Turning lopsided work

This can be done, but you will need to take the time to make a jig that will allow you to keep the piece to be turned reasonably well balanced with respect to the lathe centers. Don't skimp on the design. Your safety may well depend on the quality of this jig. A piece of wood of similar mass mounted on the opposite side is usually the easiest way to get the balance that you need but the design of the jig will vary considerably depending on the shape of the piece that you will be turning. Some disks fastened to each end with the counter weight pieces mounted on them is a possible way of doing this. After you build and mount whatever jig you make into your lathe, start the lathe up on very slow speed and stand back out of the way. Then if it spins and seems to be balanced OK, slowly increase the speed until you reach about 150% of the max speed that you intend to work at to be sure that it stays together and is safe. In my opinion I would never turn something like this any faster than was necessary. I would also try to keep my body as much out of the danger zone as possible while working and I would use whatever kind of guarding that I could come up with to make the job as safe as possible. Ready access to the off switch while working is also a must.

Good Luck,

Charley

BINGO! The difference in mass will develop a force based on the square of the velocity. So you can see that velocity is the prime consideration. Slow is the way to go. Then you help yourself by removing as much unneeded mass as possible on those portions most distant from the axis of rotation.

Then and only then consider counterweighting.

If you can get to the vicinity of 300 on your speed, you ought to be able to handle a reasonable piece of wet oak on a rigid lathe.

You've seen pieces of furniture with legs that look sort of like a golf club "driver" head feet? Not the true S curved carbiolet leg but some- thing similar. They do it on 30-36" legs so 12" isn't that big a deal.

There are several "tricks" to this offset centers turning.

One is to only turn at and around the "null point" of rotation. As you spin the work you'll notice that some areas outlines are blurry and become more defined towards the centerline of rotation. Other areas will have much less blurry outlines and some will not be blurry at all but rather quite crisp and defined. I've heard this blurry area referred to as the shadow outline. The part of the piece with no shadow is where you want to turn your shape, transitioning from it into the "just a little shadowy" areas around it.

The second trick is to turn at a speed just below where the piece begins to wobble your lathe. Fairly easy to do on a variable speed lathe, less easy on a pulleys lathe. Start at the lowest speed and SLOWLY increase the rpms 'til things just start to wobble, then back off 'til the wobble stops.

The third trick is to use a Stebb Center on the head stock end. When set right, the Stebb Center will let the piece stop if you start to get a dig in - no nasty flying tool or chunk of wood to deal with.

The fourth trick is - wear a full face face shield, perhaps a chest protector and maybe even a cup. If something does go wrong you want to protect your head, eyes, heart and . . .

The fourth trick is to set the tool rest as close to where you'll be turning. Set it, rotate the piece by hand to check the clearance and move the rest closer or farther away if need be. Then LOCK it down - nice and tight. You DO NOT WANT IT TO MOVE DURING A CUT!

Fifth - get the tool on the tool rest with the cutting edge way away from the spinning wood. Have the back of the tool then contact the wood - again with any edge or corner away from the wood and SLOWLY bring the bevel to the wood and finally the edge, point or heel corner.

Initially make a lot of light cuts - but don't hurry things. The Stebb Center will stop the wood if you try and take too big a chunk at one time - though it's better to err on the side of caution. As the shape come into better focus stop and reset the tool rest, check for clearance and resume removing wood.

If you have to force the cut it's time to resharpen your tool. Sharp is important!

For a 1x5 that's 12" long it shouldn't be all that bad. I have done some turned wooden spoons out of stuff 2x5 x 12" and it's not that scary - or difficult.

As for the oval - well there you'll have to ask somebody else.

The illustration on this page may explain the "null point" and shadow areas idea better and provide a graphical method for deciding no the pairs of centers you need.

Or, you could find a copy of Frank Pain's _The Practical Woodturner_, where he shows the jigs and methods used by the old High Wycombe types to do this type of turning.

Since I discovered they sell this type of leg cheaply in many species, I have turned one set of four and no more.