Good Evening Friends,

I don't claim to be a master wood turner but I have in my life as a woodworker turned on a lathe that was turned with a big leather belt hooked to a John Deer Tractor. As time went along I found that I could look at a profile and duplicate that piece simply with eye/hand coordination and calipers.

 

Here are two newel posts I turned for a job last year while restoring a set of stairs in a house that was build in 1842.

 

 

This newel post was the original bottom newel post that I used as my sample.

 

Now for the other ones I turned;

 

 

This was the start of one of the two and one half I had to make.

 

 

These are the two full newel posts I turned out of mahogany with their caps on and all I had was the sample and eye/hand coordination and calipers as well as a cardboard template to hold on the posts as they were turning to see how close I was to getting them to look like the original post.

 

I hope you like what you have just seen for I was pleased in the way they turned out.

 

Ralph

They look great Ralph. I do not have the eye for detail that you are blessed with. No matter if it is flat, round, or curved, you seem to pull it off.

IIRC you acquired a lathe duplicator some time back. How did that work out?

Hi Greg, Yes, I did buy one and tried it several times and the duplicator bit/tool was so pointed that it left a ragged work surface so rough it seemed like it took forever to clean it up. I found that working with the tools on hand I could better control them and as you saw in the first picture of my newel post it was clean and crisp and left very little to sand. Using a skew tool for laying out the various separations made it much easier to work from them in the design of the sample newel post.

I am more fortunate than most for I had many years of hands on with the lathe and John Deer tractor to practice making items and as we both know there is no better way of learning than hands on.

Here is a little more of my turning work.




Greg Coleman said:

They look great Ralph. I do not have the eye for detail that you are blessed with. No matter if it is flat, round, or curved, you seem to pull it off.

IIRC you acquired a lathe duplicator some time back. How did that work out?

Greg,

I don't know how the picture ended up where it did but you can still have an idea od some of my turning work.

Ralph

I can see them. Good work.

John Lucas, that frequents Wood and many other turning forums, mounts his duplicator on the back side of the lathe. He turns his cutter upside down. That way he can touch up the ragged areas with a skew or appropriate tool. I say he does but I believe he has a reversing lathe. He can mount the duplicator on the front side and a tool rest on the back. When he needs to he can reverse the lathe and touch up any areas by hand. He gave the tip on mounting the duplicator to someone that was having the same problems as you experienced.

Yours look so good I don't see why you would need a duplicator except for speed.

Ralph Allen Jones said:

Greg,
I don't know how the picture ended up where it did but you can still have an idea od some of my turning work.

Ralph

Hi Greg,

That sounds intersting and I just may send him a private message. Thanks for the information.

Ralph

Greg Coleman said:

I can see them. Good work.

John Lucas, that frequents Wood and many other turning forums, mounts his duplicator on the back side of the lathe. He turns his cutter upside down. That way he can touch up the ragged areas with a skew or appropriate tool. I say he does but I believe he has a reversing lathe. He can mount the duplicator on the front side and a tool rest on the back. When he needs to he can reverse the lathe and touch up any areas by hand. He gave the tip on mounting the duplicator to someone that was having the same problems as you experienced.

Yours look so good I don't see why you would need a duplicator except for speed.

Ralph Allen Jones said:

No Steve,

I sure didn't but it was a good idea.

No Steve, I didn't for I forgot to do it but, it was a good idea.

steven newman said:

Did you file away that trick for making "Half Turnings"? By gluing two halves together with a strip of paper in-between. You then turn thewhole thing as you would a normal piece. After it is turn and sanded, the piece can be split along the paper "line". This will produce two "Half Profiles". No need to saw one apart.

Hello Joshua,

Thank you for your compliments and I appreciate them however I am my worst critic for I look at a piece and wonder if I could have done the job a little better without any flaws? However sometimes a little fill will take care of the chips and gouges that were accidentally cut into the wood. Turning is a relaxing chore for me so if I have a bad day in the shop I just chuck a blank into the lathe and turn a while for the results tend to make me feel good about myself.

Ralph

Joshua D. Rollins said:

No need to claim to be a turner, your pics prove it for you. Nice work.

Ralph with turnings like those you don't have to apologize for turning. That is some really good work. I wish I could look at something and then turn it. I am getting better with my turning but I am no where near the level of you.

I wonder if it would help me to back my John Deere in the shop and hook it to the lathe. LOL

Maybe then I could turn something like you are doing.

Great job my friend.

Well John,

The fact that I have been successful in my turnings is because I have had a lot of practice doing it. However I am fortunate to be able to see in the wood what I am trying to turn and using eye/hand coordination does take a lot of practice your not seeing the bad turnings I have done in the past 62 years. When ever I get set up to make a turning I have a little word with GOD where I will say," Please Lord don't let me mess this one up." I do believe that by my asking him, he helps guide my hands however even with his help I still do make a boo boo once in a while. Have you ever had a piece actually expode while you are trying to turn it. It sure scares the daylights out of you.

Ralph

John Moody said:

Ralph with turnings like those you don't have to apologize for turning. That is some really good work. I wish I could look at something and then turn it. I am getting better with my turning but I am no where near the level of you.

I wonder if it would help me to back my John Deere in the shop and hook it to the lathe. LOL

Maybe then I could turn something like you are doing.

Great job my friend.

I haven't had one to explode but I have a couple come off when I wasn't ready. That will scare the daylights out of you also. So far I have been lucky enough not to get hit with any of them.

Hi John,

I was turning a piece of spalted maple one day and my skew hit a soft spot and the whole thing just blew up right in front of me and scared the living day lights out of me. Never in 100 years would I have expected something like that happening but, it did and it was a good thing I was wearing my full face hood. I have now gotten into the habit of wearing it most times when I am turning a quantity of work. If there are any turners who have been having trouble with thin turnings vibrating and or jumping I made a lathe steady that I would be pleased to post so they could build one.

Ralph