I have been given a new tool - wood worker help please

If there meant to be some kind of tool rest rather than a balanced block of wood to rest against?

Yes  Look up some youtube vids

Can someone alert the emergency services please?

Yeah looks like an accident waiting to happen. Go to evening classes

Just looked at YouTube and you are right, there is definitely a bit missing. Let's hope they didn't leave it in France when they moved his stuff back, and it is just somewhere in the garage of stuff they are trying to sort through.

[url= https://i.postimg.cc/v81J1dY8/Lathe-close-up.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/v81J1dY8/Lathe-close-up.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

I assume I will get a smoother finish, less bits ripped out with better wood and a steadier chisel, right?

It's missing it's rest.

If you put 90deg stock on you will bounce off it as you hit the edge. Knock the edge off with your hand plane think of putting a big arris on the corner of the wood.

Chisels will come in all shapes and sizes. Bowl hooks cut offs ect. YouTube really is your friend here there are some fantastic wood turners channels.

Also I know it's a given but PPE really is a must absolutely no loose clothing. Face visor ect.

Just crack on and play egg cups are a fun start and ash or beech are easy to use as Stock pines are very hit and miss.

For [i]Can someone alert the emergency services please?[/i] and []i]Yeah looks like an accident waiting to happen. Go to evening classes[/i]

Please can I point out the safety mask.

Who gave you a load of sharp things?

[i]Who gave you a load of sharp things?[/i] can be deduced from this [i]my sister’s husband’s dad’s second wife’s dead father[/i]. Apparently he was found dead wearing a pair of shorts and some flip flops with the lathe still running so they immediately thought of me.

It does seem fairly straight forward so most of the time will be spent thinking of long round things I can make and what materials I can fit in the lathe I guess.

You have a mixture of gouges ( u shaped chisels) skew chisels ( the pointy ones with the cutting edges at an angle) scrapers ( the blunter ones usually with a slightly curved edge), parting tools, boring chisels, specialist bowl tools ( the ones with the inserts) etc.

the basics are explained very briefly here

https://www.axminstertools.com/ideas-advice/beginners-guide-to-woodturning-tools/

As above, lathes are potentially very dangerous. The only serious accident that I have had ( so far) in a workshop was using a wood lathe whilst under direct supervision of an experienced technician as a teenager. It used to scare the crap out of me when students used it in my college workshop. Strongly recommend you get some tuition if you’re going to use it seriously and, get a tool rest that fits the lathe asap

You have a mixture of gouges

Pretty sure that's what the Paramedics will be saying shortly

It's important that you wear loose clothing, a tie and a long scarf 🙂

Old skool D&T teacher here...

Firstly - yep the rest is a bit of a priority...in a handlebar is kind of useful for a bike kind of way....I'd maybe cut the plug off the lathe to prevent yourself being tempted until you get that sorted! But....struggling to see where the rest would go on that model - there's no obvious attachment point. A rest is absolutely crucial to using a wood lathe.

Second - the squared stock. In a school environment it would land me a load of hot water if I handed square section to a student to use...specifically mentioned in actual british standards and HSE guidance and everything!....but it would be fine for me to use it. Totally fine to work from square if you know what you are doing but hand it to a noob - not so much. Hand plane off the corners or knock yourself a little jig up to do it on the band saw that I think you have.

Third - sharpen your tools. Then consider sharpening them again. Can't stress enough what a difference it makes. And as a noob, it'll be so much harder to know if it's you or the tools. It might well be the tools. And I'm not talk about sharpening once every 6 months - I'm talking a couple of times a session. Only snag - sharpening is not 'that' easy. The technician I work with currently has been a technician since the 90s but he was beyond useless at doing this with a grinding wheels, whet stone etc. Got a Tormek now and it's a game changer. Don't google - you'll hate yourself - probably costs more than the lathe. It definitely cost more than the lathe! Whatever.....youtube and buy what you need and spend the time to learn to get yourself some sharp chisels.

Lastly....user name and 'previous' aside - you don't need to go to evening classes before dipping your toe. YouTube is your friend here. Feel free to PM me for tips etc but.....using a wood lathe is up there with wheel building as a cathartic exercise. Enjoy.

Yeah, that needs a tool rest.

Do not use it without one and at least a basic understanding of what you are doing.

But….struggling to see where the rest would go on that model – there’s no obvious attachment point.

There are loads of lathes with a 2-bar bed setup like that and the tool rests attach in a way similar to the image below.

Lathes can be really dangerous. I used to be well into it when I was starting out and had a few gnarly mishaps that luckily I got away with.

Any evening classes near you? There are quite often wood turning clubs that can be very good for beginners.

It's actually a really nice thing to do and very satisfying creating things.

But yeah, you do NOT want to be getting it wrong.

I have worked (without fear) on some very big bits of fast moving machinery ,but I was always (and still am) nervous around wood lathes.

Give it a load of respect WCA ,or google " Accidents...when wood turning  goes wrong"

The course where I taught had a lathe room with about 8 lathes in it.

Man that was a scary place to be on an evening class!

I've seen unbalanced and poorly mounted blocks of wood ejected and stuck in a wall.

I've accidentally done almost what I posted in that gif above.

I was working on a lathe, short sleeved t-shirt and I must have leant over it to do something or other. The chuck caught my sleeve, instantly wound it up and my sleeve and arm jammed the machine.

I escaped with a badly grazed and bruised bicep.

But hey, you can make lovely lace bobbins! 😉

Or if you do it wrong...

 you can make lovely face bobbins!

I went to the local man shed to learn to use a wood turning lathe, was great and made a few things.  They had a great setup with all sorts of wood working machines and even a CNC one.

Just moving house so will be checking out the local one there too, looks like they do bike recycling, so that should be good too.

The good news is they have found the tool rest and another box of chisels and 'stuff' so I shall be collecting that tomorrow, probably.

I have had a quick google/YouTube about lathe and it seems the safest way to work is naked except of a jockstrap.

I will be very careful and definately partially round any wood that I start with. I am happy to make some pointless round stuff while I get the hang of it.

I will be looking for someone to sharpen some/all of the chisels as I have also been told that the guy who owned them was left handed so they are sharpened for a left handed user. I am not sure if that actually makes a difference but they probably need a fresh sharpen anyway.

Thanks for all the help and advice so far. I might try and find a local 'mens shed' to learn the basics from someone and then rely on YouTube.

Anything wrong with using materials other than wood, providing they are softer but also rigid enough to spin? I saw a guy stick a load of coloured pencils together with some kind of resin and then turn them which looked pretty.

and it seems the safest way to work is naked except of a jockstrap.

We DO NOT need pictures!

I would honestly get to grips with the basics using wood first.

There's a lot of work and cost in creating those resin pieces and it would be easy to mess them up.

Using cheap, crappy softwood is often frustrating as it chips out and doesn't cut too well so use a hardwood such as poplar or Sapele or Ash etc to begin with. You'll get better results and progress more quickly.

The way you have that timber mounted there is not really how you tend to do that type of turning. That's a 4-jaw chuck as far as I can make out and it's best for when you turn bowls etc, where you are holding the timber at one end.

For spindle turning, which is what you have there, you generally have a 'drive centre' which, when that chuck is removed, should fit into the hole left in the spindle by way of a tapered shaft. It's just a push fit. Never bashed in.

The drive centre has prongs on it. What you do is find the centre of the timber each end, remove the drive centre and tap a little point into the tail end, and then tap the drive centre with a wooden mallet into the head end so that the prongs bite into the wood.

You then refit the drive centre, mount the timber into it, locating the prongs, then holding the timber you slide the tailstock near to touching, lock it down, and then wind the tail centre into the point you made with a little pressure.

Set the rest a little below centre, in line with the bed, rotate the timber by hand to check it isn't going to hit the rest, then start up and make shavings!

It's actually fairly easy to sharpen the chisels in general. They are not honed to a very high grit like bench chisels, but rather ground on an abrasive wheel at the correct angle.

You set the angle of the bevel, move the gouge up to the wheel and then kind of roll it to get a nice even grind. Little and often is generally the idea.

But yeah, have a go. It's a really satisfying thing to do. 🙂

Looked at the photos, scrolled down a bit, then checked who the OP is…

Can someone alert the emergency services please? and Yeah looks like an accident waiting to happen. Go to evening classes

For the love of God, get some instructions, there are just so many ways things can go horribly, messily and painfully wrong!
Woodworking with sharp tools is bad enough, lathes, wood or metal really aren’t things to play with, without proper training.
I did metalwork at school, using a lathe, I didn’t get to do anything with a wood lathe, but same issues apply, I wouldn’t touch one without a proper training course.

reminds me of

Today I watchged some YT, added the tool rest, used hardwood and the sharpest of the chisels I have been given.
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/T2DSgwdN/Lathe-with-tool-rest.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/T2DSgwdN/Lathe-with-tool-rest.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

I make a square bit of wood round and added a few bands using different chisels to see what they did.
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/y8k03JBk/Lathe-banded-wood.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/y8k03JBk/Lathe-banded-wood.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

I swapped out the chuck I used before for one of the spike types I think Kayak was describing earlier. It worked but the 4 jaw one seemed to hold the wood more solidly. When I first started turning the wood to rough off the edges, it stopped against the chisel and the spikes just spun around on the end of the wood. Clearly this was caused by me pushing the chisel too far forward but it meant that the spikes on the chuck had carved a groove in the end of the wood which that sat in rather than digging hard into the wood. I tightened everything up a bit and it remained in place but it wouldn't have happened in a 4 jaw chuck.

According to some American guy with a lathe, the four jaw fixing is better for all types of things, not just bowls but he is American so I thought I would check here. The only real disadvantage I see is that you can't work on the end of the wood in the vice. Any reason NOT just to used the 4 jaw clamp?

The 4 jaws can fail well the wood can more so on softwood stick some wood in a vise and tighten it till the wood deformed the 4 jaws are doing their best to replicate that action.

By definition the 4jaw and a bowl is safer because your working close to the clamping force of the chuck.

The spike really shouldn't slip how much force did you apply to the wood.

Start off with nothing longer than 200mm make some chisel/file handles from ash as a starter project

Personally speaking, let's say you want to mount a piece of wood between centres which is a bit of a funky shape, maybe a bit rhombus.

If you use a 4-jaw chuck then sure, it'll grab hold of it, but will it hold it in the centre? Maybe not.

If your bit of wood isn't planed and square, then it could be the case that the centre of mass isn't where you want it when held in a chuck. Using a drive centre effectively allows you to put the centre where you want, not just where the chuck squidges it to.

You've got to put a centre mark in the other end too. If the chuck is wanting to grab the timber in a way that is introducing lateral force on that tail centre, then you may introduce 'lash' as its spinning.

Another reason is diameter. You've got, what, 50mm or so sized wood there. You may at some point want to turn bigger, in which case you won't be able to use the chuck anyway until you've prepared a spigot internally or externally to mount it on.

Finally, as mentioned above, access is another reason. You can get in to the ends of the piece much easier without a big spinning lump of metal there.

Let's say you're making a stool with legs that you want to turn a tenon on the end of to fit into a sized hole. With a drive centre you can turn down fairly small until you're close, then you can easily slacken the tail stock, whip the piece off the lathe and try it in the hole, doesn't fit? Mount it back and sneak up on it some more, knowing that it'll sit dead centre again in the drive point.

Try that with a chuck and it'll almost never sit back in the exact same plane, especially if you've mounted a funky shaped bit of wood.

Still not convinced? I'm done trying! 🙂

Also, always take anything North Americans say about woodworking machinery with a pinch of salt. 😉

I am convinced. I tried the jaws on a none regular shape and had the problems you mentioned. I banged the spike in the end and managed to turn a handle for a little brush I now use to brush the wood chips off my clothes. What I failed to do previously was tighten the end stop after I started turning which meant it worked a bit loose. I now have it all set up, chisels sharpened (probably badly) and it is a whole lot easier than I thought.

I probably won't use it for a while as I am mostly working on the car, new bike park and my painting but, it was free and a nice new toy to own. I might try turning a bowl at some point as I have the jaw clamp and also a plate I can screw the wood too. I am guessing the inside of a bowl is what the curved tool rest is for. I will take some time to work out what the 30+ chisels are for.

Is green wood turning easier/harder or just different? I can find more chopped tree than nicely dried wood so it might be a cheap way to learn. Please let me know if this is a bad idea

The car would surely benefit from a blood spattered gear knob.

I also have a lathe i need to do something with. Currently its hiding in my dads shed.

[i]The car would surely benefit from a blood spattered gear knob.[/i]

I made this one from a wood block from a pallet. I used my normal drill clamped to the bench as a lathe and a normal chisel to round it. That may or may not have been a safe thing to do.
[url= https://i.postimg.cc/7YGHwHN1/Gear-knob.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/7YGHwHN1/Gear-knob.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Re green wood I loved using it on rustic furniture stools ect green wood moves and shrinkage can be an issue but green ash is hard to beat

Fine turned green wood can warp into quite beautiful shapes.

Or just split.

I got a couple of hours this morning to try the lathe as it was too cold to do any epoxy work on the car.

This is my first attempt so please be kind. I am pleased with it as the lid is a snug fit and it isn't split and no big chunks snagged out. There is a bit or tear out on the edges, the photos show the worst of it, which is probably either because I am clumsy or because I was using chisels I sharpened myself for the first time ever.

[url= https://i.postimg.cc/5tGkXws3/First-Turning.pn g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/5tGkXws3/First-Turning.pn g"/> [/img][/url]

The joys of a woodchip making machine.

First off I dont think that bench is ideal, in that it is a bit flimsy, and you've got a lot of weight high up and close to the edge.

Other than that it looks a good quality bit of kit, and theres plenty of chisels, though when it comes to lathe work, you'll probably only use a couple.

Scrapers are ideal, but they are best made of wide/large section steel, or vibration will cause a an untidy finish.

Keep all chisels sharp. You would be best investing in a white wheel for your bench grinder to prevent burning, and you can get jigs that will set the correct angle for bowl and roughing* gouges

*Roughing gouges are the big wide ones. Watch some YT vids about using them as theres a bit of a knack.

So enjoy your new found toy, and just trial and error it til you get the knack.

The bench is a lot more solid than it looks.

Sharp chisels make a world of difference.

I agree about needing a proper grinder wheel and jig to sharpen the chisels but want to see how much I enjoy it before splashing out actual money.

Nice pots! Very good 🙂

One of the skills to master, is trying to make 2(or more) turned objects identical.

Dead easy to do a one off, but any more than one it starts getting tricky.

.

Dovetail scraper is a handy tool if theres not already one int hat pile. It easily makes the recess for the bottom of bowls and platters that the chuck jaws can grip.

You can do the same with a parting or skew, but the D/T scraper makes it so much easier

I think i have a dovetail scraper which i used inside this cup but it wasn't very sharp so was hard to control inside the depths of the recess so i used a small splitter to do it in the end.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wvUzb6wHDJTAUWCx6

It's easy with a better setup. Well done you know you can get carbide tiped chisels that have replaceable 4 sided cutting edges. Mainly used for hogging off material in the beginning.

I have 3 or 4 carbide tipped chisels. I just wasn't sure what they were best used for but thanks for letting me know.

Here is the last picture instead of the link. The pint glass is to give a sense of the size.

[url= https://i.postimg.cc/YSGwk9ym/Lathe-2nd-attempt.jp g" target="_blank">https://i.postimg.cc/YSGwk9ym/Lathe-2nd-attempt.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Big chickens round your way?