First Practice Wood Turning Project with a Few Observations and Questions

First of all, I should have known better than to say I wasn't going to get into turning. Everything I've ever said I wasn't going to do, I ended up doing somehow! But once my woodworker friend put the hook in me with a bunch of shaving brush handles he turned for me, I just couldn't let it go.

Anyway, I finally got the shop organized, a sunny spot near the AC picked out for my wife's comfort, and the machine set-up with some helpful advice and a bunch of videos. Our own Cudarunner Roy has been a constant source of help and advice as he is to everyone (and more stuff to order-I swear the guy has cost me thousands!). I kinda feel like that kid everyone hates who can't even make a G chord and his Mom buys him a $3000 Taylor guitar, but I know most on here agree with the old adage "Buy quality, and buy it once." That said, this machine is rock solid and very easy to use for a rank newbie: the banjo and tool-rest move freely and lock down solid, the variable speed control is very easy and responsive to use, the centers line up perfectly, and it runs vibration-free and almost dead silent.

So after hours of newbie turning videos, it was time to see what I could accomplish. One tool demo video I watched had the guy making a shop mallet, which seemed like an easier way to start than a shaving brush! As my son works for our friend and neighbor the tree man a couple of doors down, I decided to bust my turning cherry on some plum they had recently brought home for smoking chips, so it was pretty green and soft, though quite chippy with different grain directions. I never made this much sawdust on all the wood scales I've made put together lol!
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Of the 5 HSS tools they talked us into, I used 3 the most: the 3/4" roughing gouge, the 3/4" skew (especially this one!), and the 3/8" slip gouge the most. That slip gouge also seemed very tricky to get a feel for.
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Anyway, after more scary catches than I'm ready to admit (especially on that damn 3/4" roughing gouge and the slip gouge-yikes! :gaah:), this is what I ended up with:
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I know it's far from perfect, and the mallet part is not proportional, but I'll take it for my 1st practice piece. Once I got down to round, I only had so much diameter to work with. I'm going to center it back in the lathe for sanding and a friction polish with some beeswax/linseed oil mix I have-should I wait until it's drier for this? If so, how long?

A few Observations:
-We're going back to Woodcraft Monday for the Laguna light attachment and some other stuff we suddenly can't do without.
-Though word on the street is that a lot of people don't like skews, I found my 3/4" one extremely intuitive, and probably did 90% of the work with it. Apparently some do the majority of their work with a skew?
-I've got a 300/600 diamond card on the way for sharpening, and already have some small slip stones, micro soft ark sticks, etc. for sharpening. I'm wondering if I can refine on a 2x72 1k grit diamond belt?

A Few Questions:
-Should I get my 3/4" skew radiused? I already know I will love this approach just from watching videos.
-Any advice on rough tool speeds for the different tools?
-Any other must-have tools? (Not that we need to spend any more money lol!)
-Anybody ever try carbide tools? Seems like they're frowned upon, but much easier for beginners to use?

As I told Roy, I am a total sponge for any and all info. As there seems to be a renewed interest lately in turning, if this thread were to become sort of a "Beginner's Tips for Turning" for all who find themselves falling down this hole, I would love that.

Anyway, Happy Independence Day all-I'm about to go celebrate with a couple of IPA's and some pulled pork I smoked recently! My son and his buddies have already pissed off the neighbors and scared the dogs with some 5-inch mortar shells, so it could be an interesting night.

Just a quick follow-up. My wife and I agree that this guy's tutorial on grain direction, the 4 cuts (planing, peeling, slicing and scraping) as well as how to use the main tools effectively without disastrous gouges and catches, is by far the most useful one we've watched. I wish I had watched it before starting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXzEjCorWO0
I think I'll spend about a week practicing these cuts re the where, when and how to do each one to leave the finest finish.

There my friends are the words of a man who is totally stoked by the love of his new hobby. Good for you Aaron. Glad it's something you and the wife can enjoy together.

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Now that you have went down that rabbit hole I don't expect to hear from you again until about X-Mas! :)

Have fun. :)

It sure is fun.
Green timber will more than likely split, shrink and warp.
General rule of thumb is a year per half inch seasoning for heart.

I went looking as in the back of my head I could recall something about having to use OR Highly Recommended to use Carbide when turning a certain man made material.

I found this;

https://www.woodturningz.com/downloa...structions.pdf

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Originally Posted by cudarunner

I went looking as in the back of my head I could recall something about having to use OR Highly Recommended to use Carbide when turning a certain man made material.

I found this;

https://www.woodturningz.com/downloa...structions.pdf

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Thanks, Roy-So far I have only made razor scales with the inlace acrylester. As I recall, it felt just a bit softer and "gummier" than acrylic as I was working it up through the belts. I can see getting a 12-inch blank of this to use half for razor scales, and the other half for a matching shaving brush. I will probably invest in some carbide, but am pretty cleaned out at the moment lol!

In fact, once my skills are up to the expensive tropical woods, I would like to make matching sets with cocobolo, ebony and similar tropical hardwoods: shaving bowl, straight (or DE/Mach III-type razor handle), and brush, all of the same material.

My son the duck hunter is now also wanting to turn duck calls. This may morph into a family thing!

Great thread Aaron. I did order the same lathe. I just habe to wait as its nowhere around my area in stock. I hope to leadn from your mistakes. Lol.

I will check out that vid too. Congrats and hope to see more from your fun.

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Late last nite I watched about 1/2 of that video. It is very good. Thanks for the link. :)

Wow, have I joined the ranks of the enablers? I hope that Roy will be proud lol, and I too hope to learn from my mistakes! Let us know when you're up and running, Jerry!

Had a chance last night to watch that vid. I had no clue there was so much involved. Looks like i will need to get a couple more tools soon. It was a helpful vid! I may have to watch it again and take notes.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Had a chance last night to watch that vid. I had no clue there was so much involved. Looks like i will need to get a couple more tools soon. It was a helpful vid! I may have to watch it again and take notes.

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Yes, there does seem to be quite a learning curve. I have spent hours just watching videos on how to use the skew chisel, including this one with Alan Lacer, who does some truly amazing fine detail work with that huge radiused skew (if you can sit through the endless banter as he bores all those old farts in the demo lol): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhuGl7n-bNY
I'm so taken with the possibilities and versatility of this amazing tool that I'm thinking about ordering his (very expensive) handmade one from his website.

And then there's sharpening. You know how we make fun of knife guys who think they can hone a straight just because they can sharpen a knife? I feel like one of those knife guys as I'm learning to sharpen these tools with various wheels and diamond cards. I am finding that, with these super-hard M4 HSS steels, a few strokes with the diamonds and some fine dressing with a finger-sized soft ark stone I had laying around leave an edge that will shave bbs on my leg hair, especially if I strop a few strokes on a charged leather bench strop. Maneuvering around the curves on the gouges is another trick-sheesh! Oh, well, I always say I love to learn new things...

I'm learning a lot from Alan Lacer's videos especially. I picked up some square stock poplar to practice concave/cove cuts and concave/bead cuts today like in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0MrdSRq3cQ
Hopefully others just going down this hole too will find these videos helpful.

I got a call and was able to pick up my lathe last night. WooHoo!
Today i spent some hours building a table for it. I could have bought the one made for the lathe like Aaron, but me being me, i wanted custom.

This saved me a 100 bucks but i had to order the casters. Im going with casters that fold up so the table will sit on the ground when in use. More steady is the idea.

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2 drawers and a storage spot underneath. Might find a couple sand bags to put under it if i need too. But for now it will be for storage. So the first thing i turn will be 4 drawer pulls for the drawers. Maybe tomorrow as Im beat right now. BTW, this thing weighs 70 lbs by itself. The top is two layers of 3/4" Plywood glued and screwed. I could climb on top and jump up and down on this sucker. Its solid! I still want to wire up a power switch and outlet on the table but Im done-in for now.

Thanks for the vid Aaron.

Beautiful workbench, Jerry-I thought about making one like that, but my wife wanted the Laguna base, so "Happy wife, happy life." Honestly, I think your set-up will be rock solid, as the lathe hardly vibrates at all with that PWM motor. In fact, mine passed the nickel test from 0 to 3500 rpm and back down-very impressive.

If I could offer one piece of advice, consider making a wooden mallet one of your 1st turns (if you don't already have one). You can practice all the tools and the different cuts on a bigger piece, and I am using mine constantly to tap the knock-out bar for a sticky morse taper, to hit the spur drive a few whacks to engage the stock more solidly, things like that.

After spending a couple of days on videos and practicing the different cuts with some square stock poplar based on the Alan Lacer video above, I've got my 1st brush handle of sorts drying and almost finished using the drill chuck, forstner bit and cone center like we talked about.

If you have or plan to have any non-carbide chisels, skews or gouges, I also highly recommend the offset DMT paddle hones to keep them sharp-so easy to use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XH4L62/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

At some point, I'm probably going to have to get one of those metal CBN wheels and a jig to mount it on my 1750 rpm motor. I already rolled the edge on a gouge trying to free-hand it. I have found that a dulling tool will quickly tell you it is dull, and increases tear-out and other problems. I look forward to our mutual learning journey, and hope that this thread will help anyone else we can lure down this rabbit hole!

Today I got the electrical done in the table. I put a switch to turn off the p[ower and an outlet so I can plug in my Shop-Vac to clean up the Shavings. Or to plug in A light if I need one. Then I bolted the lathe down to the tabletop, Added knobs to the drawers (I had said I was going to make knobs but after some more thought I figured I could make four knobs. But to make 4 knobs identical... Nope! I ain't that good yet). Then installed the casters that fold up.

Lets get to Makin Shavins!

Here it is!
My first try at turning on my lathe. I had a chunk of Marblewood that was the perfect size for a brush handle, so I chucked it up. I went into the house and found a brush that had a handle that fits nicely in my hand and didn't look too hard to copy and brought it to the lathe for a reference. This is some hard stuff but after I got it cut out I was very pleased with myself. The finished product is drilled out for a 24mm knot. I still need to buy some knots but I know this is a size I enjoy.

If the rest of my turning goes this well I won't have anything to complain about. BTW, Finish is 600 grit paper and a few thin coats of C.A.

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Nice :tu

You do realize that you need to purchase a car cover for the lovely bride's car don't you :shrug: Or perhaps you don't mind sleeping in the shop/garage :w

Nice work, Jerry!! I've got one in redheart I'm putting the last coats of CA on. If I don't eff it up, I may post pics later.:w:

Beautiful work Jerry.

Ya know, we haven't seen too much of HarryWally lately.

You and Aaron will be taking over as the new "Shave Brush Guys."

Looking forward to watching both of you progress.

Also looking forward to when (if) you dive into acrylics.

Awesome work guys!

Pete <:-}

Roy, The lathe is sitting just outside the garage. And if I was to cover her car she would never be able to drive it. Taking a cover off her car would be way more work than she would want to deal with.

Thanks, guys. As far as Harry Wally, I don't think we will be up to his level any time soon. But acrylics do sound like some fun. Aaron and I will do our best to fill in where the lathe work is needed. But, It's all just for fun. I can't wait until I have the comfort/Ability to make a large wooden bowl. That would make the wife happy. Right now I don't have much of a source for wood. Only what I can buy at Woodcraft. No firewood or any place to find rough wood. That is what I need to work on next. Finding wood. Well, Turn your dirty minds off and read that again. LOL.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Roy, The lathe is sitting just outside the garage. And if I was to cover her car she would never be able to drive it. Taking a cover off her car would be way more work than she would want to deal with.

Thanks, guys. As far as Harry Wally, I don't think we will be up to his level any time soon. But acrylics do sound like some fun. Aaron and I will do our best to fill in where the lathe work is needed. But, It's all just for fun. I can't wait until I have the comfort/Ability to make a large wooden bowl. That would make the wife happy. Right now I don't have much of a source for wood. Only what I can buy at Woodcraft. No firewood or any place to find rough wood. That is what I need to work on next. Finding wood. Well, Turn your dirty minds off and read that again. LOL.

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Pete-I'm with Jerry on this one. No way we can compete with Harry Walley/Andrew or the late, great Pixelfixed/Bill Barber. In fact, I spent a couple of hours going back through the Brushmakers Alcove at their work for inspiration and tips, downloaded and printed some of their work, and put it in my shop notebook for inspiration. And I will definitely be turning other materials, making stacks, etc., when my skills progress. I'm putting the finishing touches on one I did today, may post pics later if I work up the courage.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Roy, The lathe is sitting just outside the garage. And if I was to cover her car she would never be able to drive it. Taking a cover off her car would be way more work than she would want to deal with.

Thanks, guys. As far as Harry Wally, I don't think we will be up to his level any time soon. But acrylics do sound like some fun. Aaron and I will do our best to fill in where the lathe work is needed. But, It's all just for fun. I can't wait until I have the comfort/Ability to make a large wooden bowl. That would make the wife happy. Right now I don't have much of a source for wood. Only what I can buy at Woodcraft. No firewood or any place to find rough wood. That is what I need to work on next. Finding wood. Well, Turn your dirty minds off and read that again. LOL.

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Check out your local Tree Surgeons for some raw wood for bowls. As I told Aaron, I haven't turned since high school but I know that it's interesting to say the least--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C98F8fmOXnU

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Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

Pete-I'm with Jerry on this one. No way we can compete with Harry Walley/Andrew or the late, great Pixelfixed/Bill Barber.

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Aaron and Jerry, The thing is that this isn't a competition. They both started up and had a learning curve just like you guys. They both made mistakes and learnt from them, I'm sure.
The important thing is that you're in the game and having fun.

Pete <:-}

Nice lathes gents.
Start8ng from a solid base only maximizes the pleasure, and chances for strong results.
:tu
Carbide tools are great, I own a few and they have a place on the rack. They scrape not cut so they aren’t the be all end from a finish, or traditional turning perspective, but last long, are easy to turn to a fresh edge and sharpen up easily on a diamond card.
My skew isn’t radiused, but isn’t straight either. Sort of a two angled face with the leading third on one angle, then the back two third on a different slant. Works for so many cuts.
Tool catches on those roughing gouges are usually the edge of the rad catching on fresh wood.
Always remember to cut downhill or into the centerline, not uphill, or away from the c/l when hogging out lots of shavings.
Adjust your tool rest in often and keep it close. Keep your tool on wood c/l, not the post itself. But become familiar with running tools slightly above or below that centerline as well.
Soft wood is cheaper to learn on but hardwood is better to learn on, and to use in general.
Faster is gooder for wood. Lathe speeds above 1800 rom unless you are hand sanding.
Unlike metal speed er up as the work takes shape, but be slower if it’s rough, early cuts and off balance..
Get a drill chuck for the tail stock! And a center finder jig, get a set of calipers, inside outside and a dead blow to set your live center in hard stock. And a digital caliper that offers fractions as well as decimals. Some Forstner bits to go with that drill chuck.
When you are ready for new gouges, buy them without handles and turn your own. Puts all the value in the steel.
Good practice and custom grips set to your hand size every time.
And most important, have fun and wear nothing dangly.

Okay, I finished my 1st one I'm not embarrassed by after a few halting attempts with cheap wood. I liked this 3" square redheart spindle for starters, as I have some redheart scales I can match up with a blade and make a set out of. I've been going at this one literally since noon today. Hopefully I will speed up and relax into my procedures soon. I started out on this one trying to copy one of Pixelfixed's brushes, but after numerous "re-designs" (i.e. a couple of catches and run-backs lol), it has a somewhat different profile. Anyway, I sanded it up through 2k on wet-dry with the intention of doing a glossy CA finish. It took forever to chase out all the low-grit scratches, but I knew I'd regret it if they told on me at higher grits, right? I then put on about a dozen coats of CA, stopping to level out with 0000 steel wool and clean up after every 2nd or 3rd coat. I then went up to 12k with the micro-mesh pads used wet (which was super easy to do). A final buff with a couple of coats of Renaissance Wax burnished in with cheese-cloth on the buffer, and she was done! That's a 24mm Maggards 2-Band badger fan knot in it; not sure if that's the one I want to install, but it's what I had in the closet. A few pics in the evening sun to highlight the reds and pinks:
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A few more observations/learning points:
-I keep having to go back and drill my holes deeper after re-profiling the front end to get it the way I like it. I'm gonna start drilling a few mm deep to compensate, then build up with coins if necesary.
-After getting to round with a roughing gouge, I can get a lot of my shaping and profiling done with a 3/4" skew, even around the ends. I've got one of Alan Lacer's big radiused skews ordered, and can't wait to use it. That long radius will make all the difference.
-I'm getting pretty good at chasing the lines out of my convex cuts, but those concave cuts require a lot more finesse (and a super-sharp spindle gouge!).
-I kept stopping to sharpen tools. Thinking about getting a few carbides for some cuts-we'll see after my beginner turning class on August 1st at Woodcraft.
-I still would like to hear what the experts do at different speeds. So far, I'm finding that I like the following:
*600-800 rpms for roughing out
*1200-1400 rpms for profiling, cleaning up with a skew, cutting in for cove cuts, etc.
*1400-1700 for micro-mesh sanding, CA application.
*2000 rpms for drying CA coats with the light down nearly on it seemed to work well.
I'd appreciate any further guidance on this. Alan Lacer says that "Speed kills," and that you don't need the 3500 rpm for anything.
-The 60 degree cone center works great for centering the drilled end after the Forstner bit.
-Like Jerry, I still need to set up the proper jaws in my Nova G3 chuck, or figure out some other system for flipping things around to finish the bottom after parting.

My next brush is probably going to be some super-hard ebony or similar. I felt like I had to "earn" the right to use it. Hopefully I'm ready. Now I get to go back out, clean up my mess and re-sharpen tools so my wife can have a turn tomorrow!

edit: Mike, I just read all your advice, including the different speeds. Still figuring out where to land on all that.

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I just finished watching the Video by Alan Lacer - Befriending the Skew. It was very informative. I really appreciated him demonstrating how to grind and hone the skew.
I also appreciated his comments on carbon steel vs high speed steel. The man knows his stuff. :)

Thanks for the comments Mike. I still need to get some calipers and a center finder jig but i need to hold off for a week or two. Speed for me was around 1700 for finishing but i really didnt know what to shoot for so i will turn it up.

I went just the opisite in speed from Aaron when it came to the CA aplication. Around 700 then 200 durring the drying. Drying while spinning is great and seems to go faster than just siting. I got lots to learn and some gouges and skew to buy but the carbides are working for now and i dont have to sharpen them.

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Originally Posted by cudarunner

Check out your local Tree Surgeons for some raw wood for bowls. As I told Aaron, I haven't turned since high school but I know that it's interesting to say the least--

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I have a dead ash tree in the back yard that needs to come down one of these days. No idea what shape the trunk is in, but I'm hoping to be able to turn it into... something. :) When it cools off a bit I need to get the lathe set up again - thanks for the inspiration guys. :tu

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Thanks for the comments Mike. I still need to get some calipers and a center finder jig but i need to hold off for a week or two. Speed for me was around 1700 for finishing but i really didnt know what to shoot for so i will turn it up.

I went just the opisite in speed from Aaron when it came to the CA aplication. Around 700 then 200 durring the drying. Drying while spinning is great and seems to go faster than just siting. I got lots to learn and some gouges and skew to buy but the carbides are working for now and i dont have to sharpen them.

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Speeds for different operations is one thing I'm still hearing a lot of different opinions on. Point is, being a babe in the woods at this, I am absolutely open to suggestions on speed and other aspects of the skill from guys like MikeB52 and others. Given a true and round, well-centered stock piece, and a sharp tool, things do seem to smooth out up towards 1800-2000 rpm for cutting and refining. I just have to get confident at those high speeds.

Funny, but turning is starting to remind me of honing razors and smoking barbecue in that, though there are some universal concepts, everyone seems to have different opinions about how to achieve them.

Isn't Northern Ash what they use for baseball bats? would be a fun project.

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Originally Posted by nipper

Isn't Northern Ash what they use for baseball bats? would be a fun project.

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Joe-I haven't played baseball in decades, and never was much good at it when I did, but yeah, that would be a great turning project!

One other issue I'm trying to solve is how to turn a drilled brush around and finish the bottom face. I am looking at these TeknaTools 25mm Jaws to put on my G3 chuck (which is supposed to be universal for all their jaw sets, right?). Seems like this would be a viable option for the 25mm holes I'm drilling for 24mm brushes?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdSkh475ios
Here they are at Woodcraft: https://www.woodcraft.com/products/nova-jaw-set-25mm?via=573621bd69702d0676000002%2C573621db69702d 0676000d9d%2C5763fed669702d6582000b74
If anyone has a better option, I'm all ears.

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Originally Posted by nipper

Isn't Northern Ash what they use for baseball bats? would be a fun project.

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Sadly with my lathe it would be about a 12" long bat! :)

Ash is great for things like hammer and axe handles, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were good for bats too.

Ash is what the made my ole cars frame out of too originally. Good hard stuff.
Inside gripping chucks are a must for turning the bases of brushes. The live centre dimple goes surprisingly deep.
When I’m sanding on the lathe, speed is 800 or slower and hand pressure is light. Media always moving lengthwise back and forth quickly as it turns. Too easy to get into the radial “shoe shine grind” and score the grain deeply. Don’t lose sight of the grain direction basically.
I run through the grit progressions from 120-400 pretty quickly.
CA application and sanding around 1200 rpm. Use paper towel folded To apply as I drop the glue along the turning piece.. build up 8 coats quic5k before I start to wet sand it back.
:tu
Watch for spontaneous smoking and heat in the paper as you go!

Just saw this... Wow

https://woodworkingcrazy.net/index.p...BzaJ9Fo2PCI-pc

The chuck im waiting for in the mail has both the inside and outside jaws. If it ever shows up. It was shipped on time but then went the wrong direction. Still waiting for it to turn around and come back my way.

That egg is cool, Tom. Very nice looking piece to have on a table.

Tom, that egg is an awesome decorative piece.

Jerry...Ya got lots of time till Easter!

Pete <:-}

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/f...-piece-bit-set
And here's a 16-piece forstner bit set on sale at Woodcraft through the end of July. You could drill any sized hole you need to drill with these! I can't see me drilling enough holes to need the professional grade sets that are several times more expensive.

Ive had Forsner bits for years. But that set... Up to 2+ inches? WOW!

Dammit Pete! Now i got to find me a root ball and figure out how to fill in the gaps with plastic. But I agree that egg is amazing. Time to start reading. Its all your fault Pete! You just wait bro. I might just figure it out by Easter.

Why not start small and make a few the size of chicken eggs for practice.
The Ostrich sized egg can come later.

Pete <:-}