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Lathe Tools

You guys are a hoot. I've especially enjoyed the posts on sharpening, and I really do mean that. Steve didn't really teach us sharpening; he's a "Watch while I do this" teacher. So, I did and learned quite a bit.

I've got a "One Way" jig that sets up pretty easy. The problem I'm having now is one NONE of you can help with. IT'S TOO DAMN COLD out there. I live along the coast of Maine about 2/3 of the way up the state. This time of year the wind blows off the ocean most of the time and it's bloody cold out there. I do have a propane heater in the shop, but once a large tool has cooled to zero degrees, it takes a lot of time to get it warm enough so you can touch it without leaving skin on it.

April is coming. And we'll have some nice days in between when I can get out there and do stuff. So, I'm paying attention to all your golden verbs and will put them to use; count on it.

My new tools/Christmas Present arrived Friday and my bride of 23 years grabbed them and I don't know where they went. She's like this. AND, she took the turning class with me! So we have a lot going on come Christmas Day and I have you folks to thank.

About the tools, I didn't expect a specific answer to my question about which set of tools to buy. What you did, however, was to give me a way to think about them. So I spent a lot of time looking sets over, looking for HSS as well as a couple other things and made my decision accordingly. My wallet got into the picture too and I didn't buy the high ends tools some recommended.

Instead, I bought a less expensive set that I can use to learn the craft with and learn to sharpen with too. And now, the moment you've been waiting for, HURRICANE tools. Went to their web site and got a great deal on a nice sized set. Yeah, I know, they are at the mid point, maybe lower, in quality, but they will accomplish my purpose and won't break the bank. I've got a set of Pakistani tools out there now that I'm practicing sharpening with and doing okay, so the Hurricane set will be a step up from them.

Thanks again for all the golden advice and you'll be hearing from me again soon.

Jerry
 
Jerry Maske said:
You guys are a hoot. I've especially enjoyed the posts on sharpening, and I really do mean that. Steve didn't really teach us sharpening; he's a "Watch while I do this" teacher. So, I did and learned quite a bit.

I've got a "One Way" jig that sets up pretty easy. The problem I'm having now is one NONE of you can help with. IT'S TOO DAMN COLD out there. I live along the coast of Maine about 2/3 of the way up the state. This time of year the wind blows off the ocean most of the time and it's bloody cold out there. I do have a propane heater in the shop, but once a large tool has cooled to zero degrees, it takes a lot of time to get it warm enough so you can touch it without leaving skin on it.

April is coming. And we'll have some nice days in between when I can get out there and do stuff. So, I'm paying attention to all your golden verbs and will put them to use; count on it.

My new tools/Christmas Present arrived Friday and my bride of 23 years grabbed them and I don't know where they went. She's like this. AND, she took the turning class with me! So we have a lot going on come Christmas Day and I have you folks to thank.

About the tools, I didn't expect a specific answer to my question about which set of tools to buy. What you did, however, was to give me a way to think about them. So I spent a lot of time looking sets over, looking for HSS as well as a couple other things and made my decision accordingly. My wallet got into the picture too and I didn't buy the high ends tools some recommended.

Instead, I bought a less expensive set that I can use to learn the craft with and learn to sharpen with too. And now, the moment you've been waiting for, HURRICANE tools. Went to their web site and got a great deal on a nice sized set. Yeah, I know, they are at the mid point, maybe lower, in quality, but they will accomplish my purpose and won't break the bank. I've got a set of Pakistani tools out there now that I'm practicing sharpening with and doing okay, so the Hurricane set will be a step up from them.

Thanks again for all the golden advice and you'll be hearing from me again soon.

Jerry
Click to expand...

Hello Jerry.......

We're having sub-zero temperatures over here, too.......! 🙁

Probably the same for you in Maine, but this kind of weather visits every year......so, it's normal!

What I do is heat the shop with a small ceramic heater 24/7. Temperatures in the shop are usually around 40o at all times when I'm not there. The tools don't get any colder than that.

I just returned from church, and am heating up the shop right now. It'll probably take about an hour to bring the temperature somewhere above 60o, or to a livable level.

For warming up the shop, I turn up two electric heaters, and two Mr. Propane heaters. This works pretty well. When the temperature is good to use the shop, I turn off one of the propane heaters, and leave the other one on low.....the two electric heaters stay on. The temperature is pretty stable while I work.

Keep in mind that the propane heaters are not meant to be used indoors, because of the fumes they produce......but, one on low heat has never been a problem for me. If I get over zealous with the propane, I notice it......not a good thing, because it gives me a headache.

ooc
 
Since it's freezing weather -- even here in north Texas where it barely gets cool, we had a big ice storm -- and where you live, it may be too cold to get in the shop to do any turning (my shop is the great outdoors), we might be spending more time thinking, talking, and planning about turning than doing. Some of this might involve getting online and talking about how the weather is impacting our turning. Of course we would like to mention the temperature occasionally so here is a little computer trick to type the degree sign (you know that a little letter "o" except that it is smaller and floats up in the air like this "°"). So here is the trick: Hold down the ALT key while typing 0176 on the NUMERIC KEYPAD and the degree sign will magically appear. Make sure that you sue the numeric keypad -- if you use the row of numbers at the top of the regular keyboard, the trick will not work. Just a bit of computer trivia for your entertainment on a cold winter day (although according to the calendar, it is not yet winter). 😀

BTW, I won't mention the temperature here because I know that you guys would scoff about a heat wave.
 
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Bill Boehme said:
.....

BTW, I won't mention the temperature here because I know that you guys would scoff about a heat wave.
Click to expand...

I was on a conference call with some people in Colorado the other day they were talking about it being 0° and I piped in with it's 28° here. They said I wasn't allowed to comment on weather until the summer.

BTW, on a Mac the ° sign is <SHIFT> <OPTION> <8>. My shop computer is a Macbook.
 
Cold Lathe

Bill, my daughter lives in Dallas and made sure I had a picture of her house iced in! Nasty storm cutting through the country.

In my shop, however, I've gotten used to working in the cold. I run a propane heater for an hour and that gets the temperature above 50. And, just for the record, your 0176 trick doesn't work here. I'm using a Mac, does that matter.

Anyway, something as large as a big lathe, for example, that spent the night in single numbers isn't going to be much fun to work with the next day regardless of what kind of heat you have. It's not safe either, so I choose to wait for spring.
 
Jerry Maske said:
.... And, just for the record, your 0176 trick doesn't work here. I'm using a Mac, does that matter.....
Click to expand...

I'm very sorry to hear that. 😀 Don't despair too much, Steve saved the day for you. (actually, I like Macs -- sort of, I had a Big Mac just the other day) 🙂

odie said:
Testing.....

Nope, doesn't work here either. ASUS desktop computer.

If I use the lower case "o", I figure you guys would know what I mean!

ooc
Click to expand...

Odie, I don't normally do PC service house calls, but it you will hit the NUM LOCK key, I bet that you will be back in business unless you have some other preferences disabled.

When you boot your computer, you can hold down the F2 key or the DEL key and it will open up the BIOS setup program. You can change how the NUM LOCK key function starts up in BIOS. If all this sounds like Greek then pretend that you never saw this. In fact, even if you know what BIOS is, forget that you ever saw this. Would you be interested in learning how to edit your computers registry keys? (The correct answer to that question is, NO!) 😀
 
Bill Boehme said:
I'm very sorry to hear that. Don't despair too much, Steve saved the day for you. (actually, I like Macs -- sort of, I had a Big Mac just the other day) 🙂



Odie, I don't normally do PC service house calls, but it you will hit the NUM LOCK key, I bet that you will be back in business unless you have some other preferences disabled.

When you boot your computer, you can hold down the F2 key or the DEL key and it will open up the BIOS setup program. You can change how the NUM LOCK key function starts up in BIOS. If all this sounds like Greek then pretend that you never saw this. In fact, even if you know what BIOS is, forget that you ever saw this. Would you be interested in learning how to edit your computers registry keys? (The correct answer to that question is, NO!) 😀
Click to expand...

° Well, I'll be darned! 😀

Chances are I won't remember this, next time I need it!

For sure, I'm no computer geek! 🙁

ooc
 
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