I know you think my go-to excuse for not doing any turning is because we are preparing for yet another family visit. For someone who enjoys living like a hermit, we sure do get a lot of company.

Anyway, I haven't had time for any woodworking but fortunately some of our You Tube friends have.

In the past, I've mentioned my love/hate relationship with the skew. Brian Havens posted a video describing the various skew grinds and how those grinds can affect your turnings.

 

I'm a self taught turner. When I got my first lathe, I bought a book by Ernie Conover. He is still teaching and producing turning videos. I recently found this one on turning long thin spindles. I haven't mastered the technique of steadying the work with one hand and holding the tool with the other-

 

Early on in my turning journeys, I started up the lathe without checking to see if the stock was clear of the tool rest- it wasn't. I jammed the faceplate so tightly onto the headstock threads that I almost didn't get it apart.  The next day, I bought one of these-

Although I purchased mine from Woodcraft, they all do the same thing. Of course, you can make your own-

 

With relatives staying at least a week, I may not get to the shop again for a while.

 

Safe Turning!

Awesome! Thanks for the vids Lew, and thanks for the Ernie Conover plug, it reminded me of how much I drooled over the Conover Lathe. About 10 years ago there was a pristine Conover Lathe that sold on Ebay for 800 bucks with a beautiful lower hand made maple cabinet. I figured what the heck, I'll just buy one when another comes up, they became rare and rarer, and I never did get my dream Conover!

he could have gotten away from exposing,  to that abrasive, his forstner buts and lathe spindle and what all else by skipping the abrasive and just using a clamp pf  screws to sandwich the plastic

 

Grit will embed in the plastic, Grit will migrate  to where the cutters go,  grit gets around. 

 

I've never found my lathe  to  get stuck like he describes.  Maybe on older lathes with chewed up mating surfaces?  I dunno    - - my little walker turner never did.

Probably the best material for this application is Phenolic sheet 1/16 thick.  It compresses less, is more even in size and density, and does not deform quite so readily as plastic.  Machine tools often use phenolic in applications like this to eliminate galling of steel on steel such as in lathe collet draw bars.

You could use brass too.

 

I know, I know he was talking about the economic advantages of using scrap.

It's a question of priorities I guess.

 

 

Edited August 13, 201510 yr by Cliff

Thanks for the comments, they are really appreciated.

I agree about the grit and the forstner bit. My washers- bought ones- are made from plastic. I considered making one from a fibrous gasket material. The stuff I have is between 1/16 and 1/8 inch thick.

Actually, my face plate got stuck twice. First as mentioned above. The other time, I hand a large, wet, chain sawed bowl blank mounted. I thought I had spun the face plate snug- it wasn't. When I turned the lathe on, speed and inertia made sure that things really tightened up.

Thanks Lew, I love the videos and tips. 

If it were me with relatives around I may not make it to the house until they leave.

If it were me with relatives around I may not make it to the house until they leave.

Unfortunately, John, my little shop is in the basement and there's no bathroom down there.....