Shopsmith Forums

Here for your viewing pleasure is my first post displaying one of my projects. This is my 5th or 6th project on the lathe. My first project was 32 years ago in Jr. High shop class - a candle stick. The rest have been within the last 8 month or so...

Anyway as you can see in the picture I turned out a travel mug using a solid block of 4x4 purple heart. It's by no means perfect. I had trouble keeping it in the chuck in the early stages and turned down the outside a little too far to get it round. Then I had to cut the mouth pretty thin as a result, so I could fit the insert in. There's a small gap between the lip of the insert and the wood and a couple cracks from getting to thin, but I think I can recover with some epoxy, sawdust and Elmer's glue. For now it's finished with Minwax and mineral oil.

A good learning experience for certain. My other projects have been a long spindle from red oak just for sh**s & giggles , a small spalted maple bowl that is now my guitar pick catchall, a bowl/large cup from spalted maple that my son and I turned together and a pen I turned from lignum vitae and gave to a friend just because.

Thanks for looking! Comments and tips are welcome. I want to do another one soon.

Semper Fi,
Craig

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Hi Craig! Your travel mug looks real good to me. Woodworking is fun, ain't it! Even with the little things we think are mistakes, the whole exercise is a blast. Thanks for the photo, and keep up the good work.

You are absolutely going thru all the steps to mastery. Well-done!

nuhobby wrote:You are absolutely going thru all the steps to mastery. Well-done!

And, of course, one of those steps is spending countless hours producing something you could buy at a local thrift store for $1 (not as pretty but as serviceable) and which will probably end up in the trash upon your demise (may it be next century - likely not).

Wait until you see my post on a router table for the 510 that is a work-in-progress (slow progress). At minimum wage I could have purchased a new table (not adaptable to SS) but probably better. Of course mine is a prototype and if I had a US Govt. contract the first one would cost $100 million and at least double that with cost overruns.

So, to keep things in perspective, I like your $800 coffee mug. It kept you off the streets and out of the casinos so the net cost to you is $1. Great job.

Now that you have finished the prototype (beta model) how about producing one for me. $10 including shipping and handling. Deal?

Craig, thanks for posting. I like it.

Looks pretty darn good to me . Since ive never spindle turned, how do you go so deep when hollowing out a mug like that? Is there a specific chisel for that?

jerm wrote:Looks pretty darn good to me . Since ive never spindle turned, how do you go so deep when hollowing out a mug like that? Is there a specific chisel for that?

I used a 2 inch and 2-1/8 inch forstner bit to bore it out and finished with a round nose scraper to finsh. I wish I had 2-1/2 to 2-7/8 forstner bits - would have made hollowing easier and probably would have had fewer problems.

You can also laminate pieces together to make a block or make a stave construct. Im pretry sure yoiu can find .pdf instuctions online. I think I have a copy but its on my desktop and im away using my Tab right now. I'll post a link or the document in a little while.

db5 wrote:And, of course, one of those steps is spending countless hours producing something you could buy at a local thrift store for $1 (not as pretty but as serviceable) and which will probably end up in the trash upon your demise (may it be next century - likely not).

Wait until you see my post on a router table for the 510 that is a work-in-progress (slow progress). At minimum wage I could have purchased a new table (not adaptable to SS) but probably better. Of course mine is a prototype and if I had a US Govt. contract the first one would cost $100 million and at least double that with cost overruns.

So, to keep things in perspective, I like your $800 coffee mug. It kept you off the streets and out of the casinos so the net cost to you is $1. Great job.

Now that you have finished the prototype (beta model) how about producing one for me. $10 including shipping and handling. Deal?

How about a tease and more details on the plans for the 510 table? (Please:) )

db5 wrote:And, of course, one of those steps is spending countless hours producing something you could buy at a local thrift store for $1 (not as pretty but as serviceable) and which will probably end up in the trash upon your demise (may it be next century - likely not).

Wait until you see my post on a router table for the 510 that is a work-in-progress (slow progress). At minimum wage I could have purchased a new table (not adaptable to SS) but probably better. Of course mine is a prototype and if I had a US Govt. contract the first one would cost $100 million and at least double that with cost overruns.

So, to keep things in perspective, I like your $800 coffee mug. It kept you off the streets and out of the casinos so the net cost to you is $1. Great job.

Now that you have finished the prototype (beta model) how about producing one for me. $10 including shipping and handling. Deal?

Cricket... cricket....