Hi Guys:
Been a lonnng time since I've been over here. Not trying to avoid you all, just haven't been doing that much turning. But recently fired up my trusty HF lathe to turn some wooden carving mallets for the older son - apparently I've gotten him interested in carving out some wooden Tikis. By the way, my HF lathe is about 9-10 years old now, and still working just fine - painted yellow, of course.
Wasn't about to waste any of my air dried wood on him, so glued up a couple of chunks of 2X4 together, squared them up by running them thru my planer, and cut them for three different length mallets.
The 2X4s were soft pine, so figured no problem using a gouge and rounding them off. The theory was better than the doing. Course it mighta helped if I'd sharpend the gouge a bit first, but didn't bother. Well, did get them rounded (using a lare wood rasp, while the lathe was runnning - worked well, just a bit slower thn I caed for),then proceded turning 3 various length mallets for him. Actually, they come out quite nicely, if you don't care about the flue line, and if I need more in the future, may well do it the same way.
But, a few days back picked up a hand power planer at a HF sidewalk sale. For $25, figured I couldn't go wrong.
So, figured next time Iturn something, rather than rounding it first, or try rounding it in the lathe as before, I'd try using the hand planer on the stock, while the lathe is running..
The question is: Has any of you used a hand power planer this way? And, if so, any down side?
I'll be checking back. Thanks.
Later.
JOAT Politician \Pol`i*ti"cian\, n. Latin for career criminal