Living in a rural community woodworrking access woodworoing a free green waste dump, means plenty of free wood. Lathe work Learning how to make a dibble…. The post represents the center axis of the turning bowl blank, and each path represents the speed of rotation at the center of the bowl compared to the outer rim. Half-laps by Hand and Machine. However, with metal, I was starting to realize I could typically buy the woodworking turning table equation product for less than I was spending on just the materials.

When you are turning a bowl using a four-jaw chuck, however, it is important to have a good strategy for forming the tenon that will be inserted into…. Once you know how to create bowl blanks from logs, turning bowls from fresh cut timber is one of the most satisfying aspects woodworking.

The material is abundant and cheap and every project is inherent unique due to the unpredictability of what treasure lies inside of each log. Even the preparatory process of how to…. You can turn just about anything that is round on a lathe, within the length and diameter constraints of your machine.

But when you turn a spindle to a long, thin shape, you will invariably encounter the work piece beginning to vibrate under pressure from your lathe chisel. Paper joints provide a great way to fasten sacrificial or dummy boards to the back of a bowl blank. There a number of benefits. The dummy board provides a place you can drive screws from the faceplate, without having to put the screws directly in the bowl.

That means no screw holes in the bottom…. One of the best parts of bowl turning is finding chunks of unusual wood that you can turn into amazing bowls. In this case, George was given a huge piece of red oak burl.

In this video he explores the burl wood, and walks you through how he changes the huge chunk of wood into…. But like anything worthwhile, there is some setup involved before the real fun can begin. With Woodworking Projects Without A Table Saw System woodturning one of the key steps is to get your work piece mounted securely on the lathe. The scale on the machine was no Best Woodworking Table Saws Jacket longer valid. I decided to figure something out, so during my convalescence I researched spindle tachometer. I found one that uses a small magnet on the turning spindle that is read by a sensor and displays RPM on a digital read out.

So how fast had I been going when things went South? Now that I have a functional tachometer I feel safe again. Also, no need to sand that fast, be sure to check out my sanding article too. All the best to you and be safe, Kent. Hi Loren or Ken, I am not sure to whom this email will go. I have a Teknatool I would like to convert to a variable speed lathe. Electric motors are a mystery to me and I could use some advice.

Can this lathe be converted? Any help would be appreciated. Kind regards Leo. Kent, As usual, I learned some valuable information from your article. If anyone mentions starting Bowl turning I would direct them to your site,. I am fully addicted, having turned over 20 bowls so far. I find myself at the office or before going to sleep, mentally turning bowls lol. Thanks Tex. I fully agree with this article and understand centrifugal force physics background. However, I have noticed problems for personality types that follow strict rules and guidelines without thinking.

I turn pens in addition to bowls. On several occasions in the past 15 years, bowl turners would come on and be horrified at rpm or rpm and make statements on how dangerous that was. This article is for bowls and large diameter work. I understand that, and you understand that, but there are a few of those that follow that rule of the law into other territories pen and spindle turning worlds and are horrified by it. Thanks for sharing. Yes, I mention that spindle work is done at much higher speeds.

This site is all about the art of making wooden bowls. If I were to explain all aspects of all turning processes it would simply be too much. Hope this helps.

There is a Busy Bee Machines lathe — Craftex CX that seems a good start for a new lathe, but slowest spindle speed is Should i consider something that will go even slower to increase my margin of safety for inch bowls down the road?

I would recommend trying to find a variable speed lathe. A fixed speed lathe, especially one that can only go as slow as rpm is not good for bowl turning and not safe. If you put an unbalanced bowl blank, even a smaller one, on this lathe and flip it on to a set rpm, some bad things can easily happen. Variable speed lathes allow you to make all the incremental adjustments you need as you turn. Check out variable speed lathe review as an example.

A fixed speed lathe will be an issue with larger turnings. Let me know if that helps. Thanks for the comment. Seems pretty straight forward. Agree — its the other way around!! It has a circumference of It assumes all wood is equal and all tools are equally sharp!

Great info, thanks. Small point of clarification. Good article. My question is how did you come up with 9, as the rule of thumb number to be used? Why not 7, or 10,? I have seen other articles use 9, but no one explains why.

Thanks, El Halley. It seems a bowl around ten inches in diameter should not go faster than 1, rpm. I suggest keeping all bowls under 1, rpm. As the diameter increases, dividing by 9, proportionally reduces the maximum rpm based on the larger bowl size. Username or Email Address.

Remember Me. Childish Example Turning large bowl blanks are probably the most difficult to be patient with because they need to be turned slower than small blanks. Probably too many lawsuits nowadays. Yes, the revolutions per minute are the same, but the outer edge speeds are different. Thanks again and hoping for more interesting articles from your library. Regards Joseph Bonnici Malta. Joseph, Thank you for writing and welcome…from Malta!

Happy Turning, Kent. I think you should mention to use the tail stock when possible, especially when starting up. Thanks for the reminder! Hello Tex, Thanks for your kinds and uplifting words! That night, I researched turning bowls.

I had found the answer. Wood orientation. I read it was important to orient the wood in a perpendicular orientation. Therefore, the next day, I found another dry log off the woodpile.

I created a blank as shown on the website and mounted the blank in perpendicular orientation. I had already had some luck turning the outside of a bowl, so I figured I would start with hollowing out the inside. Again, I carefully, removed the red protective cover off my bowl gouge and started with the inside.

The same results smoke and dust. Although this time, my hole was just a little deeper before the blank went flying off the lathe. Again, I removed the blank, cleaned up a handful of dust in the shop, and thought about listing the lathe for sale. Again, I researched turning bowls. This time I even watched several videos online. In the videos, the wood shavings were just flying off the lathe. Therefore, I knew it was possible to create a bowl in under a day.

The videos kept mentioning proper technique and the importance of sharp tools. Hence, the next day, I remounted the blank from the previous day — again using a perpendicular orientation. I then carefully positioned the gouge at a degree angle as mentioned in the videos.

However, even with my tools at this magical angle I was having no luck. In the back of my mind, there was still that final piece of information I had read about. The importance of sharp tools. With the protective red covers, could my tools be dull? I hated to ruin the tools, by trying to sharpening them. However, at this point, I really did not care.

After all, I was ready to sell the lathe. Consequently, I took the round-nose scraper and sharpened it using a belt sander. I then went back to the lathe and tried it again. Yes, TADA — shavings.

I had mastered the art of woodturning. I knew everything there was to know about this craft! To my surprise, a few seconds later, the shaving started to disappear. Before I knew it, I was pressing as hard as I could and I was back to smoke and dust. Clearly, there was no way the tool could be dull already. After all, the blades for my chain saw can last hours between sharpening.

For the next 15 minutes, I tried repositioning the tool in all different angles and directions. How did I get it to work earlier? Could it be there was still something else to learn about woodturning? Maybe there was some metal in the wood. I knew one little nail, could dull a chain saw blade. Maybe that is what happened to my round-nose scraper? While it seemed hopeless, I sharpened the scraper again.

Back to the lathe and TADA — more shavings. Again, I had mastered the art of woodturning. There was nothing left to learn! However, a few seconds later, the same thing. Smoke and dust. For the next 14 minutes, I tried repositioning the tool in all different directions.

No luck. With no confidence, I sharpened the tool again and returned. TADA — shavings. After numerous times sharpening, I eventually finished my first bowl as shown below.

I would eventually learn two important lessons. First, even tools that come with a beautiful cover can be dull.

Secondly, turning tools can become dull very quickly. I should mention, that I would later realize that the tools that came with the lathe, were made from carbon steel.

These tools can become dull in as short as seconds. With this amount of cutting, carbon steel will not stay sharp for any length of time. I created a blank like my first bowl and mounted it on the lathe. Roughing out this piece seemed to go much faster than my first bowl. When finished, I brought the bowl in the house to sit proudly next to my first masterpiece. Shortly after bringing the bowl in the house, I noticed a few small hairline cracks.

With every passing hour, the cracks kept getting bigger and bigger. As the cracks were getting bigger, I was getting less and less interested in woodturning. Finally, about a week later, I took my masterpiece shown below outside and buried it behind our woodpile. Again, I thought about cleaning up my lathe and listing it for sale. Most of my initial learning about woodturning was — through trial and error. Looking back, I believe it was these challenges that kept me interested in woodturning.

After all, how much fun is there in doing something that always turns out perfect? Another aspect of woodturning that has kept me interested over the years is free wood.

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