umpire vest? first turning...

Hi, Now you've been initiated! Remember, no one said woodturning was for sissys!

Ken Moon Webberville, TX

Try to have as little space as possible between the toolrest and the wood when you start (check ALL the way around before you start the motor) -rotate it by hand and adjust the toolrest any time there's more than about 1" of space - at most. You lose leverage as the gap grows and you're asking for pain.

Make sure the spur and live center are both CENTERED beffore you start up the motor, and try to make the wood as regular as possible before you put it on the lathe. Bandsaws, chainsaws, adzes - whatever it takes. Out of round is a major problem with a lathe on startup, that's why everybody talks about the "throw zone" and why you rotate by hand before starting the motor.

Starting?

Dave in Fairfax

Sounds like an average start. I tell my friends that "Woodturning is a contact sport, sometimes a blood sport" I have, on ocassion worn my retired body armor from police work days when doing a really big piece. It has helped once or twice until I got things in balance,

Good Luck and welcome to a new contact sport.

Jim Woodr> > Also, my wedding ring fingernail is split halfway down to the crescent moon

The advice about not ever telling your wife about the close calls is important. If you happen to get hit in the mouth or nose, tell her you tripped and fell on your way back into the house.

Good luck.

Kirk

What do you mean a little? We throw wood at our faces at 75 miles an hour and try to stop it with little, sharp spears. Woodturning is a contact sport. Remember to wear your face shield, balance the wood, rotate first to be sure it clears the tool rest, keep the tool rest close and keep the tools sharp. You never know when a hunk of wood with your name on it will need subduing with a sharp implement. Welcome to the addiction and remember, NEVER TELL YOUR WIFE ABOUT THE CLOSE CALLS! :-)

An old motorcycle helmet with face shield can be put to good use, too! Be sure to start on the very lowest speed your lathe has available, too. Good luck. Sounds like you may need it. Most of us here have had close calls, but they do serve a purpose. They teach us to have a healthy respect for our hobby.

Barry

Are you someplace where you can get some lessons or coaching from an experienced turner? It sounds like you made a couple "beginner's mistakes" and let me tell you there are several more coming. Finding a club, a class, or a coach will be well worth the time and money.

Best wishes, David

At a seminar a professional turner said that while other WW tools can maim you, a lathe can kill you! True, although I would put the tablesaw in the kill category (kickback hazards) also. Billh

How do you explain the blood without telling her? That's always been my problem in the shop, even before turning. If I go into the house leaking blood all over the place, and make a beeline for the bathroom, she figures out something is up, and starts pestering me with questions.

LMAO!

Ah. I'll bet that was it.

Broke my bandsaw blade immediately, incidentally. Oh well, at least it was free.

After cutting a piece of this stuff into mini-sized logs with my bow saw, I'm beginning to think maybe I should put a chainsaw on my someday list.

Probably a maul and an adz too. My maul is really old and rusty (and it's a Crafstman, so all I have to do is break the handle and I get a new one) and I've never owned an adz before. Sounds like an excuse to go shopping.

I can see in retrospect having the switch positioned in such a fashion that I have to reach across the throw zone to get to it was a bad idea. Maybe I should rotate the whole setup 180 degrees, or else rig up some kind of remote switch. The latter is closer to being ideal.

See any problem with a remote switch? I have a regular household wall switch and a box laying around. Probably a receptacle too. Plenty of Romex. I could plug the lathe into that, leave it turned on, and flip the switch on the side of the stand, well out of harm's way. Would that be bad for the motor or switch somehow?

LIE, it seems to work. I am not sure she has really believed me but it eliminates the pestering.

Kirk

"There was this icicle, and it hit me..."

"In your finger?"

"In my finger!"

"In the middle of summer?"

"Yup!"

Learn to cut with your body clear of the "zone." Might get a barked knuckle or two, but you'll save your chops. Another advantage to cutting sideways is that you peel the wood rather than dig it out with an upturned edge. I've been turning ornaments with spindly (pun intended) "icecicles" of late, and I still don't go above 500 rpm nor below 180 paper to sand. Just watching the edge and the curl seems to be enough to keep a smooth surface.

My wife's an EMT too, but that doesn't mean I call her for every m>

What size and length blade does it take? I might have one lying around.

That's almost exactly what I do. The switch is on the left side of the lathe and I stand more to the right, so I plug it into a power strip and then plug that into a GFCI. Overkill, I know, but it works. Be careful using a chainsaw, or an adze, for that matter. Chainsaws can get away from you or spit pieces of wood. Adzes take some practice getting the swing to repeat properly and they have to be SHARP, think plane on a string. You don't want to whack your shins or toes.

Let me know about the bandsaw blade, Dave in Fairfax

I dunno about you guys ;)

When a piece of bark flew off the lathe and gashed my schnozola, I went in the house and said to my wife "I have to go to the hospital." She asked what happened. I told her. END of conversation.

Peter Teubel Milford, MA

I have no idea. I haven't taken it apart yet to investigate. I need to tear it down and work on the motor for starters. The motor is iffy. If I can get the motor humming, then I'll worry about blades.

If not, it was free... I can get some gears and stuff out of it. I like gears.

I'll let you know how it turns out, and what size the blade is.

I probably *won't* go for a chainsaw unless I get desperate. When I was a kid, a friend's dad almost killed me with a chainsaw. Came right at my head when he slipped. It's a childish fear, but a deep one. When we were working up firewood as a teen, I made Dad do all the saw work. I never have had had any desire to touch one.

I had to cut down 10 trees on my property. I bought an axe.

(They're 8" in diameter, white pine. Not much good for anything except maybe turning practice. I haven't cut any of them up yet, but I did keep the trunks. I guess chainsaw *would* be pretty convenient for that.)

I'll be fine. I wield a pretty mean axe. Adzes look like something I could handle. I don't know off hand where to buy one though. Not that I have any money at present.

For the stuff I've got right now, a maul seems to do it.

Is it OK to turn stuff that's still somewhat triangular so long as it's centered? I tried a bit of that today. I was horribly discouraged with my disgusting looking results, but it didn't get away from me.

If I have to chop them into squares, I'm not going to get much yield out of this stock of practice wood at all. They're 3-4" branches.

Summer of 1977, between high school and college, I used a chain saw much of the summer. Doing stupid things at the end of the day when tired, 3 times (!!!) I cut my boots. Twice I cut into the sock. Nary a drop of blood though. Yes, I believe in angels.

-- Mark