Thread: Woodturning Accessories for a Beginner

Welcome to the forum . I'me not sure if I understand problem . If the live center , in the upper part of the photo , will fit in the tailstock spindle and the drill chuck you purchased has the same taper , it should also fit in the tailstock . The shape of the end is not important . It does not need anything to lock it in .You may have to wind the tailstock out a bit for it to seat properly .Some lathes have a self ejecting facility that ejects the live center when it is fully wound back and this may be stopping the drill chuck from seating properly .
As for the chuck,you can't go wrong with a vicmarc . I would just buy a VL90 or VL100 with the standard jaws to start off with .If you don't know the spindle size ,take a faceplate or something else that will screw on, to your supplier when you go to buy it to make sure you get the right size .Note that you can now buy Vicmarc chucks with a dedicated M30 3.5 thread which saves you buying an insert and saves you money . M30 3.5 is the most common spindle size in Oz.
Ted

Firstly welcome to the Forum.
One of the most important items that you'll need is a grinder, to be able to sharpen your tools. Depending on the quality of your tools, you'll be sharpening very often, again depending on the wood that you turn.
If your tools are a quality HSS, a white stone I think it's called Aluminium Oxide, someone will correct me if I'm wrong, is the best for your chisels.
Learning to sharpen correctly, is one of the hardest things I found to do. If your tools a SHARP and I mean SHARP, turning will be a breeze, if they're sharp, it make hard work for you.
When I mean SHARP, the cutting edge will have a very small burr, almost impossible to see.
Kryn

Thank you Ted, you hit the nail on the head! Tail stock was fully wound back and stopping it seating! [emoji120]


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A chuck is a great thing to have and I am sure you will get a lot of use out of it but it is not required for handles and other spindle work. Being new I would get used to the tools with spindle work (between centers) to start with before venturing to bowls and stuff with a faceplate or chuck. When you do venture there keep them small to start with. A catch on small diameter work can give you a scare but on large work can be high risk.
Regards
John

Great advice thanks Orraloon


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Thanks Kryn, I have a slow speed aluminium oxide 60grit/120grit bench grinder with Oneway Wolverine jigs on the way to hone my Robert Sorby set.


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Originally Posted by brassjc01

Thanks Kryn, I have a slow speed aluminium oxide 60grit/120grit bench grinder with Oneway Wolverine jigs on the way to hone my Robert Sorby set.

All good. If you are not familiar with sharpening turning tools, a little instruction from an experienced turner would speed the process. Keep in mind that if you get ten turners together, there will be fifteen opinions on how to absolutely BEST!! sharpen anything.

I would use the 120 grit for sharpening and put a piece of 180 or 220 grit on a flat surface to give your skews a final touch up and to keep them up between grindings. Flat surface can be the lathe bed or a piece of medium density fiberboard. Pull the skew toward you going away from the sharp side. Roll up a piece of the same grit and hone the inside of your gouges, going away from the sharp edge. I save my finish sanding papers after they quit aggressively sanding on turnings for honing.

Welcome to the addiction.

If your lathe didn't come with one already - a drive/spur centre is essential for roughing blanks down to useable size in any potential chuck you may buy.

Personally I would buy a Vicmarc or Nova chuck with 50mm jaws. That's the standard included size typically. Smaller additional 35mm or 25mm jaws are good for smaller spindles but you won't know you need them until working with the 50mm jaws (or you might require 65mm, 75 or 100mm jaws).

I used my lathe for awhile in a garage without any dust extraction. Big mistake. Especially with sanding.
Extractors are big, cumbersome and can be expensive (try finding one used) but essential for your health. Really important.

Cheers,
Vaughan

When I was starting out in turning I found some good info and cost saving ideas from this site.
Contents for Around the Woods


Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

When I was starting out in turning I found some good info and cost saving ideas from this site.
Contents for Around the Woods


Regards
John

Wow, great link.

Mick.

Originally Posted by orraloon

A chuck is a great thing to have and I am sure you will get a lot of use out of it but it is not required for handles and other spindle work. Being new I would get used to the tools with spindle work (between centers) to start with before venturing to bowls and stuff with a faceplate or chuck. When you do venture there keep them small to start with. A catch on small diameter work can give you a scare but on large work can be high risk.

"Faceplate or chuck." Very good choice of words.

Yep. If you have a faceplate do some research on making jam chucks. Faceplates have been around for a loooong time, whilst chucks are a relatively recent addition to the turners arsenal.

There may be some who disagree with me but I believe that anything that can be turned in a chuck can be turned in a faceplate/jam chuck. (With a helluva lot lower starting cost.) The reverse, however, is not true; there are definitely items that cannot be mounted in a chuck, yet can be held in a jam chuck.

A chuck is a convenience. Nothing more. Unless production speed is your goal, it's not "needed" for any turning. Put it towards the bottom of your list, underneath calipers, better tools and - perhaps - a few hours with an old school turner who'll take you through at least the basics. Including how to safely make a jam chuck.

Don't get me wrong. Chucks are very, very nice bits of kit.

But too many modern turners depend on them, restricting both their skill set and the creativity of shapes/forms that they can actually turn...

(Shall I get off my soapbox now? )

I have been using a slow speed grinder with the Oneway Wolverine/Varigrind since 2000. It works a treat. Two bits of advice about using it, for the sweptback bowl gouges choose one position and lock the jig, don't try to use various positions as you usually can't get them 100% repeatable. So lock the jig in one position and use that. When you get more experience then try different angles if your current one doesn't do what you want it to do.
Secondly I found the long pocket arm far too long so made a short one ( about 300/ 350 mm long) which is great for bowl goiges doesn't stick out for miles behind the grinder.

Richard

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

"Faceplate or chuck." Very good choice of words.

Yep. If you have a faceplate do some research on making jam chucks. Faceplates have been around for a loooong time, whilst chucks are a relatively recent addition to the turners arsenal.

There may be some who disagree with me but I believe that anything that can be turned in a chuck can be turned in a faceplate/jam chuck. (With a helluva lot lower starting cost.) The reverse, however, is not true; there are definitely items that cannot be mounted in a chuck, yet can be held in a jam chuck.

A chuck is a convenience. Nothing more. Unless production speed is your goal, it's not "needed" for any turning. Put it towards the bottom of your list, underneath calipers, better tools and - perhaps - a few hours with an old school turner who'll take you through at least the basics. Including how to safely make a jam chuck.

Don't get me wrong. Chucks are very, very nice bits of kit.

But too many modern turners depend on them, restricting both their skill set and the creativity of shapes/forms that they can actually turn...

(Shall I get off my soapbox now? )

Gotta agree with Skew on this. There is a vast array of holding methods for mounting work on a lathe and its well worth trying at least some of it. The info is all out there for those who want to look. I aint chucking my chuck away but I do remember the time before I had one.
Regards
John

Very good advice from Orraloon and Skew. A quick look at Around The Woods shows lots of good information.