I'll bet that was exciting!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mike Dowell
...I'm not a lathe pro - actually a complete newbie. I was using what I would describe as a 3/8" wide roughing gouge. It was the smallest of the cup-shaped tools I had. Well, I chewed out the bottom base part of the knob without issue. Getting braver, I moved the tool more into the center gully part of the knob.... WHACK!:eek:
The knob, now in two pieces lay there silently, lifelessly on my floor atop a small pile of cherry shavings. The tool, also now in two pieces, taking its final bow. The handle still in my right hand, the tool end, making peace with it's demise, lay lifelessly next to the two knob pieces on the floor - atop the shavings.
The good news is that this lathe is a piece of junk, and probably so were the tools. The bad news is that this probably would not have happened to one of you. So now I'm asking what horrible mistake did my bravery cause?
In order from left to right - A new, untouched knob, the original, my work of art
Mike,
At least we got to enjoy your wonderful prose!
Without a picture of the cup-shaped "what I would describe as a 3/8" wide roughing gouge" it's hard to tell what tool it actually is, how it was ground, and whether it was appropriate for a relatively deep cove like that. If it was in fact a roughing gouge it was not appropriate for that cut. There are a number of things that could go wrong (and all of them in an eyeblink!) even with the proper tool. It helps if the tool is ground and sharpened appropriately but the most important thing is how it is used. A spindle gouge is typically used for such cuts.
The bad news is that it may take a bit of instruction and practice to make useful replicas of the knob. The good news is that once you get the practice it will get easier and easier and you soon will be a pro. The bad news is once you fall into the "vortex" of turning you will find yourself on a slippery slope of buying tools/lathes/wood, and refocusing your life. :) The good news is that life is so rewarding!
The deep cove is a common cut and like my piano teacher always said, "everything's easy once you know how!" If you lived near here I'd say bring some knobs over and we could work on some techinques - I'll bet you could do this with a little practice with the right tool. (Hey, road trip - come visit! I'll supply the lathe, instruction, and wood! I drove to your neck-o-the-woods to bring back the lathe I use now.) Is there a woodturning club near you? If so, I can almost promise that someone there would be glad to spend a few hours and get you on the path to success.
The knobs you started with were made by machine and the grain is running sideways, across the face. Unfortunately, cutting a deep cove like that can be difficult especially when beginning to learn, at least to make it smooth. For the best cut you need to start at the bottom of the cove and work up, very, very difficult! Far easier is to start at the top and work down to the middle from both sides, coordinating the tool swing, rotation, and thrust - get one of these wrong and bam!
If I were making these knobs I'd start with some mahogany pieces with the grain oriented to run from bottom to top instead from side to side (in your photo.) This is easier to turn into a shape like your knob since you won't be cutting across end grain on every revolution and the "proper" cut that gives the best surface will be downhill towards the bottom of the cove. In addition, using mahogany can make the knobs more like the originals.
What some would do is put the gouges to the side and use a round carbide cutter or a round-nose scraper. A cheap carbide cutter works like a crude scraper - it will certainly work but can leave the surface very rough with lots of tearout. (May be OK if you fill the torn grain and dye them dark to match the original.) A well-sharpened scraper can work better but the surface can still be left rough with tearout, depending on the wood and the orientation. Far better are the extremely sharp carbide bits used in the Hunter tools. The Hercules would be my first choice: http://huntertoolsystems.com/product-category/hercules/ The Hunter tools are wonderful but they are not cheap. Turner John Lucas teaches a beginner's class who use only a Hunter tool for the entire class! These can be used as scrapers, pushed straight into the wood, or used as a gouge for nearly glass-smooth surfaces.
JKJ