Hi, I am relatively new to turning been a woodworker far longer. My current project is a maple platter that I have turned the bottom and put a shellac finish on it. First time for making a platter and for using shellac. I have turned it around and have started on the inside having some issues with the grain and tear out I have stopped working on it and asked for help from another member of the local wood turning club. I suspect I need to use a different tool on the rim and light cuts to overcome the issue with the grain. I think I need a bottom bowl gouge in that area. I don't have one of those yet, so Troy graciously offered to let me use his and time to coach on the proper technique. I intend to learn from others as I don't have time to make every mistake on my own, I want my mistakes to be truly original (hopefully not epic mistakes).
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Kevin Huber
- Thread starter Kevin Huber
- Start date
Welcome to the community. You'll find this a very informative and encouraging group. Hopefully you get some good advice on your current project shortly.
Gregory
Gregory
Thanks Gregory
smart to get help! Welcome.
Welcome to the forum. Lots of good answers here ; also find a local club as it can be very enlightening.
Hello Kevin! I just saw this.
I like the shape of your piece. From the 2nd pic it looks like you might still have plenty of wood to work with. You are smart to ask for some help - often an experienced person can take a quick look and make a suggestion.
Is the tearout you show all the way around the piece or just in some spots? Beautiful figure can be a problem sometimes since the fibers that create the chatoyance are probably changing direction often. From the first picture this looks possible.
A few long-distance ideas: Very light cuts (I like to think of them as "whisper" cuts") with a sharp sharp sharp ("shaving sharp") tool might help. Aggressive cuts with an edge that's not well honed can pull out fibers. Can you try another gouge with a different grind?
Depending on the wood, shear scraping gently with the wing of the gouge help with a problem. Often a very sharp negative rake scraper can smooth areas prone to tearout with a gouge - I rely on the NRS a lot (and keep a variety on hand, over a dozen, different sizes and shapes). These can remove the lightest shavings without tearout regardless of the grain direction (in good wood). Here I'm smoothing wings ("turning air"), sometimes tricky with a gouge.
I grind some NRS like this which are my favorites for bowls and platters: I grind these at a 60-deg included angle kind of like a skew with a curved side for inside and outside shapes, and a straight end for flatter areas. Sharpen with 600 CBN wheel, strop away the grinder burr and add a gentle burr with a carbide burnisher. The middle one here is turned up on edge to show the angle of the grind.
I use these on nearly every face turning (bowls/platters) after shaping with a gouge of some sort. Then use hand scrapers for further smoothing (I don't think they can tear out fibers!), then sand with fine paper, often by hand. (I never power sand with rotating disks.) Hand scraper in use:
Another way that can help in some situations is to reinforce the wood grain a bit first, perhaps with a little of some type of penetrating finish.
I love that idea!
JKJ
Well Troy was able to give me some advice on my technique which helped me immensely. For example when doing a push cut he had me lower the tool handle a lot ~45 degrees and the tear out was greatly reduced the shavings coming off the tool were curly. This was using my 40/40 bowl gouge and I tried his bottom bowl gouge which made even better results on the rim area. Bottom line improvement in technique, sharp tool, and light cuts made a large difference. Can't say enough how invaluable having someone with experience giving hands on coaching is.