Hey guys, I am making a small stool today for my first shaker chair project, it's a warm up to get me used to using the lathe, and weaving the seat. The stool will be similar to the one below. My question is, the tops of the legs are rounded. And obviously exposed to view. When I turn these legs, which end should I mount to the lathes spur drive. I am using a traditional spur drive with a live center, if my terminology is even correct.

Thanks for any help.

Also, the length of my legs are 16 5/8", what should the rough length be during turning?

I am not even a novice turner, but my guess would be the spur goes down .

Really doesn't matter. I always make my blanks longer than the finished length. That way you can shape the ends and then part/saw them off. I use a Japanese pull saw.

First leg done. Need to part the round top off. Top is at left, bottom at right.

I don't know how to part!

 

Couple of thoughts. When parting off, leave a little extra material on the turning and sand to the finished shape. Avoid using the parting tool to completely separating the the pieces. The spinning action of the lathe and inertia will tear the fragile last piece of connecting wood and it can pull out material on the end of the turning. Try using the parting tool and remove all but about 1//4" of the turning and then cut off with a hand saw- LATHE NOT RUNNING!

 

Another method of parting is using the skew chisel. It makes a "cleaner" cut. With practice you can cut completely thru without any tear out. You can also use a combination of parting tool and skew.

 

 

Here's a picture of a little nicer drive spur. No need to drive it into the turning. Woodcraft has them.

Lew has you going in the right direction John.  If you are not used to the skew use a small spindle gouge on the end to round it over.  You can work your way in as you are doing now and get most of the top smooth before sawing off the last eighth inch or more.  The parting tool leaves a rough surface so use a slicing cut with the spindle gouge across the end grain and not a scraping cut. 

 

Check out this video at about the eight and a half minute mark for a visual.

 

 

Edited December 18, 20169 yr by HandyDan

Thanks Dan! And thanks Lew for all your help!

John you have some good advise so far. I would do some practice cut offs to try to get a smoother finish. Another thing to try is to use the spindle gouge to get down to about 1/4 inch then sand the rounded area to finish grits and then part or finish cut with a skew or spindle gouge.

11 hours ago, Gerald said:

John you have some good advise so far. I would do some practice cut offs to try to get a smoother finish. Another thing to try is to use the spindle gouge to get down to about 1/4 inch then sand the rounded area to finish grits and then part or finish cut with a skew or spindle gouge.

Thank you Gerald, I have learned a lot with these first four legs, I did not peek in here soon enough to use the tips, but what I ended up doing was removing the legs form the lathe and into a vise, and taking a hand saw and cutting the waste off and I sanded the rounded tops smooth, it worked but it was a step I think I can avoid in the future by reading these tips. If I ever want to do a run of these stools, I'll need all the quick action tips you can guys can give me. I could be at the lathe all day turning spindles and legs for many stools.

 

One thing I am very proud of is how quickly I caught on. I am still very green on the lathe, I have probably spent a total of 6 hours on a lathe. And this is the first spindle turning I have done. The first leg took me about 45 minutes to turn, and mark out the tapered section at the bottom of the leg and turn it down further, and to get the rest of the leg uniform with my make shift calipers.

The second leg took about a half hour, then by the third leg I surprised myself and had it chucked up and turned out and on my bench in about 10 minutes, and the 4 and last leg was about the same time. If I turn these enough I could probably knock it down to 5 to 8 minutes each leg. But I found myself using the Easy Wood Rougher easily, and once I learned it's limits, I had a square blank roughed down to round in just a few minutes.

 

By the way folks, I am using some Easy Wood Tools for this project, but I found myself using the Easy Finisher for roughing and the Easy rougher for finishing the legs. Hmmmm.

 

 

16 hours ago, lew said:

Here's a picture of a little nicer drive spur. No need to drive it into the turning. Woodcraft has them.

I am ordering that sucker today Lew, I have the stock spur that came with the lathe, it has the center and 4 crude teeth, I need to cut lines at the end of the blank in order for the spurs to catch. With the spur bit you're showing, I should just be able to chuck a blank right up correct?

9 minutes ago, John Morris said:

I should just be able to chuck a blank right up correct?

Yes! I just find the center of the turning blank (both ends). Then, use an awl make an indentations at the center marks. Just tighten down the tail stock live center and it presses the blank into the teeth. The spring loaded center point is pushed back into the center leaving the teeth to grab the stock. 

 

What's really great is that if you have a bad catch, the small teeth will allow the work to slip instead of breaking apart.

Just now, lew said:

Yes! I just find the center of the turning blank (both ends). Then, use an awl make an indentations at the center marks. Just tighten down the tail stock live center and it presses the blank into the teeth. The spring loaded center point is pushed back into the center leaving the teeth to grab the stock. 

 

What's really great is that if you have a bad catch, the small teeth will allow the work to slip instead of breaking apart.

Awesome, it's not a big deal but I had to pre cut the lines at the end of the blanks at the spur end, so my spur could catch, this new spur is going to make the process much quicker, thanks Lew!

24 minutes ago, John Morris said:

By the way folks, I am using some Easy Wood Tools for this project, but I found myself using the Easy Finisher for roughing and the Easy rougher for finishing the legs. Hmmmm.

Those are two mighty fine tools!

1 hour ago, lew said:

Those are two mighty fine tools!

For this newbie they are fine, I should probably use traditional tools first so I can appreciate the engineering in these tools.

John the steb center drive is very safe to use and works well with spindles. But as you get experience and start using gouges you will find that in larger turnings the steb will slow you dow because you cannot get as large of a cut. On the 4 prong it should be set into the work with a mallet, do not drive it in while on the lathe ways, use a table or bench to support the work.

39 minutes ago, Gerald said:

On the 4 prong it should be set into the work with a mallet, do not drive it in while on the lathe ways, use a table or bench to support the work.

I drove it in on the lathe ways, hope I did not jack anything up. I used the pressure of the dead end screw. I know now. Thanks Gerald.

John I used to do that too till I learned by listening not to. The object is to avoid cracking the ways.

John,

consider leaving a little waste on the bottom of the legs. This will give you some built in stands for finishing.

driving the spur into you stock while on the lathe can also ruin the headstock bearings,

the heaviest end of your turning should go towards the drive end to lessen the chance of whipping or vibrating out of the lathe.

 

18 minutes ago, Gerald said:

John I used to do that too till I learned by listening not to. The object is to avoid cracking the ways.

Starting today I listened, and I drove the spur in with a mallet, then set it in the way, and brought up the dead end to the point where all I needed was just a turn to get it up tight. Thanks for the tip, I greatly appreciate it.