Thread: Conkeberry Bamboo RollerBall

Nice one Amos. I will send you a ground tool that will improve your wood finishing on a metal lathe But you have produced a beauty with this effort indeed. I am still playing a bit with tools for wood on the metal lathe ,Greg (plantaginon) might be able to say how his is going as he has one of my grinds, hard woods work best for fine finishes ,less tearing ,but on acrylics I go from the metal lathe to micromesh the finish is that good off the lathe . I am trying to set up an even finer feed than the lathe gearing allows ,and when that is done can have variable speeds and variable feeds ,that should make life a little easier Cheers ~ John

Wow!
I mean WOW...
Sweet all the way around, blank, kit and finish all go great together like it was designed for each other.
Amos, I use a Grizzly G4000 engine lathe almost exclusively, with carbide inserts in a tool bar instead of tool steel cutters, leaves such little tool marks that sanding to finish status is done in a minute or less.
Well over several thousand hours on it, sawdust makes little impact to it, after all, it is designed to have lube oil on cutting stock and metal shavings all over it to begin with, all bearings are sealed, so no jamming issues.
You can do almost everything on it, from roughing to finish to threading, and as a added bonus, I have not bought a bushing set in ages, just make up my own as needed!

Amos that is one outstanding pen, perfect match with kit & timber, fit & finish spot on once again outstanding.

Just had a thought horses for courses my lathe ie the Hercus top speed is not very fast the very best finish on all timbers using a metal lathe was a mate of mine using a topline German Lathe at very fast speeds certainly I can never use Carbide inserts at my comparative low speeds.

What I will do is get my old mate who reached near perfection on his metal lathes years ago, is a tradesman Machinist to draw me some diagrams how he ground HS Steel tools to acheive his.

Taig Lathes made special bits and pieces for a famous lady turner many moons ago the lathes were sold by her for pens etc.

Constant testing and lots of reading can overcome all problems however solving is never simple.

Another mate of mine made from scratch a Fairground Organ from scratch with percussion, organ pipes for all the notes plus plus the sound quality is superb, he built this in his lounge room cut the windows out fitted french windows to enable him to take the unit out, bring it back on his own. He is DLI registered Welder self taught, made several scale model steam tractors and a steam boat with his Dad on the farm at 12 yrs of age made a steam engine Locomotive, has a fleet of Jaguar cars builds and repairs all engines. Why do I say these things well some people are naturals if you like. Information given on this forum and others can be like a searchlight for some or a burden.

Truly using a metal lathe for anything can be exciting, on this very overall forum under metal lathe we have some real experts. On this penmaking also many machinist tradesman in wood and metal.

To illustrate my point please find another mate of mines workmanship using a very old metal lathe to turn these bud vases, he never used a lathe before making these perhaps he too has the Elixer using his methods.



Kind regards Peter.Bud Vases 1775x1624 [640x480].JPG

Thanks for all the feedback, my late father in law expertly used an old metal lathe that ran via pulleys, and he expertly made many fine parts for clocks!! there are kitless metal pens, threading etc to do, so I am greatly encouraged to learn and do better.Amos