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I've always fancied a go at wood turning, then a slightly random conversation earlier led me down an internet wormhole hole of lathes and YouTube tutorials...
I'm fairly proficient at basic carpentry and joinery, and would normally have access to a friend's lathe to have a go, but lockdown. You can pick a good old thing up with tools for a couple of hundred quid by the looks of things.
So has anyone started turning or learned from scratch? Any go to books or tutorials for a beginner? Any general advice also welcomed!
Just have a go. My dad used to do a fair bit and when I lived in Germany the farm I worked on had a wood lathe so I just set it up one day and had a go. I ended up with a large collection of egg cups made from about 20 distinct wood types. Like most things, for anyone practical it is pretty straightforward to pick up and turn out some half decent stuff. It may take a lifetime to perfect it though 🙂
Keep your chisels sharp, and watch out for your fingers.
I got a bit obsessed after I learnt, everyone got bowls for Christmas that year 😁
An extractor is a bonus, and sweep up often, not only is the dust bad for your lungs, but sawdust is surprisingly slippy on the floor, and a fire hazard.
I'm always amazed at the mess some YouTube woodturners make.
Once you've tried wood, then turning other things like epoxy (wood embedded in epoxy/resin can be interesting) is cool.
I can turn wood into sawdust!
As above getting ok and having fun is enjoyable. Start out making something like rolling pins (practice on constant diameter), mushroom (my first few looked like sex toys) then give a cup or bowel a go. I only ever used cheap scrap pine I think a harde wood is actually better for getting a good finish. Apply the wax on the lathe as the friction will melt the wax and then you can buff it in.
Yeah. It's fun.
Not had space for a lathe for ages but still got my chisels.
Have got an extractor, can sharpen chisels, I'm pretty practical, don't expect it to be too hard to learn, but just thought there might be some definite dos and dont's?
Funnily enough it was a rolling pin that led me to post! And have already thought about resin...
Don't waste money on cheap, new tools. Get yourself some old Sheffield steel - Sorby, Addis, Ward etc... Nothing you can get today even comes close!
Are Lathes going to become the new log burners?
Once you’re bored of watching people making bowls out of coloured pencils in epoxy, have a gander at this one.
Wood turning is a really enjoyable experience, and not too difficult to pick up. I would advise not be too ambitious until you have practiced with simpler pieces first, and in particular I would be wary of turning composite/glued pieces until you are sure of your technique.
I will state the bleeding obvious and say keep the tools sharp and if you do buy old tools take great care to check the integrity of the tang in the handle and that the ferrules are intact. A loose /broken handle is a bad thing for any tool but particularly for Wood lathe tools.
And yes I am speaking from personal experience.
Turning is very therapeutic. You dont actually need to produce anything, just turn a scrap into woodshavings. Stand there for a few hours and at the end you feel better for it.
The difficulty in turning is coming out with 2 identical pieces. Easy to make one of anything, candlestick, etc, but doing a matching item it starts to get difficult.
You need a lathe obviously, but a good bit of kit is a 4 jaw chuck. I use a Record Power RP2000 - https://www.recordpower.co.uk/product/compact-scroll-chuck-1-x-8-tpi-thread#.X_4I6hbLc2w
It's small, but certainly has the capacity for 90% of projects, and the extra jaw sets are very reasonably priced, but its small size and weight more importantly dont stress the lathe bearings, whereas the main chucks used are pretty heavy and that can impact on them, especially if it's a small or cheap lathe.
When it cones to chisels theres too many to count, but most are aimed at experienced turners, who are looking for a do it all tool, or for more specific jobs like hollowing endgrain in cylinders, for cups or such.
Axminster power tool company do a generic 6 piece chisel set, though there are other companies who do the same kit, only cheaper and Ax is a bit spendy. It included the main tools for initial roughing with a big wide gouge from square to round, then smaller gouges for spindles, a parting tool to separate the object off the waste and a thing called a skew, when produced a planing cut, which really smoothes out marks left from the other tools, it is a bit of a knack to get the hang of it, as it can suddenly cut in and give you a bit of a start, though the turners friend, best friend is sandpaper
Most easy or new to it jobs- candlesticks, bowls and the like are easily made using whats known as a scraper. Available in different sizes it does what it says on the tim and is very easy to master.
Turning does produce a huge amount of fine dust, which is really bad for you, so a mask is an essential bit of kit you should always consider as important as the lathe itself. I use a Trend powered respirator, which is probably the best kit for the job as it protects not only your lungs, but is a full face visor so protects the eyes too. It weighs about a kilo, so after a bit it does impact on giving you a stiff neck, but its benefits far outweigh its detraction.
Lathes - Basic should cost you a couple of hundred, plus the tools et all its not cheap to be honest. Variable speed is nice but not essential, though it does save time where changing the belt between pulleys is sometimes a pain if you need to do it multiple times.