15 hours ago, Gerald said:

ED I will address some questions however you will get more and better answers by putting fewer questions in one post.

1. Any wood can be turned however We do not have most of the woods you mention in the South except pine which is turnable just have a lot of chip out .

 

2. Can you save blanks for the future ? Yes definitely . I use wax to coat the ends of blanks after I cut the pith out because it will cause the blank to split as it dries.

 

3. Cracks will result the longer you leave the wood in your pile. You "may" be able to turn around them BUT it is best to turn wet wood and leave thick and once dry return it. You will lose some blanks but save many more doing this. We can cover this deeper later it is jut too much for this and if you will look at my club site there are many references and resources there to answer this question. How to do it on Magnolia Woodturners

 

4. Something I noticed in your post is using files. Yes it can be done but they must be tempered properly as they are very brittle and dangerous if not done correctly. You will also find articles on making turning tools on the website.

 

You remind me much of a farmer in our club who is one of the most inventive and resourceful turners I know and he makes lots of his tools. Trait of the trade I guess.

The only "file" that I use in turning is the little file that I have attached to a cross slide vice for cutting small wood dowels, I have on occasion used one of my hoof rasps but they build up pretty fast.  I have one small "bowl" gouge, I believe is the correct term with about a 14 inch handle that I work with and about 4 short handled wood carving tools.  I also have a flat angled tool with the same handle I believe they originally came with the Shopsmith.  My cutoff/parting tool would probably concern some people as it is an old "L" shaped tire iron that I flattened the sides and tip on, but it works amazingly well and with that end angled away gives me some great control over it.  I also have a smaller bowl gouge that I made from a 20 inch piece of 9/16th  inch bolt, I just cut a smooth trough in the end and sharpened the backside like the bowl gouge, this is just smaller tipped.

 

Originally on the vice dowel machine I had an old carbide tooth that I had cut from an old circular saw blade, that worked pretty well but it was not as easy to hook to the vices as the small flat file was.  I was thinking of cutting out some more carbide teeth from an old blade and then grind down a piece of metal at the right angle that I can tap/thread and bolt the saw pieces to the end on the sides and get the two pieces to line up together with one flat edge two teeth wide.  I have plenty of old circular saw teeth in old messed up blades that I could use for this.  These teeth wouldn't have a negative rake at first but I have a diamond sharpener and when I sharpen the carbide tips each time I can sharpen on the top of the tooth and create a negative rake as I sharpen them.

 

I also have a couple of forges that I have built years back that I can use to fashion various cutting tools and or metal handles for them for the lathe as well.  I was looking at carbide discs and triangular diamond bits for lathing and they are not too expensive and I can easily make a metal handle to accept them.

Edited November 24, 20196 yr by MountainGaurdian

Homemade carbide tools with commercial carbides should be easy with your skills. At some point you will want regular gouges. Even then you can make scrapers easily but depending on the steel you use may need heat treat to reduce brittleness and help edge last longer.

Well I drilled out my third vase/cup form today with the stationary tail stock drill chuck I set up.  That works out beautifully, smooth and easy, I was originally a bit concerned and my first try was definitely a bit more spooky as the piece was not completely centered when I drilled.  This piece was perfectly centered and balanced and man it drilled out like a dream.  I am using a 1 1/2 inch spade bit to drill with.

 

I then gouged out the remainder of the inside with my "tire tool" lathe tool as it gave me the best control and easiest cutting inside the vase/cup form.  I tried the bowl gouge but with that small of an inside diameter it seems to to catch and gouge without a lot of positive control.  I was happy with my end result though...

 

On the next thing I do I will watch to avoid knots in the upper lip of the cup/vase as they tend to work loose eventually.  I had one that was moving around just a bit while I was working the edge.

 

The outside is a simple form, sanded a bit and polished a bit with some old saddle leather.

 

 

I wish I had a better camera and I could show the tigers eye effect of this grain, it quite cool looking.  I quite like this wood for turning.  I have been calling this Western White Pine, but it turns out "this" wood is actually Scots Pine.

For lose knots and such, I use CA glue. 

Funny you're signature should mention "rolling pins"....   My wife wants me to make a set of three sizes of rolling pins for her.  I have some really nice elm that has been cut and dried for about 4 years now about 3 x3  by about 4 feet long or so, the stuff is quite hard and very pretty, should work quite well for that I imagine.

Never tried elm, but we just had to have our Chinese Elm cut down. I saved some of it maybe I’ll try it for spin when it gets dry. 

Edited November 25, 20196 yr by lew

Bowl gouges are not good for hollowing a piece that small . You can use a carbide tool followed by a scraper or use a spindle gouge which for box hollowing is used much like a scraper. The carbide is excellent for that end grain in the bottom also.

I think you are getting it.

48 minutes ago, lew said:

Never tried elm, but we just had to have our Chinese Elm cut down. I saved some of it maybe I’ll try it for spin when it gets dry. 

My friend Mark took a tree removal job in town where he had to remove all the trees as they were getting the lot ready for two large apartment complexes.  He came to me all concerned because had underbid it badly not calculating in removing the logs and wood from the site.  I had just bought my sawmill and set it up so I hired a self loading log truck to haul 4 big loads of the hybrid poplar and Siberian elm out of there and back here to the farm.  The guy was crazy cheap, he only charged me like $75 an hour and he was flat out fast, all that wood cost me about $450. I would have had about 7 loads but Mark began to realize how much wood I was getting for my mill and he started hauling wood out to our co owned mill in Deary.

 

I had never worked with elm before well with the exception of cutting 20 acres of it up for firewood, a friend of mine took a bid to remove all that elm for a construction project and he cut it all into firewood.  That is some of the nastiest splitting wood I have ever split.

 

I cut up all that elm and made a large vehicle bridge, some small yard bridges for a stone and liner pond I built for a neighbor lady and various other things, a couple tables.  I sold quite of it to a cabinet shop.  I wish I had kept more of that around as I haven't had the chance to get any more elm since then.  That elm in my opinion is some awesome wood.  Every time I drive by that apartment complex I look at the 30 or so elm trees remaining at the edge of the property and drool thinking how awesome it would be to get a bid on removing those buggers...

Edited November 25, 20196 yr by MountainGaurdian

Elm used to be a desirable wood to build with.  I remember the old timers talking favorably about elm, it's workability and durability.  I wish I had just a few small pieces to make a couple of pens.  

9 hours ago, MountainGaurdian said:

That is some of the nastiest splitting wood I have ever split.

Probably rates right up there with Ironwood (Hop Hornbeam) best to split while frozen, otherwise just a stringy mess.

15 hours ago, FlGatorwood said:

Elm used to be a desirable wood to build with.  I remember the old timers talking favorably about elm, it's workability and durability.  I wish I had just a few small pieces to make a couple of pens.  

Out of curiosity, what size pieces do you use for making pens and whatnot?  I ask because when I make the rolling pins I may be able to size the cutoff pieces appropriately...

 

I made a practice rolling pin this morning using some dry poplar.  I wanted to know just how tricky it was to make one and whatnot so I figured make a test run or two or three out of low quality wood before attempting to anything with the higher quality wood.  I think it turned out alright.  It is certainly some work to get a flat smooth surface on the rolling pin face, I was thinking that might be a bit of a challenge and it was...  I got it shaped up and sanded and then I ran some paraffin wax against it and polished it up with a rag.

 

 

 

That pin looks mighty fine, Ed. I'm no turner but, I suspicion that elm will be a tad more ornery than the poplar. 

1 hour ago, MountainGaurdian said:

what size pieces do you use for making pens

.75" x .75"  the length varies for the pen kit you are using. For Slimlines a 6" long piece usually works great.

1 hour ago, lew said:

.75" x .75"  the length varies for the pen kit you are using. For Slimlines a 6" long piece usually works great.

So a couple  2" x 4" chunks cut down to 8 inches length or so would likely make half a dozen pens or more then...   While I get a lot of things shipped to me, I haven't actually shipped an item since I worked at Golftek 17 years ago, I don't how much it costs to ship something now a  days, but I can't imagine something that small and light being much through fed ex or UPS to ship.  When I do my finish rolling pins for the wife I will save some cut offs for you, you are welcome to them.

 

I just made another poplar rolling pin, slightly different style, it went a bit easier and faster than the first.  I learned some tricks sanding this one, if I move the paper back and forth fairly quickly I don't tend to get the sand paper grit grooves as badly.  This makes it much easier to smooth with the next step of sandpaper.  I also found that those cheap little dollar store foam sanding blocks are quite good for holding your sand paper under.  It gives a bit when you push down and the grit helps hold your sandpaper firmly.  I again sanded and finished this one with paraffin wax and polished it up with a rag as well.

 

Edited November 25, 20196 yr by MountainGaurdian

1 hour ago, MountainGaurdian said:

you are welcome to them.

Thanks! I'm doing bowls for Christmas right now.

 

When I sand my rolling pins (usually do a dozen at a time) I use my random orbital sander while they are turning on the lathe at low speed. Sand them all with one grit, then move to the next higher grit and do them all again, repeat, repeat. I usually stop at 180. If they are too slick, the flour doesn't stick to them.

I decided to try some pine and a larger size rolling pin.  Worked out well though I hadn't considered the fact that it might have pine beetles in it.....   I had to pull a few pine beetle larvae out of the holes and fill with wax at the end but it worked out well in spite of them..  The wife likes it, this is her favorite out of the three so far...

 

Nicely Done!

Very well done.  I like each of them but I only use a rolling pin during the holidays each year to make pie crusts.  I agree with Lew about the size of wood for making pens.  And, there is a flat rate box at the Post Office and they deliver very well.  I prefer the post office over the other two.  But, it depends on which you city you live near.  But, that is a whole different story.  

USPS flat rate box was the cheapest way to go by several dollars, I was no too impressed wit UPS or Fedex on that.

I got out to the shop for a bit yesterday and took the head off of my old floor bench press and set it at the end of my lathe, just kind of curious as to how much it would take to make that my new tailstock.  I can leave the original Shopsmith one and simply pull it off or stick it back on when I want but as I have watched a lot of these videos it is becoming clear to me how handy it would be to have a better tailstock setup.  I wanted to do more yesterday but alas my jaw has been infected the last few days and I am going to take it easy for a few days until I get that cleared up a bit as it is trying to spread up the side of my head and has already moved into my neck, when I don't take it seriously it can take me out for the better part of a month and require some doctors trips. So I am going to slow down for a few days.  I needed to be in cooking for Thanksgiving anyways.

 

As I can never totally stop, I was thinking about these creme abrasive polishes last night and I was thinking that simple clay (small microscopic fractured quarts crystal and silica) should actually be usable as a fine abrasive for wood.  I went searching to see if anyone has used it and it turns out that many of the cremes and pastes are actually based upon diatomaceous earth and that there is a very common recipe of mineral oil/bees wax and diatomaceous earth used as a fine abrasive polish and finish.  I can easily make some amount of this material, but I got to thinking that this stuff would almost be certain to get in the way of some if not many of store bought finishes.  Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

My immediate next thought was what one could use in place of wax that would not leave behind a residue as likely to interfere with finishes and I was thinking of some of the polishing cremes I had seen that do not appear to have a wax content to them.  I had no way of finding out ingredients for the products so I had to just brainstorm for a while on my own, the thought of silicon dioxide (cheap gelatin) popped into my head.  This could be used to thicken the diatomaceous earth mix into a cream like substance, the water moisture would likely evaporate away, the silicon dioxide of the gelatin is basically for all intensive purposes the same thing as the diatomaceous earth ( diatom shells are made from silicon dioxide hydrates), the gelatin is just a finer form of it.    I will have to do some experimenting around with this to see whether I can make a usable abrasive cream/paste from some simple store bought gelatin and diatomaceous earth.

 

Does anyone have any home recipes for abrasive polishes?

Edited November 28, 20196 yr by MountainGaurdian