Woodturning Design - A New Look at an Old Question

I was looking at an old hard drive and some of the pictures on it, deciding what to keep, when I stumbled on some pictures of the progressive turning of a birch hollow form from some years back. It all started as a sort of mess; a crotch piece with branch growing from it, maybe six inches thick and 7 or so across and about 8 inches long. So it would have two centers from the trunk and two more from the secondary trunk and branch. Each of these is a familiar split area and also a spot of elongation as the piece dries  and settles.

On the other hand it should have some great feathering pattern from the crotch and other patterns around the branch entry and each center. A hollow form should show all of these with a little planning.

I thought this would be a good time to ask those old questions of what makes a good design for a woodturning? So I decided to introduce a section to around the woods. For now it will start with getting from there to here. 

As time progresses I hope to bravely consider what makes good design and get shot for it or at least to start some dialogue going. It should be fun. I will also link to a few other places where I have commented on the thought processes that go into the pieces I have turned. Some good and some mistakes. One or two have ended up in the fire not because they split or came apart on the lathe but because they looked like crap. Future ones like that I will photograph and we can all pick them apart. Like I say, it should be fun.

Winter in Nova Scotia as the Cleaning of the Workshop Continues

While I am still cleaning the workshop, the year goes on and the snow falls. It takes a fair amount of time to write up and post the activity in the workshop and some things are really delayed getting to the web. In this last section I posted I got to the corner of the shop where the lathes live.

This was back on January 27 and I finally got it posted. We had a bit of snow back then.

Since then I have shoveled a bit. This next shot was taken on Feb 15, say two, two and a half weeks later.

More snow coming they say. Looks like winter to me. I need the exercise anyway.

A Lesson From My Shop Vac

As I was working my way through the workshop cleanup I used my shop vac a lot of the time. It is fantastic for getting at that fine dust that the machines especially kick up. However, I noticed that I was getting less and less suction from it and the motor was obviously working harder with fewer results. I opened up the machine.

Inside I found that the filter was a disaster. Shop vacs like mine and the vast majority of them out there in the real world are wet/dry machines. You can suck up dry dust or wet sludge with them and more than once they have been used to simply pick up puddles of water from the floor. So the interior environment tends to be damp.

My machine like most has a foam filter around the little cage inside around the motor. The filter was so packed with fine dust caked to it that was preventing air from flowing and the motor to work so hard it was in danger of overheating.

Enter your lungs. When you breathe in you pull in that fine dust just like your shop vac. The inside of your lungs is damp just like your shop vac. Fine dust cakes to the lining of your lungs just as it does to the foam filter. The more it cakes the harder it is for your lungs and therefore your heart to work. this is decidedly unhealthy.

I took the filter and washed it and dried it and reinstalled it. This is hard (I hesitate to say impossible with medicine these days) to do with a set of lungs. The better idea is to prevent the cake in the first place. Get a good cartridge mask and use it. Replace the air filters at reasonable intervals. Take care of your lungs, you only get one set and turning wood is a lot more fun if you can breathe.

Really, It's All About the Wood - And the Friends

Some new pages on the great shop clean are up.

As I was cleaning through the shelves, a long and reflective happening, I came across a bunch of flat pieces. Some of these were small sections of well grained log that should make decorative plates. Others were pieces that I will likely use for glue plates and the like. Some I will possibly thread as faceplates. Regardless, these are all hardwood sections and now well dried. These would come at a cost as there are more than a few board feet here.

I was reflecting on how good it is to have friends and how fortunate I am. I buy very little wood. Most of this came from friends who were going to dispose of it somehow and thought to call. Some others came simply because friends who cut firewood for a living found too nice a piece to be burnt and thought of me. Big or small, the thoughtfulness makes it worth a lot.

New Beginner's Project - Make a Mallet

I am getting tired of cleaning the workshop, which is not to say I have stopped, just gotten bored with it. However, it does go on, and on and on and - you get the picture. Sometimes I think I could be a hoarder, but then the whole thing gets to me and I clean up whatever I can.

Anyhow, as I was looking through some of the stuff on the computer, I found some pictures I had taken a while ago on making a woodworker's mallet, one of those things we keep around the shop for swatting the piece of wood that won't move and that sort of thing.

Anyway the project is up at Workshop Mallet. This is one of the exercises in Milton and Wohler's book but there it is just a measured drawing. It is a good beginner's project although I find it a useful thing in the workshop as well. The jaws I make for my OneWay chuck are a neat rig for getting the handle set right in the head. Take a look.

Beginning Woodturning: Four Tips Before You Get Started

As you look at a bewildering display of turned wood objects and an even more bewildering display of woodturning tools, it can quickly get discouraging to consider getting started turning wood at all. However if you look at the wide array of people who turn wood you quickly realizes that woodturning is an accessible hobby for just about anyone. The real question is how to get started. Here are four quick and easy ways to begin the entry into the world of wood turning and working on the wood lathe.

1.First take your time. Do not rush out and buy the first lathe you come to just to find out it is not suited for the objects that you would like to make. Read a few books on woodturning. Most libraries have one or two and maybe even a video to watch. It may be for a more advanced turner but will certainly give you some ideas of what you are getting into. Look for the basics such as what tools are needed and what kinds of wood lathes are available. Remember that you are starting out and all the bells that whistles that the pros like are probably not necessary for you.

2.Once you get a feel for the basics, consider what you might like to make for your own purposes, be they gifts, table legs for other projects, pens or whatever. Think of what accessories you might need other than the lathe or turning tools. Budgets start to come into play here. You might be able to find specialized books on your choices or even classes at the local community college or school dealing with this particular interest.

3.Consider taking a class in woodturning. Many woodworking classes in night school will have a lathe available and may have an instructor that knows how to use the machine. In addition look for a woodturning club in your area. A lot of communities have them and most have a fair number of watchers and even members who do not turn but are considering getting started. As a rule, woodturners like to demonstrate their skills and introduce others to the art and craft.

4.Stay safe as you start. Get a face shield and dust mask and use them. Hearing protectors are great too. While most lathes are fairly quiet wood shop tools, most wood turners will use chainsaws, band saws, planers, drills and the like with all the noise they provide. Safe woodworking is by far the most enjoyable.

These simple tips will get you started as you begin the interesting and compelling art and craft of woodturning. Soon you will be giving tips to someone else with the same interest.

For more tips and instruction, check out my website

As with many things in life, it takes longer to write about them than to do them. The shop cleaning is farther along the path to results than is the writeup, but it is interesting to me do this exercise. I hope it holds some interest for you. I have added a few more pages as I have found some boxes that I have not opened for ages and projects that have laid forgotten for a year or more. There is a lot of work to be done and a lot of work to get to be able to do it.

Chainsaw Use For The Woodturner

   Very quickly, woodturners learn that one of the difficulties of woodturning is the acquiring of wood large enough for faceplate turning. It is both difficult and expensive. However, there is often a good supply of local wood in log form if the means to deal with it are available. A chainsaw makes the handling of logs and their processing into turning blanks readily accessible.

   One of the first things to know about a chainsaw is its danger. A chainsaw is one of if not the most dangerous power tools in the woodworker's arsenal. The working part of the saw is a bar covered with a moving cutting chain that is designed to crosscut through hardwood. As such it will not even pause for flesh. In addition it is a simple matter to catch the tip of the bar in such a manner so as to make the saw kick back or jump at the user with amazing speed and power. With this said, there are many people who use a chainsaw day in and day out without problem. While the risk of using any power tool rests with the user, it is a good idea in this case to get instruction from an experienced user before handling the saw on your own.

   Chainsaws come in a variety of types and sizes but for most woodturners there are some simple considerations to think of when buying. Saws are sized by power and bar length. As a general rule subject to all the dangers of generalities, a sixteen inch bar will be long enough for most turners and twelve will be a little short at some point in the woodturning career. Another general rule is to buy the most powerful motor you can afford. It is easier on the user and the saw assuming the weight is also good for the user.

   The power source will be either electric or gasoline. Gasoline is more convenient outside the shop but there is a danger form carbon monoxide when running an internal combustion engine indoors not to mention the huge noise from the motor. Electric saws require heavy extension cords and in general cut slower than gas saws, but are quieter and get the job done.

   The turner should learn to sharpen and maintain the saw. Chains dull quickly if they hit rocks or nails in the wood and sometimes they touch the ground when cutting logs to length. A chain that hits the ground is dull and needs sharpening. This is not difficult to learn and files for sharpening are cheap. If the saw is kept with the bar oiled and the fuel for a gas saw mixed properly, a routine maintenance check by a good repairman or dealer is all that will be needed for long saw life.

   Chainsaws need not be fearful for the woodturner to use and will make the gaining of bowl blanks and the like much easier. Good instruction can make all the difference in the pleasure added to getting ones own wood for woodturning.

Remounting the Natural edged Bowl

I have managed to get a video up on YouTube regarding remounting the natural edged bowl, preparatory to finish turning. This one illustrates well the use of a hot glue block.



There have been some questions raised as to the use of hot glue with a glue block.

• it is the same glue the crafters use. I have used heavy duty but find it no better.


• make sure the gun is hot


• the wood surfaces need to be reasonably flat or very slightly concave


• the surfaces need to be dry

These are just the precautions you would use with any glue block. However, with hot glue there is no real need to clamp and you can turn right away.

Work in Progress : Done The Spruce Burl

Let the bells ring out and the banners fly or fry or whatever they want. I finally got the spruce burl finished and it looks good if I do say so myself. Any comments are appreciated here. I like to learn.

This was a lot of fun and I have another one on the go. Soon I will get some pictures and stuff up about it too.

These burls allow for a lot of reflection as they turn, both the light from them and the light that dawns as considerations are given to the next cut or sanding pass. The nice thing about spruce burls in our neighborhood is their commonality. Lots of them and most are just thrown away so they are fun to play with and if one blows apart, there is usually another to hand. come to think of it I have not ruined one in a long time. Maybe I am not pushing the envelope enough.

work in progress: burl on the lathe - outside prep

I have managed to finish hollowing the vase or hollow form or whatever this burl is, and I have gotten the outside ready to finish. see it here
It introduces one of the questions that may hit several times as you turn a burl that allows a glimpse into the interior, "how much of the interior should be revealed and what do the edges of the opening look like?" A lot of the time the change from one thickness to another at the unsupported edge of the openings will allow a very thin membrane of wood to extend over the opening or negative space of the burl.

Those membranes can be left or removed. Each change alters the amount of light that enters the vessel along with varying shadows. The style of edge affects shadows and depth perceptions. How shall these things be done so as to leave the natural look of the burl but also expose its beauty to the viewer?

Hopefully I have begun to answer the questions.

work in progress continues: hollowing

I have had a couple of hectic weeks of funerals at work, annual meetings, and computer problems. In fact I am writing this on my laptop because my desktop, and favoured computer, is in the shop.

I did get a bit if time in the shop and also some time to write up a couple more pages on the spruce burl. One of the things I noticed as I was hollowing the piece is the drilling of the center with a 1/4" gouge. This is something I learned from Maurice Gamblin who has been turning professionally for twenty years now. Still I do not see many others doing it. I have used drills for the purpose but the gouge is easily as fast and more versatile. In fact, many vessels can be hollowed using only the gouge.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pages

work in progress: burl on the lathe

I managed at last to get a chance to get a couple of pictures and thoughts up about the first spruce burl. It is about 10" x 10" but will likely produce an 8" hollow form given the vagaries of burls. So far I have been able to make some design decisions and find out some of the difficulties it will throw at me. I expect to use the regular hollowing tools for this one, but it has introduced some interesting problems in mounting. The wood is soft and displays some of the common punky and spalted woods that are often found in spruce burl. On the other hand, it also has some of those bark inclusions, sap pockets and incurves that make these so much fun. Challenges are only design opportunities after all.
starting the burl

New Work in Progress

I have been having some difficulty with uploading to YouTube so the next installment on the natural edged bowl will be a while, but at least I am trying. Meanwhile I have started another work in progress. This time it is deciphering a pile of wood that is mostly burls.

One of them, the large spruce burl has to made into a fruit bowl, I think with the natural edge obvious. The folks who own the big burl, I think maple, want a piece made with the burl surface obvious or emphasized. Other than that, it will be whatever the wood and I want. To start with I am going to do something with one of the smaller spruce burls.

This should be fun.

Sharpening Wood Turning Tools (3)

One thing a wood turner must do is rid oneself of the notion that the tool in the shop is a grinder, at least most of the time. For sharpening things like plane irons and chisels we have all sorts of things like sandpaper of various grits, oil or water stones, strops and who knows what all. To each his or her own.

For wood turning tools, we generally go straight from the grinder to the lathe. However, in this case the grinder is the sharpener. It is set up differently from that of a general shop worker or metal worker. Instead, it is set up to work with wood turning tools so as to give them a good edge and get quickly back to work.


For this I like a general purpose grinder available at most hardware stores. Mine is a high speed grinder, 1350 rpm. I realize that some like a slower sharpener but again to each his or her own. The reason stems from older tools make of carbon steel and also from a lack of experience. Improper technique on a fast sharpener tends to build up heat that will destroy the temper of carbon steel tools. Today's high speed steel (HSS) tools will be fine. Good technique makes a world of difference as in almost everything else.

Most grinders come with wheels well suited for grinding, not sharpening. One is likely coarse and the other medium. I like to put the medium one on the right side for grinding away nicks or dents in tools or to shape them when necessary. I do not like the little tables that come on most grinders and made a larger one for mine.



The left side becomes the sharpening side with an 80 grit or 100 grit aluminum oxide wheel. Some people like the white wheels but I find them too easy to wear and prefer a normal consumer wheel which for some reason wears better and costs a lot less.

Keep the wheels clean and round with a wheel dresser. I have used both a diamond dresser and a star wheel dresser and both work well. Clean wheels cut better and cooler.

On the left side goes a jig for sharpening. I simply find it gives a better, more easily repeatable grind. While some people like the jig for eliminating facets on the tool the best reason for using it is the repeatability of the grind. This allows your body to become used to the angles and learn to turn with the same tools, building habits of control. This is especially important for beginners. Once a lot of practice has been made you can more easily compensate for a different grind.

Sharpening Wood Turning Tools (2)

As Derek was saying (see his site by the way at Seafoam Woodturning )The motions used in freehand sharpening are similar to those we use in turning. For instance, to sharpen a roughing gouge one

1. presents the tool resting on the grinder table (that rest in front of the wheel) with the flute up and the tool not yet touching the wheel.


2. if right handed the handle is held in the right hand against the right hip


3. the left hand steadies the tool on the grinder table


4. raises the handle until the heel of the bevel touches the wheel gently and a hair more until sparks move over the edge


5. roll the tool to the right as sparks move over the edge


6. roll the tool to the left as sparks move over the edge

In theory the tool has moved through the same motions as cleaning a fine shaving right and left. The sparks coming over the edge indicate that a sharp edge has been formed and you are ready to turn.

In reality I find this is the time turners move the tool in wide arcs as they inspect the edge for sharpness and for facets on the bevel. If you are unsure of your sharpening enough for this to happen, you will likely consider

1. the edge not good enough


2. too many facets on the bevel


3. the angle has changed

and back to the grinder you go until you have really messed things up or give up in disgust and go to the work anyway and find the edge works fine, but could have been better.

One of the big problems is simply you moved before returning to the wheel. The practice is sound but it needs practice. Try a couple of things.

1. practice the motions with the grinder off. Feel the bevel on the wheel and do it several times. So it takes a few minutes; hopefully you are going to do this for the rest of your life.


2. ignore the facets. No one else will see them and they will not really affect the final cut no matter what the jig using people like me say.


3. ignore the angle. You have not likely changed it enough to matter. A degree or so is not the damage most people think. If you are off five degrees or more you really need a coarser wheel to reshape it and that is another subject.


4. most important of all, do not move your hands from their anchor as you look at the edge. The left stays on the tool shaft and the right on the handle at your hip. That way you become the jig and the tool returns to the same place each time

I hope this helps. More thoughts to come.

Sharpening Wood Turning Tools

There has been a discussion in progress over rec.crafts.woodturning dealing with some of the ins and outs of sharpening wood turning tools. I thought I would post a few of my views.

First of all, there is no definitive way to sharpen out tools and the same person will use different methods of sharpening say a skew versus a roughing gouge. I, for instance, would sharpen a skew free hand but use a jig for the roughing gouge, at least most of the time. A bowl gouge I would almost always sharpen with a jig for long wings but likely freehand for straight across but sometimes would reverse that. While I would like to give coherent reasons for doing so it probably depends more on mood than logic.

One of the problems that beginners have and continue having as they begin turning is the mastery not of sharpening, but of sharpening turning tools. Many turners begin their woodworking careers with flat work of some sort. There router bits and table saw blades are generally sent out for sharpening while chisels and plane irons are sharpened with an assortment of stones or sandpaper and possibly a few jigs. There also tends to be a fairly long interval between sharpenings. Not so with wood turning.

A wood lathe simply moves wood over the edge of the tool faster than does most other wood working methods. Wood turners also tend to use wood that is rougher than flat woodworkers and it may still have bark and grit in it. The edge of the tool simply does not last for very long under such circumstances.

Flat workers tend to use grinders to remove large amounts of metal under circumstances such as dents and nicks that call for a tool to be reshaped. A wood turner uses a grinder to quickly sharpen and get back to work. The fine edge of the wood plane simply disappears under the speed and fury of the lathe but the edge from the grinder lasts sufficiently well and cuts sufficiently well to be considered more than adequate for the job.

So a grinder should be thought of as a sharpener and only enough metal should be intended to be removed so as to leave a good cutting edge. For this reason some turners think a slow speed grinder is best for the job as it is cooler to work with and supposedly removes less metal. Others such as myself like a high speed grinder as with high speed steel heat is not an issue and I only intend to remove enough steel to leave a good edge. Enough is enough whether one uses a fast or slow grinder.

Over the next few days I will add some thoughts on free hand sharpening versus the jig.

Natural Edged Bowl - Roughing Inside

Ta Dah! this is the 100th entry on the blog. Applause please. Now that we have that over, I have managed to get another video up on YouTube dealing with the natureal edged bowl. This is the fun part, roughing the inside. This is also the quickest part, especially here with so much air to turn. Air turns fast. Duh! As always, comments are appreciated.

Back to Basics

I have been working on some things for the new website in answer to questions specifically from beginners. More and more I am convinced that we need to get back to the fundamentals of turning. In some ways the direction of turning today seems to reflect the direction of education.

Our educational system in North America appears to be ranging away from the fundamentals of societal need to move toward specialization without foundation. By that I mean for example that students are preparing term presentations with video cameras before they can write a script, or for that matter a coherent sentence. Algebra appears to be on the curriculum for students who cannot handle basic arithmetic without a calculator. It used to be that employers considered a high school graduate suitable for training for managerial positions. Now they hope that college graduates can read, write, and balance a check book, but there are no guarantees. Many colleges and universities have entry level courses, mostly non credit, to teach the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic to incoming students, some of whom were A level graduates of high schools but lack basic skills.

In the same manner, I hear people having bought lathes to turn salad bowls for a living or baseball bats for the team, but have never used the machine before. Many a would be turner goes to the lathe for the first time, puts on a length of construction 4x4, and watches his tool be kicked over his head by a whirling menace. Fundamentals are necessary to learn and practice. The old adage of "walk before you run" works well here.

Wood turnings all work alike; prepare, turn, sand, and finish. The preparation may range easily from chainsaw and log to band saw and board or drill press and pen blank, but wood must be prepared to go on the lathe. Segmented turners will cut and glue for ages but it is all to prepare the wood to go on the lathe.

Turning may be for spindle or faceplate work but tools are still needed to be sharp and presentation needs to be clear. Different woods cut a little differently and need to be learned and approached in their own manner. Too many a new turner has been discouraged with the common spruce or pine of the flat worker to later be amazed at the nice cutting qualities of a piece of maple or ash. Each style of tool requires a slightly or greatly differing approach, but they are all able to be learned and familiarity with one makes the next easier.

Sanding is as important to the wood turner as to any other wood worker. The person who looks at the final piece looks at the surface, not the work in it. Finishing can be as elaborate or as simple as one likes, providing it fits the piece. Some call for dyes, painting, carving, piercing, pyrography or a combination of these and other embellishments. For others it would be gilding the lily.

The fundamentals well learned will let us approach that beautiful piece of hideously rare and possibly expensive wood with confidence. Learning is good.

Embellishments on Turning

We have been having a lot of fun lately over the rec.crafts.woodturning new group over the question: When is a turning not a turning?

Got me, but in some people's eyes, if a turning is pierced, painted, cut apart, glued up, torched, or a combination of any of the above it somehow ceases to be a turning. Actually a turning per se is often a glue up but still regarded as a turned piece and has been for ages, even by the naysayers of today. Candlesticks are often a turned base and riser glued together and some even glue on a separate cup. Still, even the stalwarts of traditionalism consider it a wood turning. Mallets and gavels usually have the head glued to the handle, yet again are called turnings.

On the other hand, some quibble if today a piece is glued to an obviously turned piece that it has ceased to be a wood turning and is now a something else. We are not sure what.

Legitimately, some wood turnings have become canvasses as such for some to paint on. While some may not call them wood turnings, I think starting with a pretty canvas gives you one up on most people. After all, DaVinci painted the Mona Lisa on a small piece of wood, poplar of some sort I recall, but may be in error.



Surprisingly, most would call this piece a turning, even the traditionalists. Actually the idea to burn a picture on wood is an old one. This was really what we call a "save" as opposed to tossing the piece in the fire. It cracked during drying as hollow forms often do and would have been waste. I glued a crack and burned an image into it, then a few more strands to camouflage the first and so on. Ash is not the easiest wood to burn in this fashion, but it seemed to work. Anyway, it was fun.

Maybe folks just need to lighten up and turn more.