Turning brass on a wood lathe

------------------------------------------------------------------- No and a wood lathe would not be my weapon of first choice.

If you are trying to turn hex nuts round, I'd thread the nut onto a bolt, chuck the bolt/nut into a drill press chuck, and go at it with a

10" flat bastard file at about 200 RPM.

Final finish would be some 320 grit wet/dry.

PITA but you don't seem to have a metal lathe.

BTW, coat bolt threads with an anti-seize if you expect to break the finished nut away from the bolt.

Lew

Lay a cloth on the bed to catch the crud.

If you want to cut it, you (imho) need to mimic a metal lathe toolpost so the cutter can't move. Brass, copper etcetera is cut with no rake or negative rake (top of the cutter is flat or pointed down into the work) and your best bet in a wood-lathe kit is either an Oland tool or a parting tool held with the top bevel flat to down (not a normal wood-cutting position) If you can't do that...

With the lathe stopped, file each point to make 12 roughly equal sides. If you have a fancy curved-tooth soft-metal file, it will help, otherwise the largest, coarsest file you own, chalked (file a piece of chalk, literally, to help keep the filings from sticking) and cleaned regularly. At 12-sides, try tuning the lathe on (slow) and taking slow file strokes as it turns - if too horrible, file those points off to make 24 and try it again. Once it's round, sand it through a progression of grits.

What he said, but definitely not an ideal situation.

You can do such stuff with all sorts of crazy contraptions, such as my RedNeck lathe here:

It should be noted, however, that the item no longer exists, it was replaced by a better arrangement. I do ask myself often: How did I ever exist without a metal lathe? Michael Koblic, Campbell River, BC

In addition, if your brass filings are "fine" enough, keep them for decorative filler in your wood turnings (I use CA to bind them in)

I have used filings from brass on oak, maple, walnut turnings for accenting a certain area. I can get all the filing that I want from any local hardware store where they make keys.

I like to use brass chips or clippings along with bits of turquoise to fill in knot holes in my bowls. I nearly fill the cavity with epoxy tinted black with a drop of dye, add the brass and turquoise then cover them with more epoxy. When it hardens I level it down with a stone in a flex shaft grinder before sanding. This gives a more impactful contrast than the filings I used to use.

I've done this with both brass and aluminum - just shape it with a bowl gouge with a decent steel, run your lathe at a low speed. the tool should be pretty sharp, and you want the tool rest very close to the metal. after you are done, use a finish file to get any ripples out, then sand up to 600, and then if you want gloss, polish them.