It finally got above freezing the past couple of days but the basement shop is lagging behind in the warm up.

 

@Ksvet06 posed a question about sharpening lathe tools. He asked about grinders and sharpening jigs. Please look over his post and the responses. Let's give Zach all the help we can-

 

 

@Gerald is working on hollow forms for the Beads of Courage (BOC) project-

 

Check out what he has done for this very special cause-

 

 

 

@Smallpatch is recreating a couple of chess pieces for a customer-

 

Although Jesse says he's not a turner, you would never know it by how well these turned out! He tells us about the adventure here-

 

 

 

When I used to use my diamond parting tool, it almost always gave me a ragged surface. Here's a video from Rick Turns illustrating how to regrind the parting tool for a cleaner cut-

 

I must admit, I've abandoned my diamond parting tool in favor of the Easy Wood Tools parting tool. It creates clean cuts, no vibration and because it's a carbide tip- stays sharp a LONG time.

 

 

 

 

In Last week's "Wednesday's..." we mentioned @Steve Krumanaker had a mishap when he inadvertently turned off his vacuum system. That got me to wondering if a shop made vacuum  could be built. I found this PDF for making an inexpensive system. Not sure if I'll try it but thought it might give someone an idea. I believe the author is in England because the costs are in pounds and dimensions are metric.

 

http://www.gaw.org.uk/blog/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Vacuum-chuck-for-£10-or-less.pdf

 

 

The Woodturning OnLine newsletter arrived last week. As always there are interesting projects, articles and equipment. While scanning the "New and Hot" section I noticed this little jewel-

 

Looks like this laser could be adapted to most any tool. It is available through Tim Yoders' site- http://www.wtwtim.com/elbotool.htm about half way down the page.

The entire newsletter is at- http://www.woodturningonline.com/

 

Finally, here's an older video from Carl Jacobson turning a lidded vessel. Notice his use of the Easy Wood Tools hollower and the fantastic Easy Wood Chuck!

 

 

Safe turning

Lew thanks for the post. I have the lase that Tim sells. It is a Ron Brown product and I saw at the AAW symposium in 2016 he replaced the adjusting knobs with single wing nuts so I ordered some and it is much easier to use.

Here are three articles on making Vacum Chucks:

        The Brusied Brothers

        Shoestring

        How I built mine

Thanks Lew.  Going to take some time to wade through all the good information you posted this week.  Vacuum chuck really caught my eye.

Lots of good information again. I also have that laser assembly from Ron Brown but I've been way less than happy with it, thought it was a good idea poorly executed. Before I had a vacuum pump I made my own rotary adapter and faceplate type vacuum chuck. It worked really well. There is a hazard to a shop vac when using this method though. A shop vac uses  the air flow to cool the motor, with a vacuum chuck there is basically no air flow so it can damage the motor if used for long periods.

 

Steve

Lew, your diversity of topics along with highlighting those on this forum is phenomenal.

It has to be one of the most informative Turning forums out there.

I enjoy reading just to see what all you guys & gals have going and how you get there.

Thanks for your dedication and energy!

Another great post, Lew. 

@Gerald Thanks! And thanks for the links and the comment on the laser.

 

@HandyDan Thank You!

 

@Steve Krumanaker Thanks! I hadn't thought about the airflow problem with the shop vac. I can see where that could easily become problematic.

 

@Grandpadave52 Thank You!

 

@Gene Howe Thanks!