mac davis wrote:

That was a compliment, Charlie... and I think that was how you took it...

IMHO, the worst possible thing you can be is "normal"..

Absolutely - on both counts. "Normal" is boring.

Casper wrote:

Super wand Charlie. I really like the contrast and the twist.

Thanks

I love wands, but I'm not brave enough to try the twisting thing yet.

What bravery?

If you can turn a square blank round then you can turn a twist.
Only three things that are different.
1. you're using two "centers", each offset from the blank's
actual center
2. the centers on one end of the blank is rotated 90 degrees
to the centers on the other end of the blank

+ 1
1 2
x + x +

+ 2

3. you only turn part of a circle for each pair of centers
rather than turning a full circle

As for gouges - a half inch roughing gouge works just fine.
I ground my corners back just a bit to keep then from
catching but if you're careful a squared end roughing
gouge will do the job.

If it's the twist that has you concerned, start with an oval
Mount the blank between centers 1-1 and "knock off" one
corner of the blank. Remount the blank between centers
2-2 and "knock off" the opposite corner.

Repeat the process until there are NO corners.

+ 1 +1

x x

+ 2 + 2

What you'll get is basically an oval. Once you've done
an oval, just do the next one with a twist.

It really isn't that hard - honest. Just say to yourself
"If that idiot can do - then I sure as hell can!" and start
slinging wood.

If you think you need more infor - this might help

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...iCenters1.html

Grab a 3/4" thick board of poplar or maple, rip
some 3/4 x 3/4 x 6" blanks and start playing
with them.

Escape from the Confines of Round!

charlie b

ps - the rawings of the twists may have a problem
so don't rely on them. Am working on finding
out what's not quite right and will fix things.