Help with steady rest on baluster

Dave How new are you to turning? 34" long with a 1/2" diameter anywhere near the middle, is tricky turn. There can be lots of vibration. First get some practice pieces to "waste." To use a steady rest on a piece like this you need to rough down to a smooth circle in the cneter of the piece. If you are using 1 1/4" stock, aim for a 1 1/8" circle, not 1/2". Never mind what the actual diameter is dupposed to be at center, turn to the largest diameter you can for the steady rest. Then work the tail stock end. move the steady rest down a bit to a finished diameter and turn the head stock end. Practice, practice, practice. Hope this helps.

110 years ago your spindles were turned were probably turned in less than 10 minutes each, on a foot-powered lathe without a steady rest. Humbling, isn't it?

Things to try:

Slow your speed way down. 700 rpm is plenty, less if you can get it. At this speed, a good surface can only come from a super-sharp tool. Have you checked that the steady rest is holding the spindle exactly on center? If not, it'll only make things worse.

Gouges will also make this situation worse, because they have more bevel that has to rub. Skew chisels will give you a better cut. Even with a steady rest, you'll have to support the cut with your leading hand/fingers curling around the spindle as you cut it.

Start at the middle of the spindle and work towards both ends. The idea is always to leave as much support as possible, for as long as possible. Once you turn a section 3"-6" long, sand it and leave it... at this length/thickness, you can't go back (sometimes even to sand) without chatter.

Try a different wood. Oak, with its hard/soft layers, is very hard to turn into long, thin spindles, and doesn't respond well to steady rests of your type. And if that coarse grain isn't perfectly aligned with the axis of the spindle, it'll be pretty weak too. I'm not sure if you can get poplar in the UK, but that's what I'd try, at least for practice. If not, any medium-hard wood without pronounced grain will do.

Practice, practice, practice on some boring wood, at what seems like ridiculously slow speeds, always supporting your cut with your leading hand, trying to make the longest, thinnest spindle that you can. Spindles that are 24" long or longer and 1/8" (yes, you read that right) in diameter, complete with lots of elements, are absolutely do-able without a steady rest. This is the graduate-school, rocket-science of woodturning. And once you master it, everything else in life is a piece of cake.

Michael Latcha - at home in Redford, MI

Couple of things to begin with. Make sure you're not flexing the piece at the outset with too much pressure from the tailstock. If a live center, snug and then back off an eighth of a turn or so, keeping the point an cup engaged.

Watch your cutting angle. Depending on the tool used, you'll want to cut high on the piece with a skew, lower with a gouge, where the tool provides a bit of clearance by its shape. I tend to wrap the steadying hand around under when using a skew, behind on a gouge or chisel.

Then there's the problem of the differential density in oak to overcome. Makes a non-flexible wheel on the steady more of a liability than a help sometimes. Keep the tool firm to the rest and skim the chatter off in stages if you must. Trying to steady a cut on a bouncing bevel won't work.

Oak is a bad subsisted for original pine. Pine has a lot or teat out. If it is interior use go with poplar or exterior the best would be mahogany. As for getting a round section for steady rest turn first section 6 to 12" inches from end and then you will have enough support to do one at center of piece.

Hi Dave, Please don't turn if you are taking any anti depressants or mood elevating beverages for your incipient depression. :)

It may not matter with balusters, but with very thin long rods, goblets, etc. driving the blank with a chuck instead of a spur seems to help prevent bowing. probably by compressing longitudinal fibers.

You've gotten some much better tips, but since you have already bought the Sorby steady rest you might like to make a 'turtle' to use with it. Nothing more than a short piece of black iron pipe, say 2 in. length X 2 in. diam. Drill and thread 3 holes around the circumference for three

3/8 or so bolts to bear against the middle of the wood blank. Adjust the bolts to center the blank in the pipe and lock the bolts with two nuts each. Then let the Sorby rollers ride on the round pipe avoiding the bolt heads. Turn an adjacent section of the blank to round, remove the turtle and use the steady while completing the baluster. Hope my description isn't too confusing.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

I did a bit at school 30 years ago. I bought a cheap nasty lathe at the beginning of November, spent most of November learning to sharpen tools and building jigs. I did a two day course at the beginning of December, joined a club at the beginning of January, sold the cheap nasty lathe and bought a Nova DVR XP in the middle of January. It's a clearly a bit of an obsession but I'm enjoying it very much.

I'm turning down to the largest possible diameter for the steady but I wonder if it's worth doing that say 6" from the end and then working my way up the baluster in 6 inch sections?

Dave

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Michael,

I can go down to 100 rpm - presumably there will be other issues then?

I'm pretty confident the tools are sharp.

I do have some cherry - would that be suitable?

To centre the steady I just bring up each roller to touch the wood at rest - is there a better way?

Dave

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flexing the piece at

Dave,

I've had good luck making balisters from poplar. It's harder than pine, but not quite as hard as oak, and the grain isn't as coarse so it cuts smoother with less vibration. If I were trying to make something with only 1/2" diameter in the middle, then that's the last cut that I would make. I would work from the ends toward this and finish it up last.

Something like your cherry or one of the maples would be more even and probably easier to work with. Think you've got one you call sycamore over there that would work. Truth is, if you had rived oak or real straight stock, your differences would be less noticeable, perhaps to the point of vanishing.

I use a straight chisel skewed so the exit trails the cut, which bridges the differences in hardness along the length of the grain as the best way to get things smooth. Don't press at all after entry. If your design permits, enter the cut near the end where support is better, and plane toward the middle for smooth.

Dave like Arch said Arch you where faster on the draw here, I was going to suggest the same/similar idea, of the pipe to have the steady roll on, at least initially, also I'm not to impressed with the Sorby steady, a home made one with the larger inline skate wheels would be a big improvement I think rather than those little hard wheels they use. As for the choice of wood the Canada poplar is growing all over in NW europe, and should be available also The Sycamore (Plane tree over there) and yes several Maples are also a common tree, just try some to see what works for you, but first improve the hardware.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

All,

Thanks for so many ideas and such a fast response - I'll get cracking over the next few days and let you know how I get on.

Dave

This is an untested idea, as far as I know, but it ought to work.

1.) Mount a short piece of your 1 1/4" stock on the lathe (between centers or in a chuck.) 2.) Attach wooden pieces to it, with a hose clamp, and turn the outside of the attached pieces round. 3.) Mount your 1 1/4" spindle blanks between centers, and attach the rounded pieces in the middle with a hose clamp. 4.) Fit the steady rest over the round blocks. 5.) Turn the spindle to completion on both sides of the steady rest.* 6.) Move the steady rest to a finished area near the middle of the spindle, and finish up. _______________________ *You could remove the blocks/hose clamp and move the steady rest as soon as you have a round area near the middle. Of course, leave any 1/2" parts to be done last.

The slower speeds will be good, and if you have a variable speed lathe it's worth finding a "sweet spot" for the speed that gives you the least whip. Sometimes a tiny bit of speed change makes a tremendous difference in how the spindle behaves.

Cherry might be just fine, certainly better then the oak.

If you wait until the spindle is whippy, adjusting the center rest as you've described won't work because you are adjusting it to the spindle as it's sagging due to its own weight and buckled from the compression of the centers. As others have mentioned, if you want to use the steady rest, turn the center portion of the blank round, apply the center rest, then work around it for as long as possible. This method, however, is directly the opposite the way you need to work. You want to start at the center and work to the ends.

Best, in my mind, would be to learn to turn such things without the aid of a steady rest... but that's me, not necessarily you.

Michael Latcha - at home in Redford, MI

Leo, Leo, Leo -- you obviously have way too much time to think !!!!

Bill

Leo Lichtman wrote:

With all the advice here, including my own on steady rests, I agree with Michael, a common occurence. My favorite "steady rest" for a spindle is my hand wrapped around it while a skew does the work. In other words, practice, practice, practice. I like to do this with 3/4" square pine scraps and turn

18" spindles with coves down to 1/8". Never mind how many I break! I did say scrap did I not? :-)

Well, there is the final option of the spokeshave if the design permits. Zero RPM.

Arch ... I'm trying to envision this assist; is this made with three bolts or three at each end (six total)?

Bill

St. Lou Bill, Leo L. doesn't have extra time. Just that Left Coast guys think faster than Middle and Southern Americans ...and displaced Hollanders. :)

Detroit Bill, I used three bolts, but I don't see why you couldn't wear a belt & suspenders and use six. :)

Dave, I have to confess that I've only used a turtle on a metal lathe. Our suggested devices for thin spindles are mostly to think & post about. :) For actual turning we all end up using our hands or at most a simple stick wedged between the ways and blank for back support.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter