Thread: Woodturning for lefties

I am right handed and seem to be able to use the gouges both hands.I was shown this in lessons.The best way is to go to a club and give it a try.You have all to gain and nothing to lose.

G,day Rocky,
I'm a leftie woodturner & haven't had any problems with normal ( right handed ) lathe & tool usage. Just about all turning tools work in either hand without any hassles. I am able to use the tools in either hand & do actually change from one hand to the other whilst turning. ( Leave that one alone fellas & gals!! ) In regards to position, it is a matter of finding the correct stance in relation to what you are turning & being able to transfer your weight from one foot to the other easily as you move about your turning.
I'd definitely go to a local turning group & try a bit of turning first. I'm pretty certain that there'd be at least one "southpaw" there who could give you the good oil on turning left handed.
Hope that this is of some help to you Rocky.
Regards,
Barry.

I don't see that it matters much.
The wood turns toward you over the top, that doesn't change.
Between centres it won't make a blind bit of difference.
You would probably want to go outboard for bowls or may be step round the other side.
There are some who recommend learning all operations on both hands anyway.
Many operations are quite physicaly complex, not natural, use both hands and completely learned.
I'm learning & trying to be proficient both hands. I find various tasks equialy difficult in each hand but differently difficult.
I sugest it would be best to forget you are anything handed when it comes to the lathe & learn that way.
It would put you in a strong position.
cheers

While I doubt I'll ever become proficient (or even any good). My turning instructor showed me both as I'm a lefty. It doesn't matter and I now use both hands (no comments either please)


GC

Rocky
I am like Woodb Woody, and if you never turned before you will see that you can learn to turn with both hands.

If you do not succeed, I must say the only difficulty is to make deep hollow shapes. I have seen that with the leftist students I had.
In this case, the difficulty is already less if you have a swivel head

Or even better... if your lathe can tun “Backward”. Many brand offer this possibility. The only important thing is to safely secure the chuck on the head as it will unscrew when you put your effort on the wood. You do not want to turn flying saucers... do you?

Hi

I'm left handed but able to use both on the lathe. I find that I turn bowls right handed (mostly) and left handed between centres. The only thing that is difficult to do left handed is hollowing a bowl/ hollowing boxes. A few months ago we had JF Escoulen here, who is left handed and he manages really well and claims that there are advantages to being left handed and turning. When parting off using your left hand you can catch the piece in your right without turning in knots, right handed you have to reach around the headstock with the left hand to do the same thing.

I think it is worth putting in the effort to learn with both hands, left handers are rarely as left handed as right handers are right handed. At least nobody will belt your knukles with a ruler for trying. One word of caution, if you do get instruction make sure it is with a teacher that has some patience and flexibility, some can't and that makes teaching left handers difficult.

Well guys I just stand on the other side for all my bowl work(hollowing)and on the outside in the normal way see my web
www.esarmiento.250x.com
go to shop and see for your self

As a new turner it is very important to learn to use both hands. There a lot of times where you will need to switch hands. You can adapt by contorting your body and stay a left or a righty but if you learn to be ambedextrous, it can be a pain in the **** to learn but well worth it.

Originally Posted by Rocky

G'day evryone

I was at the Perth wood show last week and was impressed with the woodturning display. So much so that I thought that I might take a crack at it by looking into a woodturning club and go from there.
An afterthought was, are the wood lathes adaptable to left handers with things spinning in the one direction and the positioning of the rest on one side etc.

I've (and probably evry other lefthander) have had to put up with right hand tools for years with sanders blowing dust in your face, circular saws cut line on the wrong side, hand held grinding wheels spinning in wrong direction etc etc.

Can anyone help with this please. I don't want to spend money on something I can't use.

Many thanks
Rocky

Hello Rocky,
I only saw your post, and replies today, many years after it was posted. I hope your all still members ?
I am lefthanded too and having read the replies from members have to say that I don't think anyone can give a proper view on lefthanded woodturning unless they are completely left handed themselves. Being ambidextrios is great but I am not and am completely left handed..It is not just a case of 'trying' to be right handed, thats impossible for me anyway, as there is much more involved in it than that.
I need to have my left side against the lathe body and my left hand over the bed in order to function at all. I also need to have the lathe turning in reverse (clockwise)
Also the headstock must be able to swing anti-clockwise, so as the have the spindle turned inwards towards me and not away from me, which most lathe's do not. If it doesnt turn towards me then its impossible to reach the work across the lathe bed. !
I have tried all kinds of lathe configerations - standing on both sides of the lathe, reversing the motor, swivelling the headstock, etc,etc, but none of it was the real answer. I believe the only real answer is a lathe designed and produced for left handed turners. ! The suggestion of standing on the opposite side of the lathe is dangerous. In that position the tuner does not have fast access to the controls and power on/off switch etc.If he needs to power off fast he cannot do it from the other side of the lathe. !

I bow to the superior knowledge and experience of long time turners but unless they have put themselves into our situation (working left handed) for a lengthy period of time and examined every aspect of it I do not think they can really give us any advise. ?

I am also left handed, writing, bowling, batting etc. But like others who have posted I have learned to turn with both hands. You will need this skill if you work on longer pieces unless you have lots of elbow room in your turning space.

I sympathise Laragh, living in a right handed world has its difficulties. I have made a deliberate effort over a lot of years (Im 53) to become more ambidextrous. It can be done. Brain training exercises like cross crawling, juggling, drawing right handed etc are very useful. You will end up with abilities that mere right handers dont have.

When/if you get a lathe, it migh tbe worth considering one on which the headstock swivels because it would probably be much more comfortable for a leftie for internal turning. It is actually more comfortable for anyone making bowls.

Hi Rockey

Seems most of us wood turners are lefties any way its eiser for us to do something right handed than is the righties to do some thing lefthanded good luck with your turning.
Yes Lefties sometimes look odd even to us lefties ,last week I had a fellow lefty needing some help it took a while to work his action out but we got there.

Cheers Tony

Originally Posted by Sebastiaan56

I am also left handed, writing, bowling, batting etc. But like others who have posted I have learned to turn with both hands. You will need this skill if you work on longer pieces unless you have lots of elbow room in your turning space.

I sympathise Laragh, living in a right handed world has its difficulties. I have made a deliberate effort over a lot of years (Im 53) to become more ambidextrous. It can be done. Brain training exercises like cross crawling, juggling, drawing right handed etc are very useful. You will end up with abilities that mere right handers dont have.

Hi Sebastian,
Many thanks for your help. Like me your a true Lefty . I accept your advice and will try to 'reorganise' the brain but at my age 76. thats likely to be a small problem !
Anyway I'll give it a bash. !

Originally Posted by oldiephred

When/if you get a lathe, it migh tbe worth considering one on which the headstock swivels because it would probably be much more comfortable for a leftie for internal turning. It is actually more comfortable for anyone making bowls.

Hello Oldiephred,
I have a lathe. A 'scheppach' DMS900. A great lathe too. It has a swivelling headstock but for me it swivels the wrong way !