In this week’s episode I pull out the jump rope and barbells and do some turning tool exercises. These exercises are designed to give the new turner a feel for the major tools. I focus primarily on spindle tools today as faceplate turning with bowl gouges should really be a topic for it’s own podcast. The tools I discuss are:
Roughing Gouge
Parting Tool
Spindle Gouge
Skew Chisel
Additionally this week I am including some short videos here in the post to supplement the audio. I am hoping that these videos, no matter how bad the quality, will turn on a light bulb for many as it can be really difficult to verbally describe tool handling in 3 planes of movement.
Feel free to stop and start the podcast at each section to watch the accompanying video. Please forgive some of the quality of video. This is my first attempt and I continually was bumping into the camera. I have even more respect for The Wood Whisperer this week for their filming ability. Enjoy!
Here in the roughing gouge video I show the technique for forming long shallow coves in the spindle.
In the spindle gouge video, I illustrate how to form beads between the grooves just made by the parting tool. Notice how if you rub the bevel the tool guides the shape of the bead.
Finally in the skew chisel video I mark out transition lines using the skew as a parting tool and then turn tight beads between.
One of the other ways to use a skew chisel is in planing cuts to clean up a blank after roughing it out. In the following picture you can see the difference between a roughing gouge cut and a skew chisel cut.
Now I did all of my exercises on the same blank, but I recommend using one blank for each exercise so you can repeat each task several times to get the feel for it. Here is what I came up with after playing around a little more.
So everyone get out your tools and try out these exercises. You’ll be surprised just how much fun you can have without actually making anything. Play around and send me some pictures of your practice pieces. Don’t forget your faceplate and don’t set up a camera right next to you. You will be surprise just how much easier it is without a tripod to bump into!
Questions, suggestions, comments please leave a post here or email me at shannon@rogersfinewoodworking.com
1 response so far ↓
1 Neil // Sep 6, 2008 at 7:31 am
Hey Shannon………………that was an excellent intro into spindle turning. I liked how you emphasized bowl (vessel) and face plate turning being its own discipline. The lathe is one of my favorite tools. The best part is bundling up in your dust and hearing protection, then getting lost in finding shape. Time goes fast, your mind wonders, and the home shop can produce a finished project in a weekend……I hate to use that reference of “Build a project in a weekend”, but the lathe truely allows that statement to work. It can bail you out of many gift occasions.
Very cool topic you’re working………Neil