Shopsmith Forums

Some of you may remember my first post a couple weeks ago when a friend gave me a 1955 greenie. I spent the past few weeks cleaning her up, finding the manuals, doing my homework reading, and ordering some parts that were missing (jigsaw blade chuck, power coupler, lathe drive center, and chuck).

So this week I finally got to power her up and start getting to know her. I have never used a lathe before, so that's where I wanted to start.

I screwed a scrap piece of pine 4x4 to a faceplate, put on my safety glasses, grabbed a standard 1 inch and 1/4 inch wood chisel, and went to town. I drew a circle on the end of the 4x4 and made 4 cuts on the table saw to knock it down to a smaller octagon instead of a square.

Here's what I came away with:



It's not finished yet because I broke the gilmer belt while trying to sand it. I'm not surprised the belt broke after sitting idle for several years before being given to me. I'm sure it was dry rotted and weakened.

I know that standard wood chisels are not ideal for lathe turning, but it's what I had and I was chomping at the bit. I'll head over to Harbor Freight the next chance I get and pick up a basic set of lathe tools and continue my learning.

What speed should I be using for a pine 4x4 section? I know generally metal is slower and wood is faster, but that's the extent of my lathe knowledge.

Good job spinning some wood. Yeah, you really should get some lathe chisels. They will be a dramatic improvement. Use b for rough cut, m for shaping and q for a finishing cut. That for up to 4 inch piece.
I also broke my aged gilmer belt that had sat for some time. You will learn a ton replacing it.

holsgo wrote:You will learn a ton replacing it.

Especially patience.

My first lathe was an AMT ordered from the back cover of a "Mechanics Illustrated" magazine about 48 years ago. Not much of a lathe but I sharpened the ends of several large old discarded by someone else screwdrivers and started turning wood. I was able to make a number of "decent" turnings but more importantly I was making sawdust.
I still do not do a lot of turning and am by no means an expert turner. I do have maybe 6 sets of turning chisels now, some Shopsmith and some other brands.
I'm hoping that now with the shop only one set of stairs away and fully heated and cooled all year that I will be able to spend a lot of time turning as well as other things.


.

You might try ebay and see if you can get an old set of Shopsmith turning tools. The older tools are good steel but with the Shopsmith brand are not so desirable to people more interested in snob appeal. Anything you buy at HF is going to be low grade Chinese junk.

Learning to turn can be challenging enough why further handicap yourself with bad tools? Check to see if there is a Woodcraft store near you, they will offer classes and will have a wood turning club where you can get some pointers. A little in person instruction will save you a lot of frustration.

Once you get the tools you will need a means to sharpen them. Most turners favor the Wolverine system. I'm not so impressed with this and instead use the Shopsmith strip sander with the sharpening attachment.
Either way, once you get decent, sharp tools I thing you will have a blast. Far as I'm concerned the lathe is the more fun than any other woodworking tool.

Troy

Culprit,

A great start into the world of turning (which can be very addictive BTW)
The soft white open grained woods like pine are actually some of the more challenging woods to turn well due to the open grain and varying densities in the growth rings. Tear out is very common as are catches. They make great practice wood though due to the low cost, challenge, and decreased wear on tools.

Get some dedicated lathe chisels. The SS set is a good starter set, but some of the higher end tools cost more for a reason. If you are purchasing new chisels make they are made of High Speed Steel (HSS). Some of the older sets out there are high carbon steel and if you're going to spend money, it's better to spend it on good steel. My SS lathe chisels are early 50s vintage and are High Carbon Tool steel rather than HSS as evidenced by spark testing. They are easy to put a decent edge on but the edge just does not last compared to the newer HSS particularly M2 Steel. Avoid the brazed on Carbide tips, you pay a premium for an inferior chisel that is very difficult to sharpen accurately and correctly and is very brittle.

Ultimately, you can't turn if you can't sharpen those chisels. Once you buy some chisels you will need to sharpen them before using them (I don't care what a sales person or manufacturer tells you) in some cases you may even need to reshape the geometry of the edge.

Sharp tools are a joy to use when turning. I no longer make recommendations on sharpening systems as I find the options too many to go through and very personal. Find the system that works best for you and your budget and stick with it.

Great Job and enjoy the SS.

The other big problem with the Horrible Freight chisels is the cheap lightweight wood handles. Dangerous as hell.
The tend to disintegrate at the most inopportune times.
Craftsman used to make nice ones back in the day, but my favorites for robustness are the ones that ShopSmith markets.
ShopSmith used to buy them from Disston back in the old days, but I don't know who makes them now.
The best thing, as has been said, they go pretty cheap on Ebay when there's a lot of them for sale from different vendors.

here's a nice starter set from a reliable seller.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Shopsmith-Lathe ... 27c188359c

Boy the first thing I thought about when I read this thread was high school wood shop.

One of the topics was lathe turning, the shop teacher said every year one or two lathe tools would be improperly used and thrown. That and having a few pieces of wood being bowling pins were not to my liking. Every time something happened there was a bunch of yelling and more safety lessons etc.

I personal think this is the reason I do a fewer lathe projects then I'd like even though noting bad has ever happen to me while turning and I did enjoy making fishing lures back in HS.

So when I read the posting of using a hand wood chisel to turn wood I got a little tense. I feel that would be a very dangerous thing to do, a wood chisel could easily be zipped out of your hand and become a danger to you and to anyone else who happen to be down range.

Lathe tools have the long handles for a reason. I have even seen/heard of people loosing control of them, not something I like to think about. Yes a few things have to happen all at the same time but yes it happens.

Please get some lathe tools and read the basic instructions for when the tool rest gets set and how far away and readjust as needed. I don't want to read about anyone getting hurt here.

In my opinion no hand chisels use on the lathe unless you are an expert and then I still will not be trying it at home thank you very much.

Ed

I'm also new to SS and turning, and one accessory I've been thinking about is a 3-jaw chuck. I saw one on eBay that was pretty cheap; it had a plain flat back that I assume would be screwed to a faceplate. Another alternative is to buy an addapter for threaded chucks and thereby open up the options for standard lathe accessories. Or I could try to find one that fits the SS 5/8ths arbor--not sure how difficult that would be. Also unsure what size I would need. Lots of ignorance I bring to the table. Any recommendations?

BTW, my 10ER came with a nice set of Disston turning tools and my Mark V came with some chewed up but salvageable SS brand tools. I am a fair hand at sharpening from my woodcarving days. So I'm doing alright in that regard and won't be using any hand chisels or screwdrivers.

v/r,

Rick