Teaching young turner

[Tim Thor]

I have a 9 year old grandson who has shown an interest in learning to turn. My plan was to start with some wet wood cylinders and have him practice first with a roughing gouge then progress from there. My question is about which tools to teach him to use first. I have the standard spindle gouges, bowl gouges, scrapers etc. I also have square and round carbide cutters. The carbide cutters seem like they would be easier for a beginner to use but I don't want to limit his tool skill development. What do you think would be the best approach. I want to make his learning as as enjoyable and successful as I can for my grandson. Thanks for your input.

Tim

 

[John Torchick]

I'm far from an expert to give advice here but allow me to extend a compliment on taking on the young fellow as a student.

 

[David Wilkins]

When I teach a class, or an individual, I go to the shop as prep. I take myself back to knowing nothing and think about what someone needs to know. I usually do a project and work out what needs to be communicated to the students, I am typically talking to myself, and then I am more or less ready. Go over safety, the lathe parts, and the tools. My 4 year old knows a decent amount and is safety conscious also. She has laid claim to my smaller lathe too 😎

Dave

 

[Odie]

Best of luck in inspiring your grandson to learn about the lathe......😀

I have two sons, and they both made a total of one small bowl each. This is my younger son, and he was about the same age as your grandson. For this, it was mostly me who initiated the dialogue on them learning to turn. I believe they both used only scrapers for their first attempt, and they were able to produce a small bowl apiece. After that, I didn't want to press the issue, because I wanted it to be their own initiative to do/learn more......never happened. Maybe fifty years ago, things might have been different, but what I had to teach them didn't compete with their desires to play computer games. I don't think my experience with teaching my own sons is isolated.......many parents (and grandparents) are experiencing the same thing these days.

Personal computers and electronics are a new frontier within humanity.......and, I speculate that it may be some time before our kind realizes that electronics have their place, but to invest total attention on these things is overlooking a great part of what the physical world has (or, used to) offer. Hopefully, your grandson might be the exception to the rule.......

In my neighborhood, I'd say every fourth or fifth home has a basketball hoop, and we have a baseball field only a few blocks away......but, it's been a few years since I've seen any of the neighborhood kids doing anything at all outdoors. When I see them, they are only going from one house, to another.....and, I expect they are playing electronic games indoors......whereas I used to ride my bicycle everywhere, and baseball was a passion! I normally didn't come home, until it was getting dark.

ko

 

[hockenbery]

For kids we teach them the spindle roughing gouge, spindle gouge, parting tool
The AAW web site has a great set of kids projects.

First one we do in youth classes is a spinning top.
Do a practice piece between centers with a big cove in the center.
Gradually make the center of the cove the diameter of pencile.

The is is all the part is the top in wrong order.

Both of you will have fun.

Al

 

[Jamie Straw]

One of the most helpful things I've learned here at AAW is to keep the grinds on my spindle gouges within my ability to guide and control the tool. That might be something to think about when your young student progresses from roughing gouge to spindle gouge.

 

[Donna Banfield]

Tim, how wonderful your grandson shows an interest in turning. I have taught at Woodcraft, Rockler, and now off private lessons in my studio. I use the traditional turning tools, and have experience using both the Hunter tools, and the Easy Wood Tools.

Here is my experience as an instructor: when a student came to me for a class, and they started turning with only the carbide scrapers (EWT), they had a lot of trouble learning how to use the traditional turning tools. There is a learning curve with 'bevel riding' tools, and almost none with the EWT. After some frustration with the traditional tools, they usually wanted to go back to their carbide scrapers. So when a beginning student asks me about the EWT, I tell them it should not be the only tool on your tool rack. Yes, you can remove wood, quickly and easily, but it is a scraping cut. Some woods will not take well to a scraper, and the surface will look so bad, you'll spend hours trying to sand the tear-out and it still might look bad. Learn to use the bevel riding tools first, and then try the replaceable carbide tools.

If their still on the fence, I ask them if their parents used training wheels on their first bike. If they said yes, I asked them what happened when the training wheels came off. Yup, they fell and skinned their knees and wanted to go back to the training wheels.

Let me be very clear. I am not dissing the EWT tools. They have a place in Woodturning. This is simply my response when a beginning Woodturning student asks my opinion. And my opinion is they are not doing themselves any favors by starting out ONLY using the EWT.

 

[hockenbery]

Tim,

I looked up some of the AAW pages you might find useful.

Dave bowers led an effort several,years ago to get a young turners program started a re print of his article:
http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.woodtu...ung-turners-program.pdf?hhSearchTerms="Youth"

Tips for Teaching young turners by Alan Leland
http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.woodtu...ng_tips.pdf?hhSearchTerms="Young+and+turners"

Good Projects are hard come up with. There are a bunch of projects for kids on the young turners pages. Most of the projects are written to the teacher.
Most are good for kids 8- 80. The Morse taper article is more for teachers to use in other projects like the napkin rings.
Page with links to a lot of youth oriented resources scroll down for the list of projects
http://www.woodturner.org/?page=YoungTurners&hhSearchTerms="Young+and+turners"

Spin top project by Dave bowers.
http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.woodtu...Students/STUDENTTop.pdf?hhSearchTerms="Youth"

Big thing with kids and older turners is that they often lack range of motion and hand strength.
For instance young kids and the elderly often lack the range of motion to be able to hollow a bowl by pulling the handle of the tool across the bed if the lathe
Kids and the elderly often lack the hand strength to pressure fit a box lid and get it off.

Find projects your youth would be interested in and organize them in away that make a curriculum. Our 5 class classes might be:
Spin top. (Cove)
Whistle ( beads)
Key chain and fan pulls ( pen substitute) ( Beads and coves)
Gavel. ( beads, coves, tenon)
Lidded box. ( fitting the lid) We use a drill to hollow the box

All kids love to make gavels......

Have fun, Email me or PM If you have specific questions.

Al

 

[Tim Thor]

Thank you too much for all of the replies. I will checkout the information on the AAW web site. Thank you Al for the links. I am looking forward to starting with my grandson. I will try to post a project that he does when that occurs. It is great to hear the different perspectives on teaching new turners.

Tim

 

[Raul McCai]

I had my grand daughters ( age 12 & 11) on the lathe a couple of weeks back.
It was fun but I had to be a helicopter guide for them not merely letting do it, but actually holding their hands while they held the tool.

I was astonished at how many little things could create trouble. Take the way they present the tool and remove the tool from the work. The eldest was so much more caviler. She'd wave the tool at the spinning work holding the back of the handle in just one hand.

The things children don't know appears to be so much greater than One can imagine.


A couple things I learned.
Start small. A couple of inches in diameter may be the far outside maximum. A catch on a 2" piece is exponentially different from a catch on a 4" piece.
Don't use the chuck. It's just another hazard you don't need to add to the mix.
Definitely use the tail stock and spur drive.
Think of the stupid basics that we all take for granted: Eye and face protection, Hair tied back, no long sleeves, jewelry on the table. Gloves? Not on your life.


Think mice and candlesticks for shapes.

 

[hockenbery]

With kids I usually show them a small step then have them do it.
When using the gouges I stress
Tool on the too rest
Bevel on the wood not cutting
Raise the handle and turn the tool until it starts cutting.

Kids usually get it quickly. When they miss the bevel riding, I will either put my finger on the tool at the tool rest or grip the end of the handle with my thumb and forefinger. This allows me to make the bevel contact with the student holding and guiding the tool with a tiny bit of assistance.
I think it is important for them to have control of the tool and feel the bevel riding cut when I move the bevel to the wood.
I tell them what I am doing and compliment them on the stream of shavings they get.

We always start the turning each class with some type of practice warm up block. They just practice beads or coves that we will use in the class project
this give time for adjusting the tool usage if they have forgotten.

Lathes:
1/2 or less HP mini lathes are excellent as they will just stall out with a big catch.
If you have to teach kids on a big lathe, be sure to use a safe center and stick with between center items until they don't get catches.

We begin each class with a safety review.
After about the third class,we have the students do the safety review with prompts if necessary.

Our Maryland Hall for the creative arts classes were,advertised 10-16. The vast majority were 11-12.
One parent asked if their eight year old could take the class. I asked if he could slice a tomato unattended. The parent said yes so we said yes.
He did great!

Al

 

[Pete Blair]

Ditto

Ditto what Ko says, my experience exactly . . . .

Best of luck in inspiring your grandson to learn about the lathe......😀

I have two sons, and they both made a total of one small bowl each. This is my younger son, and he was about the same age as your grandson. For this, it was mostly me who initiated the dialogue on them learning to turn. I believe they both used only scrapers for their first attempt, and they were able to produce a small bowl apiece. After that, I didn't want to press the issue, because I wanted it to be their own initiative to do/learn more......never happened. Maybe fifty years ago, things might have been different, but what I had to teach them didn't compete with their desires to play computer games. I don't think my experience with teaching my own sons is isolated.......many parents (and grandparents) are experiencing the same thing these days.

Personal computers and electronics are a new frontier within humanity.......and, I speculate that it may be some time before our kind realizes that electronics have their place, but to invest total attention on these things is overlooking a great part of what the physical world has (or, used to) offer. Hopefully, your grandson might be the exception to the rule.......

In my neighborhood, I'd say every fourth or fifth home has a basketball hoop, and we have a baseball field only a few blocks away......but, it's been a few years since I've seen any of the neighborhood kids doing anything at all outdoors. When I see them, they are only going from one house, to another.....and, I expect they are playing electronic games indoors......whereas I used to ride my bicycle everywhere, and baseball was a passion! I normally didn't come home, until it was getting dark.

ko