newbie to turning

[Rob]

You'll be pleasantly surprised I'm certain. The Robert sorbys will be factory ground which means that gouges will likely correspond very closely to protrusion 65 and jig setting 2

The very first time you grind the gouges, there may be a bit of shaping, rather than just sharpening.  Thus it may take 10 to 15 minutes. Once shaped ie each subsequent sharpen will take under a minute AS LONG AS you exactly repeat the jig setting and protrusion and universal sppt config.

My guess is that a set of 5 will give a 3/4" roughing gouge and 1/2 or 3/8" spindle gouge, parting tool, skew chisel and maybe a scraper or possibly a bowl gouge.  The two spindle gouges will by far receive the most use.  Jig 2, p65 will handle them both.

If you want to get into bowls ( which trust me you will), we can get into that later. Because as Jeff's video clearly states, you need to grind the wings back for that

Have you thought about finishes out of curiosity?  You'll need a few more bits n bobs there....your wife's gunna love you :-)

You do of course realise this is the male equivalent of a clothes shop for our better halves :-)

Seriously though, sand paper grits from 120 through about 400, friction polish or some decent waxes, oils also a must.  Once you go bowl, you need to explore power sanding with a flexi Velcro pad and disposable sanding discs. Awesome. Talk about cut the time taken and improve the finish

If you get anything done, post Picts next week. Would be great to see progress

Cheers

[Elden]

Very interesting. Car boots, car bonnets, car trunks, car hoods. Do you all ever get a bee in your bonnet? My middle son roomed with a fellow from the Caribbean island of Anguilla for a year at college. His room mate asked my son if he would carry him to town. Made my son ponder that one for a bit! Going through his American mind was, no you would get heavy very quickly! After thinking about it, he said yes, I can give you a ride to town.
I am enjoying it! Carry on. 

By the way, the "very interesting" was referring to the wood turning topic as well!

[fraseman999]

Hi Rob,

More great info thanks so much,

You are spot on with what comes in the kit. I take it then, until i bring the wings in, i cannot try bowls.

Everything is in place to have a go at sharpening tomorrow.

Probably not get a chance until tomorrow night.

Looking forward.

Will let you know how i get on.

Thanks

John

[Rob]

No you can try bowls....I just wouldnt until you've practised on between centres spindles first.  Bowl turning is less safe than anything between centres and therefore it warrants good tool control.  You wont have a feel for the chisels when you start and if you dive straight into an out of true, one centre held bowl....you'll probably get some wacks as you present the chisel to the work badly.  Those wacks rarely actually hurt...but they dont half scare and that shakes your confidence, the very last thing you need while learning.

Better to start with the 3/4" roughing gouge on a nice foot long or so bit of 1x1 or 2x2 and turn it into a cylinder and then practising beads and coves.

When you have a feel for how the chisel might behave if you turn it or swing into the work or do this and that..you could more safely start to rough out a bowl.

[Rob]

To finish that point.  You can certainly remove wood turning a bowl with a factory grind bowl gouge.  That grind will likely be somewhere close to jig 2 P=65 ie not what's called a fingernail grind.  If you've watched Jeff's vid you know what I mean about a fingernail grind.

There is a lot of personal variation in how much of a fingernail any given turner might prefer.  Its as well to try progressively more as you go.  So start at factory and then grind more of the sides (wings) off in stages.  Try that new stage and then go again if you dont like it.

There are three issues with respect to producing fingernail grinds:

1) Grinding the wings takes a fair bit of time ie first shaping....sharpening from then on is a doddle.  A good half an hour if not a little more.
2) The further back up the chisel you grind the greater cutting edge you create which allows you to waste off more stock when making shaping cuts
3)  Because you alter the edge angle when doing a fingernail grind, you make it easier to access the steep sides in a deep bowl.  To get the cutting edge of a factory ground chisel angled correctly (ie with bevel rubbing) you end up hitting the side further up the tool.

So fingernail grinds are the only way to go for deep bowls and also for going fast.  But you need to invest some shaping time on the T7 to get them there.

As per my post before this, its a step too far for the first outing on a lathe in my opinion which is why I say break yourself in with between centre practice first.  Do a bowl after a week or two when you feel more comfortable with the gouges behaviour and you have some muscle memory developed.

[fraseman999]

Disaster, disaster and more disaster!

I always thought the most dangerous machine in the workshop was a spindle moulder.

Not any more. Its a Lathe!

Ok, first off, its a Tormek website so i will give my opinion on the jigs. Fantastic, easy to use and with a little bit more practice its easy to use. 10/10. Although i said with some more practice. I can slice my chisels and plane blades all day long on paper. But im not quite there yet with the turning chisels. Maybe my eagerness to get them from the Tormek to the lathe was the problem.

And my apologies, i know its not a turning website, but there are a lot of knowledgable folks on here and i need help!

I had read that branches that are still wet are easier to turn. So i picked up a couple of 4inch diameter branches of Ash. They didnt need much work as they were pretty straight. Cut them to 2 foot long. Put them on the lathe and started to rough it with the roughing gouge. The machine was said slow to begin with. Then i had a dig in that was so hard it jammed my chisel between the wood and the rest. I kept trying, but although i have read two books and watched 3 videos, i am afraid i may need some practical help.

I tried the spindle gouge, just trying to smooth the stock, but i was not managing to smooth it. Were my tools not sharp enough? Was my angle not correct?
Then i tried to do some coves and i just kept getting dig in after dig in.

I suppose to begin with i was probably trying to take to big a cut. But then i tried just taking a tiny shaving. Need to look up my nearest turning club.

As usual any pointers appreciated.

Thanks

John

[Rob]

Mm difficult to diagnose without watching you. I did say that if you got wacked it would scare you but shouldn't be dangerous as long as your fingers aren't on the stock side of the tool rest

So here's my advice:

- practical hands on training/guidance will speed up time and get you there faster than any other method. Personally I didn't take any and I experienced plenty of digs on the journey!
- if you can't get that fast enough try the following
- use shorter stock, about 8" and try 1x1 planed all round ie square. The branches are ok but they won't be true and that eccentric "cam" will aid in you getting digs
- just use the 3/4" roughing gouge to start, it's the easiest chisel to control
- if you have two live centres you can mount one in both head and tail stock. Then you'll never get s dig because the stock will stop dead the moment you put any pressure on it
- avoid the skew at all costs for the time bring
- check the height of the tool rest. Start with it just slightly above the central axis of the lathe
- place the tool rest just about 1/4" from the stock and set a relatively slow speed
- carefully place the gouge on the rest angled up above the stock and slowly arc downwards just touching the outside 1mm of rotating stock. The trick is to get the bevel rubbing ever so gently
- never lift the gouge off the rest once in contact with the stock and keep the handle tucked into your

You'll get there, just don't let the dings rattle you

[fraseman999]

Once again Rob,

Thanks so much for your great advice.

I will not be giving up just yet!

I am going to work on the sharpness of the tools.

Spend some time with the Tormek.

Then I will take it slower. And follow your advice on thinner stock.

I am having trouble understanding keeping the bevel behind the cut.

Surely if the bevel isn't behind the cut then it won't cut.

Thanks again Rob

John

[Rob]

I forgot to mention, before you power up the lathe do the tool rest height adjustment and then rotate the stock by hand with gouge held in right hand. Bring the tool in contact with the wood as if it was spinning at normal speed. This dry run without the lathe running helps you to check if it will cut or not. If the gouge is sharp, it will cut....maybe not as clean as a spinning lathe but you should experience the feel of how it will perform when the lathe is turned on

It helps to set your expectation of the correct protrusion over the tool rest and the correct angle against the stock to get the bevel rubbing.

If you like we could set up a Skype video call and I could run through this live from my workshop to go over the finer points

When I went through this I didn't get any training and with hindsight it cost me quite a few digs.  I repeat, they scare the hell out of you and knock confidence but as long as you observe the fingers not past the tool rest rule, they won't hurt.  We're I to have the time again, I probably would hire a turner or a day. It's such a pity you live so far, we could crack the fundamentals in a day I'm certain of it.

Ill pm you my Skype id and mail address

[Rob]

Best of luck on Sunday John :-)