Roger T

Guys, I finally got the approval to get a new tablesaw after 15 years of whining. I'd really appreciate a coupon if you have one you are not going to use. Thanks much, Roger

I use the OneWay Vacuum adaptor on my lathe as well as their Vac Chucks. The medium sized one at about 5" provides tons of holding power. I've had issues with using the small one, at about 3" diameter or so providing enough suction and have lost pieces off of it. The medium one is the most often used for me and I have sucked the bottom out of more than a couple pieces when they were thinner than I had wanted. When using them, I always try and cut towards the headstock when possible, and I do use lighter cuts. Turning some porous woods you sometimes have to get creative with either taping or using shrink wrap to seal up the wood a bit to get enough vacuum to hold the piece. It's a great tool to have in my arsenal. Roger

Bernie, I sent you a PM.

WTN, I am not trying to start a holy war here but, if you go back and reread ducks statement, it simply is not right. It says keep your tools sharp so you wont have a catch. Plain and simple. Nothing is farther from the truth. If a new/newer turner comes in here, and takes that advise, goes sharpens his tool to razor sharpness, goes to the lathe and has a massive catch. figures hmmm, I read on woodtalk, that shouldnt happen because my tool was sharp. Goes back to the grinder and sharpens again, with the same result. Massive catch. Catches happen because of no bevel support. At least in cutting edge tools like gouges and skews and such. Scrapers are a whole other animal. If you do not rub the bevel, and present the edge to the wood, you are guaranteed to have a catch. Go to your machine and chuck up a piece of wood, and see for yourself. Show it an unsupported edge, and see what happens. then after you rechuck the piece, show it a supported edge, properly riding the bevel. Sharp tools are pretty much mandatory, can I turn with a dulling or dull tool? Sure I can, but I use proper techniques to do so. Do I ever have catches? Sure, I have catches, but with my experience, I rarely have a bad catch, and they are fairly rare occurrences anymore. All I am asking is that if you are going to offer wisdom to turners, that the information you give, is technically correct. Turning is hard enough to learn the nuances when you are first starting out. And can be dangerous at times as well. To mitigate some of the danger and lessen the learning curve, we as mentors need to provide accurate information. Not something we deem personally as correct. Roger

Duck, Ive seen you refer to "Keep your tools sharp so you don't have catches" many times. The sharpness or dullness of your tools has nothing to do with catches. What causes a catch is presenting an unsupported edge to the wood, and not using the bevel of the tool. The bevel supports the cutting edge of the tool, if you rub the bevel then rotate the edge to the wood, it wont catch. All I ask is if you are going to coach turners, be informed well enough to present good and correct information. And not information you deem personally correct. Roger

jhop, Its as fast as my midrange pulley will let me, so about 1800. When doing these types of finials, ya just cannot be afraid to break them. You are usually pretty safe down to about 1/8" or so, its when ya go sub 1/8 that things get really dicey. I use a combo of skew and detail gouge to get these like this. Dont be afraid, just get out there and try! Roger

Thanks for all the nice comments guys. Much appreciated Bill, the finish is simple, oil, let it cure for a day or two, then buff and wax on the bodies. The finials are simply sanded and waxed for obvious reasons, I don't attempt to buff the finials. Roger.

Just finished up the last round of Ornaments for the Season. All finials are holly, and the bodies are Ambrosia Maple except for the dark one which is Walnut. The Walnut one also has a captive ring on the bottom finial. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/12w5sujyb68ocqz/AAAiVeTVQP3SXRW0kIIUSgy_a?dl=0 Thanks for looking. Roger

Talk about being put under pressure today. A friend of my wifes sent her a message this morning saying that she would like to see if I could make a dough bowl for her. I just dont have the proper tooling or half logs right now to be able to do this. But, I did convince her that I could turn her a bowl that would serve the same purpose. She wanted rustic, well, when I turn, I am to much of a perfectionist to do rustic. I convinced the gal to come over to the shop and rummage around to see if maybe she could find something that would work for her needs. After about 20 minutes of digging thru piles of bowl blanks she brings out a large 15" soft maple blank that I had for a few years. Turning soft maple bowls is kind of a crap shoot for me. Sometimes they turn out real well, and sometimes, well, they end up as firewood. I told her to have a seat and chat with the wife down in the shop while I set off to turn this piece. For a change, and being under the pressure of really, really not wanting to screw this up and embarrass the heck outta myself, the piece came out fantastic. She let me sand it out to 220, and I was able to make a really nice surface on it, and no tool marks or sanding scratches. She left my shop happy and with a 15" bowl in hand. And I was able to breathe a big sigh of relief at being able to get it done for her. No finish on the bowl as she didnt want any. Thanks for looking! Roger

Nicely done Higtron. Really came out nice.

Jer, Heres a cow magnet. http://tinyurl.com/q62g3ra They are about 2 1/2" long and maybe 5/8 or a little less diameter. Farmers will give them to their cattle to catch metal they ingest in their first stomach. We use them at work tho, take an awl, and poke a hole in the end of a red wire nut, then thread a string thru that hole and tie a couple knots in the end so it wont pull out of the wire nut. Then take the cow magnet, and jam it into the wirenut and tape it in place with some electricians tape. You now have a steel stud/screw sensor for hanging cabinets and such. just dangle it on the string in front of the wall and move back and forth. It'll pull to a screw or steel stud very easily.

Htn, Yes I do have a youtube chan. but, I'm not much of a video maker. Much better turner and instructor than a videographer. But I do have 4 vids on there, Bowl Turning 101 parts one and two. and Making a screw chuck, parts one and two. You are welcome to watch them if you'd like. And thanks much again for the nice comments. https://www.youtube.com/user/WoodlandTurnings/videos Roger

Thanks for all the kind comments gang. Wtn, yes they are hollow body ornaments. I hollow out to around 1/8" wall thickness. I weighed a couple of these on a scale and they came in at 1 1/2 oz. We decorate our tree with ones like these every year. By far, these are my most farorite thing to come off the lathe. Took quite a while to develop my technique, now I rarely ruin one, where when I started, I was lucky to get one complete out of 4.

Hi Gang, Finally got around to turning a few ornaments for this season. Bodies are either Ambrosia Maple, or Walnut, the finials are Holly. I weighed 2 of the ornaments, came in at a whopping 1 1/2 oz. Thanks for looking. Roger

Nick, Good lookin pc of beef there! Did you set this up indirect with the plate setter? My first attempt on a brisket didnt turn out very well. Gonna give it another shot pretty soon.