Shopsmith Forums

So I finally got my stuff in order and am learning the lathe, i made a pull chain fob for a fan and got hooked. a couple hundred dollars and a few days later im making bottle stoppers.

Ill probally move on pens and such as i have already bought the Mandrel and a few kits.

I went to the local lumber yard and bought a bunch of 1 3/4x 1 3/4 x 42" pieces of exotic woods and am noticing alot of it is kind plain once its not a flat piece anymore.

- lacewood ( the viens are really soft and make jagged lines)
- anigre (looks like a pool cue shaft)
- leopardwood ( have only made into a round, im thinking some contours might make it more interesting)

some of the woods i like...

- padauk ( my FAV so far, cutting this stuff is really easy, it finishes great, beautiful color)
-bocote ( love the grain)
-Zebrawood (love the grain too!)
-bubinga (really nice, "classy" comes to mind)
-purpleheart ( open grain kind hard to finish but has great "depth")


so far (and i have no idea if this is "right" but its what ive done) i have sanded to 120, applied sanding sealer, sanded to 600, applied tung oil, buffed with 0000fine steel wool, thin layer of minwax finishing wax, go do something else for a few mins and then buff with a old shirt.

I think im going to try mylands friction polish and i want to try a bunch of other woods. any sugestions on woods that have made you go WOW!?

You might want to read this post. http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... #post46280

In the post above it contains several opinions regarding the how to finish your turnings. I personally use micro mesh as stated in the link above finish with boiled linseed oil and CA glue. I was reading where some people have been mixing the BLO and CA to create their own friction polish.

As far as woods used for turning, as you found out some are better than others. Many people cut the wood diagonally to show the wood grain. Some make segmented blanks. Others add designs like this one posted by Tom a few days ago. http://woodtube.ning.com/video/the-homework-ultimatum

Look here for more ideas on creating pens. I’m not too creative but I’m pretty good at coping other people’s ideas. http://www.woodturningonline.com/Turnin ... /pens.html

I make pens because it is quick, simple and helps to relieve the stress from my job. I give out most for Christmas and graduation. I get orders for Cocobolo and Ebony pens more than any other wood. And both woods turn nicely and take a finish well.

I have not used the friction polish but noticed the instructions indicate you should still use the micro mesh to sand the blank prior to applying the polish. Try it and let us know what you think.

A couple of my favorite woods are Cocobolo, Olive wood and Tulip wood. All turn well and have real nice grain.

Box Elder Burl also produces a beautiful pen.

paul269 wrote:
I have not used the friction polish but noticed the instructions indicate you should still use the micro mesh to sand the blank prior to applying the polish. Try it and let us know what you think.

I plan on trying micromesh at some point, i think 20 bucks for a few sheets of sandpaper is a little high but down the road a little bit, sure.

I might try the old way with pumice and rottenstone first just to be well rounded.

I ordered a bunch of stuff from woodturnerscatalog.com today. Mun ebony, Cocobolo, Canarywood, Marblewood, and they are having a huge sale on Bocote! are all on their way. Im going to make another order from pennstate to use my 10 bucks off coupon that came with the free penmaking cd

I recently used the micro-mesh pads on a pen and was quite impressed with the results. In the past I only had used the pen sanding set that only went to a 600 grit then finished with sanding sealer and friction polish. The difference with the finished pen using the micro-mesh pads was very noticeable. Also I was able to clean the micro-mesh pads with the 753523
Abrasive Cleaning Stick that Shopsmith sells.

This link should compliement this thread. For those of us with little to no knowledge of exotic woods, this will give you a visual of the ones discussed.
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/

mickyd wrote:This link should compliement this thread. For those of us with little to no knowledge of exotic woods, this will give you a visual of the ones discussed.
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/

WOW! thank you!

any segmented wood turners here should check out the pictures at the bottom of the individual wood pages. I only had time for the cocobolo and bubinga (this visit) but wow. now THAT is a way to use up scraps.

the local Woodcraft had a huge slab of waterfall bubinga for a while, but nothing as vibrant as the waterfall pictures at the hobbithouseinc site.

thats a great link, thanks for sharing!


i bought some laquer today and made a bottle stopper using that and wow it looks good! is dry time the only reason more people dont use that for turning?