Guillaume Breton Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 Hello everyone. i'm still waiting for my 1st gouge set to arrive, but in the meantime, i'm looking for projects i want to make. One of the 1st one i want to make is a lamp. I need one so wy not turn one! But, I want to use the opportunity to improve my skills in woodturning. I have watched a couple videos on how to turn a lamp, but nothing satisfactory. i will start with a small one, maybe 8 inches total height but i want to do something special. Here is what i have in mind. in a sense, its probably just 2 bowls on top of each other with an added piece on top, but my questions have more to do with how to turn that thin. do you scrape once you reach a certain thinness or are you better using the bowl gouge ? better of scraping from the outside instead of the inside for control ? i've seen ppls using a lamp to gauge how thin they are getting, of should i try and make some kind og thickness gauge before i start this project ? tyvm and wish me luck ! p.s. i also wanted to buy a disk sander to make segmented pieces... Then i realized i already had one ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 I built one also it works great, your going to like your sander they come in handy. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guillaume Breton Posted February 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 nice, bult in dust collection ! good idea ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike M Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Reading between the lines, I'm guessing that you are just starting out turning wood. If that is true, the lamp you are planning to start out with is way over your head. The walls of the lamp body need to be thin, in the range of 1/8 inch. At that thickness, the wood is very unstable and the slightest catch, either with the gouge or scraper will cause a spectacular explosion of toothpicks. Also, the wood will move (warp) as you are turning it which creates another set of problems. This project would be a challenge for an experienced turner. I'd suggest you develop your skills on simpler projects and enjoy the satisfaction of seeing your work develop before tackling a project of this complexity. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Reading between the lines, I'm guessing that you are just starting out turning wood. If that is true, the lamp you are planning to start out with is way over your head. The walls of the lamp body need to be thin, in the range of 1/8 inch. At that thickness, the wood is very unstable and the slightest catch, either with the gouge or scraper will cause a spectacular explosion of toothpicks. Also, the wood will move (warp) as you are turning it which creates another set of problems. This project would be a challenge for an experienced turner. I'd suggest you develop your skills on simpler projects and enjoy the satisfaction of seeing your work develop before tackling a project of this complexity. been turning for 3 years and i dont even think i could turn that. i dont know the wood well enough and my tools aren't sharp enough like mike said slightest catch would make it shatter. a possibility is instead of wood how about alabaster. that stone is transparent and could possibly be made into a lamp. http://williampickerd.com/gallery.htm this guy does alot of stone turning and this particular piece shows how it lights up. if your inturested let me know and ill tell you what i have found out when i was looking into buying and doing stone turning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guillaume Breton Posted February 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 thanks for the tips. i'm not quite "new" i'Ve done a bunch of bowls and pepper mills, etc, but i'm not that experienced. that's why i want to go small to start with. I dont mind the challenge ! i'll let you guys know how bad (or good!) it turns out ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick A McQuay Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 Curious how it goes because it's a cool project. I would invest in or make a steady rest for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jHop Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 I'm going to recommend two books to you: _Wood Turning Full Circle_ and _Wood turning Wizardry_. Both are by David Springett. I got my pair via Amazon pretty cheap, and they've helped a TON with conceptual. If you haven't seen any of the stuff that comes out of those books... be amazed twice. First, by the stuff, and second at how easy it really is to make them. I've got three on my list for this summer, after the polar vortex has left and I can remove the rust from my tools. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guillaume Breton Posted February 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 tyvm jhop i'll try to get my hand on those ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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