Hi, first post here. I started turning about 3 months ago on a 10x18 5-speed lathe (the one with pulleys from Harbor Freight). I've made and sold a bunch of pens, and branched out into small bowls, boxes, all sorts of stuff. Here's a bowl I made, from a mystery dirty piece of a log. Critiques welcome!
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Just yesterday, I took delivery of a Jet 1642, the 110v, 1.5hp version. Haven't even been able to turn anything on it, just got to assembled and leveled late last night. Now it gets real.
My my question is about glue blocks / waste blocks. I have some wood that I really need to retain the thickness and not lose some to cutting a tenon, because it's just not thick enough wood. So, glue block of course. But what do I use for a glue block? I don't have any waste pieces of wood - any wood can be turned into something, right? Where do you guys get small chunks of plain wood for glue blocks? Can I just use a piece of an old regular doug fir 2x4, screw it to a 3" faceplate and make it round on the lathe and use that? Or is there somewhere online I can just buy a bunch of 3" round, 2" thick pieces of poplar or something?
thanks for your help!