Thread: What's the best wood types?

G`day have you tried to cut both ways. Sometimes you get tearout because you are cutting towards the wrong end of the timber. As for timbers Jarrah Red Gum Gidgee Tas oak Osage Orange just too name a few ,will all be good for the hair sticks.
Mick

Pretty much just practice I'm afraid. The skew needs a delicate touch. Have you tried a spindle gouge instead?

Also, is the wood cut with the grain? If it's cut across the grain, you'll have many more problems with blowouts. I don't think for plain straight wood that trying to stabilise with CA or anything else will really help. The CL should be pretty stable. Red cedar is a fairly soft wood, I'd try something else if you want to turn that thin.

Russell.

Hi.

Try using Red Ebony (Cooktown Ironwood). I use it for the hair stick that I make.

RE is very hard, very heavy and extremely strong. It also polishes up very nice and smooth.

Send me a PM with you address and I can send you some sample/off cuts that you could turn into hair pins.

RE is so strong you could turn it down to 2 - 3mm in diameter.

Make sure you don't breath the stuff in, its very bad for your health.

Timberbits.

Both Camphor Laurel and Red Cedar, being soft, take a nice finish from being scraped.

Just make sure there's a fresh burr on the scraper - as with any other tool, keep it sharp! - and keep the scraper pointing down. ie. Don't try to use it in a slicing action like a gouge or skew.

As Russell said I don't think CA would make much difference as neither wood is really that soft or difficult to turn... practice will be the better solution. (And becoming familiar with the 80 grit gouge in the meantime. )

Skew - I haven't used a scraper yet... Do I have one? What do they look like?



I had forgotten about Osage Orange - I turned it once (I think I got a bit at the woodshow) and it was lovely! I wonder if I could get it in the right size.

I have a lovely list of wood to go look for now, don't I?

Scrapers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes... but the most common are a long flat bar, sorta like a skew chisel, except instead of a tapered, pointy end they're either cut square across or have a gently rounded end.

Also, the bevels are usually steeper than on any other tool.

The 1st pic shows the variety of shape they can have (top view) although when rolled on their side (2nd pic) you can see they all have about the same bevel angle.

You'll also notice they tend to be fairly short. And that the two right hand ones are bent... that's from using 'em with almost the whole length hanging over the toolrest. Those two I use a LOT! (I like scrapers... people poo-poo 'em as 'beginner's tools" but there are definitely times and situations where no other tool will do the job as well!)

The 3rd pic shows how they're used. Unlike other tools, they're used point down, handle up. The point should be cutting below the centre-line of the wood (bevel side down... you do not bevel rub with scrapers!) and the tool-rest slightly above. This means that it cannot catch or dig in - which is partly why they're often used by beginner's. (And are denigrated as such by some people who should know better! )

Oh, yeah... in the photo I exaggerated the tool angle by about twice as much as I'd normally use it, but the wood dictates what the "correct" angle is. When it cuts fastest and smoothest, it's right.

OK. I have a scaper. It's a big one and rounded.

So I point it down onto the wood, the sharp bit of the scraper against the wood, bevel NOT touching the wood at all. Opposite to every other tool I use?

Asking for confirmation because that's just weird

I'll try it tomorrow, lathe is packed away for the night, and my legs are killing me from standing on them.

Any reason we can't sit down to turn?

Originally Posted by ElizaLeahy

OK. I have a scaper. It's a big one and rounded.

So I point it down onto the wood, the sharp bit of the scraper against the wood, bevel NOT touching the wood at all. Opposite to every other tool I use?

Asking for confirmation because that's just weird

That's it! When you sharpen the bevel, there's a little wiry ridge of metal formed on the top edge. It's this "hook" that does most of the cutting. A scraper will still cut (well... scrape) without that hook, but not as cleanly. With soft woods and a sharp scraper you can still make some really lovely curlies.

I'll try it tomorrow, lathe is packed away for the night, and my legs are killing me from standing on them.

Any reason we can't sit down to turn?

None at all, provided you set it up for comfort. I sit at my li'l Leda - the same as your JET but a different badge - and have no problems whatsoever.

Some people say it's not a good idea 'cos you can't duck out of the way of UFOs when turning larger pieces, but I've found that when disaster happens it's over so quickly you don't know until you're hit by the shrapnel anyway!

How quick you can duck after the event is irrelevant.

I made a sit down bench, perfectly capable of standing. I use mostly shorter tools you do not need two foot long handles for pens. My bench is heavy welded steel, the lathe is heavy duty as well.The brown box has a variable speed control in it the motor is on the bench and behind. The bearing press on the right is for pressing pens. I dont sit under the bench rather at the bench.

I was having a chuckle you must be younger than my eldest daughter whose high school class was the last of the imperial and the first of the metric taught.

A very convenient skew shisel is 25 mm wide and one I use continually is only half or less than that.

The timber sizes you use for your hair sticks remind me of the rough timber sizes used by makers of lace bobbins perhaps you could touch base with some of those makers for supplies and techniques they employ.

Have success Peter.

Originally Posted by Penpal

I made a sit down bench, perfectly capable of standing. I use mostly shorter tools you do not need two foot long handles for pens. My bench is heavy welded steel, the lathe is heavy duty as well.The brown box has a variable speed control in it the motor is on the bench and behind. The bearing press on the right is for pressing pens. I dont sit under the bench rather at the bench.

I was having a chuckle you must be younger than my eldest daughter whose high school class was the last of the imperial and the first of the metric taught.

A very convenient skew shisel is 25 mm wide and one I use continually is only half or less than that.

The timber sizes you use for your hair sticks remind me of the rough timber sizes used by makers of lace bobbins perhaps you could touch base with some of those makers for supplies and techniques they employ.

Have success Peter.

You have so many CHISELS!

I broke my hip when I was 28 and they won't do a replacement because I'm too young. Because I've spent the last 18 years standing with the weight on my left hip (the unbroken one) now that one is damaged too. I can stand for about 20 minutes, then I need to go sit down.

Lace bobbins - exactly!!!!!!! Good thinking! Why isn't there a thread for lace bobbin making?

Your workshop is so full - how do you clean up all the sawdust so nicely?

Originally Posted by Penpal

The timber sizes you use for your hair sticks remind me of the rough timber sizes used by makers of lace bobbins perhaps you could touch base with some of those makers for supplies and techniques they employ.

The blanks she wants are a bit longer than a typical bobbin blank though. More like a one-and-a-halfer, by the time you allow for losses at the ends.

Otherwise I'd have offered some of mine...

Nip out to Bunnies and buy some of their tomato stakes and cut to desired length - they are invariably some type of aussie hardwood
Another option is to get on well with the local flooring contractor and get the offcuts - there is some very nice timber used for floors - You'll need to slice it down to about 20mm on a bandsaw or tablesaw
Also ravlord13 often gives away his offcuts as penblanks etc (maybe he'll cut them to 6" or so, if you're nice), He's in Tassie and has had huon, blackwood etc. PM him.

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

Nip out to Bunnies and buy some of their tomato stakes and cut to desired length - they are invariably some type of aussie hardwood

Really? WOW! I have some of them in my yard!!! (runs out to get them)

Originally Posted by ElizaLeahy

I'm not making pens, but it's similar. I'm cutting down to approximately 4mm over a lenght of 6 inches. (yes, I'm aware that I mix up my measurements, comes from going to school right at the time we turned metric!)

They are hair sticks, I need a smooth finish so that it won't snag hair.

Problem I'm having with campher laurel and red cedar is that I get chips dug out with the skew chisel. Yes, I need practice, but is there anything else that would help with these softer woods? (Hey, maybe I could soak them in superglue first?

Maybe chopsticks would work hehe, you can get some wood hardener from mitre 10 and soak your softer woods in that as well . you don't say what size you are ending up with at each end ,you said to 4 mm , but not from what size, I am presuming a taper ?
So many ways to go you will find something that works for you ,have fun