"Andy K." mcse666@gmail_com wrote in message
...
Hello All and Happy New Year,

I have a couple of questions being new to turning. Currently the
only thing I have done is to try and make square stock round and other
things to get a feel for the lathe. My main projects at this time are
going to be turning pens. How do you figure out what speed to turn at,
is it different for the different species of wood, or is hardwood
hardwood? When I am turning what type of shvings should I expect;
actual shavings, dust or what?

Also can I figure out what I am doing wrong based on what is coming
off of my turned piece? Any and all suggestions and info would be
greatly appreciated.


Turn as slow or as fast as is comfortable to you. Makes _no_ difference in
the final surface, though turning faster makes more kinetic energy available
to make you pay for an error. You simply adjust your feed rate so that
you're not pushing laterally faster than the rotation can remove the wood.

As you go to round you want to whittle your way in stages toward either end
with your favorite flavor of tool. For squared pen blanks a straight chisel
will do the whole thing from rough to buff, though some prefer to use the
gouge to do the initial round, followed by the skew.

You want to turn with as little resistance against your hand as possible, so
snug the rest up tight and hold the tool firmly on the rest from above.
Interrupted shavings will give way to longer and longer as you approach
round, which you should do in sweeps, as mentioned above, going in with a
handle movement, then pushing along the rest as you get a bevel to
reference. You'll want the shavings to twist as you work, and the longer
they are, the smoother your surface will be. The shavings are your teacher,
and they teach you through your hand and eye. Keep 'em long!