A Little Extra Support

I'm in the midst of turning a bunch of legs for 3 kid's comb backs. They are a bit longer than the legs on adult chairs and a bit thinner.

This means that vibration tends to creep in and slow down the process. I can turn them reasonably well by holding my hand at the back of the piece, but still, at some point, the piece will flex a bit and the chatter starts. I use the skew to shave away the chatter in most instances, which works great, but does take some care.

A couple of years back, I gave my shop made steady rest to Tim Manney for the use on the reamers that he produces. It's the one featured in my book. I wasn't doing a lot of turning that required it and up until recently, a little slow down in turning time didn't bother me compared to stopping to make another. But I happen to have some nice plywood on hand so the other day I made a new steady rest.

I covered this jig for the first time about 6 or 7 years ago, you can see the original post and plans here. I've learned a few things that I think make it worth revisiting, plus my own rediscovery of it's usefulness makes me think that you might feel the same. The plan dimensions in the original post are still good, but with this one, I made the notch in the support block 45 degrees on both sides.

It's a very simple affair, basically a weighted wedge (the c clamp is perfect for added weight) pushes a block with a notch against the back of the workpiece, effectively cutting the turning in half, vibration wise. Even on a 23 inch leg, you are never more than 6 inches from a support, which means I can turn more aggressively and not risk chatter. This is especially helpful if you are focusing on developing technique or design.
One of my favorite parts of this design is that you can cut right across the front of where the steady rest supports the work. The weighted wedge simply drops, pushing the block up against the smaller diameter.

I position the rest directly behind the largest part of the vase.

To set the steady for best results, turn the part to round, about 1/16" larger than the largest diameter, then place the steady block and wedge in position. Get the round spinning again and with the steady rest in place, take a very light pass across workpiece opposite of the steady block. This allows the block to seat on the piece and ensures that it's spinning true with the pressure of the block at the back.

Using the same concept as my Galbert Caliper, if you place a piece of tape at the right spot on the steady block, you will know that your dimension near the steady rest is perfect when it just about touches the tape. Of course, something more permanent could do the job, like a stick on a pivot, but I just did this on the fly, so you get the concept.

 

Then use some wax to lubricate the workpiece. I've found that there's no need for bearing guides if you just add some wax.

Turning is fun, or it should be. I know that there is a conversation around certain jigs or techniques being crutches. I get it, but I'm having more fun at the lathe and thinking more about the shapes that I am making rather than the ways of avoiding vibration, which is a way better way to spend my day.

Nice to Meet You

Since I moved to Sterling, Massachusetts, I've been swamped with projects and traveling and had little time to get to know my community or let them know me. That changed when I talked to Dave Gibbs at the Sterling Historical Society about combining our efforts and interests. The Society has a lovely collection of Windsors that were made here in town as well as a barn full of the old tools from its workshops. The first floor of the barn is relatively empty, and I thought it would be a great location to host some 6 person classes. So, next summer, I hope to schedule three classes there, but I'll post more on that once we work out the details.
To help introduce me to the community, the Sterling Historical Society hosted a demonstration at the local American Legion post and Ross Jones of Harvard Video Productions filmed it for us. Here is the video of the demonstration.
If it doesn't appear on your screen, click here to go to the original site.



As you can see, I am elated to be starting this project. I think 6 is a great number of students for a class. Plenty enough for a group energy and atmosphere but few enough for lots of personal attention.

And if I got you interested in my talk with Dudley Hershbach, here is a great interview with him that I found every bit as engaging as sitting next to him on the plane.



and once again, the link if you don't see the video here.

I was RIGHT

No this is not about shavehorses, that's too silly to even argue.
I had Ken St. Onge from Fine Woodworking in the shop the other day shooting photos for the second installment of turning articles that we are doing. I'm happy to say that they've added a third.

Some of you may have noticed that I am decidedly left handed, which for most activities isn't so difficult to translate for instruction, but Ken was convinced that for the publication, we should shoot me turning right handed.

Now I've heard it said that if you are first learning to turn that you should practice with both hands, and it sounds great, after all, you are awkward no matter what you do, so that would be the time to become ambi capable.
I didn't.

Granted, for lots of the turning, such as the first ten beads, I simply knocked em out lefty, but for the photos, I had to turn right handed, in slow motion, stopping about four times per detail for pictures.

A while back, I read an interesting experiment that focused on "The Curse of Knowledge". This is when you forget, or can't imagine that someone can't understand or perform something that you know. In the experiment, one person tapped a tabletop with the rhythm of a song that was in their head and the other person had to guess the song. Almost no one guessed the song, to the amazement of the tapper, who assumed it was obvious.

When teaching, I always try to keep this in mind, hoping that I can both empathize with the student not knowing and going through the stress of learning and also to help come up with the best way to bring them along in understanding and doing. While turning right handed, I was thrown from a place of comfortable knowledge, back into white knuckle terror.

As I rolled a bead with the skew, stopping for photos, I tried to take my own advice and apply the motion that I've described to students so many times. To my amazement, it worked. Not the prettiest beads, but there were no major catastrophes.

So, when you see the photos, or watch the videos that Ken shot (at the end of the day!) take a closer look, and know that I've had a refresher course in what it is to learn to turn. Maybe they can photoshop some blood back into my fingers.

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Sometime you just have to keep up with the times, so I'd like to introduce my new robotic travisher maker, The Armitron.

Actually, this is what happens when I leave the shop for a few hours and a 25 year old toolmaker finds a 30 year old toy. The funny part of pulling this thing from the attic is that every male from 30 to 45 who see it shouts, ARMITRON!!

Here is a photo of Ken St. Onge, Armitron devotee and editor from Fine Woodworking. He and I have been working on a two part turning article and he took it to heart when I suggested a day at my lathe might benefit us both as we head into producing part two. Perhaps no tool requires resilience when learning such as the lathe and teaching it gives a view into the ways that each person deals with failure, largely because there is no way to learn to turn without lots of it. 

Of course, there are plenty of other activities in chairmaking that require a healthy does of composure in the face of adversity.

I think that perhaps I’ve reached a tipping point where I’ve had my efforts go awry enough times to take it in stride, or at the very least, not be shocked and utterly demoralized when it happens.

One part of our woodworking literature that is sadly missing is dealing with the failure inherent in the learning process. Most of us are on our own, learning from books or trial and error. The glossy images of wisened woodworkers who’ve mastered the craft only go to rub in the fact that we are not likely to get anything right the first time.

Here are a few quotes that I always have kicking around in my head when run full speed into my limitations.

"An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a given field."

Niels Bohr

"The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas."

Linus Pauling

"I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work."

Thomas Edison

Everyone screws up sometimes. It’s a humbling process, but if you embrace your mistakes and sometimes even learn to repeat them, not only will you master the technique, but you'll forge a process and perspective for learning that will spread into the rest of the workshop, maybe even beyond. 

And of course, I'm referring to mastering the Armitron.

Shop Vac Turning

Here is a short video of Glen Rundell roughing out some blanks using my shop vac and a large gouge. I started roughing this way a while back, and besides the noise of the shop vac, I can't find a reason not to do this. Besides the heavy shavings that get sucked away, the fine dust never makes it airborn!


I have new contact info for anyone trying to call or write me.
You can reach me at
127 Beaman Rd.
Sterling, MA
01564

(978) 563-1425

Curtis Turns

Here is the two part installment of Curtis turning a baluster leg. Curtis has done a great deal to refine this form and make it a dynamic element. As he says, he is self taught, so much of his technique is hard won skill and not while not textbook correct, you can't argue with the results.
Here is the 1st part. To see the best High Def version click here.


One technique that he uses that I think is especially worthy of attention, is the way that he forms the coves before he sizes either of the elements beside them. This allows him to get very crisp edges without the any tricky entry cut on the coves. If you've ever destroyed a "birds beak" while trying to refine the cove, you know what I mean!

And here is part 2.

The Baluster

One of the great perks of our new place in Massachusetts (besides the lower taxes) is the high speed internet. Uploading from this location is a breeze compared to our more rural locale in NY. Hopefully this will bring forth a new golden age of blog posting, well... maybe not, but there will be more pictures!

 

This is of course the baluster patterns that I spoke of. I like to turn the lower taper on the legs so that it straightens to a near cylinder shape at the bottom, that way when I trim the legs, the foot diameter doesn't widen too much.

Good luck!

Turning Patterns for the Fan Back

Here are the patterns for the stile and leg turnings for the Fan Back side chair that I will be teaching next week at Kelly Mehler's.

As I've mentioned before, I tend to turn these parts out of airdried stock to reduce the warping and shape changing that occurs when turned green. Of course, this means that anywhere that I mention a tenon that it should be oversized and shaped later. You can use the measurement at the base of the tapers and then simply turn a rough cylinder, dry it and then either rechuck it in the lathe or use a taper cutter. I'll post the baluster turnings tomorrow.

Tradition

There are lots of traditions in this world, some better left behind and some that I aspire to carry on. I've worked in plenty of shops where information was doled out as needed and even then with a jaundiced eye. I'm not so sure what there was to fear, but it never sat right with me.

The baluster turning has been around for hundreds of year, and no one turner gets to claim it as wholly their own, therefore, I believe that it belongs to all of us. The baluster that I turn is influenced by my favorite parts of Dave Sawyer and Curtis Buchanan's turnings with a bit of my own flavor thrown in. Dave has a lovely sense of the flow that a baluster should have and the intense thicks and thins of Curtis' leg are challenging to turn and add a visual spring to the chair.

But the tradition that I'm talking about is not about turning a leg, it's sharing the information. It's a much happier world to live in, period.

By visiting www.petergalbertchairmaker.com/balusterpattern.html , you'll open a page on my web site with the full sized patterns. Just hit print and the patterns for my leg and armpost will print on 4 pages that can be physically cut and matched to make one pattern with the leg on one side and the post on the other.

Then go make some shavings and the next time someone asks you for some hard earned piece of information, remember, you're part of a tradition.

Mr. Happy

No, I don't mean the hairy guy on the right, although he was pretty cheerful! This is Eli (smooth shaven) and Mike Javidi, they were my hosts, along with Mike's lovely wife Karin, for my weekend trip to Boston. Mike is about to graduate from the North Bennet Street school. While normally I am drawn to the canine and caprine, this little fellow got quite a hold on me.
Thanks for the gracious hospitality.


The students at NBSS are of the highest caliber and their motivation is impressive to say the least. I think that the seminar went well, although I underestimated the effect that 8 hours of talking can have on my throat. It felt as though I had swallowed a rasp.
Below is a photo of us playing in the dark. Each time that I did any carving, we turned out the lights and used a raking light. I know that overhead flourescents work well for machining, but I couldn't see the surface at all with them on.


My steady rest, which was meant to protect me from the embarrassment of screwing up a turning in front of 40 eyeballs, worked marginally well. I still got a bit of vibration and it got me rethinking the design. When I got home, I flipped the V block so that the long side was down and it seemed to work well, although it does interfere with cutting directly across the contact point when the piece gets small. I think that the reason that it might be a better way for smaller pieces is that it more directly opposed the ability for the piece to jump up and over the top of the tool.

Then I had an idea. As long as I am not cutting across the actual contact point, why not use a spring clamp to lock in the V block, Wow, what a difference. Who knows, maybe my prejudice against turning spindles for chairs will even change...probably not.


And finally, here's a photo that I couldn't pass up of the initial carving on one of the fan back crest's ears. Too fun.


Now it's up to Curtis to go up in January and show them how to put it all together. Lately, he's been trying to stick around home, but the call to North Bennet Street is just too strong to resist.

Steady Rest Detailed

Here are the details of the steady rest that I made the other day. The dimensions work well but don't consider them as written in stone, I was just wingin' it.
*I've made a couple of advances in this design that can be seen in the "Mr. Happy" post*


As you can see, the construction is simple, it's a housing (like a book with no pages) and two pieces that float in it, a wedge (which rides on another wedge that is part of the housing) and the V Block. As the wedge drops in, it pushes the V block into the workpiece.

It's important to note that the floating parts need to be slightly thinner than the fixed wedge so that they move freely. I also eased the edges and waxed all the rubbing parts. After some experimentation, I noticed that the weight of the floating wedge is critical to achieving the desired pressure on the workpiece. I made the crude move of drilling a hole in the top of the wedge and jamming an old auger bit in for extra weight. A more elegant and adjustable solution would be to put a nail in the top and stack washers on it as needed. The correct pressure will hold the piece firm but not burn as it spins, remember, it's there to stop major deflection of the piece, not slow down the motor!

The other feature that seems to help is that the V notch is not simply a 90 degree notch set evenly in the side of the block, but is offset to lower the apex. I did this to more directly oppose the force of the cutter. The spinning of the work piece helps the notch climb into place and lock on.
It's also helpful to ease the edges in the V notch, to make sure that the contact isn't just made at the edge, of course it will just wear the edge away quickly in use, but everything will go smoother if you get there first.
Watching the wedge lower as you cut across the contact point is pretty fun but don't forget to make something while you do it!

Steady as She Goes

In making choices about the tools and processes that I use, I try to reconcile whether I am going to continue learning and enjoying working that way and if my skills and chairs will keep developing. For instance, using the skew for the finish of my turnings, as opposed to sandpaper, took quite a while to conquer, but now it's great fun and the work keeps getting better and faster.


The same has gone for steadying vibration on the lathe. I've taken some steps, such as weighting the lathe with cinder blocks and bolting it to the floor and wall, but I've always tried to manage vibration with sharp tools, reasonable cutting pace and my hand steadying the piece when needed. I figure if I can turn on my little rumbler, I can turn anywhere. When demonstrating at Peter's Valley Craft School, I even pulled out their ragged old Delta benchtop lathe and let the Oneways sit idle. Just like home!

But this weekend I'll be demonstrating one of the toughest turnings I do, which is the fan back side chair post. It's long, thin and detailed. Now I could practice and probably get pretty proficient, but I don't make many of these and I just don't see it happening. Plus, as Curtis said when asked about demonstrating this turning, "I could try, but everything has to be just right".

With all this in mind, I set out to make a steady rest. Most designs out there seem like a pain to make and set up and they rely on contacting multiple points, which means more set up time and less time turning, plus they get in the way of cutting.
Then, I remembered a steady rest concept that I'd seen and even used almost 10 years ago. It's simple and it works. Basically it's a V block that's held against the spinning piece by a wedge and gravity. It's easy to make, self centers on any size spindle and beyond that, you can cut right across the contact point and the wedge drops deeper and the V block advances giving constant support. That's right, you can cut right across the piece at the steady rest, AWESOME!

Below is the rest in position. First I removed the wedge and V block from the base and placed it about 1" behind where the work piece. Then, I clamped it to the lathe bed with a couple of little C clamps. Next I cut and smoothed an area for it to make contact. I put a little wax on as well for good measure. The V block is made of a very dense exotic that a student gave me (you were right Peter, it does come in handy!).


Here you can see that once I turned the detail intensive parts, I was able to rough out the long "vase" right across the steady rest.


Once the entire piece is turned, I go back and remove the V block and wedge and skew carefully across the contact area to finish the piece. Below is another image of the rig with the V block and wedge in position.


I'm going to make some measured drawings to post, but I just couldn't wait for them to be done to share this. Now instead of spending the entire time worrying about the wood climbing over the top of my tool, I am able to focus on the quality of the shapes and surface, it's a compromise that I can live with.

Movement and the Skew

I'm very pleased to say that Fine Woodworking Magazine has a review of the Galbert Caliper in the May/ June issue. Check it out!

Here is a short video about more steps that can be taken to make your skew work better. As I've said before, there is much to know before starting cutting to avoid that moment where the skew seems like it just won't work for you. Patience and prep are all that's needed.

Good and Better

Here is Wayne Grove making spindles last week. Wayne was in my class at Peters Valley last year and made good on the promise to come up and make a chair with me. He has already made a slew of chairs in his time, so we spent a lot of the week discussing the finer points and trying to raise the bar in quality, technique and focus.


I've heard it said that "better is the enemy of good", and if I understand the quote, I am not much of an adherent to it. To me, a huge part of my interest lies in looking deeper beyond the skills that I already possess, even if it means the occasional (or often) ruined workpiece. I find trying irresistible and the consequence of failure tolerable. This is definitely evident in my turning. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back for "one more clean up pass with the skew" and blown off an entire detail!

But thanks to those efforts, I've gotten to control my skew.
Below on the left is one of the legs that I turned at the NWA showcase out of soft maple next to one that I did in the shop in hard maple.


Of course, standing in front of a crowd full of observers and questions while trying to explain my caliper is bound to lead to a drop in focus and quality. When I got back to the shop and set out to turn more legs, with a slightly more robust pattern, the time and quiet let me shoot for "better".


Hopefully you can see the sharper edges and more delicate shaping in the leg on the right.
Perhaps viewed under the paint and from across the room there wouldn't seem to be much of a difference, but by making the details more refined and challenging there was a huge pay off,
I had fun.

Here's Wayne gluing up his undercarraige. We used my new marking method and it worked out great.


Today is one of those days. All errands, paperwork and computer work (why should I be any different, right?!" I started by getting photos taken of the chair that's heading to Maine for the faculty exhibit at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. The chair is cherry (remember me cutting it down last fall), white oak and butternut, with walnut wedges.



Here's a detail of the arm joint. For a diseased tree, it sure had some lovely wood.


I am close to loading up the next video on skew technique. We are getting closer to actually cutting wood, but not quite!

Grinding and Honing the Skew (Video)

Something besides the skew is giving me trouble these days at the lathe! This is what I get during thunderstorms, and all the reasoning in the world doesn't seem to work.

Here is a video of grinding and honing the skew chisel.



Here is the edge part of the way through the honing process. You can see where the arrow indicates a small portion that the stone hasn't reached. It's vital to easy skewing that the entire edge be honed, so back to the stones. If I experience a catch (and it does happen, I assure you) I immediately check the edge. More often than not, I find a small area that has a burr or some other distortion. Think about the tracks left by a chipped plane blade, and the different force needed to push it. Now imagine that spot engaging a whirling piece of wood.



A few benefits come from maintaining such a large hollow grind.
The tool rides on two distinct edges while on the stone which helps maintain the correct position while honing.
The second is that the area being honed is so small that even a fine stone cuts to the edge quickly.
Also, the smooth stone offers less resistance while honing which increases the sensitivity to the contact between the tool and the stone, which may also help maintaining the correct position.

Below you can see a wonderful telltale sign of correct contact with the stone. You can see the distinct trail marks left where the edge and back of the bevel contact. It is always better to fault by having the edge of the bevel rise up, because it doesn't matter if the back part of the bevel is slightly rounded.



As usual, the real test of a sharp tool is to cut the endgrain of pine.


I feel like I can't stress the importance of sharpening enough when it comes to learning the skew. I can turn with a compromised gouge, but I can't create good turnings with a dull skew. I did check the geometry of my cutting edge and found that the radius edge is at around a 70 degree angle to the length of the skew and the bevels are around 25 degrees. It's the first time I've measured them. I generally look at the length of the bevel for information about its correctness. I know folks who turn beautifully with bevels so long that I get chills!

And as far as the radius goes, I like to keep it subtle so that I can still use the toe and heel of the edge easily. They come into play a lot in more advanced techniques, but we've still got a ways to go before that.

Skew Nitty Gritty

During my turning demonstrations last week, a tense hush would come over the folks watching when I started using the skew. Being a self taught turner, I knew exactly why.

One man came up to me and said that he always had trouble with the skew and I immediately apologized for what I was about to say.

"It's the tool, it's not sharp."

Now, of course, I've never seen his skew, but in my experience, most people learning to use the skew, including myself, never make it out of the gates because of poor edge geometry and maintenance. Of course you can't get the thing to work, it's like trying to drive on 4 flat tires. This should be good news, right?! We get to "blame the tool"!! So my posts on the skew are going to go a ways before we ever see spinning wood.


There are different sized skews for different jobs. The larger skews tend to dampen vibration easily with their added mass and excel at long planing cuts, while the smaller skews are nimble in tight spaces and offer increased sensitivity. But that's not to say that both cannot perform all tasks. Even though I own both skews shown, I almost exclusively work with the smaller one, because when I was learning, it was all I had. You may find yourself in a similar bind. Had I to do it over again, I might wish that all I had was the larger one, because those long planing cuts really are that much easier with it. But alas, the large one still feels too cumbersome to me when rolling beads etc...

You'll notice that I prefer the oval shaped skews. They aid me in rolling the skew while cutting beads or planing shapes. In the early days, when all I had was the crappy 1/2" skew that came with my second hand lathe, I rounded the sharp corners on the grinder with fine results.

Also in the image, you can see that I prefer a slightly curved edge. Not only does this serve to hold the toe and heel of the tool away from the workpiece (and catching), but it allows the tool to take a slightly lighter shaving with more control (isn't that the whole point). Anyone whose monkeyed around with a skew has encountered the hurdle of entering the cut without the tool grabbing too much and going out of control. I like to take every opportunity to gain control when entering the cut, hence the curve.

Hopefully, you can see the grind and the flats in the image. I keep my skews very hollow ground. I don't let the hollow get much small than you see in the image. I do this by carefully hollow grinding it and then honing it directly on my 8000 grit waterstone. This is a new technique (I only brought one stone to Saratoga), but it yielded great results. The 8000 grit stone barely removed any of the hollow while getting rid of the burr and left me lovely shiny little flats on the back and edge of the bevel. When it came time to hone, in between each leg (yep, each leg, how often do you do it?) a couple of strokes on my dry stone kept it in top shape. Because there is such a small amount of surface area contacting the stone, even a fine stone cuts quickly.

Before heading into talking about exact sharpening angles, (which I am avoiding, because there are no such things in my shop) I'd like to end by stressing the most important part, and if you forget all the rest, I hope you remember this. The edge of the skew must not be rounded over.

Even though the flats at the edge are tiny, they must be geometrically exact in their flatness. To have control with the skew, the bevel must always rubbing the workpiece while the edge is cutting. A rounded over edge will force you to roll off of the bevel to get the edge to cut and without the bevel contact, the force of the spinning piece will overwhelm any white knuckled attempts to control the tool.
I suspect that this is the root of most folks initial troubles with the skew, getting it correctly shaped, and keeping it that way.

I'm working on a grinding and honing video for the next posting.

Game Plan

I recently began a project turning some balusters for a friend who is renovating an old house. The original chestnut balusters are spaced too far apart for safety with small children. I did a similar job in my own house and enjoyed turning something besides chair legs.

These turnings offered a perfect opportunity to show something that I've been meaning to post about for a good while. Creating a process for turning parts is one of the most essential components to making a successful turning. When I began learning to turn, I started making shapes at one end and worked my way down the length of the piece, finishing off each shape as I went. This not only creates a lot of wasted motion constantly exchanging tools, but ignores the problem of vibration that can be avoided by better sequencing. It can also be more difficult to shape the various beads and coves without having the shape that comes next to it defined. Let's face it, learning to make the shapes is hard enough without the confusion thrown into the mix!

For this baluster, I made 3 separate patterns. The first one defines the largest diameters and the different areas that will get more details later. The second one notes the final depth cuts that will be used and the last one has all of the measurements that I need to finish it off. By having 3 distinct steps, the whole turning process flows.

Below are a few balusters in different phases. The one on the left is simply the transition from the square to round. The second one over is the first pattern complete. From this blob of a turning, the final one (on the right)is surprisingly close.



In the image below, you can see the parts formed in the initial turning. I chose them because they defined the major or most easily confused elements. I also chose them because they could be roughed out with a single gouge. After this stage, I move on to the final cuts. By leaving these thin areas for last, I greatly reduce the vibration. Imagine leaving only 3/4 inch in one area and then trying to rough out shapes next to it. A recipe for vibration.

Once I move on to the final cutting, I always start finishing in the middle of the piece. This leaves more material near the ends and helps reduce vibration. The areas near the head and tail stock tend to vibrate less anyway, so working the middle first has always made sense to me.



It did take me a little head scratching to break this turning into a series of patterns and then into steps within the patterns. But within turning only a few of them, I was able to recognize where I was in the turnings and know what step was next. It's a fun challenge, but turning this dry red oak reminds me of the reason that I became a green woodworker!

As an aside, I am matching the old chestnut (shown on the far right of the top photo) by painting the red oak with a very thin coat of orange milk paint, then staining the piece with a thin chestnut stain, and finishing it off with orange shellac. I think that I am close enough to the old (rather sloppily finished) balusters to fool the 4 year old that will be seeing them up close.

Roughing Out

A quick announcement. I have been invited to speak and demonstrate at a woodturning club meeting at the Peter's Valley Woodshop this Wednesday at 7 pm. It is a new club combining members from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Roughing out a turning is obviously a vital stage in the process. It is easy to look to the fancy skew work or cutting graceful coves as the stars in the show, but it is really the lowly parting tool and roughing gouge that set the stage for a successful turning. If the different elements are not correctly spaced and sized, nothing will save the piece.

My turnings always progress the same way. Establishing a pattern is vital to gaining consistent skills. Think of it as an obstacle course. You'll quickly recognize which elements give you trouble, practice them, and move beyond. By roughing out the whole piece until I can easily visualize the final shapes, I avoid getting confused or misaligning the elements.

I also try to employ an economy of movement, cutting as much as I can with the tool in my hand. This saves time, creates clarity and builds dexterity with the tool.
I highly recommend practicing making the various shapes involved, but if you are at all like me, of course you are going to try to turn the whole thing first! I recall it as a lesson in humility.

Here is a narrated video of me roughing out a leg. I will turn it to completion in subsequent videos.



As I mentioned in the video, I begin each sizing cut by taking a light cut with the parting tool to establish a groove and a clean vibration free cut. Once the tool is riding in the groove, I proceed to cut to the desired diameter. You'll also notice that I "choke up" on the parting tool and hold it just behind the tool rest. I find that this increases my sensitivity and coordination by reducing the leverage. It is vital to feel the tool in proper relation to the cut, but I'll go more into that later.

A Different Drill

Below is a photo of a piece of maple that I used for a bead turning drill. I took this tree down a couple of months ago (I love that maple doesn't rot in winter!) and wanted to see how it turned. I have always relied on hard maple for my turnings, but with the increasing difficulty of getting a decent sized log of that slow growing species, I've decided to work with soft maple, which I have acres of, for parts where strength isn't such an issue and the diameters are larger.


This repetitive drilling has its advantages over turning an entire leg. I always learn more about making a specific shape by making even poor attempts over and over than making one perfect one. The quest for the perfect shape in a spot on an actual leg can obscure the simple lessons and mistakes that become obvious during repetition.

It reminds me of my two very different experiences taking language courses. In 7th grade I had a teacher who drilled us in Latin. We would chant out verb conjugations over and over (granted, Latin is hardly conversational these days). When I went to college and took Portugeuese, the times had changed in favor of semi immersion techniques. The grad student teaching the class was dead set against repetition. I know that years of development have advanced language instruction, but I must say, I can still conjugate a verb in Latin yet can barely say "hello" in Portuguese!

It's important when doing a drill to pick a process and stick to it. Don't get hung up on one shape. Try it, fail or succeed, and then move on to the next one. You'll see your problems more clearly as you repeat them and try different solutions. The other benefit is that once you get the hang of it, your confidence will grow and the movement will become more natural.

Another way to improve is to always keep a piece chucked in your lathe for practice work, and periodically return to it in between other tasks and turn a few shapes. This prevents what I call "lathe blindness" which is that hypnotized "I've been staring at something spinning for too long" look. Plus, often upon a fresh approach, you might just find something that works!

Parting Tool Grinding

Honestly, one of my favorite activities is trying out new parting tool grinds. (Maybe I need to get out more!) There are a whole slew of them and my favorite tends to be the one that I'm using at the moment. The most important factor in parting tool grinding is of course frequency. I grind all the time. At this point I don't bother to hone my parting tool, I simply grind it and knock the burr off by dropping the tip into a block of soft wood and then get back to work.



Above is a photo of my technique for grinding the lower facet of the bevel. By grinding it on its side, the facet will curve (slightly) from side to side. Below is the grind that I use on the top facet. It imparts the curve from the toe to the heel of the bevel. By have the facets curve in different directions and meet at the tip, a slight spur is formed at the corners. The spurs help ensure a clean cut.



It is crucial that the grinding be done square to the axis of the tool. The diamond shape can make this tough to see. I like to look at the relationship of the bevel to the square edges at the top and bottom of the tool. Below is a picture of the (relatively) square grind.


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To function properly, the two bevels should meet and form a square line across the tip of the tool that seems to connect the widest part of the diamond. It is critical that the actual leading edge be square to the axis so that readings of the dimension of the workpiece not be thrown off by an angled surface. I don't have any absolutes as to the angle of the grind, I tend to freehand the top bevel on the wheel, and then get back to work. The lower bevel only gets ground when absolutely necessary because it takes a time consuming set up. Improving the performance of this tool may seem to be a waste of time, but I have come to see a smooth cut into the diameter of a fresh turning blank as gratifying as the final sweep with the skew.