Making Shavings Finally

Viturally all new turning tools are ground, but not sharp. In fact, they generally aren't ground to a really good turning shape. You have to sharpen them before use. Second, pine is not a good wood to learn to turn with. Pine requires very sharp tools and good tool control. I suggest that you get some harder wood to begin turning to go along with that new set of tools you plan to purchase, which will not be sharp either.

Small lathes don't generally have a great deal of horsepower and a good catch can stop them. In fact, the Nova DVR lathe has a built in shut down feature to turn off the motor when you have a catch. It will start back up shortly afterwards, but it is designed to protect rather than hurt the operator.

The mini-tools are designed to turn very small stuff, i.e., minitures and are not good for regular turning. You are making a good choice to purchase some larger tools. But a catch will still stop your lathe and you'll likely get lots of catches while learning to apply the tools properly so that is not too bad of a deal.

Good luck with your turning and welcome to the world of woodturning.

Fred Holder

Fred has said some great stuff here. get a piece or two of hardwood firewood for practice and go to it. Make or buy a sharpening set up. It will save you a ton of grief. There are ideas over on my site and elsewhere on the web for sharpeners.

What is the address for your site?

Oddly enough, I was actually going thru an online book oby an English Gentleman named Brian Clifford and he spicifically called for pine to practice on. I do remeber now that turnging softwoods was much harder.

On the tools, I did expectr them to need a little sharpening but these barley had a profile. They do now, I have a Jet Sharpenr (just like a tormek, not needed for this) a Delta slow speed with a wet orange wheel and a real nice 3 inch wide white aluminum oxide wheel. Plua a normal old grinder. The white wheel works great for this, tho I may speed the time and try the Jet on higher speed with the rough dressing.

Thanks for your help.

Mini tools are not for heavy cuts. Sounds like you've discovered twice over why heavy cuts are not recommended. If you are stuffing the tools in hard enough to hurt your wrists, and bogging the lathe (motor?) with their small section, you need to work on your presentation. Pine may not be the best finish you'll ever get from a tool, but it cuts like any other wood, where cut across and peel down grain. You can learn that with a bit of crush as easily as without. The best cut is the one that puts the least pressure on you, the tool, and your lathe, so practice with what you have until you're dropping shavings without half feeling the tool working.

Long handles make larger movement at the guiding end into minor adjustment at the cutting end. You don't want to use any lathe tool like a pry bar, so that's about all the difference there will be between short and long - a bit easier to finesse.

As to catches, remember, it's tough to get underneath a shaving far enough to get a catch if you work above center where there is no wood.

Hmmmm.... what *do* you have to turn? I've got a shed full of maple- perhaps we could set up a trade? I like maple, too- but variety is always nice!

Something is jumping out at me a little here- though I'm sure it varies by person.

You say they barely had a profile- but do now? I only mention this because you're a beginner with turning, but you are *not* going for a bevel similar to a flat wood chisel. Turning on the lathe can create signifigant pressure and heat on the tip of the tool, and grinding too much away could cause you to either lose the temper of the steel, or crack or roll the tip.

You might be better off thinking about a circular saw tooth than a flat work chisel- the cutting surface is almost square, with a 10-15 degree back angle. The more metal you can keep under your cutting edge, the better! You need *some* relief, but it's nothing nearly as extreme as what you may think.

And of course, it's entirely possible you already know all that- it just occured to me that it would be a fairly simple misunderstanding that anyone could fall into.

I probably wasn't very clear on this. I do understand the profile issue. I looked at a couple sites and I do understand that we are really talking about a steep profile, 45 degrees or more of slope as compared to woodworking tools at 25 to 35 and carving tools in the 20 to 25.

I used a Delta Wet Sharpening system that has a large diameter orange wet stone and a small diameter 3" wide dry White stone. I used the white stone and tried to match the correct bevel angle with a hollow grind. No jig so it was a bit sloppy, but the edge was on. I think the issue was that I was using a oiece of 2X2 white pine that I cut down from some scrap I had. I will try some maple or cherry today.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Neil Larson

Hi Neil .........I can't add any wisdom here cause I am new to this also, but I am picking up on all the information your post generated Just wanted to hope you have fun and good luck with your new lathes.

Well, I am having a blast, but my checkbook is in the midst of a nervous breakdown and I think my wife moved out while I was in the shop. (not really, she is a doll and encourages me all the time, though that may be worse, lol).

Oh boy does this sound familiar - JET mini, mini gouges and chisel, NOVA chuck and PINE (or in my specific case - douglas fir - from a stud scrap). Soft grain- hard(er) grain - soft grain - dull tool banging, chipping off some wood and then just rubbing.

Pine and Doug Fir are not the best woods to turn. Because they're "soft" they tend to crush rather than cut so once you've got a shape you often must resort to the Good Old "80 Grit Gouge" (and its cousings 120, 150,

180, 220 and 320) to get a nice smooth surface. Get a piece of maple and see how much easier it is to turn "hard woods".

You didn't mention if you had the variable speed JET or not. I've got the VS and seldom manage to bog it down. But then again, I use a sharp edge. When it feels like it's getting dull I touch it up before continueing.

I've turned 9" diameter x 3-4" deep walnut bowls on the JET VS Mini - mainly with a skew. Didn't get really aggressive when removing the waste but got the clean out to rough done in a reasonable amount of time.

If you want to play with the chuck - try a turned lidded "box". The sequence for making one is important so perhaps this stuff will make life a little easier for you

Caution - turning is addictive. I'm now doing "nested" turned lidded boxes - so far only three "deep" but I'm doing finials on each so the "steps" between innner and outer jumps fairly quickly.

Think about joining a turners club. You'll pick up all sorts of tips, tricks and techniques much quicker than reading books, watching videos or DVDs.

Enjoy!

charlie b