Is Campher To Soft For Lace Bobbins

[Dick11au]

G-day All,i Need Some Advice On Turning Camphor, I Have Been Trying To Turn Some Lace Bobbins Using Camphor,am I Wasting My Time With It . Is It To Soft To Be Used For Bobbins, I Get Down To Diameter Of About 6mm Lengh Only About 150mm And I Cant Stop It Braking As It Whips To Much Between Centres.
Been Using Huon Pine And That Works Out Fine.
Wife Likes The Smell ,should I Keep Her Happy And Make The Shavings Dick

[RETIRED]

If you are not snapping Huon, you shouldn't be snapping Camphor.

Try backing off the tailstock a little to ease the strain on the timber.

[BANNED]

G-day All,i Need Some Advice On Turning Camphor, I Have Been Trying To Turn Some Lace Bobbins Using Camphor,am I Wasting My Time With It . Is It To Soft To Be Used For Bobbins, I Get Down To Diameter Of About 6mm Lengh Only About 150mm And I Cant Stop It Braking As It Whips To Much Between Centres.
Been Using Huon Pine And That Works Out Fine.
Wife Likes The Smell ,should I Keep Her Happy And Make The Shavings Dick

Absolutely Dick,
I'm a Pine species fan, in more than one way. Nothing beats to keep the wife happy, than with a simple smell of "pinusmaximus":wink:.

Cheers
GV

[Alastair]

Hi Dick,

Wot sed!

In addition, look at supporting the bobbin at the point where you are turning, using fingers from your left hand, This will give you finer control, and also prevent the bobbin deflecting from the tool while cutting.

To try to describe in words what I do:

Hold gouge (skew) in right hand, reasonably near ferrule, with length of handle steadied by forearm. Thumb of left hand on top of gouge an inch or so from the cutting edge. Forefinger (and middle?) extend over bobbin, and curled down and under, at point you are cutting. Left wrist might also be supported on toolrest.

hope this helps

[Gil Jones]

Dick,
You could make a string steady rest to keep a 6mm stick in line. Camphor should be strong enough for a bobbin.

[Dick11au]

G/day All,Ref Camphor
And thanks for your advice i will take this in hand.:2tsup: .When I have made a blank (12mmx12mmx150mm) I find that it is very easy to snap it by hand before I start to turn it ,as against the huon pine,The camphor also does look porous right from the beginning.I had 7 break one after the other, will have to do a few more in Huon Pine to get my confidence up again.
Will be cheeky and ask you all another question.Does anybody know where i can get some brass powder and resin so i can mix it, and fill the holes in a banksia nut,( in the South Australia area) . Have a laugh at this, would oxide colouring mixed with builders Bog be any use for that. been around the hardware places in the area but they don,t seem to know about the brass powder (me neither):?

[reeves]

yeah Camphor is pretty light and not too strong so yeah it could break easy. The darker grainy stuff is harder and might hold up better.

The woods i have found that turn well thin, for stuff like crochet hooks and bobbins are

tassie myrtle
Tassie blackwood
qld maple
NG stripped ebony
nice dry sheaok
SI rosewood

I use some needle nose jaws and a 'modified' aluminimum center with a nice point, keep the speed up, chisels sharp and back off on the center cos of its pressure, when the piece starts to flex too much its time to just sand.

I find myrtle the best for the small stuff cost of its nice tight grain and strength.the diospyrous genus (any ebony is also really good..).I used to make crochet hooks down to 4 mm but now only do 7mm cos its just too fiddly

[Black Ned]

If you can snap the blank by hand - maybe the blank has been cut in the wrong direction. ie grain