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View Full Version : Left handers working on the other side of the lathe!!!!!



Kidbee
19th September 2012, 08:24 PM
Today I witnessed someone who is a left hander, turning a bowl while standing on the other side of the lathe. Have never seen that before. Is it common practice for left handers? It must have inherent dangers.

Jonzjob
19th September 2012, 09:14 PM
They would have to have a reverse selector on the motor and if they are using any screw on bits on the head stock, chucks, face plates, etc. then they would have to have a locking screw on the headstock threads to stop the chuck unscrewing. As far as spindle turning is concerned and using a morse taper piece then that wouldn't be a problem at all.

I have a Record CL1 lathe that I have upgraded with a 3ø variable speed motor and I use the reverse occasionally for sanding and I have drilled, tapped and fitted a grub screw for that very reason.

Depending on the lathe it may well be alkward to reach the off switch in a panic?

michael_m
19th September 2012, 10:11 PM
I'm a left-hander, but have taught myself to turn right-handed where it is safer or easier. This includes bowl turning - so no, I stand where most other people stand.

Having said that, I'm just getting into endgrain hollowing, and after trying it right-handed, I found it was easier to control and easier to see standing on the opposite side of the lathe and working left-handed (not sure if it's safer because I can't reach the on-off switch without reaching over the work, but when I've had catches or work leaving the lathe, it naturally goes nowhere near me because I'm on the wrong side of the lathe).

fozz
19th September 2012, 10:17 PM
Being right handed I've taught myself to spindle turn both ways but with bowls its all right handed.

TTIT
19th September 2012, 10:19 PM
I'm a mollie-duker and when I had a 'normal' lathe I used to do a lot of bowl work and hollowing from the back side of it. The only safety issue is reaching for the switch but I just went about it a different way that was safe. There is no need to run the lathe in reverse - all you are doing is getting yourself into a more suitable position to swing the gouge with the precision only a left hander can appreciate (duck & weave!!) :;:U
Now I have the Stubby I work over the end of the bed which is very comfortable and feels more 'natural' than twisting your torso from either side of the lathe :shrug:

Avery
19th September 2012, 10:26 PM
I really don't see that being left or right handed makes any difference.

I am right handed, but I often change hands to suit the cut - I really don't see how you can be a reasonably adept wood turner without the ability to change hands.

I have often, when turning for example small boxes, gone around to the other side of the lathe to get under a concave rim. It is just more comfortable than leaning way over the bed to get the tool at the right angle. I believe others accomplish this by reversing the rotation of the lathe and cut on the other side of the bed- I need to get around to installing a reverse switch (-- makes note in margin --)

As Jonzjob , above , has noted, it might take you away from the stop switch, but then I use a foot switch that I can move to where it is needed.

Scott
19th September 2012, 10:36 PM
I'm a lefty and do whatever suits at the time. Rarely use reverse but when I do, it's for sanding. I mainly turn outboard as well. <troll>I think us lefty's are at an advantage because we can adapt better :D</troll>

Tony Morton
19th September 2012, 10:55 PM
I'm a molly dooke and use the lathe as it was built but for shallow hollow forms I work from the back of the lathe lathe going the normal way.

Cheers Tony

Kidbee
19th September 2012, 11:14 PM
In this case the lathe was running the conventional way and he was hollowing the bowl on the opposite side to where he was standing. Yes he had to walk around the lathe to turn it on and off.

Tony Morton
19th September 2012, 11:30 PM
Hi Kidbee
Yes I need to reach around to turn lathe on or off but i'm in the process of fitting a remote or movable switch.

Cheers Tony

hughie
20th September 2012, 01:09 AM
[ I work over the end of the bed which is very comfortable and feels more 'natural' than twisting your torso from either side of the lathe

I generally have short bed lathes for the same reason, but then I'm a bowl or hollow vessel turner only.


I am right handed, but I often change hands to suit the cut -

Yep that pretty well sums up the way I roll as well.

Paul39
20th September 2012, 03:20 AM
Some years ago after reading in a turning book that one should be able to turn right or left handed, I really worked at holding the tool in my left hand to do the back side of a bowl. I had to make myself think about it.

The other day I picked up a partially finished bowl, decided it was too thick and clunky looking, and needed a bunch taken off the outside.

I mounted it using the spigot on the bottom, grabbed a gouge and proceeded to slice off wood. After several passes I noticed I was holding the gouge in my left hand.

I was pleased to find I could do it without thinking about it.

dr4g0nfly
20th September 2012, 06:00 AM
Like several others I swap the tool to suit the cut - never heard the term 'Molly Dooke' before though (but guess I am one!)

Having said that I understand we do have a left hander in my club who turns from the other side of the lathe, and somewhere in the back of my mind I seem to remember an article in a woodturning magazine (in the 90's) about a particular type of turning in France, where it's how they turn as a norm.

munruben
20th September 2012, 07:37 AM
I remember being told when I started turning that I should be able to use both left and right hand method. I thought at the time, how hard it was going to be to do that but after a bit of practice changing hands when need be, it now comes easy and i don't have to think about it. I'm right handed but adapted to using the left hand on the lathe quite easily. Seems to me it would be dangerous to use the other side of the lathe unless you have a reverse option on the lathe.

soundman
20th September 2012, 12:38 PM
A lot of the right handed V left handed issues are influenced by how dominat handed the individual is and how disadvantaged they are off handed.

I am right handed and am able to do many things left handed, I can swing a hammer pretty well left handed, I wind a threadline fishing reel left handed and I can and do use some lathe tools left handed at times.
BUT some people are so heavily dominat handed they can doo bugger all off handed.

As for bowls.....how much of where we stand is because of convention and not for any good reason or simply because there is a lathe bed in the way of the ideal position redardless of how you are handed.

If there was not a lathe bed in the way, surely the safest and most convienient place is directly in front of the lathe head.

As for standing on the "wrong side" of the lathe for hollowing and working inside........I recon it could actually be safer.... and this is with the lathe rotating in the conventional direction.

Think about it for a minute.....if we are working spindles or outsides of vessels, we are behind the tool and facing the surface being cut.
In the normal way with the head stock to our left, we are in a contorted position trying to access the surface being cut when working inside, so I can see a case for steping over the the dark side of the lathe for either left or right handers...simply for correct tool presentation.

THEN you have the issue of flying objects......becuase lathes conventionally rotate comming over the top toward you, "things" tend to be propelled upward and toward your head, where as on the other side things tend more to be downward and toward your guts.

I'm sure there will be people who insist working on the "other side" is more dangerous by convention, I don't think it can be justified as more dangerous at all.

Hey...take a walk on the wild side...:groove:

cheers

Tony Morton
20th September 2012, 01:56 PM
My reason for working from the back of lathe is tool control ,with a shallow hollow form to turn the inside you need the handle hand at arms length to guide the tool that = little control of tool where as from the back you have line of sight to tool direction and the handle close to the body better control.

Cheers Tony

issatree
20th September 2012, 06:40 PM
Hi All.
Yes, I'm one of the L H / M D, & as previously said " you do adapt ".

One thing that I have always thought;
Is that The Lathe was made for The Left Hander by a Left Hander.
Why :
Simple, we stand in the centre of the Lathe, but the R H's have the Headstock in their way.
But of course it does not worry them.

I have almost always Turned End Grain for Boxes, & the like, & don't have a Twisty Head Lathe, & have never had a problem, doing that.
I'm not a Bowl Turner, but may Turn a Small Nut Bowl now & then.

I not sure about this, but I thought " Mollie Dookers " was a bit of Australian Slang for a Left Handed Boxer.

Scott
20th September 2012, 08:40 PM
Hi All.
Yes, I'm one of the L H / M D, & as previously said " you do adapt ".

One thing that I have always thought;
Is that The Lathe was made for The Left Hander by a Left Hander.
Why :
Simple, we stand in the centre of the Lathe, but the R H's have the Headstock in their way.
But of course it does not worry them.


I'm not sure what you mean here however if the lathe was made by a left-hander then why does the spindle rotate toward you?

BamBam53
20th September 2012, 09:55 PM
I'm not sure what you mean here however if the lathe was made by a left-hander then why does the spindle rotate toward you?

If the spindle rotated away from you wouldn't it be hard to keep the chisel on the tool rest? :rolleyes:

I am left handed and just switch from left to right as I go. Never really thought about my 'handedness' and wood turning until someone bought it up in another thread a while back.

Michael

Scott
20th September 2012, 10:02 PM
If the spindle rotated away from you wouldn't it be hard to keep the chisel on the tool rest? :rolleyes:l

No, it's the same as if the work is rotating towards you. Technically, if you were turning over the bed then if your work was spinning away from you, you get a better view of what your tool is doing. This all cancels out if you turn outboard or have a stubby like TTIT.

RETIRED
20th September 2012, 10:33 PM
Ahem. Bloody hard to cut with the timber rotating away from you. There are those that have tried.:rolleyes:

Scott
20th September 2012, 10:35 PM
Ahem. Bloody hard to cut with the timber rotating away from you. There are those that have tried.:rolleyes:

Oops, should clarify. Inside of bowl/box etc.

Paul39
21st September 2012, 12:53 AM
Ahem. Bloody hard to cut with the timber rotating away from you. There are those that have tried.:rolleyes:

But you would never have a catch with the accursed skew.

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Never cut any timber either.

RETIRED
21st September 2012, 08:04 AM
But you would never have a catch with the accursed skew.

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Never cut any timber either.True.

Jonzjob
22nd September 2012, 07:10 AM
Like several others I swap the tool to suit the cut - never heard the term 'Molly Dooke' before though (but guess I am one!)

Having said that I understand we do have a left hander in my club who turns from the other side of the lathe, and somewhere in the back of my mind I seem to remember an article in a woodturning magazine (in the 90's) about a particular type of turning in France, where it's how they turn as a norm.

As for Molly Duke? Let

(this photo did not add materially to the discussion as oth left and right looked similar - Big Shed)

be your friend?

World Wide Words: Mollydooker (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mol2.htm)

I too use my turning tools both handed and initialy found the skew the most entertaining, but now it's if it's better left handed then that's the way it's done.

soundman
22nd September 2012, 10:56 AM
The inference in "molly dooker"...is boxes like a girl......just typicaly of the insults left handers have to endure...and I think its actually of american origin.

As for left handed or right handed........which IS the dominant hand in wood turning......the front hand or the back one....or is either dominat at all.

It is like the debate in fishing.....which hand dominates, that hand on the rod that you cast with, or the hand on the reel that your wind with.......and that may vary with the type of reel how it is handled and what is being done.

How much of handedness in our lives is an artificial construct and not dictated by hand domination or practical issues.

cheers

dr4g0nfly
22nd September 2012, 05:05 PM
Over here I'm known as 'Kack Handed'.

I am basically Right handed but do some things left handed like eat (I hold my knife and fork the wrong way around).

When being taught to turn 12(ish)years ago, by a grand old gentleman I still greatly admire. He first asked what handed I was and then put the tool in my hands and showed me how to turn like that. An hour or so later, he swapped the tool around and said you might find it easier this way.

He deliberatly started me left handed so that I would develop an ambidextrous turning method/style - for which I still thank him.

soundman
22nd September 2012, 05:37 PM
Mate I sugest you are a surpressed left hander.

There are plenty arround.......a mate of mine was badgered into being right handed from day 1......if the baby picks up the rattle with its left hand take it away and only give it back if it reaches with the right..and so forth....no wonder he was auqard.

Its not so bad for someone who is only mildly dominant, but for someone who is heavily dominant it could be very bad for them.

cheers

Scott
22nd September 2012, 05:40 PM
Mate I sugest you are a surpressed left hander.

There are plenty arround.......a mate of mine was badgered into being right handed from day 1......if the baby picks up the rattle with its left hand take it away and only give it back if it reaches with the right..and so forth....no wonder he was auqard.

Its not so bad for someone who is only mildly dominant, but for someone who is heavily dominant it could be very bad for them.

cheers

When I attended primary school in the late 60's/early 70's, if I started writing with my left hand I was rapped over the knuckles with a ruler and had the writing implement taped to my hand!

Jonzjob
22nd September 2012, 06:45 PM
Until I was 7 apparently I was left handed too, but I fell of a swing, landed on my left elbow and broke it. Since then I have been right handed. Probably the reason that my hand writing is so bad?

4 months back I had a 2 hour partial fusion and scaphoid operation on my right wrist. So I had 3 months of absolutly no use of my right hand, good game, good game!! It meant no workshop in that time and I have to virtually 'tread on eggs' with it now and probably for the next several months too. So just as well I can turn both handed. Same with a glass of red too:cool::cool:

issatree
23rd September 2012, 02:22 AM
Hi Again,
Around 1945-46, I arrived home late, nearly fell over when, sitting with My Parents, was My Teacher.
She had waited till I got home to ask My Parents, if She would be allowed to change Me from Left to be Right Handed.
I can clearly remember My Dad telling her No, Thanks Dad.
I use to go Shooting & I changed to the Right. For most, I am Left, Writing, Turning, Screwdriver, Sanding, Switches, the Remote, Planing, Shovel, Broom, Bandsaw, Football, but Right, Eating, Hammer, Drill, Hand Saw, Axe, Hatchet, Mouse, Cricket, Bowling, Tennis. & so it goes on for either Hand.
So are you Ambidextrous ?

soundman
23rd September 2012, 09:32 AM
Those who are truly ambidexterous are rare indeed, in theory an ambidexterous person should be able to do tasks with equal ease with either hand.

It was claimed that Baden-Powel the father of the scouting movement was ambidexterous, his party trick was to sign his name with both hands symultaniously.

The truth is more like he had taught him self to write and do other things with both hands, this is what he says in his book.

From what we now know, it is quite possible that he was a surpressed left hander.....we may never know for certain.

cheers

dai sensei
23rd September 2012, 01:24 PM
Getting a bit off track, but i too was forced to write right handed for 2 years in primary school, left handers were considered dummies, so I was wrapped over the knuckles if i didn't. After suffering migraines from it, plus the teachers wearing my mother's wrath :2tsup:, I was allowed to turn back to my natural left. I remember back when in school I threw overarm with my right, underarm with my left, but could catch with either. So when i played baseball I played right handed, softball left handed :U

I am very ambidextrous in may ways, so good for woodworking, and any physical working in general. I believe left handers are often ambidextrous, the 3 in my family were.

mick59wests
27th September 2012, 06:28 AM
I believe that left-handers are generally more ambidextrous than right handers as many things are designed for right handers and us lefties have to adapt. Some things I can do both hands (screw-driver, tighten/loosen a nut) but others (drill, scissors, hammer) I can only do left handed.
For bowls, I have a swivel head lathe but have not tried turning in reverse.
cheers
Mick

Jonzjob
27th September 2012, 06:47 AM
It was always a situation when I was in the R.A.F. as an aircraft eleky that you had

2 eyes, no hands

2 hands no eyes

or 1 hand 1 eye

but never 2 hands 2 eyes

when you were trying to fix anything.

And that was on the big transports like Britannias, Comet 2 & 4s, VC10s and Belfasts.

Christ only knows how the guys got on with the fighters, etc?

RETIRED
27th September 2012, 11:14 PM
On this one you can take your pick, LH or RH.:D

Woodworker&#39;s Supply No.1 Wood Lathe.wmv - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjTtpVisjmA&NR=1&feature=endscreen)

DJ’s Timber
27th September 2012, 11:22 PM
On this one you can take your pick, LH or RH.:D

Woodworker's Supply No.1 Wood Lathe.wmv - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjTtpVisjmA&NR=1&feature=endscreen)

No good for me :no: it only goes up to 2000rpm :doh: :q

issatree
28th September 2012, 12:42 AM
Hi All,
I'm with DJ, 3000 RPM. or Nothing.
But, Common Sense does Prevail.
Rather nice Lathe though.

cookie48
28th September 2012, 01:29 AM
I had a finger on my left hand broken by a teacher because I told her to pee off and leave me alone and write with my left hand.
As for the lathe I only use my left hand for pens and spindle work. When doing the inside of a bowl I use my right very easy.
But to add to this subject, I play golf and cricket right handed and tennis left handed, my brother that is right handed is the opposite.
Talk about a funny world.

Paul39
28th September 2012, 01:37 AM
On this one you can take your pick, LH or RH.:D Woodworker&#39;s Supply No.1 Wood Lathe.wmv - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjTtpVisjmA&NR=1&feature=endscreen) Nice lathe, pricing here: Woodworker.com: Woodtek174 No1 Wood Lathe153, Set - 1 Wood Lathe With 18 Inboard Ext (http://www.pro.woodworker.com/no-1-wood-lathe-mssu-961-990.asp) Issatree & DJ, I want to be there when you swing a 36 inch log at 3000 rpm, at a distance on the headstock end.