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Aug. 13th, 2013 09:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickLathe. Lathe, lathe, lathe. I feel guilty for not doing pony (Fiddler hasn't been conditioned at all yet and I really must get on that.) but lathe is currently white-hot in terms of interesting-ness.
Progress has been made on making bowl-shaped things -- I should upload some pictures -- and I have some fairly large hunks roughed out and drying (for later) so that I can re-turn them in six months or so when they actually get dry.
I've learned about sharpening because sharp tools cut better than dull ones. Some woods (Black locust) eat up edges a lot faster than other woods, but all woods will eventually blunt the tools, so sharpening is an important skill. (I use a grinder for sharpening as do most other people who turn wood. The shed already had a grinder, so this didn't have to be purchased.)
The delights of the band saw became apparent pretty early on, so one has been acquired. (Band saws make raw lumps of wood more round so that they fit on the lathe better.)
In working with various woods (free woods that are free), I've gotten a bit of a feel for how different species behave and react when turned. They have personalities. Black locust's beautiful and strong grain eats tool edges. Red oak is splitty and prone to tear-out. Red maple cuts easily and has fine grain. Cherry takes what you do to it with good grace and smells vaguely of cough syrup. Ash dries with relatively low distortion. Walnut turns like butter. There are lots of other kinds of wood out there, but I'm sticking with the free stuff until I am more capable. Gotta get to Carnegie Hall first, so my wood supply is (a) stuff we cut down in the woods for firewood (b) stuff that is offcuts at the lumber concentrating yard and (c) stuff that my tenant cuts for firewood/tree trimming.
I've gotten a bit better at the tools and the cuts. My confidence at making the dovetail recess (where the chuck holds on) on bowls has improved. My workflow (from log to bowl) is pretty settled, though I still need to come up with a good way to finish the bottoms of bowls once they come off the chuck. I could maybe do them before chucking, but the occasional catch in the chuck scuffs them up again. Maybe I should build a longworth chuck out of plywood... but there's time to think about that between now and spring.
Sanding has become an area of interest for me -- beautiful grain is not visible until the surface is smooth, and that means sanding. Sanding (and turning) makes very small particulates that are bad for lungs, so I got a filter face mask and a big-ass vent fan to pull in fresh air and blow out the dust.
Once things are sanded, they should have a finish applied to them, and again, I'm working on that. There are a lot of finish choices and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by them at the moment.
But all in all, I'm making progress and improving, which is really the important thing. I'll try to get some pictures up a bit later today.
Progress has been made on making bowl-shaped things -- I should upload some pictures -- and I have some fairly large hunks roughed out and drying (for later) so that I can re-turn them in six months or so when they actually get dry.
I've learned about sharpening because sharp tools cut better than dull ones. Some woods (Black locust) eat up edges a lot faster than other woods, but all woods will eventually blunt the tools, so sharpening is an important skill. (I use a grinder for sharpening as do most other people who turn wood. The shed already had a grinder, so this didn't have to be purchased.)
The delights of the band saw became apparent pretty early on, so one has been acquired. (Band saws make raw lumps of wood more round so that they fit on the lathe better.)
In working with various woods (free woods that are free), I've gotten a bit of a feel for how different species behave and react when turned. They have personalities. Black locust's beautiful and strong grain eats tool edges. Red oak is splitty and prone to tear-out. Red maple cuts easily and has fine grain. Cherry takes what you do to it with good grace and smells vaguely of cough syrup. Ash dries with relatively low distortion. Walnut turns like butter. There are lots of other kinds of wood out there, but I'm sticking with the free stuff until I am more capable. Gotta get to Carnegie Hall first, so my wood supply is (a) stuff we cut down in the woods for firewood (b) stuff that is offcuts at the lumber concentrating yard and (c) stuff that my tenant cuts for firewood/tree trimming.
I've gotten a bit better at the tools and the cuts. My confidence at making the dovetail recess (where the chuck holds on) on bowls has improved. My workflow (from log to bowl) is pretty settled, though I still need to come up with a good way to finish the bottoms of bowls once they come off the chuck. I could maybe do them before chucking, but the occasional catch in the chuck scuffs them up again. Maybe I should build a longworth chuck out of plywood... but there's time to think about that between now and spring.
Sanding has become an area of interest for me -- beautiful grain is not visible until the surface is smooth, and that means sanding. Sanding (and turning) makes very small particulates that are bad for lungs, so I got a filter face mask and a big-ass vent fan to pull in fresh air and blow out the dust.
Once things are sanded, they should have a finish applied to them, and again, I'm working on that. There are a lot of finish choices and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by them at the moment.
But all in all, I'm making progress and improving, which is really the important thing. I'll try to get some pictures up a bit later today.
