Ok guys and ladies, lets say that I have a 1"x6" piece of sycamore that I put into the smaller jaws of my 4 jaw chuck. I then make sure that it is spinning by hand evenly, after making sure of this I then turn the lathe on at 650 RPM.

I grab my round nose 1/2" scraper and advance it slowly to the woodas usual because the wood is soft and I do not want a lot of wood taken off at once because the item i am trying to make is about 3/4" in diameter.

 Instantly the scraper catches the wood pulling the scraper AND THE TOOL REST, into the wood jamming up everything. the only thing I can do at this point is shut it all off (quickly because the motor is stil turning but nothing else is) What the heck is wrong with this? It has now happened twice, both times with soft woods, sycamore and another wood that eludes me at the moment. I have done this with harder woods without a problem at all.

Any ideas?

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Charles Nicholls
Site Host
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If the piece is 1" x 1" square then my first guess would be that you have the tool rest too low. This would allow the wood corners to hit the top of the scraper.

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

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