Natural Rotations

I am now Etsy-a-fied!

2009-05-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

That's right, folks--I have a new Etsy store. Woo-hoo :))

Etsy dot com is THE place to find quality, handcrafted gifts in all mediums. After you look at my store, bookmark it and browse around the various categories.

Natural Rotations Woodturning Etsy shop

I am off to a pretty good start, selling 4 pairs of turned mushrooms soon after my store opened.

The picture shows my latest creations, a pair of Red Elm mushrooms turned from a limb. Every part of the limb was turned away except a very thin part of it's outside surface, which ended up forming the edge of the mushroom's cap.

Well, I better get busy!

Laborer, Craftsperson, Artist

2009-02-21T09:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know who thought up the original quote, but this is my modification, made to be PC safe:

"One who works with their hands is a laborer.
One who works with their hands and head is a craftsperson.
One who works with their hands, head and heart is an artist."
--

What makes me feel a bit uncomfortable with this quote is it's implication of hierarchy. Levels of existance which are only in the mind of the beholder.

Someone laboring to dig a garden bed, for example, is using their mind to plan the garden's layout. They are putting their heart into the work, because it feels good and has long-term rewards.

A craftsperson cannot just ignore feelings of the heart when creating their work. Perhaps the only difference between a craftsperson and an artist is self-perception.

An Artist may go into automatic mode, not thinking or feeling about what they is doing, but only going through the motions to create their work. Maybe only a temporary state of existance, but I speculate that all artists go through that experience when working.

Lathe Turning Speed

2009-02-19T17:56:00.000-08:00

A common question on the various woodturning forums is "what is the best turning speed?".

The answer depends mostly on the lathe operator's skill level, but on a few other things as well. A little finial or similar spindle turning is not likely to injure anyone if your speed is too high, but any bowl or hollow vessel bigger than say, 4 or 6" in diameter can hurt someone if it flys apart.

Bill Grumbine says "if the lathe isn't shaking, and the turner isn't shaking, then the speed is fine.". Makes a lot of sense, but some people need more specific detail than that.

Just don't get too hung up on numbers. Numbers don't mean a lot, as far as RPM goes. Don't get too excited about tachometers that give readouts to one-thousandth of a revolution per minute, or even to the nearest 50 RPMs.

What matters is the operator's comfort level, and to what extent he/she is prepared to deal with a situation that goes beyond that. If you have enough experience to know how to react instinctively in a situation, and have the proper personal safety gear (good face protection being the most important) then consider yourself well prepared.

When you are starting out with turning, a speed of 500 RPM might make you feel a bit queasy. That's generally the slowest speed available on the entry-level lathes commonly available on the market. That's fine! It's good to be extra cautious when you are starting out. Don't let anyone dare you into going faster than your comfort level. As you gain experience at the lathe, you can judge if you are ready to crank the speed up a little more.

There are guidelines for determining lathe speed, and they are rather loose. The main thing they depend on is the biggest diameter of the piece you are turning, or the diameter of the area you are currently turning which may be smaller than the largest diameter.

To be more specific, it's the surface speed of the wood spinning past the tool which is the bottom line here. If too slow, you have to slow your tool travel speed (also referred to as tool FEED) way down to where it feels clumsy and uncomfortable. There's that C word again, COMFORT. With too slow of a speed, if you push just a little too hard and too fast, you will turn a spiral! Or just a ragged, ugly groove in your work.

Too fast of a speed, and the shavings FLY off the piece. This can be fun, but most likely, those shavings are really HOT. They can even burn your fingers if they are right near the cut. This will also dull your tool a lot faster and could take the temper out of a high-carbon turning tool. OK, not many turners use high-carbon steel anymore, but sometimes it's useful for custom tool shapes.

Here's the guideline/rule of thumb I have seen recommended by Mike Mahoney, Dale NIsh, and other top turners:

Diameter multiplied by RPM's should equal 6000-9000. Another way of putting it:
6000-9000 divided by Diameter gives recommended RPM.

That range of 6000-9000 is a range of constants. (A mathematical term) It's not numbers with any particular units, but a multiplier to get the desired results using the other numbers which do have units: RPM's, and Inches. The constant here is applicable only to inches, so if you measure in centimeters you have to convert the constants to apply. Give me a day or so, I'll try and do that.

Turners with less experience should go with the lover constant, and higher for the more experienced turners.

wisconsinmade.com has a new look

2008-10-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

And I like it much better than the old one. They have done pretty well for me in the last 5 years or so--check out my page:
http://www.wisconsinmade.com/ken-grunke-wisconsin-woodturner.aspx

Bob Dobbs is NOT a woodturner

2008-10-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

I am mortified. I looked up to the guy. I mean, he was like a father figure to me. And now, I hear, that he has NEVER even so much as touched a woodturning tool in his entire life.
All he ever did was smoke that pipe, and smiled, and smoked, then smiled, smoked, smiled, smoked-smiledsmokedsmiledsmokedsmiledsmokedsmiledsmokedsmiledsmokedsmiledsmokedsmiledsmokedsmiledsmokedsmiled

An 18th Century Varnish Mix: Got any Dragon's Blood?

2008-10-14T23:46:00.000-07:00

The Turner's Companion from 1864:

BEAUTIFUL VARN-ISH FOR WOOD, TO BE USED WHILE THE WORK IS ON THE LATHE.

To one quart of spirits of wine add four ounces of lacker, three ounces of gum benzoin, one drachm of camphor, half a drachm of sandarac, half a drachm of dragon's blood, and one drachm of turpentine. Put these ingredients in a long necked bottle capable of holding two quarts and tie a piece of wet parchment over the neck when dry pierce it with holes with a large pin. Place the bottle in the bain marce till the contents are perfectly dissolved shaking it frequently. When cold strain the liquid through a piece of coarse muslin and keep it well corked for future use.

Having finished and polished your work with tripoli powder and sand paper wipe the wood quite clean with a piece of fine linen. This done put a few drops of the varnish on a bit of cotton wool and one drop of olive oil to prevent its drying too quickly ; while applying this varnish, make the lathe wheel go very quick, and hold the cotton
close to the work.

To polish the above, when the varnish is perfectly dry, take some finely-powdered whiting or chalk, and with it polish the work in every direction, but be careful not to press too strongly on the varnish,or it will be marked ; and do not rub it for more than a few minutes at a time, as the friction and excessive speed and heat will spoil the polish. When done, take a sponge dipped in water, wash the work well, and then rub it with a piece of fine linen, and a drop or two of olive oil ; lastly, clean it with a bit of soft old rag or leather."

The Turner's Companion Containing Instructions in Concentric, Elliptic, and Eccentric Turning; Also Various Plates of Chucks, Tools, and Instruments: and Directions for Using the Eccentric Cutter, Drill, Vertical Cutter, and Circular Test; with Patterns, and Instructions for Working Them

2008-10-14T23:11:00.000-07:00

The Turner's Companion Containing Instructions in Concentric, Elliptic, and Eccentric Turning; Also Various Plates of Chucks, Tools, and Instruments: and Directions for Using the Eccentric Cutter, Drill, Vertical Cutter, and Circular Test; with Patterns, and Instructions for Working Them: "excessive speed and heat will spoil the polish When done take a sponge dipped in water wash the work well and then rub it with a piece of fine linen and a drop or two of olive oil lastly clean it with a bit of soft old rag or leather"

Microlathe: Ancient 3D Software but Still Usable

2008-10-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

oodturners occasionally need a way to previsualize the shape of a turning. There are many ways of doing this. One, is to scribble curvy lines on paper and hold a small mirror edgewise to the paper, moving it around until you see a pleasing profile. Another way might be quickly turning a shape from soft, easily available wood. In my neck of the woods (I love saying that) Box Elder suits that description to a tee.

In this day and age, what else but computer graphics would come to mind? Open up your Windows Paint program (or equivalent in Mac and Linux), and draw some curves or whatever shape you need. Then just duplicate it, reverse it and move it into a mirrored position until you shreik "Eureka", print it out and run to the woodshop to fire up the lathe.

If your computer skills are more advanced, 3D software is a neat alternative. There are dozens of applications available, many free and a few equivalent in price to a good used car. As a rule, they have a pretty long and steep learning curve.

One exception to that rule I stumbled upon a few years ago is a little Windows app originally made for 3.1. It still works fine in XP but I don't know if it does in Vista. I use it in Linux under the Wine "non-emulator" (and it works just great.
You can save "turnings" as bmp files, and I convert them to jpgs or pngs using the Gimp.

It's called Microlathe.

"MicroLathe (MicroLathe) is an easy to use modeling tool for Windows 3.1
that allows you to create three dimensional objects using the metaphor
of the carpenter's lathe."

That from the program's README, dated 1992.
Believe it or not, this old program still works, and is worth using because it's so basic and simple.
It's a 90 kb zipped file ("lathe.zip") you can download at woodturner Grant Marshall's site here:
http://www.marshallarts.co.za/technical.htm