Just a begginer

[Orange]

hi
im just a begginer at woodturning. im only 14 and i have just found out that im slowly getting the hang of. i learnt how to turn wood at school and ever since then i have just been doing it. im just looking for some tips. so if anyone out there has some tips plz give me some thnx oeange

[gatiep]

How about you ask some questions.............much easier on us as then we don't have to think up both a question and an answer...........that'll wipe out the bit of grey matter thats left

[MathewA]

I started out at round the same age as you, I'm 40 now. There isn't much I haven't turned in that time.

In all that time the first thing that comes to mind for someone starting out... Use a face shield for even the smallest turning job - no exceptions, glasses are not enough. After a bit of time you'll get used to it being there.

Be patient with what you are making. When you have made something new, sometimes you get so pleased with yourself that you miss the imperfections in the piece. Don't think you're done until you've walked away from your turning for a day or two and come back to inspect it later. Rub your hand(s) across its surface. It's amazing what you can feel but not see. I still do this; When I make a one off artsy piece I leave it attached to the chuck and I take it back to the house and just handle it for the next day or two while I sit on the couch watching tv.

Practice... Turning is about movement - how you move the tool across a piece of spinning wood. Do it wrong and you have fire wood. Do it right and you have something very pleasing to look at and enjoyable to do. To get your technique working it can be a good idea to remove the distractions from your turning. The biggest distraction can often be the piece you're trying to make. So try turning old scraps of wood. Don't try to actually make something just turn flats, beads and coves until theres nothing left of the wood.

[Orange]

thnx mathew those are some great tips. i will take those into mind. the work you have done on your site is amazing. one day i hope to be able to do that sort of work. maybe if i keep practicing maybe i will one day. so i will just keep practicing ceya

[smidsy]

Where abouts in Perth are you?
If you're south of the river there is a club in Kenwick called Liddlelow Crafts group which has a wood turning club.
They are a great bunch of guys, and aside from you all you will learn it's great to see what others are doing.
Liddlelow is on xmas break atm, but if you're interested pm me and I'll give you the phone number of the boss instructor.

Probably the most valuable thing you need to learn is how to sharpen your chisels, it doesn't matter how much skill you have, if you have blunt chisels your work will be crap.

I also strongly agree with Mathew about safety - a mask may look un-cool but I can tell you from experience that having a doc dig stuff out of your eye with a needle is a hell of a lot less cool than a face mask.

Something else you may want to check out on this forum is the search function - we are more than happy to offer advice and answer questions but if you've got a piece on the lathe and need an instant answer the search function will show you old threads and may give you the instant answer you need.
Cheers
Paul

[Cliff Rogers]

.... im just looking for some tips....

G'day.

Type Woodturning Tips & Tricks into a search engine like google.

I tried it & got 10 pages of links.

[rsser]

http://www.turningtools.co.uk/wtintro/wtintro.html

Good intro; inc some video clips off the homepage.