more newbie observations

On Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:19:00 -0500, Vic Baron wrote (in message ):

basic Elmer's glue or the yellow stuff, and basic brown paper, like grocery bags (my favorite source) When it is time to separate them I use a wide metal spatula right on the glue line and a rap with a hammer on the end of the spatula. Very neat separation. Clean up with sandpaper disc. Is a very secure hold under normal circumstances. tom koehler

Yup, or the tenon failing

or in my case, seriously flawed technique resulting in a spectacular catch - I learned a lot in a millisecond or two

I usually just turn a piece between centers until I get a tenon for the chuck to grip, but last week I was trying to turn a long piece of branch wood into a vase and decided to be "safe" and use a faceplate..

The wood was about 16" long and maybe 7" diameter..No problem, 4" faceplate with 1 3/4" lag screws should be good.. I was still removing the bark and branch stubs (Using the tailstock) when the piece started wobbling and fell off the damn lathe..

After turning off the lathe and seeing that the wood rolled over the side of my foot but that I wasn't bleeding (much), I looked up and saw that all 4 screws were still through the faceplate.. all with wood fiber stuck in the threads..

I'll stick with a chuck from now on..

Any wood buffs well, but the harder the wood the better it buffs.. Maple and walnut buff REALLY well, especially walnut.. It just GLOWS.. Softer woods like pine or cherry buff much better with a coat of natural Danish oil applied first..

I wet sand a lot of my pieces using Danish oil and they really buff well after that.. (You're pretty much buffing the oil)

When I have a "buffing doubter" in the shop I'll grab a pen blank of some other fairly rough surface and use the 1st wheel on it for a few seconds.. They're blown away by how it looks..

em... you do know that face-plate is really not for end-grain work, for the very reason you just learned

Yep.. My exception is for wet wood.. Never had a piece that was wet and green come off, even end grain..

I'm not a fan of faceplates and don't use them often..

I don't use them much, but when I do I use sheet metal screws. They hold well. Of course, you have to pre-drill the holes. The bit should be the same diameter as the shank of the screw. If you don't pre-drill or use too small of a bit you'll crush the wood fibers, weakening them.

Of course, you need to be screwing into sound wood as well.

The OP said he had the tailstock up as well as the faceplate. Me thinks he must have had a major catch. If the piece is supported on both ends I have a really hard time seeing it coming off. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think there's more to this story than was written up...

Kevin.. I was the OP.. Used hex head screws into pilot holes, tightened with a socket.ratchet..

No catch.. was removing bark wirh a cardbide tool (with tailsdtock) and it started to wobble.. I turned off the lathe at about the same time as the wood fell off..

All I can think of is that the vibrations backed the screws out.... never had anything like this happen before..

Wow, that's really odd. I presume you were in sound wood. With the tailstock up it's hard to see how it could come loose. But stranger things have happened...

The only thing that I can think of is that when the screws lost hold, the tailstock point went off center and threw the whole thing off balance.. Funny thing is that the lathe was not vibrating before it happened...

The wood was solid.. Only off the tree for a few days and no crcks or anything..

From a safety standpoint, which was the original topic, I wouldn't have any scrapes on my foot if I wasn't turning barefoot..