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Thread: What new skill do you want to learn - 2017

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Conway, Arkansas
    Posts
    13,181
    I'd like to learn how to turn my lathe on and finish turn a bowl.
    I've been doing a LOT of flat work and I've got about 50 bowl blanks in my shop that I've already roughed out, dried, and stored for later....well....I guess 7-8 years since then could be considered "later". Maybe I need to spend more time in the shop. Yea...that should help a bit.
    Thanks & Happy Wood Chips,
    Dennis -
    Get the Benefits of Being an SMC Contributor..!
    ....DEBT is nothing more than yesterday's spending taken from tomorrow's income.

  2. #17
    John, I am sure you know of Robin Wood. I wonder how much bigger his pole leg is than his standing leg???? I want one like Roy Underhill uses...

    robo hippy

  3. #18
    Well, kind of like the guitar, I am still trying to learn the skew.... a four letter word for bowl turners. I have been at the guitar for far longer than the skew though... I want some more 'artistic' type pieces to play with, and will build a new shop late next year... Finally some elbow room...

    robo hippy

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Fort Collins, CO
    Posts
    946
    Welding and blacksmithing. Just what every turner aspires to right?

    Well, when I moved to Colorado a few years ago, I met Trent Bosch at our turning club, and I have been intrigued by his integration of metal and wood. The problem is that the whole metal side of things is requiring a great deal of cash output! I'm currently building a workbench with a 1/2" steel top supported by timber framed members. This will be my first attempt at melding the two materials, and I hope to be set up for more of it once it's done - including forging and turning bits of metal to use with my turnings. The other thing Trent does is build his own line of tools. I think he is set up to mill, weld, forge, and turn metal.

    Alain Mailland creates some really interesting turned sculptures. One of his secrets is that he has a forge that he fires up whenever he needs a uniquely shaped tool to reach into some intricate space. I don't think he actually integrates metal and wood in his art though. I sure would rather make my own tools than be subject to the costs of purchasing them from catalogs and such.

    The few tools (scrapers, point tools, plane blades, etc.) I have made have been successful and as I have learned annealing and tempering, they actually have lasted for more than a few cuts.

    Happy New Year!
    Man advances just in proportion that he mingles thought with his labor. - Ingersoll

  5. #20
    Nice thread. Here's my list...
    To improve my sense of design
    Continue with my skew practice
    Attend more local club meetings
    Complete several segmented projects plus a few more hollow forms
    Convince myself I do not need to have an American Beauty or every tool Dave and Doug make unless I win the lottery even tho' my wife says it's OK.
    The last one will be the hardest...

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Burlington, Vt.
    Posts
    5
    I would like to turn a bowl.
    I have done pens but no bowls

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    north, OR
    Posts
    1,160
    Enough electronics to be dangerous to others as well as myself. I have pretty reasonable software skills but lack the ability to decide what diode goes where before which transistor very effectively.

    Hook tools. They look extremely useful for some projects I'd like to try. Perhaps start with a hunter osprey as a somewhat gentler introduction.

    Learn to see what's there when I remove what's not there before I remove it more effectively (turning and carving). More confidence in the cuts if you will

    Figure out how to do this skew heel peeling into planing cut (this guy is my new skew hero - cuts that make me go .. huuuuh - when he rounds off the ball end at 1:45 is even more impressive).

    https://youtu.be/6ZSHnCYVU_c?t=78

    Quote Originally Posted by John Keeton View Post
    Though more of a virtue than a skill, learning patience would be a good start - though I have been working on that for well over half a century, so I doubt I can get it accomplished in 2017!!
    Sounds like you need to hurry up... ....

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan Mooney View Post
    Figure out how to do this skew heel peeling into planing cut (this guy is my new skew hero - cuts that make me go .. huuuuh - when he rounds off the ball end at 1:45 is even more impressive). https://youtu.be/6ZSHnCYVU_c?t=78
    Incredible, no wasted motion. None of that silly adjusting the tool rest or switching tools for every cut or refining the curve repeatedly until it's too small or turning the lathe off and on and off to check the sanding...

    JKJ

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    north, OR
    Posts
    1,160
    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    Incredible, no wasted motion. None of that silly adjusting the tool rest or switching tools for every cut or refining the curve repeatedly until it's too small or turning the lathe off and on and off to check the sanding...

    JKJ
    Yeah some of his skew work is literally unbelievable. I figure if I can get that one cut down by the end of the year I'll have figured something out

    Check out the backwards planing cut he does at about 40s in here (its worth watching the whole thing cause he takes the piece to round in a single planing cut right before that!!! ):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZK1FzVH924

    I have no idea how that is physically possible.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan Mooney View Post
    Check out the backwards planing cut he does at about 40s in here (its worth watching the whole thing cause he takes the piece to round in a single planing cut right before that!!! ):

    I have no idea how that is physically possible.

    I tried the backwards cut a little while ago and it did cut somehow. It was a bit contrary to my preconceived notions but I did get reasonable shavings. I had to twist the skew a tiny bit clockwise when moving backwards to the left so the bottom edge would catch the wood. The cut was not very smooth on my first try. I suspect the only reason he uses this as a production turner is to save a bit of the return time. It did look like his finish cuts were all made in the normal direction.

    I do rough out long spindles like that with the skew. Since he did not stop the lathe for a look I wouldn't be surprised if the stick was not completely rounded on the first pass, even though he was supporting it with his hand. I've done that several times and it works fine without any blood or bruising if the blank is not too large a diameter. Also, if his wood is soft (and not too splintery) it might be easy to get it mostly round on the first pass with a sharp skew.

    This one (posted before) was a handle for my shuffle hoe. The dry hickory was not something I could turn that fast or steady with my hand until it was almost round. It even pounded a big roughing gouge at first. It did need a lot of hand steadying since I don't have a steady rest. (I rounded a section in the middle to steady for the rest of the roughing.)

    handle_shuffle_hoe_comp.jpg

    What amazes me about this guy is his speed. I know I'm the slowest turner in the US but this guy is so much faster I might as well be asleep. However, we never see any of his work up close. Are there scratches and irregularities those of us in the Perfectionist Club couldn't live with? But someone who makes a living rather than art has different goals.

    Regardless, his skew technique is inspiring, especially his bead turning. The first chance I get I'm going to grind a big Thompson skew to an angle closer to what he is using to see if I like the difference. I think that looks closer to the angle I saw Richard Raffan using in one of his books.

    JKJ

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Berkshire County in Western Ma
    Posts
    200
    Turning in general. I worked for 30 years in machine shops, but just got wood lathe. Totally different beast.

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Pisano View Post
    T...wood lathe. Totally different beast.
    That reminds me of when a woman came to my shop so I could make her something for a friend. Years before she did some work in a machine shop making experimental fixtures for her graduate degree. Until she saw me turn on the wood lathe she had been under the impression all this time that we worked the same way, by cranking to move a carriage holding a tool! (I told her that would be like trying to draw curves with an Etch-a-sketch.) It was a huge revelation to see the tool held in the hand!

    I also have a small mill and metal lathe in my shop. Now I know who to ask when I run into a problem. If you happen to live near East TN we could make a deal and trade instruction!

    JKJ

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by rob gugerty View Post
    I would like to turn a bowl.
    I have done pens but no bowls
    Rob, where do you live? These two vet students came to my shop for two lathe lessons. Lesson #1 was on spindles. After the second lesson this is what they took home (still dripping with oil in this picture):

    Girls_IMG_20150804_203606_bowls.jpg

    If you live near East TN, come visit. If not, I'm sure there are turners near you who will make the same offer.

    JKJ

  14. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    That reminds me of when a woman came to my shop so I could make her something for a friend. Years before she did some work in a machine shop making experimental fixtures for her graduate degree. Until she saw me turn on the wood lathe she had been under the impression all this time that we worked the same way, by cranking to move a carriage holding a tool! (I told her that would be like trying to draw curves with an Etch-a-sketch.) It was a huge revelation to see the tool held in the hand!
    My brother is a machinist. The first time he saw me turning, he had a funny look on his face. He was quite dubious about a handheld tool. He has yet to try a wood lathe.

  15. #30
    New skill -- restraint! The inspiration for this one came to me as I was on my hands and knees digging a small cherry log out of the mud at the dump.

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