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Paul39
2nd September 2009, 11:24 AM
My usual store had a bin full of close out items. I picked up a little half round tool to make melon balls and three hollow handled sponge holders that you put soap into and wash dishes. 49 cents apiece.

Today I had a piece of spalted grapefruit tree on the lathe with a bunch of grooves and some tear out on the inside that showed up after I started sanding.

I did a quick swipe with the grinder on the melon baller to thin the edge and rubbed it with 220 grit sandpaper to put a wire edge on the inside. I used it like a cabinet scraper and also turned it so that it would slice rather than scrape.

It sliced tissue paper thin shavings and scraped fine powder, made the inside of the vase a nice curve and quite smooth. Then the spot weld broke and the hemisphere came off the handle. I'll see if I can silver solder it back.

Grabbed one of the soap sponge tools and cut 1cm / 1/2 inch off the corners of the sponge, held a rectangle of 120 grit drywall sanding screen in the turning vase and held it in place with the sponge.

Worked great, no ridges and it had enough give and flex to get down to the bottom of the vase.

I'll glue finer grits of regular sandpaper on the other two.

Texian
2nd September 2009, 03:03 PM
Mother provides the necessity for invention, or something like that. I like the melon ball tool idea. Just need to find one made from HSS.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
2nd September 2009, 05:27 PM
Gun barrels, melon scoops... what's next?

I'd never have thought of trying a melon-baller... :think: but if it does the job, that's what counts. And it certainly sounds like the price was right. :U

skot
2nd September 2009, 11:04 PM
Those melon ballers are not too sturdy...aren't you worried about them snapping and shooting towards your eyeball?

artme
2nd September 2009, 11:25 PM
Neat idea. but I'd be fearful of th baller breaking.

Paul39
3rd September 2009, 03:08 AM
Gun barrels, melon scoops... what's next?



Same type of scraper made from a junk store stainless steel soup spoon. I am also playing with some 1/2 in. stainless steel shafts from a developing machine. At the rate they devour grinding wheels, I expect they will cut longer than carbon steel before resharpening.

Artme & Skot, as noted in my post, it did break. The end rolled out of the vase and fell to the floor.

I am near sighted and have been wearing glasses for 62 years. They are polycarbonate safety lenses and I put them on to find the floor in the morning, and take them off after I am in bed.

If I am doing anything remotely risky I use a full face visor.

Texian, with the wood I turn, maple, cherry, oak, hemlock, pine, now dry grapefruit and orange, carbon steel with constant sharpening works fine. The grinder is at the end of the lathe & I turn it on and leave it on. I give the tool a swipe on the grinder to start & when it is not cutting well give it a swipe, repeat, etc.

I do have a set of HSS medium sized chisels and one 1/2 in. Crown bowl gouge, but I find I keep using the two big home made bedan type tools, big, heavy, with fat long handles.

One was made into a wood chisel by a blacksmith from a 5/8 in. square file, which I reground and rehandled. The other was made from a 1/2 in square hunk of steel from a junk pile. It had been used as a stake for concrete forms.

I have almost as much fun making tools as I do turning.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
3rd September 2009, 05:10 PM
Same type of scraper made from a junk store stainless steel soup spoon. I am also playing with some 1/2 in. stainless steel shafts from a developing machine. At the rate they devour grinding wheels, I expect they will cut longer than carbon steel before resharpening.

I made a few of my early tools from the steel rods used for rails in dot-matrix printers.

thefixer
3rd September 2009, 05:55 PM
I made a few of my early tools from the steel rods used for rails in dot-matrix printers.


Funny about that. my favorite oland tool is made from the steel rod taken from a toshiba p351 dot matrix. drilled down the middle and and hss cutting tip inserted with grub screws and a nice big spotted gum handle on the other end. It's an awesome bowl roughing tool.

Cheers
Shorty

Paul39
4th September 2009, 10:30 AM
Today I found a stainless steel tablespoon someone had tossed into my yard.

I sharpened it free hand upside down on the grinder to get a burr on the inside and gave it a few swipes on some 220 grit I keep stuck on an old table tennis paddle for touching up tools.

I used it to scrape the inside of an oak bowl that I remounted and finished after a several month rest wrapped in newspaper.

It worked better than the melon baller as it was heavier and one piece. The smaller radius tip got down into the curve from the side to the bottom quite nicely.

I'm using this with the tool rest out of the way, with about as much or less pressure as I use when sanding. It really cuts the high places off and doesn't follow dips like sandpaper. After scraping I started with 150 sandpaper.

I am quite pleased with the way it works. I'm looking forward to hearing from some of you folks who like to play with found steel and grinders.

Ed Reiss
4th September 2009, 11:56 AM
...raid the kitchen for turning tools:o what a concept:;:D