New turning

[masonsailor2]

I decided to do a new turning today to keep me busy while working on the codex jewelry armoire. I bought two clear kd 2X4's at HD to start the bowl. This is a precursor to a very large vase the boss wants. If all goes well she wants a vase for dried flowers essential as big as I can make on the SS. As long as this stuff is stable I will use it.
Paul

[ERLover]

I am not a turner, but know some of the basics, looks nutso, but cant wait to see the progression!!!

[charlese]

Hi Paul!

The start of that base looks very fascinating. Can't wait to see the results.

A year or so ago I ran into a simpler way to make a dried flower vase - re-purposing a flubbed pepper mill.

This is very narrow and needed a stand glued to the bottom, but a person could make it a lot wider, if desired.

see this post - http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... ase#p43936

Here's the vase;

Dry Flower Vase.JPG (83.87 KiB) Viewed 3872 times

[masonsailor2]

The wife has asked a few times over the years for a pepper mill and I never seem to get around to it. That is an interesting boring set up. Did that work ?
Paul

[charlese]

Did the boring work? Not real well. That's why I had to do it over. Using three extensions was just too much, but that mill is 18" long.

In the do over, I drilled from each side which assured both the top and bottom holes would be centered. The hole is offset by maybe 3/16" somewhere around the middle. After a little smoothing with a long rasp assured the pepper seeds(corns)would fall to the bottom with no problem.

The second mill works great. My daughter says they use it every day with both making meals and table dining.

Most of the mills I've made are around 8" tall. drilling is only 6" and was easy.

[masonsailor2]

Got home yesterday afternoon and started on the turning. I had glued it all up before I left. Got both halves roughed out.
Paul

[algale]

Looking good! I will be following this post as it progresses.

[moggymatt]

Paul,
That's looking good! Cant wait to see it when its done.
I've gotten more into wood turning this year and I have a question or two for you:
What gouge(s) are you using on the inside and outside?
Any special grinds/angles for that wide grained 2x4 wood?
How frequently are you sharpening and with what? I've been using the strip sander set up and I'm getting better at it but basically by trial and error.
When you go to sand it, what are your steps? I always seem to botch that part on the soft woods and get a lot of dished out soft grain.



Paul B.

[masonsailor2]

I use a 1" or 1 1/4" bowl gouge for the roughing out. After that I use a large scew chisel. I have both a beveled and rounded scew for the various parts of the bowl. I tend to avoid scrapers and gouges as much as possible. I prefer the shearing action of the scew vs scraping. It reduces the tear out and minimizes the sanding. This is particularly important with the Paduak which has a very nasty habit of tearing very deep with gouges and scrapers. I have one large 1 3/4 " round nose scraper which I will use on bowl interiors but very carefully. I just aquired a Sorby hollowing tool which uses the carbide disc cutter but I haven't used it enough yet to be comfortable with it. As far as sharpening I suppose I sharpen fairly frequently but I have a sharpening jig attached to one of the SS so it takes only a few seconds to get a perfect edge. I have two of the SS chisel sharpening guides but I never use them. I use one I made which utilizes a grinding wheel and one that uses the 6X48 belt sander. The SS ones that use the disc sander work fine but they take to long to get the edge I want. I don't do much freehand sharpening due to the same reasons. With the jig it's quicker and the results are absolutely consistent. There is a lot of talk about the SS chisels being made of inferior steel but I don't find that to be true. I have chisels from Record and Sorby and don't find much difference if any. One thing I highly recommend is to take your SS turning chisels and make new handles. They are too short and don't offer enough control. Besides they are fun to make. I make my handles out of laminated scraps and each one is different which makes life easy as far as identifying them in the rack. Rocker sells some really nice brass ferrules but you can make your own real easy using copper pipe.
Paul

[moggymatt]

One thing I highly recommend is to take your SS turning chisels and make new handles. They are too short and don't offer enough control. Besides they are fun to make. I make my handles out of laminated scraps and each one is different which makes life easy as far as identifying them in the rack. Rocker sells some really nice brass ferrules but you can make your own real easy using copper pipe.
Paul

I had wondered about the lenght. I have a couple of Pinnacle brand gouges that feel better as to length. What would be a good lenght in general? Should the Handel reach as far back as my elbow? The hip? I'm turning on my 10er most of the time. Its raised to bring the quill to elbow height, which feels much better than stooping over all the time.