Turing a non addiction..

[cultana]

I can see woodturning and I are not going to be good friends.:(

I have just finished doing 2 chair legs. Ok also a couple of test pieces so SWMBO could decide what she wanted.
OK all very simple to you lot I know.

Well everything went well turned the leg part round left the square bit as requested and then ...
Now the leg has a small straight cylinder section at the top below the seat section followed by a taper to the foot.
The cylindrical section is simple, convex turn from square to round, small flat section, cove, bead, and cove. Last cove leads direct to taper.

Now somewhere/someone said square to round use spindle gouge and you get either convex or concave depending.
Like hell. All I got was concave. No way was that gouge going to do a convex curve.

Well now for the coves and the one bead. By this time I had given up on that spindle thingy and did a bead nice and smooth with the nice skew. Then I started on the coves with that gouge thing. After a few, (lots and lots),words of obscenity I finally had them done.

Now that taper. Well that in theory should be simple. Again going back to past references, of somewhere/someone said, using spindle gouge and cutting down hill I should be able to get a reasonable taper. Yes you may have guess, lots of odd unmentionable words. Well luckily it was rough and not to the full depth. Ended up using that skew again to do this. The taper has 2 small groves, bit bigger than a basic V cut and 2 small beads, yep, skew again.

Now that spindle gouge, well that thing and I are not seeing eye to gouge at all. :C

As for coves and beads I do follow all that about how it is supposed to work, but that is not what my gouge is doing.
I had some mysterious concept the spindle gouge was simpler to use than the skew. What went wrong here?

I think I might just go back to flat faces timber it is more approachable. The timber does not argue and the tools behave.
I could use the lathe as a big sanding machine. Interesting idea.:2tsup:

[Ozkaban]

Sounds fun :rolleyes:

Seriously though, there is a fair bit of technique required to do what you've described. This would only come through practice and tuition. There are (more than) a couple of good books on the subject... I've hear it suggested that you shouldn't even plan on making stuff for the first 50 or so hours of practice -and that just making coves and beads. Pretty reasonable advice.

Once you're happy with technique (the skew and I still disagree on how to do beads :B ), then making stuff and it is dramatically more enjoyable.

Oh, and trying to make stuff the same isn't a beginner exercise either. I have tried a couple of small items and they look ok so long as they aren't next to each other. I wouldn't try table legs at this point...

Cheers,
Dave

[cultana]

Well all the various little exercises and practises I have been doing over the past have all gone well. Nice transitions from square to round, concave and convex. No hassle there at all. Coves and beads with the spindle gouge no big deal all worked nicely and in the correct place and depth/height, same with the skew. The taper was a bit tricky initially but that finally went well in all my little exercise. I also managed to knock off some interesting oval turnings, nothing silly but nice clean shapes. Interesting idea as chair legs with a slight taper.

Before even starting to turn the final legs I did about 10mins of turning practice just as a refresher.
The legs were 58 x 58 mm and made from 5 pieces, 2 outer, light pink, 2 light red middle and a centre of pine. From the front you see the 5 leading edges, on the side you get the three colours due to the coves and taper.
As far as the finished chair legs goes one has a V grove 1mm out in comparison to the other, I got the wrong side of the mark I had in place. The rest is Ok.
Also the other all important criteria, SWMBO is happy with them.

The real big glitch is the convex that went concave. Possibly a little issue and since both have the same it is a small matter, but to me it is a huge issue.

So as all exercise and pre run refresher all went well, the final piece and that square to round bit really hissed me.

As for doing beads with the skew is there a correct way, (short side vs long side arguments), or were your referring to both the skew and gouge and methods?
I have only come across one method with the gouge and 2 options with the skew. The skew options seem to have, well differences of opinion.

[Ozkaban]

Cool. Didn't realise you've done all that practice. I was referring to rolling beads with the short point of the skew. I usually practice them a bit then revert back to a detail gouge 'cos I'm lazy!

Yeah, things do tend to go pear shaped when working on the final product. Especially when there's a lot riding on it. All you can do is keep turning and keep practising.

Cheers,
Dave

[cultana]

Yep I have a big box of practice pieces all with nice beads and coves tapers etc. I have no idea what to do with them besides throwing them at neighbor's shed when he will not turn up his 60's music.

The only thing I can think of for the problem I hit is either the piece was not turning fast enough, the wood on the outer side just would not catch properly with the gouge, or worse it was ground badly. :~ No I did not do the grinding on that and I am somewhat unhappy with its general behavior and performance. It could be the bevel is too steep. Anyway something I may look at later.
Lathe is on back burner for a while, though I may end up making a nice big sander plate mounted on the faceplate.

[Ed Reiss]

what...no pics? :?

[cultana]

what...no pics? :?

Nope!! When it is finished. I will post it then and you can haggle then.

I am arguing with the back rest, nice piece of light gray maranti 320 x 800 x 6 mm. It's getting bent and seems to dislike the process for some reason.

[tea lady]

:C Its a bit like playing pool. For some reason pocketting the black ball is so much harder than just a coloured one. :doh: Ya just gotta keep your nerve and don't let 'em see the fear in your eyes.:D

(:?Nice mirantti? Weird. :think: )

[cultana]

(:?Nice mirantti? Weird. :think: )

Bad day OK! :D
bent the sheet and tomorrow it gets bent more..:)

[cultana]

:rotfl:
Well just add to my running entertainment I have discovered that the live centre in the tail stock not only has a bit of latitude of movement along its axis. but it has a bit of free movement perpendicular to the centre's axis. :roflmao:
I am so pleased it only took 2 1/2 months for this to occur..::

Ed Reiss:
Almost finished gluing the frame so I will post a few pics of that and the trial legs.. :rofl:
So you get the pics early :)

Still working on the seat and back rest.:(

[tea lady]

:rotfl:
Well just add to my running entertainment I have discovered that the live centre in the tail stock not only has a bit of latitude of movement along its axis. but it has a bit of free movement perpendicular to the centre's axis. :roflmao:
I am so pleased it only took 2 1/2 months for this to occur..::

:think: That would make things a little on the tricky side. :rolleyes:

[cultana]

Not wrong.
It explains a bit of the 'chatter' I got doing the work. That chatter ended up in the work and had to be sanded out.

What with all the little issues with this particular lathe its just another negative.

Well I just have to look at the limited "funny side" to this and plod on. :U (:~)

[Ed Reiss]

Ed Reiss:
Almost finished gluing the frame so I will post a few pics of that and the trial legs.. :rofl:
So you get the pics early :)
.

anxiously awaiting :roll::no::D:D:D

[cultana]

It is not what I would call a great piece of work as it is really a bunch of compromises. :( I started this with the intent of rectangular legs each of 3 pieces, similar to the back legs.

The front legs were to be approx 40 x 40 and below the seat have a slight front and back taper. This got blown with the concept of being turned as the turned legs were considered too thin. Hence they had to be enlarged to 60 x 60 below the seat section.
The back legs would be approx 40 x 60 and also have the slight front back taper. But having the front legs enlarged threw out the balance of the chair. So they have stayed at roughly 45 x 65.
All this has thrown out the balance I had with arm rests which had been already made and also the original back rest construction.

As it is this is one piece I hoped it might accidently fall off the bench into a bunch of irreparable pieces.:D

This has been one of those nasty cases of because you have a specific piece of equipment (wood turning variety for those with corrupt minds:D), to do a particular job you have to use it. :doh:
Heck I have had routers in my shed for years and never used them. So I have problems dealing with the need to use the lathe because it is there.
There is a vice in the shed somewhere as well, might find it again one day as well.

[jimbur]

:C Its a bit like playing pool. For some reason pocketting the black ball is so much harder than just a coloured one. :doh: Ya just gotta keep your nerve and don't let 'em see the fear in your eyes.:D

Great comparison. I've always found it's harder to pocket straight in line than at an angle. It does apply to turning when I think about it.:U
Cheers,
Jim

[Ed Reiss]

Well, cultana, like the old saying goes...no pain - no gain.

Looks pretty good so far :2tsup:

[Ozkaban]

Looks nice mate - not a bad result, really!


So I have problems dealing with the need to use the lathe because it is there.

Ahh, that's what pens are for :cool:

[cultana]

no pain - no gain
I remember something more along the line of beef and grief.. It is the deliverable grief from a specific direction I am trying to dodge here.:D


Ah! pens yes I remember them, had some funny stuff in them called ink and used a nib. I had one but SWMBO insisted my hand writing was so bad it detracted from using a real pen.