Thread: Minature turning

Welcome to the club, Macca. Hope you enjoy miniature turning.
There are a vast number of websites out there. Just Search in Google or whatever on subject Woodturning Miniatures, Miniature Vases, etc. along those lines. Expect to get a few sites back that refer to horses and poodles!! Ebay also has miniature items available for sale that are a good source of inspiration.
The best book I have come across so far is Turning Miniatures in Wood (der!) by John Sainsbury. It is available in soft cover and I paid $34 for mine. You may be able to borrow it from your local library. ISBN 0-946819-05-X. It has heaps of how-to pics and information.
I have a variety of small turning tools. A set of Henry Taylor Diamic and I also use some woodcarving tools and jigsaw blades filed down and handled for use as parting tools. But most of all I use a skew chisel which came with the Henry Taylor set. There is also a set available from Carbatec by Hamlet of England. They are slightly finer than my Henry Taylor set. Once again, check out the Internet for that.
As for the lathe size - I have a Carbatec Mini Lathe which I adore and is space saving but friends use their normal size lathes for turning miniatures with no difficulty at all.
Hope this helps.
Barbara

Tools
But end of old drills held in a pin vice (up to 3 mm), ground as required.
Power hack saw blades, ground to various shapes.

Lathe VL300

Dave

Conventional tools can be used for much of the outside turning, it is the inside work that really requires the smaller tools, try masonry nails which can be shaped for most tools, I have also used the tang end of small chainsaw files, but-end of drills (as DavidG suggests) and old dental probes (fantastic if you can get hold of some.

Contrary to popular belief there is no special talent needed other than a good pair of eyes, a deft hand and some small tools. It is very simple and if done right very impressive. I once turned a set of 6 wine glasses 5mm high in less than 15 minutes these were placed on a turned tray with a wine bottle and sat atop a pedestal the whole piece from the bottom of the pedestal to the top of the bottle stood 30mm high and took no more than 1 hour to make. It was a rush job for an exhibition and won 1st prize.

Believe it or not the whole thing was blown off a lathe bed and into shavings with a freak gust of wind and all but the pedestal were lost for ever.

Heard of a guy who put a Warren Helshler miniature under his tongue when he was having an angina attack on the way home from a demo. He had put the tiny goblet in his pill box for safe keeping. If you work with the micro miniatures like the ones I described above, be prepared to lose more than you make. They can disappear into thin air in a trice.

Cheers - Neil

Thanks to you all for the info. Sounds great and I will certainly be giving it a go.

It looks like half the fun is in making your own tools out of what ever.

I wonder if a well made miniature will stop an angina attack.
:confused:

Thanks
Macca

Forgot to add.

3.5 power magnifying glasses, on top of ordinary glasses.

For those of us who are visually challenged,(such as me.) Get yourselves a set of magnifying lenses mounted on a headband. These can be obtained for only a few dollars from shops that sell dress material etc. I think Spotlight have them. Get your missus to buy them if you are to embarrassed to be seen going in to those establishments!

You can turn small stuff on a big lathe. but you can't turn big stuff on a little one!

Macca

I guess if the miniature goblets were filled with some Scotch, at least the guy will go out with a better taste in his mouth than going out on his TNT pills.

Cya
Joe

Macca,

I've just completed my first miniature - a 2cm high goblet made from the left-over bit of tool handle.

Cost so far:
1) $1.70 for Jarrah paling from Bunnings
2) $8.00-ish for a pack of concrete nails.
3) some time.

So far I've made a mini-skew, a 3-point tool, and a sorta-scraper.
The trick is getting the rest close to the work - too much overhang and the tools chatter madly.

Cheers,
Andrew

Pin Vice

This one is holding a 3mm drill with several smaller drills shown.
Great for hollowing. The pin vice and drills are used for electronics and can be obtained from Dick Smiths or any such outlet.

The pin vice will hold any round shaft from 3mm down to nothing including pins and needles. It has two sets of double ended jaws.
Gives you that much more grip on the little tools.

Only have as much of the tool exposed as required. This reduces the chatter.

Cut the head off a pin and grind a flat on the shaft and you have a real mini scraper.

Dave

Dave. Thanks for that. A picture is certainly worth a thousand words.

Joe. Might take a little more than a miniature of Scotch.

Cheers
Macca


PS. made a 15mm goblet today using a ground down drill inserted into makeshift handle. Not too bad.

I have already learned it only takes a fairy's fart to destoy what ever you might be trying to make. It seems I may have found a use for all that decorative fire wood I have produced.

Cheers

Originally Posted by macca2

As a change from turning the usual plates, peppermills, bud vases etc I am toying with the idea of trying my hand at minature turning.

Does anyone know of a web site or any books on this subject.

What special small tools would I need to buy.

Any advice from those that know would be greatly appreciated.

And finally do you need a small lathe to do small turning. I currently own a Woodfast 280.

Cheers
Macca

Hi Macca, You may like to try , "Woodturning in Minature" by Ian & Nina Wilkie ISBN 1-86126 - 471 - 2. This book covers all aspects of minature turning including Lathe and tool selection with a comprehensive section on chucks for minature work. There is an abundance of projects and exercises covering jewellery,pens, lace bobbins, and dolls house turning to name a few. Cheers johnc

Good quality Allen wrenches bent to the needed angle, sharpened, and mounted in a homemade wood handle make very good hollowing tools for minis.