Red gum

**bowl-basher** · 9th March 2009, 07:52 PM

Hi All
My Brother decided that he was going to build a "Small" pedestal table with a single peice of red gum as the pedestal,,,, and would I turn it for him ....... sure....

the lump started out 170 x 170 x 520 he wanted a natural square on the bottom then just turned to a waist of 80mm and back up to 150 at the top..sounds simple

The red gum I think must have been about 50 years old and as dry and as hard as a bit of wood could be.I thought the poor old MC90. was going to have a heart attack when I got it mounted between centers.. started with a sharp roughing gouge and had to sharpen twice just to rough it down, got it finished

then showed the brother how to sand on the lathe and enjoyed a few of HIS stubbies while he swallowed a lot of red dust he seemed happy with the result......... I will post a pic of the finished item (if he ever sends me one)
Bowl Basher

**Skew ChiDAMN!!** · 9th March 2009, 08:24 PM

Looks like there may've been some nice figure in there?

Sounds like a good time was had by all involved.

**weisyboy** · 9th March 2009, 08:29 PM

good job.

i would have taken the corners off with teh chainsaw (or electric planer)to reduce teh thumping. how slow did you start at?

**bowl-basher** · 9th March 2009, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by weisyboy

good job.

i would have taken the corners off with teh chainsaw (or electric planer)to reduce teh thumping. how slow did you start at?

As low as she would go .........

not to bad on the thump the hardest part was to get a square part on the end of the 60mm tenon with the parting tool
BB

**Calm** · 9th March 2009, 09:01 PM

I would have gone as fast as i could without the lathe vibrating too much. Be brave

The faster the better the tools cut.

Cheers

**weisyboy** · 9th March 2009, 09:06 PM

And how slow is that?

**Calm** · 9th March 2009, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by weisyboy

And how slow is that?

Well with a reeves pulley setup ( i think that's what he has) you keep going up one step at a time until is rattles then back off one. I would think with 170 x170 spinning on centres 1000 should be possible, that would make the tools work much better. I think a square peice on centres should be fairly well balanced- you might even get 1500 out of it.

Cheers

**weisyboy** · 9th March 2009, 09:15 PM

you must be better at getting the center than me

**Calm** · 9th March 2009, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by weisyboy

you must be better at getting the center than me

How hard is it to put 2 lines from corner to corner then put the point of the centre where the lines meet/intersect

**Ed Reiss** · 10th March 2009, 12:14 AM

.....looking forward to a pic of the finished product.

**Ad de Crom** · 10th March 2009, 02:23 AM

Graham, when I look to the pictures, I think this red gum creates a lot of dust, isn't it.
I'm curious to see the finished product.
Ad

**Rum Pig** · 10th March 2009, 08:56 AM

Nice lump of wood, looking forward to seeing the end result.
Good job so far

**Jim Carroll** · 10th March 2009, 12:17 PM

Agree with David on this if you had that running at the 500rpm minimum then you are making hard work out of it.

Like our mate tim the toolman more speed 1200 upwards would have made the job a lot easier and less sanding.

**Rum Pig** · 10th March 2009, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Carroll

Agree with David on this if you had that running at the 500rpm minimum then you are making hard work out of it.

Like our mate tim the toolman more speed 1200 upwards would have made the job a lot easier and less sanding.

First let me say you have a lot more experience than me and I respect your opinion greatly.
But the way I have been taught and understand (I may be wrong so feel free to correct me) is you turn as fast as you fell safe i.e lathe/bench/turner capabilities. If the piece is out of balance you start slow but as fast as you can and as the piece become more balanced you increase the speed.
I hope this is correct. As I said before I respect your experience I just wish to find out if I'm doing things the hard way or not
Sorry if this had deviated from the original thread.

**bobsreturn2003** · 10th March 2009, 03:14 PM

its true that turning fast is easier cutting. but you have to make sure the piece stays put between centres . as it will give you a nasty injury if it hits you . and the faster you turn the more force required to hold in place , and the harder it is to keep a small lathe in place . think you did a great job ,and working slower and safer is the way for some of us cheers bob

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