Finish turning from green

[chrisdaniels]

Hopefully I don't do something wrong posting this, new guy! I am relatively new to turning, couple of years turning. I like turning green like most people do because I have a little 8x18 space to work in and dust sucks. I have a degree in cabinetry and furniture but I want to be a professional turner. I'm 27 and a disabled vet so I spend most of my days at home turning allready. I have watched every video I can get my hands on from most of the professionals like Alan Lacer, Lyle Jamieson, Reed Gray and Glenn Lucas are my favorites. I'm working on purchasing all of their videos as well. I have done a lot of turning to rough and putting my bowls away to dry but I'm not exactly the patient type so I've developed a liking to turning green to final thickness and letting them warp. there are some things I don't quite understand about the process though and I was hoping to get a few answers.
1) do you sand as soon as you're done shaping or let it dry first? Sanding right away clogs up my paper really fast with the wet wood so am I not doing something correctly?

2) when you're done shaping if you do/don't sand right away do you put it in shavings in a bag to dry or just set it out since it's turned thin?

3) do you oil it right away or wait for it to dry and then oil it?

4) I always see people using tail stock extensions but for some reason i'm having trouble finding one, any suggestions?

5) I have a nova comet II for small stuff and recently bought a DVR XP as well. I am supposed to be getting a SN2 chuck from the manufacturer as part of the sale and have a set of 100mm jaws waiting for the chuck. I also have a g3 chuck that I use currently. I bought the mcnaughton system but i'm not sure that the G3 and the 100mm jaws are strong enough to hold a bowl for coring?

I have a million more questions but in the interest of length... Thanks for any help.

Chris

 

[hockenbery]

Chris,
There are lots of ways to do what you ask an you will find someone who does things just about every way you mentioned.

this is probably posted in the wrong place but no big deal. Bill may choose to move it or not.

When I finish turn green - mostly natural edge bowls or hollow forms, I turn them with an even wall thickness of 3/16" maybe less for a small bowl maybe 1/4" for a large bowl. I don't sand them on the lathe. When they come off the lathe I rinse them with water in the sink. Then towel dry and place in cardboard box about twice the dimension of the hollow form close the flaps. Day 2 open the flaps, day 3 put it on a shelf, day 4 sand it and then begin applying finish.

If I turn a cut rim bowl green I make the opening on the bark edge. I do this because the rim will dry sort of wavy and more appealing visually to me. If I turn it opening to the center of the tree it will dry with two peaks at the end grain which I don't like in a finished piece.

Al

 

[hockenbery]

You have a good set of turners in your videos.
Lucas is about the best bowl turner there is today!
Reed is a frequent contributor to this forum.

I do about a dozen demonstrations a year at clubs and symposiums.
A couple that might interest you are

Turning green wood introductory slides
http://aaw.hockenbery.net/WORKING WITH green wood-HOcompressed.pdf

Turning a natural edge bowl from a crotch introductory slides
http://aaw.hockenbery.net/Natural edge crotch bowl.pdf

Turning a natural edge bowl from a crotch video of the demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jVoI12Kfug

Al

 

[Bill Boehme]

Chris, welcome to the AAW forum. I moved your thread to the Main forum where it will get much better visibility and will be seen by more forum members who can offer help based on their experiences.

The Main Forum is an excellent place to ask questions and share experiences.

The primary purpose of the How To Forum is to share a technique or method of work that you feel would be valuable to other turners.

 

[robo hippy]

Wow, to get mentioned in the company of Alan, Lyle, and Glen is quite an honor... I always turn green to final thickness. The more they warp, the more I like them, and they seem to sell better for me.

First, for sanding, I prefer to wait till they are dry. It just takes less effort and time to sand. The down side is that you need a lathe that goes down to 20 rpm or so, or an arm rest so you don't wear out your arm holding the sander. Oil sanding is messy, but works, and again takes more time. Power sanding is much more efficient, especially when you are first learning and your technique isn't so good...

A bowl turned to 1/4 or 3/8 inch thick will be dry in about 10 days at the most. I start them out on the floor, and wrap the rims with stretch film. Make sure to round over the rims first. Don't put them in a bag of wet shavings as they will mold. Card board box, paper feed sacks, or paper bag in a plastic bag, and change the paper bag just about every day.

You could use the micro McNaughton blades on the mini lathe, but it won't handle the mini or standard blades. It really helps to have some one walk you through it first few times, and start small.

Find a club and mentors. You can't beat hands on sessions.

robo hippy

 

[Jamie Straw]

Welcome Chris, and thanks for starting this thread. You've asked several questions that have been on my mind recently!

 

[MichaelMouse]

Green wood is vulnerable to tool heel prints, so I sand those light-colored heated areas out on the lathe. Piece is circular, so my 680 rpm and 1725 mandrel speed is all I need. I use stearated sandpaper, which pills a bit less, and keep a file card or brass-bristle flux brush to periodically knock them off the paper. I like to blast compressed air through the endgrain to expel as much unbound water as I can, and dry the surface to ease my sanding. One grit only when wet - 120. Levels, eliminates the compressed areas, and gives me a fair surface to sand after the piece cures in open air. Up to a week to get to the next sanding, depending on RH, which is done with a flex shaft. Easy to hold the piece in one hand and maneuver the sander with the other. Drill motors, even the right-angle types I've tried are too heavy and clumsy.

Dry, smooth, and when I get around to it, finished.

For instance. http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/GoodOnesGone/Interrupted-Edge_zpsv6yit9v0.jpg

Way one looks after using the air and 120 I mentioned, with a quick alcohol wipe to give a highlight of figure.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/GoodOnesGone/While-The-Glue-Dries.jpg

Love the genre, because almost anything can be turned, it's on and off in a short time, and people are willing to pay more for something that takes me less time to make.

 

[chrisdaniels]

Thank you all for your responses and advice! Mr. Gray I have a Nova DVR XP that I bought the standard McNaughton system for, I'm just not sure if it's safe to use the G3 with the 100mm jaws for coring or not? Finding a turning club isn't much of an option. I live in the upper peninsula of michigan and there's not much civilization around here let alone like minded people! I know you favor a recess instead of a tenon, do you just remount the piece on your chuck that way once it's dry and sand that way?

Tools:
I have a full set of thompson bowl gouges (3/8, 1/2, 5/8) as well as a 1/2" henry taylor kryo and detail gouge + skew plus a few other sorby/various spindle gouges. I still use my set of Benjamins best tools that I started with but I think my next purchase needs to be a heavy scraper, I was thinking about getting this one,

http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Mer..._Code=100164&Category_Code=tools-pkrd-exhdscr

does anyone have any other suggestions?

Finishing:
I generally use danish oil for most of my turnings and buff with buffing wheels( tripoli, wd, caranuba wax) or for highly figured pieces I use pure tung oil. Does anyone suggest another finish to use? I would like a wax that I can apply that's easier to use than going through the whole buffing process that will give pieces a deep luster.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[hockenbery]

Chris,

Lyle lives in travers city.

You will see the Ellsworth influence in my style of turning and in Lyle Jamieson's style of turning.

If you use the Ellsworth grind you might consider the Lyle Jamieson gouge made by Thompson
Or the Henry Taylor Artisan gouge sold by Craft Supplies these gouges take the Ellsworth grind well.
I have both in the 5/8 diameter bar. The Jamieson has become my favorite gouge however I use the Taylor's a lot too.

The Taylor is half the price of the Jamieson the Best Buy all things considered.

Al

 

[robo hippy]

Chris, I do cover that in my sanding video, but I do use an extended jaw chuck to expand into for sanding. This is not a good enough grip for turning, but for sanding it is fine. You do have to wiggle it around a bit so you can get all 4 jaws into the wood. A tenon works as well, but the extra thickness can lead to cracking problems, depending on the wood, and some woods are more prone to splitting just because. I prefer the walnut oil and carnuba wax from The Doctor's Woodshop. Easiest to apply and repair. You can google him.

For scrapers, well, there is the big ugly tool (have a video clip up on that one too). There was a thread about heavy scrapers on another forum. I don't use anything beyond 3/8 inch thick and 1 1/4 wide. Some love the 1/2 inch thick by 1 1/2 inch wide, but that is over kill to me. Doug Thompson has a 1 inch wide by 5/16 thick scraper that I use a lot, and I have a couple of them with different nose profiles for different uses. For heavy roughing, I use my 1 inch wide big ugly, and I can stall my lathe with that. I have a clip up on making handles for square tanged tools. That one in the picture is most likely a tapered tang driven into a round hole.

The trick to getting rid of bevel heel marks on the inside of a bowl is to grind off most of the bevel. I take mine down to a 1/4 round with minimal bevel left on. Having a convex grind on the bevel really helps it fit into a concave shape. On the outside of the bowl, this is not a problem. Add to that 'the bevel should rub the wood, but the wood should not know it', along with 'Hold the sword (tool) as you would a bird. Too tight and you kill it. Too loose and it flies away.' and you are half way there. The other half is practice....

robo hippy

 

[hockenbery]

Once you get proficient with using and grinding the gouge you won't get any heel marks.
When I use the Ellsworth grind the pull cut on the wing and shear cut on the front of the wing the heel doesn't touch the wood.
These are my primary finish cuts.
I also grind the heel off for a bevel riding cut. This can leave a short micro bevel that reduces the bevel drag and has no heel to contact the wood.
No heel marks if you grind off the heel.
Also i don't push the bevel against the wood. I let,it float over the cut made by the cutting edge.

Reed is terrific with scrapers.
I find the gouges work so much better for me.
I do use scrapers for finishing the surface on the occasions where I don't get a clean cut with a gouge.

Wild grain will sometimes climb over the edge of a gouge instead of cutting and produce tiny tear outs.
I could sand them with 100 or 120 or 80 depending on how bad the get.
A cleanup with a scraper witless usually get it in the 220 sanding range.

 

[John K Jordan]

1) do you sand as soon as you're done shaping or let it dry first?

Chris Ramsey who turns cowboy hats from green wood came to our club for a demo. He turned wet (to very thin) then let the surface dry "some" before sanding.

I personally prefer turning dry wood or turn green and thick, dry then finish turn so I can't help much.

JKJ

 

[Terry Vaughan]

Sanding

I enjoy the turning of wet bowls, but hate the sanding.

I find if I sand wet, there are always scratches when the bowl dries. I use water to stop the paper clogging, or hot air to dry the surface, but when the wood is dry it still needs more work. Also, some woods develop staining, like a cut apple, and I don't like that.

If I let the bowl dry first, the sanding is easier (although the warping does mean the lathe speed has to be very low and getting full, even coverage of the surface is not so easy) and the finish is better, but I am sanding away the texture caused by shrinkage in the wild grain. I want to keep that. Reed, do you manage to retain it?

 

[hockenbery]

The best thing I have found for sanding wet wood is abranet.
It is more like a screen than sandpaper.
I have it in 3" discs from sanding glove.
Steve worchester has it in Velcro backed rolls that you can cut to use on a Velcro mandrel.
The velcro rolls are great for hand sanding.

If I have a burl of some crotch figure I will sand that wet to 320 with the abranet.
When it dries it will have the nice smooth ripply texture.
The abranet can clog up sometimes but it is easily cleaned.

I jut take it off the mandrel and slap it against the tool rest that usually cleans it to work again.
With some woods I use a couple of discs of the same grit and let the clogged disc soak in water while I clog the next one.

The abranet seems to cut the fibers while most sandpaper bend them over so that the pieces feels fuzzy when it dries.

 

[robo hippy]

Terry,
I do try to keep the texture. Most of the time, I plan cuts to go alongside where a branch was so it will get a nice cove or bead along those grain likes, and I will keep those. Tiny ripples on the inside I sand out because mine are daily use bowls, and I don't want any hidey holes for stuff to grow in. If the outside has lots of ripples, than I leave them in for texture.

It may be possible that the scratches you find after are from the slurry covering them up so they aren't visible. I never liked the slurry as it does fill in tear out so it looks nice, but when it dries, you will see it then.

robo hippy

 

[Jamie Straw]

The best thing I have found for sanding wet wood is abranet.
It is more like a screen than sandpaper.
I have it in 3" discs from sanding glove.
Steve worchester has it in Velcro backed rolls that you can cut to use on a Velcro mandrel.
The velcro rolls are great for hand sanding.

If I have a burl of some crotch figure I will sand that wet to 320 with the abranet.
When it dries it will have the nice smooth ripply texture.
The abranet can clog up sometimes but it is easily cleaned.

I jut take it off the mandrel and slap it against the tool rest that usually cleans it to work again.
With some woods I use a couple of discs of the same grit and let the clogged disc soak in water while I clog the next one.

The abranet seems to cut the fibers while most sandpaper bend them over so that the pieces feels fuzzy when it dries.

Bravo for Abranet, so glad someone with lots of experience piped up. I use it for all the grits that they make, green or dry wood. It stays cooler, dust knocks out of it with a whap on the corner of the ways, and it lasts seemingly forever (OK, several times longer than paper). Have been using it for years. If the fine grits get clogged, they can be cleaned with water.

 

[chrisdaniels]

today I ordered a 3/8 thick 1" wide bowl scraper and some abranet sheets as well as some finish from doctors workshop. Hope that sandy paper lasts as long as people say because holy wow is it expensive!

I know the faster your lathe is spinning the cleaner cut you will generally do and there's a rough guideline for speed according to size but from you guys how fast would you run the lathe for say a 12" bowl? I am pretty certain I run mine too slow and that's part of my problem because I find my self getting worn out from tensing so much. I do have to sit a lot when I'm turning though, Spinal cord injury takes my legs out of the equation sometimes.

Got my 1/2" thompson sharpened with a traditional grind today for the bottoms of bowls, I like that grind a lot!

 

[Bill Boehme]

today I ordered a 3/8 thick 1" wide bowl scraper and some abranet sheets as well as some finish from doctors workshop. Hope that sandy paper lasts as long as people say because holy wow is it expensive!

I know the faster your lathe is spinning the cleaner cut you will generally do and there's a rough guideline for speed according to size but from you guys how fast would you run the lathe for say a 12" bowl? I am pretty certain I run mine too slow and that's part of my problem because I find my self getting worn out from tensing so much. I do have to sit a lot when I'm turning though, Spinal cord injury takes my legs out of the equation sometimes.

Got my 1/2" thompson sharpened with a traditional grind today for the bottoms of bowls, I like that grind a lot!

Buy Abranet in bulk and it is cheaper. Get used to spending money for sandpaper. Sandpaper wears out and trying to use worn out sandpaper is false economy.

I think that skill and tool sharpness have more to do with clean cuts than lathe speed does. I generally turn with slow lathe speeds. I only occasionally get over 1000 RPM. Most of the time the lathe speed is no more than 600 to 700 RPM at the fastest. All of us have all gone through that initial new turner phase of fearing the next great catch and getting very tense. Hands-on tutoring would be the most beneficial way to advance past that point. Videos can help, but they lack feedback on how well you are doing. If you are persistent, it is possible to become self taught. That is how I initially started out, but fortunately I later got some mentoring to undo some of my bad habits. If you can get some fresh green wood to practice on that is the best way to gain some confidence.

I know about back problems. I lost almost all feeling in my legs for a while.I was doing well until a few months ago and my back problems have returned. If other options don't work, another back surgery may be in my future.

 

[Terry Vaughan]

Thanks for the information. I've not liked Abranet, possibly because I was sanding too fast and it lost its cut quickly, but haven't used it on wet wood. I shall give it a try.

I have been using plenty of water to wash off the slurry, but finding either sanding scratches or fuzziness or both when the wood is dry. It's strange, but my eyes don't seem to be as young as they used to be. Maybe in another year or two the scratches will have gone.

 

[hockenbery]

Speed, power, and inexperience are a bad combination.

Driving a truck faster through mud and sand reduces the chances of getting stuck but no one does it at highway speeds.
Turning faster won't make you a better turner.

Matching a particular speed using a digital readout is asking for trouble.

I turn a few RPM below The vibration level. Except for sanding. I like the lathe going around 300rpm for sanding.

Speed for bowls and hollow forms I first pick the pulleys - slow speed has a max of 800 rpm - medium has a max of 1900.
Anything over 14" , really out of balance, or weighing over 50 points goes on slow rpm because it makes it easy to fine tune the speed as well as delivering more torque.

I put a blank on between centers balanced for weight dial in the vibration speed and back off.
As it get more in balance I increase the speed a bit.
As it gets round I adjust the blank to feature the rims or adjust the wood grain this requires slowing the lathe speed and finding the new vibration speed.
As I turn I will increase the speed some.

A 6" bowl at 1200 rpm, a 10" bowl at 750 rpm and a 14" bowl at 500 rpm all have a rim speed of bit over 30 feet per second.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Once you get proficient with using and grinding the gouge you won't get any heel marks.
When I use the Ellsworth grind the pull cut on the wing and shear cut on the front of the wing the heel doesn't touch the wood.
These are my primary finish cuts.
I also grind the heel off for a bevel riding cut. This can leave a short micro bevel that reduces the bevel drag and has no heel to contact the wood.
No heel marks if you grind off the heel.
Also i don't push the bevel against the wood. I let,it float over the cut made by the cutting edge.

You don't have to grind the heel off of a cylindrical gouge! You can buy gouges without heels and slice your way to a smooth finish.

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=43177&cat=1,330,49233,43164,43175&ap=1 Though I notice that they're grinding much more off of the top of the flute on "spindle" gouges than they used to in an attempt to emulate this traditional type from the days before sandpaper.

 

[Jamie Straw]

You don't have to grind the heel off of a cylindrical gouge! You can buy gouges without heels and slice your way to a smooth finish.

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=43177&cat=1,330,49233,43164,43175&ap=1 Though I notice that they're grinding much more off of the top of the flute on "spindle" gouges than they used to in an attempt to emulate this traditional type from the days before sandpaper.

Can't tell for sure from the picture, but the LV gouges look very much like a set of 1970's era Rockwell HSS tools I bought "new old stock." The long shallow bevel requires advanced tool control skills, and certainly are not as versatile as today's gouges. Only takes 5 seconds to knock off the heel after resharpening my gouges.

 

[hockenbery]

You don't have to grind the heel off of a cylindrical gouge! You can buy gouges without heels and slice your way to a smooth finish. http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=43177&cat=1,330,49233,43164,43175&ap=1 Though I notice that they're grinding much more off of the top of the flute on "spindle" gouges than they used to in an attempt to emulate this traditional type from the days before sandpaper.

Those are spindle tools. And yes an expert can turn anything with them.

I advise all those below the expert level to avoid using a wide spindle gouge for bowl turning.
They are are both inefficient and the potential for catastrophic catches make them dangerous to use.
The ones with tangs won't take any stress and will flex at the handle making catches worse.

Michael, unless your goal is to have novice seriously injure themselves following your suggestions, Please do not suggest using wide spindle gouges on bowls.

When wood can drive onto the tool a catch results with these shallow wide spindle gouges there is nothing to stop the catch except breaking the bowl, the tool or the tool rest.
A deep fluted bowl gouge when it catches has a limited distance the wood can drive onto the tool and often a catch with a bowl gouge will pull out a chuck presenting a design opportunity instead of trip to the hospital or worse.

Finally for anyone who wants to get good at bowl turning, look at the tools the production bowl turners use.
Lucas, Mahoney, Stirt, Bosch,Donertz, and manny many more make more money turning more bowls and finishing them faster.
If a wide spindle gouge worked better they would be using them they don't because they are inefficient.

They use bowl gouges to turn the bowl and small spindle or detail gouges 3/8"-1/2" made from round bars to turn the tenon and finish turn the foot make beads etc.
These little gouges can make a catch too. It is more likely to be the skating type that kicks back off the wood.
Regardless good technique is paramount in using any tool.

Al

 

[MichaelMouse]

You guys and your fear of "tangs" are incredible. We're not prying lids off of paint cans or using it like a wedge, are we? In any case, as you and others may have noticed, parting tools feature tangs, and they are often used broad into the cut as if they were prying tools. Scandalous! BTW, every chisel and carving tool out there has a "tang" on it as well. I even hit mine with a mallet, and sometimes use them to lift/pry a chip out. Not like turning, where they work like planes.

The shallow flute of the gouges indicated is an additional benefit to the lack of a "heel," which allows use from edge to edge as a peeling tool. With a shallow flute, the fibers may be severed cleanly in those cross-grain, along grain, and down grain areas. Not only that, they present very little lift in those two areas where they must cut uphill when turning. Makes for a cleaner cut. I accept that you do not know how to use the tools, but I must ask why you feel it necessary to tell those who know how to use them that they endanger others by instructing them in usage. Some fool makes a clip showing how he can screw something up by abusing the tool as it never was intended, and Katy bar the door.

Anyway, for those who think instead of follow like sheep, some more pictures of proper employment.

Working inside wet. http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/GoodOnesGone/12_1024.jpg
Working inside dry. http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/GoodOnesGone/InsideTrim.jpg

LONG shavings that fall from a shear face and a skewed slice. Note that they are slick on on side and feathered to paper thin on the other. That's the side where the slice finishes the job.

This shows shavings from a piece not yet round, but it's so easy on the turner and turning to get clean cuts that it doesn't pay to work any other way.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/GoodOnesGone/W-ShavingsDemo.jpg

Lifts so little that all you get are threads when you come across that uphill cut.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/GoodOnesGone/Peeling-Outside.jpg

The above shows the broad shear face and the narrow lift.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/GoodOnesGone/5-Cut-Shapes.jpg

A cutaway to show both inside and outside areas featuring shear and sever.

When you cut with the wood running in spindle orientation, it's the same slice with skewed and curved edge.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/GoodOnesGone/Roughing.jpg

No bevels were ridden, or even touched in these cuts.

 

[hockenbery]

You guys and your fear of "tangs" are incredible.
I accept that you do not know how to use the tools, but I must ask why you feel it necessary to tell those who know how to use them that they endanger others by instructing them in usage. Some fool makes a clip showing how he can screw something up by abusing the tool as it never was intended, and Katy bar the door. Anyway, for those who think instead of follow like sheep

I think I know how to use most tools quite well.

1. Having had the opportunity to work with hundreds of beginning turners and having seen in person dozens of bent and broken tanged tools you bet I am against advising people to use them on bowls. Don't use tanged gouges on bowls.

2 should you have the opportunity to teach classes at one of the craft schools or in your own shop you can give proper guidance in the safe use of your favorite tools.
You cannot effectively do it with a video or a few sentences in a forum.

3. In the end why use a method that produces a poorer result.
The cut into air along the natural edge is perhaps the most challenging cut for any tool.
Compare what I get with a side ground gouge to the torn edge your tool produces.
Below is your photo and a screen shot from the demo video below.

Video of a demonstration of a natural edge bowl from a crotch. Fast forward to 24 minute to see rim. There is some tear out but it is so minor...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jVoI12Kfug


My question is why use tools with so much potential down side from a safety perspective when the result is not as good as using a bowl gouge.

 

[robo hippy]

Two points Mouse. One, you never learned how to correctly do a bevel rubbing cut. Your comments on this make that obvious. Two, any tool with a bevel can be used either rubbing the bevel or not. The cut you do is what most will call a 'shear scrape', a term which I don't think is accurate, but can't think of a better name. You don't grind off the heel of your bevel because you are not rubbing it as you cut. This helps ease it through a concave form. While it does work, it is far slower for roughing than my scrapers, or any other turners who know how to use a bevel rubbing cut correctly. For finish cuts, it may have equal performance, but that is not because of the tool, it is the shear angle, which again, just about any tool can do. Spindle roughing gouges can make for a nice high shear angled cut, but other tools can do the same job just as well. I can do slicing cuts with any tool I use, and the slice comes from the high shear angle.

robo hippy

 

[Gretch Flo]

Here we go again ( for us that have been on the forum for over 4 years).
Michael-I have appreciated your intellect (altho I sometimes couldn't keep up with your explanations), and willingness to share your expertise which seems vast. Many of the people tuning in on this forum are not professionals. I have notic that the gouge you use for bowls are now called "ROUGHING SPINDLE GOUGES" BY TOOL COMPANIES (AT LEAST THE ONES I LOOK AT).
Let's not get into the harangues of years past. . Mom Gretch

 

[Jamie Straw]

You guys and your fear of "tangs" are incredible. We're not prying lids off of paint cans or using it like a wedge, are we? In any case, as you and others may have noticed, parting tools feature tangs, and they are often used broad into the cut as if they were prying tools. Scandalous! BTW, every chisel and carving tool out there has a "tang" on it as well. I even hit mine with a mallet, and sometimes use them to lift/pry a chip out. Not like turning, where they work like planes. [SNIP -- long list of picture links and blah, blah, blah]

Oh, this is wearisome. I venture to guess that most of us are here to learn to turn, safely, or get more advanced advice from members who have (for the most part) no ax to grind and no more than the occasional chest-thumping to exhibit. I try to be respectful and thankful to forum members in general, and just look past any occasional cr*p that pops up. Having trouble with this one though, can't seem to scrape it off my shoe.😛

 

[Gretch Flo]

Having trouble with this one though, can't seem to scrape it off my shoe.😛

Jamie-try a shear scrape!!!!😀 Gretch

 

[Jamie Straw]

Jamie-try a shear scrape!!!!😀 Gretch

Good one, Gretch!!😎

 

[Dean Center]

Chris,
Where are you in the UP? Wherever it is, there has to be a turner with at least a moderate level of experience within tolerable driving distance. There are AAW affiliated turning clubs in Marquette (Superiorland Woodturners), east towards Mackinac (Hiawatha Woodturning Club), and one in St. Germain, Wisconsin (Northwood Turners). You might even find a famous person within driving distance--as mentioned, Lyle Jamison is near Traverse City and Alan Lacer is over near the Twin Cities. Or Gretch Flo may agree to do a house call, if you're close to where she goes to harvest onion flavored cherries (it's a long story). A couple hours with an experienced turner can save you months and months of aggravation.

On your original question, I don't believe you can safely core with a G3 chuck. (Do the Comet and DVR XP have the same spindle size?) Even the Supernova is a little on the small side, though it should be doable with the 100 mm jaws. FOR SURE, coring with a McNaughton set has a steep learning curve and IMHO should be undertaken after hands on instruction.

 

[Gretch Flo]

Chris,
. Or Gretch Flo may agree to do a house call, if you're close to where she goes to harvest onion flavored cherries (it's a long story). A couple hours with an experienced turner can save you months and months of aggravation.

Dean-FYI the onions burls were from around the Lansing area. I have made 4 trips to work Marquette. The owner of the practice had brought me burls from his place ea time (that's his "homework"), and I bring a nylon duffle in my carry on, and them pack the burls in the nylon duffle (about 40+# of wood) and use that as checked bag and some burls in my carry on. I was afraid at first they would say it's a weapon, and confiscate it.
But I have befriended the gal that checks me in (very very small airport), the TSA people too. Last week one gal going thru the carry on after xray said she already knew what she was looking for and could smell is!!!. All these burls and on the small size. 3 1/2"-8" bowls. Have made 15-20 , including 4 yesterday.
Chris -would be nice top meet you-so far I am so busy with flying in and out and working (veterinary orthopedist). Maybe if you Private message(PM) me we could arrange a meeting some time. I am going back to MKT Next M-wed pm. Originally planned once/mo, but have gone more often pending case load requests. Gretch

 

[chrisdaniels]

I live in calumet, it's about 2 hours from marquette so not too far of a distance. I contacted the head honcho over at the marquette turning club to see if he had any members that were close to my area, only one that he knew of lived about an hour away but I haven't gotten his/her contact info yet. I was thinking about going to marquette to one of their monthly deals, sometimes my legs quit working so driving doesn't happen very often for me but I will make an exception. My cousin brought me some burls from a couple of his cherry trees, one of them is roughly 2.5' tall by about 18" wide and encompasses the whole tree. Once I am decent at coring I plan on cutting into that one to make him a nice set of bowls. I do a lot of work with Birdseye Maple since up here is where it mostly comes from and it looks so dang good. I have been contacted by a number of local galleries asking me to display my work but like most I am extremely critical of my work and don't want to display anything that isn't as near to perfect as possible.

Gretch I would love to get together and pick your brain! I'll try to send you a pm later, have a couple of papers to write before a deadline today. That's what I do to pass my time when I'm not turning, working on my bachelors in business.

Thanks again
Chris