cultana
31st January 2010, 01:55 AM
Well after a brief intro to a wood lathe this is a few passing thoughts.
There are more but not prntable...
1. When roughing initially wear a face shield. They never tell you about being showered in wood chips.
2. If you wear a shirt do it up at the collar as well. Them little wood chips get everywhere.
3. Do up your shirt pockets else they fill up with wood chips.
4 Even if it looks stupid wear you shirt back to front saves a lot of wood chips down you front, but the number that manage to get down you back increases 10 fold.
(hint: wear a T-shirt under a shirt saves a lot of problems).
5. Never enter the house after doing a bit of lathe work. You may have removed all the wood shavings, dust etc, but they are a sneaky bunch, wood shavings, and still enter the house. You are now in big doo doo!:(
6. What ever speed you think you should be using its going to be wrong.
7. If the lathe has a tool try below the bed, don’t put anything there you want quickly. Its going to be buried in wood shaving fast so you won’t find what you want.:doh:
8 If you have a lathe with variable cones for speed changes don’t look in the instructions to see how to change the belt when it breaks as that is not part of the instruction manual. It is in the guess and god section that did not include. :no:
9. You are always told to have your chisels sharp. But if you cut your finger just touching the now sharp chisel its too dam sharp. :oo:
10. New chisels sets are bound to be blunt even if you think they are sharp. Also the factory grind is probably way off.
11. Because every one says it difficult to use there is some mystique about the skew chisel so its going to scare the crap out of you. And it will. It always digs in just as you think you are doing great.
When I got my lathe and finally sharpened the chisels I just used the roughing gouge and the skew chisels. I did some nice coves and beads and with almost no probs. Then someone suggested I should use that thin gouge chisel to do these. Now I can’t do coves or beads, just a set of nasty gouges..:o
There are more but not prntable...
1. When roughing initially wear a face shield. They never tell you about being showered in wood chips.
2. If you wear a shirt do it up at the collar as well. Them little wood chips get everywhere.
3. Do up your shirt pockets else they fill up with wood chips.
4 Even if it looks stupid wear you shirt back to front saves a lot of wood chips down you front, but the number that manage to get down you back increases 10 fold.
(hint: wear a T-shirt under a shirt saves a lot of problems).
5. Never enter the house after doing a bit of lathe work. You may have removed all the wood shavings, dust etc, but they are a sneaky bunch, wood shavings, and still enter the house. You are now in big doo doo!:(
6. What ever speed you think you should be using its going to be wrong.
7. If the lathe has a tool try below the bed, don’t put anything there you want quickly. Its going to be buried in wood shaving fast so you won’t find what you want.:doh:
8 If you have a lathe with variable cones for speed changes don’t look in the instructions to see how to change the belt when it breaks as that is not part of the instruction manual. It is in the guess and god section that did not include. :no:
9. You are always told to have your chisels sharp. But if you cut your finger just touching the now sharp chisel its too dam sharp. :oo:
10. New chisels sets are bound to be blunt even if you think they are sharp. Also the factory grind is probably way off.
11. Because every one says it difficult to use there is some mystique about the skew chisel so its going to scare the crap out of you. And it will. It always digs in just as you think you are doing great.
When I got my lathe and finally sharpened the chisels I just used the roughing gouge and the skew chisels. I did some nice coves and beads and with almost no probs. Then someone suggested I should use that thin gouge chisel to do these. Now I can’t do coves or beads, just a set of nasty gouges..:o