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Hardenfast
31st March 2007, 07:17 PM
Evening gents.

I've only had my new Leady lathe for a couple of weeks and my lathe experience is exactly that length as well. I've spent that time practising on hills & hollows etc and just generally getting the feel of the tools and different timbers & speeds etc.

Anyway, I was finding it a little tiresome to spin a square piece of timber down to a nice even diameter over it's full length. It was around 750mm long, and although it was nice & soft (Maranti) I was thinking that there must be an easier way to do this than running a chisel all the way along it & keep checking it. I'm sure you guys will set me straight with this and all advice is welcome, but my 2 weeks of intermittent practice and my 10 months or so of checking this site hadn't mentioned the following (I don't think?).

So, I grabbed my Stanley #4 1/2 which was handy and nice & sharp, set the Leady to slow and away I went.

Presto! :o

By holding the smoother at around 30-40 degrees to the piece I could work along the length of it quite nicely and it very quickly eliminated all those little bumps & hollows. I tried it again with a new square piece but it was not so successful. It's much better to "rough round" it with the chisel and then apply the smoother. The 4 1/2 is nice and chunky so it sits and handles comfortably on the piece - I didn't even bother removing the tool rest.

I'm sure this is not startling news to the learned assemblage here, but nobody had mentioned this little tip before. Maybe it's some type of sacrilege? A merging of the dark side with the forces of power?

Any info or comments on this activity or other methods of quickly & accurately rounding off would be much appreciated.

Wood Butcher
31st March 2007, 07:33 PM
I've used it before to make tapered pegs. I got the job roughly right then used the plane exactly as you mentioned to even out the bumps. Nowadays my technique with a skew chisel is substantially better so I just go straight for it now.

China
31st March 2007, 09:30 PM
Take the time to learn how to use a roughing gouge and skew chisle it will blow anything you can do with a hand plane out of the water

RETIRED
31st March 2007, 09:35 PM
I agree with China but on one particular job we had to use a plane on the lathe as well. Bloody slow way of doing it though.

buzzby
31st March 2007, 10:16 PM
Sounds like somthing to try but I must also agree with China only to add useing chisels gives more control on wut you are turning I should think . But I promis to give it a go and will post my thoughts:o

Skew ChiDAMN!!
31st March 2007, 10:28 PM
I agree with China but on one particular job we had to use a plane on the lathe as well. Bloody slow way of doing it though.

Care to elaborate, ?

I can't see any situation where using a plane could give better results than a properly used skew. After all, aren't they both basically the same device 'cept one has built-in guides whereas the other is just the bare blade?

So this has piqued my curiosity... :D (Always willing to learn new methods, particularly if they suggest types of jobs I should avoid! :wink:)

RETIRED
31st March 2007, 10:34 PM
We had to turn 9' long grass bars (they go on big hay harvesters) that were an inch in diam from Rock Maple. The stuff was that curly in the grain that a skew just ripped it out. A gouge didn't do much better. A scraper was useless because of load and whip, but a hand plane with a travelling steady worked.

Later on we found it was easier to machine them octagonal and sand them without putting a chisel near them.:D There is always a way.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
31st March 2007, 11:25 PM
Ahhh...

(Mental note to self: turn down any jobs involving 9' long grass bars. Give 'em 's phone no. instead. :D)

Cliff Rogers
31st March 2007, 11:27 PM
...Later on we found it was easier to machine them octagonal and sand them without putting a chisel near them.:D There is always a way.
Have you ever had to resort to the 80grit gouge on an angle grinder. :wink: :D
Works a treat on raintree if you don't push too hard.
(If you push too hard, the edge of the 80grit burns.) :p

Hickory
1st April 2007, 03:37 AM
Care to elaborate, ?

I can't see any situation where using a plane could give better results than a properly used skew. After all, aren't they both basically the same device 'cept one has built-in guides whereas the other is just the bare blade?

So this has piqued my curiosity... :D (Always willing to learn new methods, particularly if they suggest types of jobs I should avoid! :wink:)


I agree, you are using the plane to (Basicly) hold a "Skew" edge a given distance from the wood eliminating any grab or jerky movement, etc. Learning to master a good skew technique and smooth the edge of your tool rest would be a better and safer method to smooth tapers.

I vote to learn to use the skew rather than get your tools into situations they were not designed to handle. I forsee a broken plane in the mix.

jchappo
1st April 2007, 08:10 AM
We had to turn 9' long grass bars (they go on big hay harvesters) that were an inch in diam from Rock Maple. The stuff was that curly in the grain that a skew just ripped it out. A gouge didn't do much better. A scraper was useless because of load and whip, but a hand plane with a travelling steady worked.

Later on we found it was easier to machine them octagonal and sand them without putting a chisel near them.:D There is always a way.

Would you recommend a Lie-Nielsen or an HNT Gordon ??:)

WillyInBris
1st April 2007, 08:59 AM
Have you ever had to resort to the 80grit gouge on an angle grinder. :wink: :D
:p

Used the 80 Grit Gouge the other day :oo: and I thought I was doing something new.

RETIRED
1st April 2007, 09:15 AM
Have you ever had to resort to the 80grit gouge on an angle grinder. :wink: :D
Works a treat on raintree if you don't push too hard.
(If you push too hard, the edge of the 80grit burns.) :pFrequently on most big stuff. Then down to #120. Finesse.:wink: :D

RETIRED
1st April 2007, 09:16 AM
Would you recommend a Lie-Nielsen or an HNT Gordon ??:)Was a Record actually.:wink:

docusk
1st April 2007, 09:31 AM
OK. Put me out of my misery.
What's an 80 grit gouge then?

docusk

(dumb & dumber.)

Cliff Rogers
1st April 2007, 10:11 AM
80 Grit sanding disk on an angle grinder.... don't push too hard. :2tsup:

docusk
2nd April 2007, 10:13 AM
Oh. Gotcha, I have a Tormek grinding wotsit and it does all that stuff. I'm a bit leery of angle grinders, fixed or not!

docusk

Cliff Rogers
2nd April 2007, 06:49 PM
Oh. Gotcha, I have a Tormek grinding wotsit and it does all that stuff. I'm a bit leery of angle grinders, fixed or not!
...

Ummmm... I don't think you do 'gotme' yet... :-
You don't use the angle grinder with an 80grit disk instead of a Tormek for sharpening.... :no:
You use it to remove wood while shaping your turning instead of the gouge,:D that is why it is called an '80grit gouge.' :2tsup:

joe greiner
2nd April 2007, 10:06 PM
I think I've seen Nawm (Abrams, New Yankee Workshop) use a plane on the lathe. Might be OK for occasional use when necessary, but for extensive cutting, the skew is a whole lot easier to sharpen. Most hand cutters aren't designed for heavy duty use under power. Consider that we often cut several hundred metres (more or less) between sharpenings.

Joe

rodent
3rd April 2007, 12:32 AM
Jessie's dad uses a belt sander on sheild sized platters then got poo hooed for doing it (his comment was how else am I going too sand it )?

Frank&Earnest
4th April 2007, 12:25 AM
Accepted that the skew is the better technique (makes sense in terms of stability of the tool), would the width of the chisel make a difference? If larger chisel = smoother cut, would a "plane blade size" chisel be practical? And, by extension, on repetitive jobs with flat sections, would it be effective, within practicality limits, to make a straight scraper the size of the section to allow a less skilled turner to achieve a perfect result?

Cheers
Frank

Skew ChiDAMN!!
4th April 2007, 01:42 AM
Accepted that the skew is the better technique (makes sense in terms of stability of the tool), would the width of the chisel make a difference? If larger chisel = smoother cut, would a "plane blade size" chisel be practical?

No. Because a skew is used with one edge on the tool-rest, a wider skew means you can work further up the blade, away from the support... which means even the slightest loss of control and you're in trouble. It's a major part of why people are wary of skews. :shrug: Narrower skews are "safer" to use. Mind you, as the diameter of the workpiece increases, the wider the skew that can be used safely 'cos it has a larger contact area with the work.

A hand-plane has the support of the sole, preventing such a catch.

Simple to show the difference, although I probably don't describe it well. :rolleyes:


And, by extension, on repetitive jobs with flat sections, would it be effective, within practicality limits, to make a straight scraper the size of the section to allow a less skilled turner to achieve a perfect result?

Effective? Yes. Doesn't teach you much about the art of turning, but it's one way of getting repeatable results. Or you can profile the blade and for, say, a set of chair legs, and use it the same way. :D I've done that a time or two, myself. :- Whatever gets the job done... (I'm not an arty-farty "technique is all that matters" type, obviously. :p)

It usually involves a lot more sanding than when cut with a gouge or skew, as scraping typically tears the grain. (Unless you shear scrape, in which case you can't use such a profiled tool anyway.)

Frank&Earnest
4th April 2007, 05:10 PM
Thanks Skew - clear, concise and comprehensive... 3 Cs like a diamond!:D
Cheers
Frank