We only have about 3 weeks left to get your raffle tickets for the Summer Fund Raiser. This fund raiser will help keep our site alive and allow us to help veterans. Please Donate!

 

Our Patriot Turners-

@Turn n Learn posted some more items he scored with his lathe and wondered what some were used for.

New comments and items begin here-

 

@Gordon made a cool jam chuck using some neoprene rubber-

He posted more images and the source for the rubber in his post-

 

@Fred W. Hargis Jr gave us a heads up for an awesome sale price on new Jet and Powermatic lathes-

Check his post for the link to Craft Supplies USA

If you aren't sure what to look for in that new lathe, this video from Popular Woodworking may help-

 

 

From our "What's On" posts, @BuckeyeHomestead posted a picture of his NEW Jet lathe and its first project

That's an awesome lathe!

 

@RustyFN had some difficulty with buffing out a finish. He explains the problem in this post-

Check out what Rusty said and maybe you have some tips that will help him.

 

What’s Coming Up-

Click on the images for links to more information and registration.

 

 

 

 

For The Newbies-

Sam Angelo posted a nice spindle gouge tutorial

 

Tomislav Tomasic created a great video on tips for turning. His videos have excellent closeup of gouge positions.

 

From Popular Woodworking, a written tutorial on lathe tool sharpening-

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/sharpening-for-woodturners/

And another on scrapers

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/tools/the-woodturning-scraper/

 

Expand Your Horizons-

The theme for this week is embellishing-

Mike Peace bleaches and burns turning to add neat effects-

 

 

From Popular Woodworking-

 

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/square-platter-with-textured-rim/

 

If you are looking for a nice gift project, Jimmy Clewes' coffee scoop tutorial might just be what you want-

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/turned-scoop-with-pewter-finial/

 

Turning Time With Easy Wood Tools-

Over the past several weeks, we have been showcasing the individual Easy Wood Tools. One thing that should be noted is that all Easy Wood products are made right here in the good ol' U. S. of A.

Fascinating video of the manufacturing processes-

 

All of the Easy Wood products are available directly from their home base in Lexington, KY and on Amazon. However, some of the best prices can be found by cruising their social media pages for special sales from woodworking retailers i.e. Woodcraft etc.

For the month of June, a few -

 

 

If you are thinking about attending the St. Paul, MN symposium, Easy Wood Tools will be well represented-

 

And another shameless self promotion-

@Jordan Martindale

 

New Turning Items-

Everything Else-

From Ron Brown's Newsletter:

 

Good Enough

Perfection is often unattainable, and just as frequently, unnecessary. I hear from turners all the time who proudly sand salad bowls to 4,000 grit. Anything above 320 grit is just a waste of time and effort for most wood projects. However, acrylic and resin projects may well benefit from using abrasives up to 12,000 grit.

The caution here is not to get bogged down in the last 2 percent trying to make something perfect when 98 percent of the work is very close to perfection and Good Enough.

When I used to build custom furniture from cherry, walnut, oak, and hardwood plywood, I quickly discovered that stopping at 220 grit produced excellent results. Especially when covered by sanding sealer and pre-catalyzed lacquer as finishes. It’s true, sometimes less is more. The secret was to be careful with each finer sanding grit, ensuring that all scratches from the coarser grit were entirely removed.

That is where patience really pays off, as I deliberately go over the entire surface, then examine my work with a raking light source before moving up to the next finer grit. Most folks don’t realize that excessive sanding with fine-grit paper creates heat that releases and then hardens the lignin in wood, often resulting in a splotchy finish. The finishing material will not be able to penetrate the surface evenly, and it looks awful.

If you’ve ever blown up a bowl, it usually comes from making one last cut to get the finish just right and the walls as thin as possible. You forgot that wood moves and bowls can go out of round as you turn, even if they’ve been drying for months. As wood is removed, the moisture content can change, causing the thin walls to warp, or harmonic vibration to set in. That final cut produces an unexpected catch and bang! Fresh bowl pieces are lying around the shop once again.

The problem with patience is that it takes so long.

My projects rarely turn out exactly like I see them in my mind. My hope is to bring them close to my idea of perfection and bring them to the “Good Enough” stage of completion. I know some of you think I’m smarter than I actually am. What you see are the results of persistence, patience, and starting over many times before I was able to show you a finished version. You will never see the eight failures that came before. Remember how WD-40 got its name.

I would rather have you do something slowly and well than do it quickly and poorly, sometimes referred to as Half-Fast.

Many years ago, I got tired of hearing myself say “Oops! I didn’t see that before, and now it’s too late to fix it.” I am deliberate in my inspections before proceeding to the next step. It is always easier to fix it then, rather than several steps later.

 

Safe turning

 

I really liked Rusty's idea for polishing.  Makes sense.  Thanks for this weeks video line-up.

Thanks Lew.

Thanks Lew. Ron Browns newsletter is a great reminder and encourager even for us flat-landers.

Thanks Lew 

@HandyDan  Thank You!

 

@RustyFN  Thanks!

 

@Grandpadave52  Thank You!

 

@Gerald  Thanks!