Common Knowledge (or it could be in the manual I didn't read)

One of the things I learned was that there are live centers without the extension which _do_ require assistance, as they won't self-eject. Of course on my current lathe there is no self-ejecting feature at all.

"charlieb" wrote: (clip) So my question is "What other obvious, once you've seen it done (or read the manual) things have you "discovered"?" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

1.) The same switch that turns the lathe on also turns it off. You don't have to unplug it.

2.) Always stop one cut before you destroy the piece.

3.) Develop a style of bowl with contrasting wood bottom inserts, for the times when rule 2 is violated.

If you want to stop and check the bottom of the bowl turn off the lathe not the vacuum pump.

Budget how much time you spend reading newsgroups each day.

Boy does that draw a mental picture! I laughed pretty hard at that one.

I am remembering when I started turning that for some stoopid reason I clicked off the lathe and to slow down the not-yet-roughed-round piece I put my hand on the piece, not on the handwheel.

Ouch... but that was a brain fart, not a common knowledge deal.

For me, it was learning that I have two out of my five routers that have self ejecting bits. I would wrestle and fight to get those damn bits out, and like the lathe all I had to do was rotate it to a certain point and it would spit it out.

And this should be fun; I have some damn tool that I use infrequently that is reverse threaded on the arbor or shaft. The great part is, I don't remember which one it is...

Robert

Or pick the ones you spend your time in, and more importantly which threads you participate in. They have been beating the crap out of each other for two weeks on an off comment on how we all grew up, and how the OP didn't care about global warming.

On a woodworking NG, why would you particiapte? After a few posts, the political leaned threads all wind up with name calling and pissed off people.

No one changes anyone else's mind, and in the end, nothing changes except that the zealots have had a chance to vent. Very little to do with woodworking, though.

Robert

Hey Charlie!

Keep your tool rests clean and straight. Any knicks in the toolrest are telegraphed into the turned piece through the tool shaft. This is especially true when using a skew chisel. Use a flat file and smooth out the top of your tool rest until it is straight and even, and without knicks in it. Some people use a disk sander to do this but I find it too easy to overgrind one side and end up with a crooked tool rest so I choose to do mine by hand.

Mike

Really? I thought that following the bevel would produce a bevel-referenced, not toolrest-referenced surface. Of course, the toolrest doesn't get dinged much if you hold the tool firmly to it with an overhand grip rather than let it flop with an underhand.

Right. I now have a couple threads and one individual filtered. No need to announce whom.

That might be an on-topic adjunct to this thread: learn to use the newsgroup reader like any other tool. Filters are your friends.

Bill

Yes, the "bevel produces a bevel reference" that controls the Depth Of Cut (and burnishes the wood just cut), but you've still got to move the cutting edge over the work to cut (or scrape) a shape. The smoother that movement the "fairer" the curve(s). Interrupt that "sweep" and that smooth continuous curve can be interrupted - often resulting in an very noticeable "something's not quite right but I don't know why".

As for the "Underhand" vs "Overhang" grip - the Overhand grip is almost a must for roughing but is rather ham fisted for fine, controlled movement. Can't easily use thumb and finger tips to move the tool with fine control with the Overhand grip. Overhand grip control is basically all in the wrist - which is gross control relative to wrist AND thumb and finger tip control.

Depending on the cross section of the tool, small nicks and dings in the contact surface with the tool rest may or may not be a problem. Round and oval cross sections won't be affected much. But if you're working with a rectangular cross section - like the skew I love to use, and prefer only slightly eased edges on the rectangular cross section, dings and nicks in the working surface of the tool rest can cause "discontinuitites" in the flowing profile I'm trying to cut.

And, as we all know #@&*^%% happens, and tool rests DO get dinged. Filing them smooth peridoically seems like it should be pointed out to fill in a gap in The Common Knowledge chapter for new woodturners. I'd rather have more information than I think I need than too little of what I do need. EVENTUALLY, I do read the manuals.

More "stuff no one bothered to mention that could've saved me some time / aggravation / grief"? You know, the forehead slappers, accomponied by "OF COURSE!" things you've learned.

charlie b

I think you're controlling from the wrong end. Think of the power and finesse you gain by controlling from the end of the tool handle. If you want to change a 32nd of an inch, you're pretty much 1:1 at the rest, and with your "fingertips" to boot. That's why you perceive an obstacle that a turner swinging around the close-in fulcrum with a 20:1 mechanical advantage never notices. A 32nd is below the threshold in proprioception, but 5/8 is something else.

As to how much a north/south deviation affects a east/west cut, less and less as you approach the 90 degree point where the rest does the donkey work of holding the tool against gravity best, allowing you to apply the measured finesse from a position of advantage. Of course, if you keep the tool on the rest as a matter of course, it won't get dinged up anyway.

Except when you reach to turn off the lathe with the tool still inside the bowl....

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...

It has been my experience (perhaps only mine) that knicks will telescope into the work. Your tool is supported at 3 points, the edge, the bevel and the toorest. Change the height of the toolrest without changing anything else and your work will show that change. A chunk (big or small) out of the toolrest will alter the height, hence show on the piece. As to holding over or under hand, I don't see where that would make a difference. The toolrest is still one of the supports. I don't usually use an overhand technique since that big dig I had roughing out a log, which sucked my tool under, took my hand with it and lodged it solidly between the log, the tool and the toolrest and stalled a 2HP lathe. Can you spell PAIN? Anyway, that's beside the point. I still can't see how it would make a difference in showing/not showing divots oin the toolrest.

Yeah, sure helps if you remember that you want to keep the toolrest close enough to prevent the tool being carried and wedged between the piece and the rest. One of the big helps is to cut above centerline on convex contours, where force tangent to the initial point of contact over the top of the gouge will kick the tool away from the piece, not drive it under. Interior cuts benefit from being below centerline, where the vector of the will carry into the air that's there. Get too high on convex and you will not be able to cut, only skate away, same as if you get too far under on the inside.

Other thing is to remember that you can't rest a bevel on air, so you want to pivot on a firm toolrest reference and scoop away irregularities until you get close to round, where you can steady the third point. What's it ol' Dave Hout says on TV? Trim the end and slide back when roughing so you won't hook a splinter?

Underhand puts you at a disadvantage, because you're letting the hand support the tool rather than the rest. The hand will bounce, and possibly overfeed back into the work. Means a kick out followed by a low spot in the work can put the tip of the tool underneath, and that's a catch.

Not to mention the ease with which you can employ body English and a rigid arm on the long end of that lever to get through the initial entry. Stuffing in with your fingers gives you little advantage at all.

Simple check for the effectiveness of your support is to remove the near, non-guiding hand and see if you can continue the cut with the handle hand only. If you've got a bit of the lower curve of the gouge under the shaving, the force of removal will hold the tool to the rest for you, countering the thrust against the top of the gouge.

As usual, pearls of wisdom from George. Yet another of his insights for my Techniques folder. Not exactly where I was trying to get this thread to head - but valuable info none the less. I've not gotten into bowl turning much - yet, so some of what George goes over isn't applicable or has limited applicability to the type of turning I'm doing - mainly with a 1/2" and 3/4" rectangular cross section, curved edge skew on stuff that's 4" in diameter - or smaller, sometimes a lot smaller.

What I was going for are the little things that aren't in The Manual and aren't discussed and/or demonstrated in any video or DVD.

Let me give another example.

The Wadsworth chuck jaws (or whatever they're called) - the big pie shaped jaws with the rubber buttons - I got for my SuperNova2 chucks (note the plural - drive by neener) came with four extra long screws. When I mounted the jaws to the chuck with the long screws I was threading them in for what seemed like forever. Couldn't understand why the designer would use such long screws that took so damned long to screw in. THEN I saw those jaws mounted WITH another set of smaller jaws mounted in front of them. THAT would never have occured to me. The convenience of going from large diameter to smaller diameter gripping and back by mounting the second set of jaws in front of the bigger jaws sure can save a lot of time. OBVIOUS - once you've seen it done. The Long Screws Mystery solved.

Anyone one else "discover" a DUH! Forehead Slapper?

charlie b

"charlieb" wrote: (clip) Anyone one else "discover" a DUH! Forehead Slapper? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ A knockout bar, forgotten inside the spindle bore, sounds like a loose pulley or a bearing failure.

A chuck key or Tommy bar that just missed your eye when you turned on the lathe should have been removed earlier.

A rag that gets pulled into the work, almost taking your finger with it, is a warning from your guardian angel.

Leo Lichtman wrote: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Exactly what I was looking for!

New chuck keys come with a spring loaded "finger" that'll pop the key out of the drill chuck - thence to the floor and in one bounce, under something heavy and come to rest next to something that bites or stings - or stinks.

How about "When using a foot pedal power switch, ALWAYS turn the power off at the machine BEFORE trying to change a chuck or center?

More please.

charlie b