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blank roughing on bandsaw (was ...compass)

I'm not sure why you folks are trying to draw circles on rough wood to cut it out on the bandsaw. Make a series of templates out of 1/4" luan plywood, masonite or anything else you have that is laying around/cheap. And you only need to make them as you need them - I now have a set that ranges from 4" diameter to 16" diameter. Use your compass to draw a circle on the template material and cut it out on the bandsaw. About round is close enough. Drill a hole in the center to take an 8 penny nail. Drill another hole about 1.5 - 2 " from the center hole so if you have a sloping piece of wood (as on the barkside), you can hold the template more or less level and put in a second nail to hold it in that position. You only need to tack the nails in far enough to not fall out when sawing. Cut CLOSE ONLY to the template and your bowl blank will be suitable to mount on the lathe. I put the flat surface of the blank down on the bandsaw table and put the template on the bark side (assuming half logs) but the templates work for anything you want to bandsaw round.

Reply to
Jim Pugh
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The reason I don't use the template method is that I like to play with placing the center of the circle depending on the grain patterns or other areas I'd like to include and exclude. The template method would work well if I was doing cookie cutter roughing, but I feel it covers up too much when making my creative decisions. For example, if I want to ensure that a crotch-flame pattern is located down the center of the blank I can place the compass centering point exactly where I want it - placeing the center point of the template is a guessing/eyeballing proceedure.

_____ American Association of Woodturners Cascade Woodturners Assoc., Portland, Oregon Northwest Woodturners, Tigard, Oregon _____

Reply to
Owen Lowe

I realized why you prefer using a compass. On the other hand, all my templates have a 1/16" - 1/18" dia hole drilled exactly in the center. I locate the best area on the blank with the template and mark the center with a nail. Then I draw the circle around the template on to the blank. After the blank is cut. I drill a 1/8" dia. pilot hole X 1/8" deep in the marked center. Using this pilot hole I either mount a face plate with screws or hot glue on the blank. Or, depending on the configuration and size of the blank, I use the pilot hole to guide the spur center in and using the live center I move the blank by trial and error to find it approximate balance point then I lock it in place. My lathe only goes down to 600 RPM. If I did a good job, the blanks will start turning with an acceptable vibration level. If not, I start again playing with the live center and removing some of the points on the blank until (@ 600 RPM) the vibration is acceptable. This is by no mean the best way. I would appreciate comments to better my approach.

Reply to
Denis Marier

Reply to
Tony Manella

I made a bunch of cardboard circle templates and use a big nail to hold them on to the blank, then cut close to the shape. If I hit the cardboard, no big deal, I don't hurt the blade and its only cardboard. I don't necessarily go for the biggest size. If I see a feature I want in my turning I'll use my compass to figure out how far I can go and then use the center hole from the compass to center the cardboard template that is the closest. Either way, it's not rocket science, I'm just getting it close enough and the real work begins when it gets on the lathe. Have fun

Reply to
guy

That's exactly what I use, Tony. I have cut out a 14" circle of Plexiglas. I then used a scriber compass and scored circles at 2 inch intervals and then filled the scratch with red felt tip pen ink. That way I can see where and what I am including in the circle. I have been using it for some time and the scratches are negligible.

Reply to
Leif Thorvaldson

unless you make em out of clear lexan or the like. for some reason Owen Lowe brought snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com up from the deep depths of Owen Lowe's mind

Reply to
Reyd Dorakeen

unless you have a lathe or something you can stick them on, and then sand/polish them by the method in the new woodturning desing magazine for acrylics and such. for some reason Tony Manella brought nfudnTi-JsEGL- snipped-for-privacy@nni.com up from the deep depths of Tony Manella's mind

Reply to
Reyd Dorakeen

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