HERE IT IS!!! And my first pen!!!!

[sachbvn]

Alright - got the lathe brought inside, set up, and running. The only problem I had getting it going was - the way the variable speed pulleys work - it's like two convex discs opening and closing...well - the RPMs would get down to 600 - but not above 900 - so.... I called Grizzly and the guy had me take the cover off - sure enough, the pulley on the motor wasn't opening like it should - he had me oil the drive shaft and then work on the pulleys - he said there could possibly be a burr on the shaft due to starting it dry - to that I said "well there isn't anything in the instructions about oiling this thing first!" He didn't say anything.... I was able to get the pulleys to open and close correctly w/o having to sand the bur off the shaft - which I was glad, I didn't want to have to take the pulleys off.

I got the baby running - mounted up a couple blanks of Osage Orange and made myself a pen!! My very fist one!!! I learned a TON about a gouge! lol - ya kinda.... work into it from underneath the blank.... I dunno - a lot different than I thought.... easy to feel around on what right and whats gouging the hell out of it! Also - it takes more finesse than I thought to turn a square blank - round.... gotta take it easy and it goes smoother.

Anyways - I used Crystal HUT to finish it - I'll tell you what - I learned a bunch about finishing pens today too! Wash your hands from all the machine grease and oil BEFORE working with the finished blank!!! No matter how careful you are - you WILL leave dirty marks on it! Also - give it a bit of time to dry on the lathe - it was a little tacky when I touched it. Oops!

I do have the Beall buffing system - but I haven't made the draw bar yet and didn't really have enough time to get all that going today - I'll work on it this week.

The pen.... its..... "eh.... iffy" but - honestly I don't think too bad for my first one! It's a slim line deco from Woodcraft. I did sand the pen after turning - helped smooth it out - but it wasn't too bad after just the gouge.

Here are the pics!!!

Thanks,
Zac

[TDHofstetter]

Neat lathe... and an excellent start!

One thing... "work into it from underneath the blank". You'll want to learn out of that - don't let it become a habit. What you really WANT to do is work into it from ABOVE the blank. Rest the gouge on top of the blank, obviously too far to cut anything. ALSO rest it FIRMLY on the toolrest. Now slowly draw it back toward you across the toolrest until the heel of the bevel is in contact with the blank. At that point, the angle will start changing a little - the handle will need to rise a little as the bevel lets the gouge tip. STILL keep the tool in contact with BOTH the WORKPIECE and (MOST IMPORTANT) the toolrest. Continue sliding the tool back toward you slowly until the tip of the gouge is BARELY in contact with the wood. You'll know it's there when teeny chips start flowing down inside the flute from the workpiece.

That's "rubbing the bevel", which is Commandment #1.

[fredbelknap]

Zac: That looks just like mine. Hope you enjoy it, I have had a lot of fun with mine. BTW that articulating arm on the banjo well I don't use it very much I find just putting the tool rest directly in the banjo will work 90% of the time. A rough in gouge will help in rounding up material. Use it like Tim said. Here I am telling someone how to turn, ha
Fred

[Joe Lyddon]

WOW!

You had everything ready to go upon Turn On!

That pen sure looks nice... Really good for your First one!

Looks like you're hooked... Enjoy!

[Doug B]

Congrats Zac! That is a great looking lathe and a great looking pen too.

LOL you don't mess around do you? I spent a week just practicing before I ever made anything useful! Nice job.

Another one bites the dust! [/size]

Welcome to the Vortex

[admin]

Very Nice Zac!

[sachbvn]

Nov 9, 2009 17:50:47 GMT -6 TDHofstetter said:

Neat lathe... and an excellent start!

One thing... "work into it from underneath the blank". You'll want to learn out of that - don't let it become a habit. What you really WANT to do is work into it from ABOVE the blank. Rest the gouge on top of the blank, obviously too far to cut anything. ALSO rest it FIRMLY on the toolrest. Now slowly draw it back toward you across the toolrest until the heel of the bevel is in contact with the blank. At that point, the angle will start changing a little - the handle will need to rise a little as the bevel lets the gouge tip. STILL keep the tool in contact with BOTH the WORKPIECE and (MOST IMPORTANT) the toolrest. Continue sliding the tool back toward you slowly until the tip of the gouge is BARELY in contact with the wood. You'll know it's there when teeny chips start flowing down inside the flute from the workpiece.

That's "rubbing the bevel", which is Commandment #1.

So.... anchor the gouge to the tool rest, that I did know is NUMBER ONE! - rest the back of the bevel on the blank - and draw the "cutter" down into the blank?? Is that what you mean? Do you pull or push when doing that?

Zac

[sachbvn]

Thanks guys! Yeah - the pen....eh..... I dunno - it's nice to be like "woah, I got something here" but - there are a lot of things I want to fix about it. Next one should be better.... FYI I liked the way the Osage Orange turned!

Here's the stinker.... so - the nice pen mandrel I bought from woodcraft.... yeah - it is too short to allow me to turn both top and bottom of the pen on it.... I have to do them one at a time - totally sucks!! Ah well, I have extended the shaft as far out of the collette as I can, and still not enough room.


I'm sure I will posting LOTS of turning questions in the time to come - thanks for the comments and encouragement!

Zac

[TDHofstetter]

Nov 9, 2009 19:41:49 GMT -6 sachbvn said:

Nov 9, 2009 17:50:47 GMT -6 TDHofstetter said:

Neat lathe... and an excellent start!

One thing... "work into it from underneath the blank". You'll want to learn out of that - don't let it become a habit. What you really WANT to do is work into it from ABOVE the blank. Rest the gouge on top of the blank, obviously too far to cut anything. ALSO rest it FIRMLY on the toolrest. Now slowly draw it back toward you across the toolrest until the heel of the bevel is in contact with the blank. At that point, the angle will start changing a little - the handle will need to rise a little as the bevel lets the gouge tip. STILL keep the tool in contact with BOTH the WORKPIECE and (MOST IMPORTANT) the toolrest. Continue sliding the tool back toward you slowly until the tip of the gouge is BARELY in contact with the wood. You'll know it's there when teeny chips start flowing down inside the flute from the workpiece.

That's "rubbing the bevel", which is Commandment #1.

So.... anchor the gouge to the tool rest, that I did know is NUMBER ONE! - rest the back of the bevel on the blank - and draw the "cutter" down into the blank?? Is that what you mean? Do you pull or push when doing that?

Zac

Just like this:

Step 1:


Step 2:


Step 3:


At Step 3, you'll see shavings - long streamy ones - and you'll get a HUGE smile on your face. I promise.

EDIT: The tool angles there aren't very accurate, and depending on the turning preferences YOU'LL find, the angle of the tool at Step #3 may be very different; that depends on the height of the toolrest, which should be adjusted so that you're COMFORTABLE at Step 3.

[sachbvn]

Ty ty Tim! I'll give it a whirl tomorrow! Not to sound like an idiot - but these pictures represent the..... "open" part of the gouge - UP - correct? Yeah - I know what I'm thinking - I've got it.... I'll give it a try tomorrow! I was mostly making dust and chips today.... zero curls.

One problem - I broke a stablized corn cob blank and also a walnut blank today.... just a chunk broke off.... dull chisel or bad form? - or - just a crap part of the wood?


Zac

[Doug B]

Nov 9, 2009 19:44:16 GMT -6 sachbvn said:

Here's the stinker.... so - the nice pen mandrel I bought from woodcraft.... yeah - it is too short to allow me to turn both top and bottom of the pen on it.... I have to do them one at a time - totally sucks!! Ah well, I have extended the shaft as far out of the collette as I can, and still not enough room.

Zac

Zac, I have gotten to the point where I only turn a single barrel at a time anyway. I get better results that way. I got an adjustable length mandrel and I really like it a lot! It takes more time to do a single barrel at a time, but it works better for me.

I forgot to mention, when you make your first order from Penn State, ask for the free penturning video. I learned a bunch from it when I first started out.

<Edit in> Wait a minute! I can't even imagine a mandrel that would be too short to put both barrels of a slimline on. That does not sound right at all. Can you show a pic of your pen mandrel? or give the part number for it?

[Ruffnek]

That's a good looking pen Zac, especially for your first one. I'm afraid you're hooked now.

Do like Fred suggested and get rid of that banjo extension unless you are turning outboard. You don't need it when turning over the ways and if it's like the one on my Jet, it is a bit springy when you want solid.

Remember, too, you can get away with bad technique on a 3/4" square pen blank. A catch on one of those isn't much of an event. Usually the blank will simply turn on the mandrel. However, get a major catch on a 10" bowl blank and you may have to go change your shorts.

When you are practicing the technique Tim described, you may want to knock off those square corners first. That will let you rest the gouge on the blank without it bouncing around everywhere. Once you round the blank it will be easier to get the hang of it.

Remember, this is only on a pen blank. When turning bigger stuff, you need to have the technique down before you tryt to round it.

[TDHofstetter]

Nov 9, 2009 20:29:56 GMT -6 Doug B said:

Nov 9, 2009 19:44:16 GMT -6 sachbvn said:

Here's the stinker.... so - the nice pen mandrel I bought from woodcraft.... yeah - it is too short to allow me to turn both top and bottom of the pen on it.... I have to do them one at a time - totally sucks!! Ah well, I have extended the shaft as far out of the collette as I can, and still not enough room.

Zac

Zac, I have gotten to the point where I only turn a single barrel at a time anyway. I get better results that way. I got an adjustable length mandrel and I really like it a lot! It takes more time to do a single barrel at a time, but it works better for me.

I forgot to mention, when you make your first order from Penn State, ask for the free penturning video. I learned a bunch from it when I first started out.

<Edit in> Wait a minute! I can't even imagine a mandrel that would be too short to put both barrels of a slimline on. That does not sound right at all. Can you show a pic of your pen mandrel? or give the part number for it?

I'm thinkin'... Zac? Do you have all the bushings on at the same time? For a Slimline pen, you only need three (one at each end, one in the middle), and for most other pen styles you need four.

[TDHofstetter]

Nov 9, 2009 20:19:12 GMT -6 sachbvn said:

Ty ty Tim! I'll give it a whirl tomorrow! Not to sound like an idiot - but these pictures represent the..... "open" part of the gouge - UP - correct? Yeah - I know what I'm thinking - I've got it.... I'll give it a try tomorrow! I was mostly making dust and chips today.... zero curls.

One problem - I broke a stablized corn cob blank and also a walnut blank today.... just a chunk broke off.... dull chisel or bad form? - or - just a crap part of the wood?


Zac

Yep, the open part (the "flute") of the gouge is represented straight up in those sketches. As you learn techniques, you'll learn that there are times to tip the flute to one side or the other... and sometimes even completely upside-down... but this'll get you started on the right foot.

The breakage you saw today could have been from a cracked blank, or from a catch, or from any of a number of other things. I promise, too, that when you ride the bevel on a sharp gouge, you'll run into less problems like that. Sometimes they happen & there's nothing to do about 'em - I've blown up my share of blanks, and I'll continue to as long as I turn. I blow up a lot LESS of 'em now than when I started, though.

[boodrow]

Zac im like Doug. I played with mine for weeks fore I really turned anything. Great lookin pen , u have taken it hook line and sinker now! lol
Tis adictive
Boodrow

[sawduster]

Nov 9, 2009 19:41:49 GMT -6 sachbvn said:

Nov 9, 2009 17:50:47 GMT -6 TDHofstetter said:

Neat lathe... and an excellent start!

One thing... "work into it from underneath the blank". You'll want to learn out of that - don't let it become a habit. What you really WANT to do is work into it from ABOVE the blank. Rest the gouge on top of the blank, obviously too far to cut anything. ALSO rest it FIRMLY on the toolrest. Now slowly draw it back toward you across the toolrest until the heel of the bevel is in contact with the blank. At that point, the angle will start changing a little - the handle will need to rise a little as the bevel lets the gouge tip. STILL keep the tool in contact with BOTH the WORKPIECE and (MOST IMPORTANT) the toolrest. Continue sliding the tool back toward you slowly until the tip of the gouge is BARELY in contact with the wood. You'll know it's there when teeny chips start flowing down inside the flute from the workpiece.

That's "rubbing the bevel", which is Commandment #1.

So.... anchor the gouge to the tool rest, that I did know is NUMBER ONE! - rest the back of the bevel on the blank - and draw the "cutter" down into the blank?? Is that what you mean? Do you pull or push when doing that?

Zac

What you wanna do is keep contact on the rest as well as on the work, and raise the handle of the gouge slowly until the tip starts cutting.

[sachbvn]

I know the tool is always planted on the tool rest first - that is a huge safety thing.

The "riding the bevel" is new to me - as is everything other than above said!

So...guess what - Tim, Jerry, guys - IT WORKED!!!

It sure is a lot easier to control your left/right movements keeping an even cut when your are lifting your handle up/down instead of into or out of the work piece.... it worked great...took a bit to really get it going - but I realized that once your have the piece turned round - it's much easier to work with then.... half the chunking/grabbing is from "roughing" it - which, when I took it MUCH slower, worked much better....after I made it round - I was able to really get in there and take more of an aggressive bite....not too much - but much more than when roughing

I'll ask a couple questions in another post so this one can fade since it's not really relevent to the initial post.

Thanks guys!!

Zac

[sawduster]

Another trick with the gouge is to orient the tool at an angle to the work, riding the bottom of the bevel, then twisting the gouge until the side of the edge begins cutting. I find this easier when I working for a consistent diameter over the length of the work piece. You want to start at one end of the workpiece with the acute angle to the other end, twist the gouge till it starts cutting, then drag the gouge slowly along your rest toward the other end of the work. The bevel is presented to the side of the blank rather than the top.

[TDHofstetter]

Nov 11, 2009 9:00:20 GMT -6 sawduster said:

Another trick with the gouge is to orient the tool at an angle to the work, riding the bottom of the bevel, then twisting the gouge until the side of the edge begins cutting. I find this easier when I working for a consistent diameter over the length of the work piece. You want to start at one end of the workpiece with the acute angle to the other end, twist the gouge till it starts cutting, then drag the gouge slowly along your rest toward the other end of the work. The bevel is presented to the side of the blank rather than the top.

I might add... when you get comfortable with the skew, what Jer's talking about is using a gouge very much like a skew.

SPEAKING OF WHICH... right about now would be a very good time to get you COMFORTABLE with a skew, right? That way ya won't get skew catches very often (if at all) and you won't learn to hate it... a skew can be your BEST FRIEND at times.

[woodmangler]

Looks like you are off to a great start!

I will try and add a couple of things...

The position of the tip of the gouge should be right at center, or slightly above when the tool is level, i.e. parallel to the ground. You can adjust from there for your own personal preference. It is hard to set the tip of a gouge when there is wood mounted, so set your tool rest using the point of the tailstock as a guide. I use a piece of electrical tape so I don't have to continually adjust the tool rest.

I personally use a method Bill Grumbine uses and teached called the 45/45/45 .... the gouge is held at a 45 degree angle in 3 dimensions... 45 to the wood, floor, and the flute is 45 degrees to the tool rest. Kinda hard to explain....

As far as pens, I switched to turning between centers a while ago, and use it instead of using a mandrel. It really works a lot better for me, and I get better results.



All you need is a $6 Dead Center.

For turning Slimlines between centers, you will need a different set of bushings that have a tenon that goes into the blank instead of the regular Slimline bushings that are designed to slide onto a mandrel.


There are lots of advantages to this method, but the biggest is that you get a much better concentric turning from turning between centers than you will using a mandrel. A mandrel flexes, a blank held between centers does not.