bowl blanks from wood pile

Free wood, dry or wet, is great stuff for turning and you don't have to feel bad if you, well, turn it into firewood. Green wood turns easier and is lots of fun making the shavings fly. Nice thing about dry wood is that if it is good and dry you can go right through to completing the project. Some people also do this with green wood but I prefer to: rough green - dry - finish turn - apply finish. Billh

It's a lathe (when set up that way) so you're turning, and welcome.

I started on a very early Mark V ('53 or '54 - I forget without bothering to go look it all up again, but 1st or second year of the Mark V). My Grand-dad bought it new, and I got to use it when he moved into an apartment. A friend has a 10 ER.

Free wood is good, although it's either going to be cracked, or not nearly as dry as you think it is. Just work around whatever cracks there are. Depneding on the extent of splitting, you might find it's better spindle stock than bowl stock.

If you can get a hold of just cut wood to practice on, it's much more fun and a little less stressful if you have any problems. (The tools will stay sharper *much* longer too.) Just make sure to clean off any damp shavings from the lathe before leaving it for the night.

I think the best skew instruction out there is Alan Lacer's "The Skew Chisel" video.

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

Well, wood is wood. You'll want to have a faceplate or a chuck to work with for bowls, though.

4/4 stock is just fine for some things. can be a great thing as well.http://personalpages.tds.net/~upgeorge/Firewood%20Follies.htmI like to have the new turners at school turn Shaker pegs. Have the fourbasic spindle moves, and they can make even their first few mistakes in oneclass hour.

First, grab all the free wood you can find. All of it. Every bit.

Second, learn to turn both green and dried.

Third, it's FREE WOOD! Grab it. Even if nothing comes out of it but shavings, you'll learn a lot and it's a lot cheaper destroying a bowl from free wood than from paid-for wood.

Fourth, keep your eyes open for free wood, and grab all you can find.

;-)

djb

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Mike Dundee) wrote in news:9dfcc55a.0404091443.e909d89 @posting.google.com:

'Woodturning - A Foundation Course' by Keith Rowley. He also has a video by the same name (IIRC). The video is a bit uneven, but worth the price. Anything by Richard Raffan. I believe he has three books out and they now come in a set, if you want. Raffan is good, but I'd recommend reading Rowley first.

Happy turning.

LD

A bunch of us probably started on one or still turn on one.

careful of nails and anything else that looks nasty... that nice free 2x4 got me in trouble for some reason Dave Balderstone brought

100420040756556360%dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca up from the deep depths of Dave Balderstone's mind

I'm relatively new to the turning addiction. The best thing I can tell you for the gouge grab is remember the ABCs. Anchor, Bevel, Cut. Hold the gouge securely on the tool rest, Angle it so it rubs the bevel, then bring it up to cut. I get a lot fewer "catches" since I was told these rules by an old pro. As for the wood, grab all you can get, but don't feel bad if you get something like the piece of Hackberry is had a couple of weeks age. Spent 3 hours getting the outside of a vase shaped. Stopped to check where I was and watched a crack spread from the faceplate to the edge. Instant firewood. Oh well on to the next project. Beware the lathe is habit forming!

Thanks for all the replies, I'll grab that wood today,(after the neighbor goes to bed).

Thanks again,

Mike D.