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lithro
24th November 2016, 04:42 PM
Hey guys,
A couple of months ago i posted a thread about getting a first lathe and those come up a lot. One of the consistent points of advice was that i should go to a club to learn to do it safely and get hints in person. Now im not a clever man, so i ignored this advice after realising that Lalore park is a hell of a hike from me for a saturday morning. But i did watch a number of safety videos and endeavored to read as much as i could before i did anything. There has only be one incident. That was the dovetail on a Western Red Cedar blank splitting the edge out and getting hurled at the wall. A bit of a fright but i was working out of its flight path. I attribute this one to the timber being so soft, and the torque of the motor vs the friction of the tool being to much. A second softwood blank was damaged by overtightening the chuck and that split before i put it on the lathe, i do not have a photo of this.


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These so far have been my only failures.

Onto the successful ones, i will try to post the order in which they have been made.

The first was a piece of Yakka that i got from the rack at Carbatec while getting the lathe. First thing that i turned and im angry that i wasted such nice timber on it now. The shape is unclear from the photo but i did like how something so simple as beeswax just made it shine.
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So keep in mind that was the first thing i had turned over the rounding some spindles.

The next 2 were similar in the amount of skill they displayed but i learnt 2 useful things. The first is the sharpen (and by default australian timbers are a pain in the ass) and the second is as someone said in a thread the 40g gouge.
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So the sharpening technique i am using is a ozito bench grinder with i think a 120g wheel. I use a marker pen to shade the bevel and grind it off in one pass. This seems to be as good as the factory edge for my technique, or thats how it feels.

The next thing i turned is the first that i thought had any elegance. Its a rock maple bowl. After the blackwood and jarrah, well i was amazed they could call it rock. It cut beautifully, it was literally a pleasure to turn. The tactile feeling of that bevel i dont know, i got a little hooked. A couple of things stood out to me, firstly that its a shame that it starts to go the honey colour so quickly and i couldnt preserve the almost white of it being freshly cut. And secondly that the yanks will complain about almost anything.
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The next project was a Walnut bowl (bit of a bowl theme going on here). I got inpatient and lazy here. I didnt thin the walls out as i wanted to, nor did i go through the sanding cycle to get it as smooth as the maple. But i was very happy with the grain and how it looked as a finished bowl.
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Now at this point a couple of things happened. I started looking for a bigger lathe on gumtree and i found one for the right price. Its a carbatec MC900, which the variable speed lathe with the swivel head. I like it, the variable speed makes balancing blanks seem a little safer and it has a bit more grunt. Still not enough that someone like with bad tool usage wont stall the lathe but still enough from the economy mini 0.5 hp that i started with that its a better cut. With this last weekend i turned some of the timber i got from Brett (fencefurniture) and had a lot of fun with it.
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So that is show and tell done, im hoping i can get some questions answered from the brains trust.

First off. Getting larger blanks, where, what and how much? Im in sydney and i have had a look at trend timbers, they seem to tap out at a certain 12 inch size or so. Should i be looking towards very large boards and rounding them on a bandsaw or is it green from here on out?

Secondly, the chuck jaws, once i am over 300mm of diameter will the standard jaws on the Nova G3 become a danger.

Thirdly does Ubeaut have a foodsafe polish or oil for turning?

Last of all, getting better grinding wheels, is it worth it?

Thanks for reading, if you have any suggestions or want to call me a moron go ahead.
Lithro

smiife
24th November 2016, 07:12 PM
Hi lithro,
Well done on all your turnings, this is a very addictive
hobby, and you are already on your 2nd lathe ...:o
In answer to your questions....
Yes....... to all 4 of them!

Paul39
26th November 2016, 03:44 AM
Lithro,

I learned early on that using the chuck in expansion mode gave me the same result you had with the cedar. I now make a spigot and grab it with large jaws. I rarely have a piece flung out of the lathe. When bottom finishing I will sometimes finish the spigot as a foot, sometimes remove the spigot and slightly dish the bottom.

I use a Oneway Stronghold chuck with #3 jaws that grabs 5 1/4 inches and expands into 6 inches on a 20 inch swing Woodfast and 350mm swing Hegner. I have smaller chucks with smaller jaws for weed pots, and little pieces. If you are going to do big bowls with a big base, a big chuck with #3 or #4 jaws will make life easier.

You have gone almost straight up the learning curve. The rock maple piece is lovely. I have found that leaving a piece on the lathe overnight and looking at it in the cold light of dawn improves the design.

Don't get in a hurry to finish a piece, look at it and think about it. Sometimes it takes removing it from the chuck and putting it on a shelf for weeks or months.

For learning timber look in skips at construction sites. If you are patient, start using fresh cut timber from tree trimmers. Do some research about using green owl blanks. Dead trees have almost dry turning timber.

You are well on your way. Welcome to the addiction.

bowl-basher
26th November 2016, 08:47 AM
Be a bit carefull with LARGE blanks on the MC900 as your slowest speed is around 500 and this can be a bit fast on the bigger end of town
This is from experience as I had one of those lathes
enjoy the slippery slope of the wood turning addiction
Regards
Bowl Basher

turnerted
27th November 2016, 03:57 PM
It is going to become an expensive hobby if you only turn dry timber .Follow the sound of chainsaws .Arborists love giving away timber . Turn your bowls over size and wait for them to dry .Get yourself a set of digital scales and finish turning when they stop loosing weight .
Ted

powderpost
27th November 2016, 09:23 PM
Hi Lithro, can I refer you to http://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/clean-continues-209040. It explains how to turn a bowl without a chuck and will help with those softer timbers.

Jim

Allen Neighbors
30th November 2016, 05:26 AM
I love that Rock Maple bowl! All of them look fine to me, but that Rock Maple rocks! And if you're a moron, that makes at least two of us.

I'm really fond of using either a face plate with some real screws and/or a nicely done glue block with good glue on an over size blank. I'm thinking about something to make a 16 - 24 inch (400-600 mm) diameter bowls. Also on anything that has a lot of depth to it.
I also get a lot of wood from arborists. I haven't soaked blanks or roughs for a few years, but I will over the next few months. I let my wood pile get down to the grubs. (gettin' lazier as I get older)
I have an 80 grit wheel that I sharpen most oland bits and scrapers with, and a 120 grit wheel that I use to sharpen bowl gouges and skews. Whatever floats your own boat will work the best for you. It may take a while to get it all figured out. But sharp always beats dull.
I used to use Watco Danish Oil on utility bowls, because it's supposed to be food safe when it's "cured". But I stopped when a lady started smelling the DO after about 2 years. I couldn't believe it. I've got bowls that we've used for over 10 years and never a whiff of odor from them. And when I sold those bowls to that lady, they were probably 6 months cured and had no odor. Anyway, I don't use a finish at all on bowls that are to be used for foodstuffs. I just sand to 400-600 and then buff with EEE and White Diamond and a clean wheel.
You do really good work for a moron:;:U:D, lithro, keep it up.
Al