Segmented Lacewood Vessel

That's one handsome bowl, Greg. It would be even without segmenting. I don't turn anything that requires graphing, which is one reason why your _bowl bottoms look better than my _bowl tops.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Thanks, Darrell. It's easier for me to get milled lumber than to find felled trees around here - one reason I do a lot of segmented stuff. I've only spun a few spalted birch, pear, magnolia, and cherry green wood turnings. And they were mostly, at first anyway, limbs downed in storms. Just for practice, you know. Many warped or split, or were just plain ugly. Tension wood isn't so good for turning anything permanent.

I've been tempted to drive out to rural areas and look for freshly downed trees to cut up before the firewood guys/property owners show up. I love the unbroken, organic look of natural woods as well as the methodical, ordered appearance of segmented turnings - possibly more. Also, my chainsaw is only a 14 incher. So, alas, no birdseye elm for me. I can't even find spalted sweetgum or hackberry. I wanted to try some alabaster, but can't find it locally either. No artists or sculptors around here, apparently.

As for the wife's desires, what is that old bromide? No one is happy unless mom is happy? ;-)

Greg G.

Thanks, Steven. I'm hoping so. I could use an ambient air cleaner to deal with the toxic black walnut and sapore dust this stuff kicks up.

Greg G.

Thanks, Arch. But remember that two years ago, I had never seen a lathe, and it was all the good advise from the sages here in r.c.w that led me down this slippery slope of expensive tool acquisitions.

Me thinks you might exaggerate a wee bit, however, but thanks for the vote of confidence. Maybe in a dozen or so more years. Now if I could find green wood that isn't pine, or being guarded and ultimately trucked off to Georgia Pacific. :-\

Greg G.

Hello Greg, I built one using an old squirrel cage fan and motor from a house furnace. I built a box around it and stack 2 or 3 furnace filters in the input side. It sits about 2 foot off the floor of the shop and works. How do I know? the filters get dirty. Now hanging it from the ceiling closer to the lathe would be better but space is not available.

Hi Greg, If your not happy with the thickness why not remount it and reduce it a bit. If you can't get the calipers inside because of the smaller opening why not cut the rim off, re-turn it and put it back. Usually too thick isn't a problem. Better too thick than too thin. Also unless you really enjoy the drawing process a program like woodturner pro will save a lot of time and headaches. While I like the drawing process it gets old after a while. I'd much rather be building and turning than drawing. Bob

Thanks, Darrell. I know the routine, but I live amidst the blight of a large southern city. It's 20-40 miles just to get to outer suburbia. If I invested more time into procuring stuff, I might do better, but with gas and time being at a premium...

Greg G.

Thanks, Kevin. I would do what you suggest, but I'm not in the HVAC business, and the local dump won't let you scavenge. What a waste, eh? A local dealer has the small Jet for $220, and by the time I drive around and look for "parts", I could just buy one. With an electrostatic + pocket filter and a timer/remote. I have used a box fan with an allergen filter, and it helps, but the super fine dust from 600+ sandpaper applied to exotics and lacquer remains a problem.

I just built a dust hood for the lathe out of scraps, and this seems to help considerably. In the warmer months, the dust collector goes outside, but in the winter I can't afford the heat loss.

Scrap Materials Lathe Hood:

Greg G.

By thickness, I was referring to the ultimate shape more than wall thickness. There is no "extra" material there to work with. It just seems rather blobby, and I was after a slimmer, more modern look. Unfortunately, the close dimensions I cut this stuff to doesn't leave much room for variation in shape once planned and cut.

I understand. I have a computer program, but unfortunately it doesn't really show the whole picture. Subtle aspect ratio variations occur between the image on the screen and the resulting bowl. So I draw half the shape (and mirror) and use those measurements to plan the cut list. Due to the high cost of some of the woods, I leave only an approximate 1/16" margin for error. I haven't tried Woodturner Pro in a few years, but I preferred Segmented Project Planner at the time. I ended up writing my own program in C++ so that coding mods could be made easily in-house.

Greg G.

You are more than welcome to it. I've already modded the base slightly to allow the use of my DIY 16" disk sanding platform. (It worked fine with a 10" disc, but the base had to modified to clear the

16" sanding disk and the sanding platform.) I'll post a few newer pictures below to demonstrate, along with the originals.

Even though it might appear that much of the air flow is lost due to the large amount of "clearance", it actually works very well. One further modification I would recommend would be adding a ~1/4" mesh hardware cloth screen covering the inlet to eliminate sandpaper and such from being sucked into the DC. Also, I should have moved the DC inlet more to the right, but at the time, wanted the maximum support offered by the base, and did not want to drill holes in the lathe bed to mounting accessories. The port's placement turned out to be unnecessary, as additional support is provided by a convenient Allen head bolt protruding from the headstock. There is a hole drilled precisely where the bolt protrudes, and the hood slips over this bolt head on this particular lathe. Glue and brads hold the minimal framework together. The replaceable corrugated cardboard shield is stapled on around it's periphery.

The dust collector is an old Delta 850 CFM roll around unit with two

14"x30" bags and a homemade pre-collector. With fine dust like this, it is best to allow a little "cake" to accumulate on the inside of the bags - otherwise it just shoots through the bag material. I haven't gotten around to buying any "shaker felt" bags, yet.

I don't believe it would work very well with your average shop vac as is, although you might try closing up some of the excessive "air space" surrounding the rotating components, such as behind the faceplate. A baffle or two to orient the airflow to the end user's particular lathe/setup might be useful as well. The sanding platform has a shop vac fitting on the rear, and it does work surprisingly well, just not well enough. And of course it does nothing to remove the dust created by finish sanding a piece.

The close up of the lathe bed "clamp" block was meant to illustrate the self-aligning feature of the clamp block. When tightening the handnut, the block "tends" to rotate clockwise and is locked into position by the unrounded corners. When loosening, the block tends to rotate counterclockwise past the rounded corners and allows removal through the bed ways. Just a little touch that makes it easier to install without stooping under the lathe to install and line up the attaching hardware.

The impetus for this 10 minute "design" was turning black walnut and lacewood, etc. On my last project, the fine dust generated by ring sanding, in addition to the vessel's final sanding, left a haze in the air for hours. Masks don't seem to seal well on my face yet I was quite certain I didn't want to breathe this mess, so removal at the source was my first line of attack.

I would also like to cobble up an ambient air filter, although it may be cheaper to simply purchase one during the "holiday sales" period. The little Jet AFS-1000B looks decent for the money. DIY air filters are problematic in that removal of the very fine (

No problemo, Darrell. ;-) Two years ago, I had never seen a lathe in person and hadn't a clue how to properly use one. To this day, I've never seen another turn. But thanks to the help from the people in this group, I am improving. Although my technical background draws me towards complicated segmented turnings, I would love to have a local supply for burls and spalted woods - minus the exorbitant price tags generally associated with such things at the local wood suppliers. I suppose I should ramble around some of the pudunk southern towns and find a few sources. Someday...

Now if I can could come up with a way to "automagically" clear the shavings from hollowed vessels so that I don't have to stop every 30 seconds and clear them manually. Ah, one can dream...

As an aside, how do you sharpen your steel tool bits on the homemade Oland tools you make? I cannot seem to sharpen them in normal gouge fashion on a wheel due to their tendency to rather dramatically dig into the white grinding wheel when presented. Due to the small tip radius I'm after, I've been grinding them upside down, towards the bottom of the wheel, to eliminate the dig problem. By hand. It adds a nice burr, albeit a temporary one.

I need to build another jig to go with this...

I have a general hobby site, but it hasn't been updated much lately... This is the turning page. Ciao,

Greg G.

Greg G.