From time to time a passing reference to pumping lathes, rose engines and simple ornamental turning gear appears here. I happen to have several old AMT head and tailstock castings and enjoy pretending to be an inventor. I've made an excuse for a pumping lathe, what passes for a rose engine, and a device that makes very very coarse threads that masquerade as spirals. I'm thinking about cobbling up a simple ornamental lathe using a flex shaft to drive a cutting frame, an indexing plate and a X-Y vise; ok, it's a boat anchor. :)
I wonder if there may be others like me, basically woodturners, who don't have enough time, money, ability or dedication to get into serious OT, but at least would enjoy talking about it. Does AAW still have an OT section? Are simple OT threads appropriate for rcw? I guess so because we discuss eccentric and oval turning etc. Anybody interested? I don't want to embarrass myself on the 'real' OT forums. I do that well enough here where I'm among friends. :)
Arch, If you do a Google Search for Nick Silva and send him an E-mail, he can probably give you as much info on OT as anyone in the US. He is, or was, a member of the Dallas area club, so he may be in the new AAW directory. He posts here some , but I don't know if he reads it daily. Good luck,
Hello Ken, Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately, I no longer own my OT lathe or belong to the OT groups. I sold it to pay for medical expenses after some old blind guy ran over me. Peace.
Nick, I'm distressed to learn of your injuries from an unfair accident. Are you still interested and active in OT?. Would be a shame to lose your abilities and know how. How about some essays here on the basics of ornamental turning, using simple gear. Maybe leading to your filling the vacuum existing about books on ornamental turning for dummies?
I wonder if the thrust of my thread made any sense to you as a turner who is expert and has demo'ed OT? Keep well, and in touch with us here, if possible. All best wishes for your health and prosperity.
Vacuum of books on OT? Hmmm....pardon me...but...you haven't done much looking.
There is, of course, the "gold standard", Holtzapffel Vol 5. Then there's the Evans book. And the T.D. Walshaw book. And the two books from Bill Jones "Notes From the Shop", which contain a lot of OT content. And then there's the Darlow books..."Woodturning Techniques" and "Woodturning Design" which also have some OT content.
All of these...even those out-of-print, are readily available.
And you could join the OTI ($25/yr) and then get their CD which has 50 years of old SOT jpurnals.
And you could do a google search on "ornamental turning" which would bring up enough web sites to keep you busy for a few days...one of which would be
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which has a section on how to convert a Grizzley metal lathe to an OT lathe.rr
Hi Randy, Thanks for your kind response and desire to help me, although I wasn't seeking sources for OT info. I'll take your answer re "any interest?" to be negative. I'm sorry that I "haven't done much looking". You are pardoned, of course, but please 'look' at my original question. I hope it was clear that the masterwords were; "simple" "for rcw" "any interest?". Holtzapffel isn't simple, at least not for this dummy and Walshaw, Evans and Darlow don't post here. :) However I'll get out my copies and try harder before plonking my own thread for being lazy.
Thanks again for the standard (gold or otherwise) references. I'm sure they will keep me busy, but maybe not awake, for more than a few days. I don't have a Grizzley metal lathe, but I do have a Sheldon, ....which is just as good as money. :)
Thanks for taking the time to search for and post your reply. I too have thought about OT. I have a metal working lathe that I also use for wood. In addition I have Foredom flexshafts and all kinds of bits for it. Now we will see if there is enough motivation here to marry the two!
Hello Arch, Thanks for the kind words. I am replying on this thread since my newsgroup server seems to lose a bunch of messages and your original response is long gone. I will go on record (again) as saying that the Holtz book ranks as one of the worst books ever written. Most OT groups will hold it up as some sort of bible but it is an unreadable piece of crap. In my demo I point to the pages where Holtz goes on for 2 pages on the preparation of the wood for OT turing which in modern plain English boils down to "YOU BEGIN BY TURNING IT ROUND". Now what is so hard about that??????? The remainder of the book is just as cumbersome.
The Holtz book might appeal to engineers and other whiz-bang kids who are into the 'look what I did' mode of thinking, but to the home turner who wants to ornament (my word) his work, it is way over kill. There are much simpler ways of doing this work with modern motors and routers and other such items that have long outgrown Holtz.
Now I will go on record by saying the SOT journals on CD are by far "THE" finest collection of knowledge from the last 50+ years on the subject of OT. It is a veritable gold mind of information from people who actually do OT, not just theorize about it. I spent 2 years over in Europe and talking to these guys was very enlightening and inspirational. I would have liked to have done more before I got hurt.
I whole-heartedly second the recommendation of the T.D. Walshaw book. He was an Every-man who approached OT from the standpoint of what he had in his shop and I really could relate to it. I don't recommend the Evans book. It is a pale imitation of the Holtz book - Which I guess makes it the second most unreadable book ever.
When I get time (Sometime in the remainder of my life) I will begin printing some of my homemade jigs for doing ornate work. It is nothing new, it is based on the work of some modern thinkers using routers and a homemade index head and such, and if I am lucky, someone will be able to use it. Just don't hold your breath, I got six other ventures going on at the same time.
Just one last thing, have fun in what you are doing no matter which standard you are following. If it isn't fun, it isn't worth doing. If you ruin it, well it was just firewood anyway.
Peace.
-Nick
P.S., By all means - check out James Harris's link. He is an excellent OT turner, but more importantly he is an incredibly nice person and I am proud to say I own one of his OT creations which I cherish and enjoy daily and was very happy to run into him at a show a few years ago.
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