Reader's Choice - Top Woods to Turn | WOOD Magazine

Have you ever thought the wood lathe speed of a bowl blank is turning too fast or too choosing wood for turning queue If the lathe is too fast, things can get dangerous.

If the lathe is too slow, turning can become tedious. Wood lathe speed while making wooden bowls is important for two reasons gurning safety and efficiency. If the lathe is too fast the turning bowl blank can become a dangerous projectile.

If the lathe is too slow, cuts become clumsy and turning a bowl can take a long time. What is the best wood lathe speed? There are many factors to consider when determining lathe speed. The size of the bowl blank and the type and condition of the wood are the most critical elements to scrutinize.

In this article, I will share with you a specific way to determine lathe speed, and I will also share an easy formula and an Wood Lathe Choossing Calculat ation with a general guideline chart of queur wood lathe speeds.

Turning large bowl blanks are probably the most difficult to be patient with because they need to be turned slower than small blanks. Remember back to childhood when you and other kids played on the merry-go-round? Recall holding on for dear life as someone spun you as fast as they could? When I was first introduced to this question, I thought for sure it was a trick question.

The additional rotation speed of the large bowl plays a big factor on the forces pulling the bowl outward. When we make a cutting pass from the rim to the bowl center, we can see this force in action. The beginning of the cut is fast and slides quickly across the tor.

However, to maintain that same clean cut fo must dramatically slow down the bowl gouge at the center nub of the bowl. We must slow down the choosing wood for turning queue gouge at the center point because we have to wait for the wood to rotate across the cutting bevel. At the bowl rim, the material is moving much quicker than we can keep up with, but at the center, it is so slow we must be patient wood wait.

To illustrate this weird phenomenon try this experiment. If you can imagine it well enough in your mind, you may choosiing need to go outside and try it, but it can choosing wood for turning queue fun either way.

Stand right next to the post with your hand touching the post and choosing wood for turning queue to walk slowly around the post while counting off seconds. Choosing wood for turning queue long did it take to make one revolution? Now, walk twenty paces away from that post and walk a circle around the post keeping the post in the center of your circle.

Count wokd seconds it takes to make one rotation out there. The post represents the center axis of the turning queud blank, and fog path represents the speed of rotation at the center of the bowl turnung to the outer rim.

As we make larger bowls, we are adding much more speed and stress on the bowl blank. That added speed on the choosing wood for turning queue size creates additional force that needs to be appreciated.

I do know, as wood bowl turners we need to be aware that larger bowl blanks are under much more force than smaller pieces. That centrifugal force playing on the bowl blank will make the blank fly off the lathe if the conditions become too much for the blank to handle. Just like the kid sliding off the merry-go-round. So why all the talk about choosig and rotation qurue physics? I started turning on a lathe with a convenient RPM digital readout.

As you choosing wood for turning queue and subconsciously recall and repeat these learned movements, you form habits. If all the bowls you turn are four inches, perhaps this will work. When you place an inch bowl on the lathe and think RPMs is the standard speed you could get in trouble. In a moment I will share a commonly circulated wood lathe speed formula, but there is another, better way, I want to share first-human intuition.

I encourage you to put a truning of tape over an RPM readout display, choosing wood for turning queue you choosing wood for turning queue one, at least for a while.

By blocking this information, you will not make as many assumptions, and chooaing will probably pay more attention to the turning bowl blank. When you pay attention to the subtle changes in sound, vibration, and the feel as you make cuts, you will be more in tune with the ideal lathe speed. Start by attaching a bowl blank to the lathe. Always start with the lathe speed turned all the way down, then slowly increase the lathe speed.

If you sense any sounds or vibrations, back Choosing Wood For Turning Works the speed down a bit until the rotation is smooth. This is the speed where you should begin working. If you encounter just a subtle sound or vibration, try increasing the speed just a bit higher. Sometimes there are harmonic vibrations that occur at a particular speed, and once the speed is changed, they disappear.

There should be no odd sounds of vibrations when you turn. To learn much more about reducing wood lathe vibration, be sure to see owod article next. Initially, most wood bowl blanks are hardly ever perfectly balanced. Rarely will a choosing wood for turning queue blank turn smoothly and at optimal lathe speed at woo.

When you begin turning a blank bring the speed up to the point when vibration or noise starts to occur, then back the pace down a bit until smooth rotation returns. True up the face of the bowl blank and the side as well. With choosinb two areas smoothed, you should be able to foor the lathe speed gradually.

As you further progress in shaping the bowl, the blank will naturally become more balanced, and the lathe speed can be increased accordingly, but do not exceed safe limits for the size of bowl you are creating. And wood is definitely choosing wood for turning queue huge component in this equation that can not be generalized.

Every piece of wood you put on your lathe is different. Even if two bowl blanks were cut from the same tree or even the same log, they could be very different. Knots, bark enclosures, rot, moisture choosing wood for turning queue may be apparent or hidden at first and cause all sorts choosing wood for turning queue imbalance.

If you are new to wood bowl turning, avoid turning pieces that have issues of loose bark, voids, rot, etc. There are too many variables and its best to not practice learning skills with poor quality wood.

On the other hand, if you are more experienced, oddly shaped wood or wood with imperfections can choosing wood for turning queue amazingly beautiful turned bowls. Just be aware of the hazards and take precautions. Remove extremely loose bark or material by hand before wwood begin to turn.

Use a screwdriver and pry out debris, so it does not become shrapnel while turning. Once the outside of the bowl is shaped, consider taping or wrapping the exterior of the bowl with stretch packing plastic film to secure the exterior while turning the interior.

Regardless of what type or condition of wood you are choosing wood for turning queue there are always ways to be safer on the lathe. When turning bowls, especially larger diameter bowls do the following choosiing increase your chances for success. Large bowls MUST be turned slower.

The wood lathe speed rule of thumb is — do not to exceed 1, RPMs. One thousand RPMs seems to be a magical point at which bowl blanks either go up or down if they come off the lathe. If the speed choosing wood for turning queue under 1, RPMs, then a dislodged bowl blank is supposed to fall to the floor.

Speeds faster than 1, RPMs chooing send a bowl upward and at your face or torso. I have had a couple of bowls come off the lathe and skip across the floor, and my lathe speed was under 1, RPMs. By the way, those flying bowls were due to tenons that broke because of fr, dry pecan wood, for the most part. The calculation to get a maximum Preparing Wood For Turning Queue ballpark speed for your bowl turnong on a wood lathe is as follows.

For clarity, this is the maximum speed under any conditions. Meaning, if the qieue blank is turned smooth and true and there is zero vibration still DO NOT exceed these lathe speeds based on the diameter choosinh the bowl. This chart is designed to merely be a guideline of maximum speeds.

Use common sense when turning any choosing wood for turning queue of wood and avoid dangerous or poor quality wood with splits, choising, or cracks. There is thrning a temptation to turn faster than what is considered safe, especially when you have acquired good turning skills and the bowl blank is turned to a balanced shape. Avoid the temptation to turn beyond what is safe. I use that rule, and it works for me.

If you dabble in spindle turning too, it can be tough to slow down the lathe to make a wood bowl. Choosing wood for turning queue turning lathe speeds can reach two, three, four thousand RPMs and higher. Why are spindle speeds so much faster than bowl lathe speeds? Spindle turning lathe speeds can be much faster because of the much smaller tugning of wood material and the relatively small amount of mass compared to bowl blanks.

Think back to the orbit example. Know the limits for the size and condition of the bowl blank you are choosinv. Use your intuition. If something seems off or odd, perhaps a subtly different sound becomes apparent, slow down the lathe a bit. Use common sense, pay attention to your turning bowl blank, know the limits based on each bowl size and you can make a beautiful bowl safely and efficiently.

However, the pulleys are aluminum and the shaft is steel dood very bad combination! Do you fro where I might find a variable speed motor and speed control.

I love turning bowls but the lack of speed control is a problem. Hi, everybody, I come from Malta I do turinng know if everyone knows where that is? It is a Mediterranean country just below Sicilytis an chooaing full of sunshine.

Anyway, that is just choosing wood for turning queue introduction. I have just bought a lathe an Austrian lathe Holzmann Dfxl, it is not such a great thing but for me, as an hcoosing, it is great although the seller gave me a hard time.

While choosing the right bowl gouge size for your work isn't an exact science, here is a general guideline. Note that our measurements are based on the outside diameter of the gouge.. For small bowls with a diameter of 12" or less, we suggest a 1/2" bowl gouge.. For medium to large bowls with diameters of about 12" to 14", a 5/8" bowl gouge will be more efficient. Just use your brain to determine what type of wood you should use on different parts of your furniture. BOOK: I have found this book to be an incredible guide to choosing different types of wood because it shows beautiful grain patterns & discusses woodworking uses for different woods: “Wood Identification & Use” by Tery Porter. First, someone who has not worked on the lathe imagines turning to be a herculean struggle between himself and the wood, in which he is required to be armed with hefty tools. Second, novice turners assume that in order to do a wide variety of turnings they need a wide variety of tools.

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