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Caveman
3rd March 2006, 07:44 PM
Been lurking for a wee bit since discovering this board and having just joined the forum, thought it would be rude not to introduce myself

I hail from the opposite side of the Indian Ocean and have been turning for about a year now – mostly interested in turning utility bowls at the moment. I use an old Record Coronet No. 1 lathe handed down to me by my old man, that so far seems to handle anything I’ve attached to it. We have a lot of indigenous trees with beautiful timber and the usual exotics (indigenous to Oz) that will be familiar to you all such as grevillia, casuarina and eucalypts, which I particularly enjoy rescuing from firewood piles. I am currently rough turning a large batch of acacia that I had to fell to make way for a small dam

I’m continually amazed by the amount of useful and interesting info on this site and recommend that any newcomer make use of the search function before posting questions to avoid repetition as a huge number of subjects have been covered in detail in past threads.

The camaraderie and banter between regular members makes the forum all the more interesting.

Cheers for now,
Andy

ozwinner
3rd March 2006, 07:55 PM
Welcome to the mad house Andy.

Al :)

Wood Butcher
3rd March 2006, 08:05 PM
Welcome Andy, Great to see that you finally decided to join!

Andy Mac
3rd March 2006, 08:14 PM
Welcome Caveman Andy!:D
Please post some pics of your setup, and work too, then we're not strangers!

Cheers,

NewLou
3rd March 2006, 08:31 PM
Welcome Caveman

A big Gidday to YA! :D

Just jump in and make a big splash! look foward to seeing some posts from you!!!

REgards Lou:)

Auld Bassoon
3rd March 2006, 08:52 PM
Been lurking for a wee bit since discovering this board and having just joined the forum, thought it would be rude not to introduce myself

I hail from the opposite side of the Indian Ocean and have been turning for about a year now – mostly interested in turning utility bowls at the moment. I use an old Record Coronet No. 1 lathe handed down to me by my old man, that so far seems to handle anything I’ve attached to it. We have a lot of indigenous trees with beautiful timber and the usual exotics (indigenous to Oz) that will be familiar to you all such as grevillia, casuarina and eucalypts, which I particularly enjoy rescuing from firewood piles. I am currently rough turning a large batch of acacia that I had to fell to make way for a small dam

I’m continually amazed by the amount of useful and interesting info on this site and recommend that any newcomer make use of the search function before posting questions to avoid repetition as a huge number of subjects have been covered in detail in past threads.

The camaraderie and banter between regular members makes the forum all the more interesting.

Cheers for now,
Andy

G'day Andy, and welcome to the Aussie nuthousehttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon7.gif

It would be good if you could show us some photos of where you are and of the things that you make http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon7.gif

Cheers!

Ian007
3rd March 2006, 09:31 PM
Hello Andy and welcome,

I will be jumping on google earth in just a minute to see where your at.
I hope you were out the front giving us a wave when they took your pic:o

I hope to see some of your pics soon

Cheers Ian:)

Groggy
3rd March 2006, 10:19 PM
You seem to be pretty much in the middle of Kenya.

My atlas shows you on the western face of a north/south ridge, one range from a large river. It seems very remote, I guess you take what timber you want?

RETIRED
4th March 2006, 12:15 AM
Nice try Groggy.;) :rolleyes: :D

Clinton1
4th March 2006, 09:27 AM
G'day champ, other than the woodworking, its always interesting to see the diverse opinions from the wide range of people that use this forum..... looking forward to seeing yours.

Groggy
4th March 2006, 09:52 AM
Nice try Groggy.;) :rolleyes: :DYou have a suspicious mind Mr - how would I ever get my ute over there? (Anyone?)

;)

Nuggett
4th March 2006, 11:56 AM
Hi Caveman.
Good luck. With being so remote, how do you get supplies sandpaper finishes tools equipment etc? Must be a truly beautiful place your in. Do you have your own shed?Or is your workshop part of the house.

Look forward to reading your posts.

Best Wishes Nuggett:)

ThePope
4th March 2006, 12:10 PM
G'day Caveman
is this where you are or did I get the lat/long's screwed up.

Caveman
5th March 2006, 12:42 AM
Hi all,
Thanks for the welcome!

Groggy - that tribe you mentioned seems to have disappeared;) haven't bumped into them for some time! Trees have to be really looked after here or they'll end up as charcoal pretty quick.

Nugget - Tools and supplies etc are pretty much none existant over here (or at least the ones needed for turning) so have to burden friends or rellies whenever someone is going overseas to R.S.A. or UK.
Have just finished building a shed and moved in a few weeks back.

ThePope - yup that's right!

Have attached a some of photo's (hope I did it right - still learning to 'drive' this at this place) of few bowls and one of my shed (all made from recycled material - but does the job).
I struggle with internet connections at times (despite broadband), due to power cuts etc so I tend to disappear for a couple days now and again.

Once again cheers for the welcome,
Andy

TTIT
5th March 2006, 12:59 AM
Welcome aboard Caveman! You can sit back and read this forum for months but sooner or later you just have to join and put in your 2 bobs worth eh! Some nice looking bowls you've finished there! What wood is the fourth one with the black layer below the sapwood? very effective:D

hughie
5th March 2006, 04:04 PM
Jambo Mzee,

Nice to hear from East Africa. Like the look of the bowl pics, great timber to work with.Nice effort:) :) :) :)
Tools I make allot of mine myself.. mainly cos I can, but in your case it could well be a necessity. Allot of the makers of the various hollow form tools will sell the cutters separately, allowing you to make your own handles

http://turningtools.co.uk/ashleyiles/turntols/turntols1/turntols-pages/ringtool.html

http://www.shop.woodcut-tools.com/product.php?xProd=89&xSec=21

If your handy around the workshop with files, welders etc it wont be too difficult. Also have access to some mild steel flat and round bar and so on.
can send some pics of my efforts if it will help
hughie

Caveman
6th March 2006, 02:47 AM
TTIT - the 4th bowl is from African olive - very closely related to the European olive (eating olive) - a very hard slow growing wood but gives a lovely finish.

Hughie - Jambo, habari yako? Been out here before? Picked up a wee bit of the lingo?
Thanks for the links - interesting tools.
A few ideas on tools would be of great assistance. One has to be fairly self sufficient round here so it shouldn't be a problem to make up a few things. Have made a couple of scrapers out of old vehicle leaf springs - work pretty good but don't seem to hold an edge too long. Not sure if they are a good material to use??? Any experience?
Have managed to get a wee selection of HSS tools from overseas but it never hurts to add to ones armoury.:)

Cheers,
Andy

hughie
6th March 2006, 01:14 PM
Caveman.

Hi, Yeah, I spent some time in Mombasa and Lamu in the 70's. Most of the lingo has gone with the passage of time.
Tools; see if you can get near a machine shop and pick up some of their used Tungsten tips, or ask if you get buy some of the their round HHS stock. Maybe it wont be cheap but 8mm or 10mm dia stock will come in roughly 100mm lengths, this stuff makes good tools, if they have M2 variety all the better, but what ever is available will be do. Old 10,12 inch files also will make good tools. Just don't hang the file out too far over the tool rest they will break/shatter. I have copied the two set ups on the links I sent, along with Rolly Munro set up as well. Make all my own handles the lot. I will have to send the pics later, darn digi camera has a flat battery.
You should be able to re harden and temper the springs to a much harder level that what is common as leaf springs. Do you have access to oxy/acet or lpg gas? You can use sump oil for the quenching bath.[10 Litres should do ]
Heat the spring steel up to a bright red and let it cool slowly-in this state it should be soft Then form/shape/grind/bash the tool, reheat to cherry red and quench in the oil. It now should be damn hard. clean the surface to a bright finish. Reheat the tool [slowly] from the handle end up toward the tip. Try and keep the colour no darker than light brown, say peanut butter. Leave the last couple of inches with no colour change as this is the cutting end, then quench again and sharpen.This is rough and ready but see how you go
huhgie

Caveman
6th March 2006, 07:32 PM
Do you have access to oxy/acet or lpg gas? You can use sump oil for the quenching bath.[10 Litres should do ]
Heat the spring steel up to a bright red and let it cool slowly-in this state it should be soft Then form/shape/grind/bash the tool, reheat to cherry red and quench in the oil. It now should be damn hard. clean the surface to a bright finish. Reheat the tool [slowly] from the handle end up toward the tip. Try and keep the colour no darker than light brown, say peanut butter. Leave the last couple of inches with no colour change as this is the cutting end, then quench again and sharpen.This is rough and ready but see how you go
huhgie

Hughie, thanks for the advice/info - have access to oxy/acet set.
Would the same process apply to knife making???
Will give it try, when I get the chance:) . Will also try to see what the local metal engineering duka's have.

hughie
7th March 2006, 12:54 AM
Caveman,
Yeah pretty well the same as knife making. If you have an old hand chaff cutter the steel in that makes good knives, or an old [big] circular saw blade ain't to bad either and spring steel is just fine.Files can be softened right up so you can bend em easy. You probably could produce a gouge that way, but grind off the file teeth prior to forging as it will take a a lot more work to hammer it smooth
From the local Eng dukas you should be able to get round bar, flat etc. See if they have a ''cold saw'' as opposed to vertical of horizontal metal cutting band saws. The ''cold saws'' use HSS steel for the circular blades and shatter easily. The broken bits make good scrapers, you just mount them on a flat bar. To get a hole in them you might have to blow a small hole with oxy cutting torch -- real small tip, or punch a hole in it with the arc welder.
hughie

Andy Mac
7th March 2006, 09:03 AM
I agree with reusing files to make basic turning tools, although I haven't tried making a gouge!...here's a link to some I posted a while back: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=21865
If you're interested Caveman, I also posted some pics of whittling knives I made, somewhere in the Homemade tools & jigs forum. They were made from old leaf springs, as Hughie says, can be tempered harder.
BTW thanks for the shots of your turned bowls, very nice timbers, and your workshop.:)

Cheers,

hughie
7th March 2006, 11:08 AM
Andy,
Nice looking set of turning tools, put mine to shame. I have made knives out of 'em, But just use the files for scrapers don't do any heat treating, never had one shatter but I am mindful that it could happen, never heard of one shattering either.
hughie

Caveman
8th March 2006, 03:08 AM
Andy Mac - nice tools. Will do a search for your knives in the tools n jigs forum - thanks for that.

Hughie - have several old, large circular saw blades lying around somewhere. Will dig them up and see what we can do. Thanks for all the earler info, look forward to trying to put some of it to good use:) .