it was a very tense wood. So if I oil the wood near final turning with walnut oil, that may do the trick? Thanks, David

  4. #34
    There seems to be no one way to triumph over tear out. I haven't had any more than usual problems with walnut, though I had some butternut that was more difficult. So, I think more so for dry wood, like Koa, if you are getting a lot of tear out, then wetting the wood (water, oil, finish) and letting it soak in for a minute or so, then taking very light cuts, just enough to remove the wet wood, is generally a good way to do it. It may take several passes. Some times using a gouge that has been sharpened and/or honed, on a 600 grit wheel will do the trick. Some times shear scraping with a burnished burr will do the job. Some use sanding sealers first and then very light cuts. For sure you get better results with sharp tools. I don't turn walnut any more, makes me sneeze and itch....

    robo hippy

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298

    What I do for tearout

    Quote Originally Posted by Reed Gray View Post
    There seems to be no one way to triumph over tear out...
    I solve most tear out with these negative rake scrapers, with or without dousing the wood with thinned shellac (sanding sealer), when even the sharpest tools and my best technique with the gouge doesn't work. (They easily remove tool marks at the same time)

    _scrapers_IMG_7778.jpg IMG_7511_ce.jpg

    Another thing that works, when I get tear out that I simply can't avoid with all the tricks while the lathe is spinning: hand scraping with the lathe off. This completely bypasses one of the contributors to tear out - the tool cutting in the wrong direction for the grain in that place.

    I shape cabinet scrapers with a variety of curves and almost-flats to fit different shapes, sharpen as with flatwood cabinet scrapers, then turn a burr with a carbide burnisher. The three in the foreground are StewMac scrapers, used with no burr, also very useful.

    _scrapers_IMG_7776.jpg

    I almost always take the piece off the lathe and mount in a carving/finishing stand where I can see better and have more control. I have also used them simply holding the piece between my knees while sitting comfortably in a chair.

    I scrap "downhill", either with the grain or at some angle to the grain. It is amazing how quick I can remove tear out, scratches, and ripples.

    _scrapers_IMG_7818.jpg _scrapers_hand_scraping_comp.jpg

    After the scraping I follow with either hand sanding with what I call soft sanding blocks (white erasers) or with a gently operating pneumatic random orbital sander. After scraping, it rarely takes sandpaper coarser than 220 grit, often less. And not much sanding is needed.

    sanding_soft_block.jpg Kristina_IMG_20171212_094320_580-1.jpg

    Just say "no" to power sanding with coarse grits.

    JKJ

  6. #36
    Thank you Reed and John.

    John, would you mind posting a side picture of the negative rake scrappers. I would like to see the angle. And why is one side the top (I assume that is what T stands for)?

    Your second picture is a very pretty picture with the dark background. In the seventh picture, you do not look like I wold expect.

    Thanks,
    David

  7. #37
    Robert - any advice on a good way to level my lathe. I can never seem to get it correct or is it just a matter of the unbalanced wood? Thanks, David

  8. #38
    First step is to level it side to side and front to back. If you are in a garage, and the floor is sloped, one end will be higher in the air. When all is dead level, all 4 feet should be firm on the ground as in grab the ways and give it a good shake. The lathe should not wobble. Next step is to mount an unbalanced piece of wood on the lathe. Them back off slightly on one foot, and it doesn't really matter which one, but I go for one of the front side legs, and back off one foot slightly till it is floating. Next, at slow speed, turn on your lathe, and then adjust speed up till your lathe starts to vibrate. Then adjust that one floating foot down till it contacts the floor again. Tighten it down a little bit until the lathe stops vibrating. Increase the speed slightly to see if the lathe starts to vibrate again. Adjust down a tiny bit again if you need to. I then turn that one food down maybe '5 minutes on the clock degrees' because it seems that when I tighten up the nut on top of that foot it seems to suck that foot up a tiny bit. You may have to repeat a few times to get it as close to perfect as you can. Then add weight to your lathe and/or bolt it to the floor. I do mark out on the floor with a sharpie, where the feet are supposed to be when all is set and done. Even if your floor is dead level, the lathe will walk a bit from spinning unbalanced pieces of wood. It moves more if you are on a sloped floor. This way, you can move the lathe back to where it is supposed to be without having to go through the whole leveling process again.

    robo hippy

  9. #39
    Reed - Thank you. David
    Quote Originally Posted by Reed Gray View Post
    First step is to level it side to side and front to back. If you are in a garage, and the floor is sloped, one end will be higher in the air. When all is dead level, all 4 feet should be firm on the ground as in grab the ways and give it a good shake. The lathe should not wobble. Next step is to mount an unbalanced piece of wood on the lathe. Them back off slightly on one foot, and it doesn't really matter which one, but I go for one of the front side legs, and back off one foot slightly till it is floating. Next, at slow speed, turn on your lathe, and then adjust speed up till your lathe starts to vibrate. Then adjust that one floating foot down till it contacts the floor again. Tighten it down a little bit until the lathe stops vibrating. Increase the speed slightly to see if the lathe starts to vibrate again. Adjust down a tiny bit again if you need to. I then turn that one food down maybe '5 minutes on the clock degrees' because it seems that when I tighten up the nut on top of that foot it seems to suck that foot up a tiny bit. You may have to repeat a few times to get it as close to perfect as you can. Then add weight to your lathe and/or bolt it to the floor. I do mark out on the floor with a sharpie, where the feet are supposed to be when all is set and done. Even if your floor is dead level, the lathe will walk a bit from spinning unbalanced pieces of wood. It moves more if you are on a sloped floor. This way, you can move the lathe back to where it is supposed to be without having to go through the whole leveling process again.

    robo hippy

  10. #40
    When the piece is l9op sided the absolute slowest the better and use the tail stock to help minimize the possibility of the thing working loose from the face plate . I have turned 14 inch pieces on the outboard side of my Delta at 300RPMs and the lathe still waltzed across the floor until I got the high spots knocked off. I saw a video in which the guy used a draw knife to shave off some of the lop sided blank. A large plane may also work to shave the corners.

  11. #41
    thank you for the help

  12. #42
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by David Metzman View Post
    Reed - Thank you. David
    One thing to keep in mind. If you use the tailstock while turning check for alignment of the centers after moving and/or leveling the lathe. Put a drive center with a point in the headstock spindle and put a center with a point in the tailstock. Slide the tailstock up close until it almost touches the drive center point. If the two are not aligned horizontally adjust one of the feet of the lathe until the points line up. The cast iron bed is flexible and will twist easily if not properly supported by all four legs. If you never use the tailstock don't worry about it.

    As for vibration, a friend uses long pipe clamps to fasten his lathe to the walls of his garage. This helps dampen the vibration when turning an out-of-balance piece. It also keeps the lathe from walking around.

  13. #43
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Cambridge Vermont
    Posts
    2,282
    Another thing to remember with out of balanced wood is how long it laid on the ground. If it was just cut the water inside the wood will be spread pretty evenly but over time it will settle to the bottom. Not sure if it's just the top drying out quicker or gravity but when that happens even if the round is perfectly shaped it'll still be out of balance.

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