Starting out...
 

Hopefully spinning up my lathe for the first time soon.

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

David C. Stone wrote:

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

At a guess, most of the answers you get will be variations of "free
wood" and "firewood." Someone might say "green wood," because it is
relatively easy to work. It's hard to argue with any of them.

Owen Davies

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:56:37 -0400, Owen Davies put fingers to keyboard
and said:

David C. Stone wrote:

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd recommend for
learning on? Judging by some of the posts in the past week, I'm
guessing that would NOT include purpleheart or peach!

At a guess, most of the answers you get will be variations of "free wood"
and "firewood." Someone might say "green wood," because it is relatively
easy to work. It's hard to argue with any of them.

Owen Davies

Which, of course, leads to the conclusion that "free, green, firewood" is
the best to learn on :-)

--
+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
Bruce Bowler | To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of
1.207.633.9600 | the ignorant. - A. B. Alcott
|
+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------+

When I've taught woodturning, I start people turning between centers using
only scrapers held horizontally (or slightly downward) on the tool rest.
Make something simple or even sacrificial. A gavel or candlestick. Use any
cheap wood you have around like cottonwood, poplar, basswood, pine, etc.
Dan


Hopefully spinning up my lathe for the first time soon.

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

David C. Stone wrote:

Hopefully spinning up my lathe for the first time soon.

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

Two things in addition to the others.

The best way to learn is to make mistakes, lots of mistakes. That being
said, try not to make the really stupid ones that will hurt you. You know
like wearing loose clothing, loose gloves, no face shield, high speed on a
non balanced piece (the flight path of those is really interesting though).

The other thing is, when you turn green try both the "turn to 1" and put up
for a year" and "LDD" (Leif has a doc on this that he will gladly send)
methods of stablezing wood. Personally, being the impatient type, I prefer
the LDD method.

Deb

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:24:04 -0400, "David C. Stone"
wrote:

Hopefully spinning up my lathe for the first time soon.

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

if you have no lathe experience, PLEASE check out the web pages of some of the
folks here first... a few examples:
http://aroundthewoods.com/

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/

http://home.earthlink.net/~kvaughn65/main.html

http://personalpages.tds.net/~upgeorge/index.html

http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/index.html

http://ghodgeswoodturner.com/

As they will ALL tell you, wear eye protection, work safely, and enjoy the
experience...

If you have NO experience on a lathe, start out the way I started my kids...
with a closet rod and a few pieces of 2" x 2" pine or fir... get the feel of the
lathe and the tools on the already rounded closet rod, then move up to rounding
the 2x2... YMMV

As Bill Grumbine says in his DVD ( http://www.wonderfulwood.com/dvd.html ),
wear at least safety glasses, preferably a good face shield... if you're not
going to wear face protection, make your first project a white cane, 'cause
you're going to need it..



mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

I would be interested to learn more about the ldd method also...
Could I get a copy?

"Dr. Deb" wrote in message
...
David C. Stone wrote:

Hopefully spinning up my lathe for the first time soon.

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

Two things in addition to the others.

The best way to learn is to make mistakes, lots of mistakes. That being
said, try not to make the really stupid ones that will hurt you. You know
like wearing loose clothing, loose gloves, no face shield, high speed on a
non balanced piece (the flight path of those is really interesting
though).

The other thing is, when you turn green try both the "turn to 1" and put
up
for a year" and "LDD" (Leif has a doc on this that he will gladly send)
methods of stablezing wood. Personally, being the impatient type, I
prefer
the LDD method.

Deb

In article bOBse.76877$nG6.74557@attbi_s22, Dan Bollinger
wrote:

When I've taught woodturning, I start people turning between centers using
only scrapers held horizontally (or slightly downward) on the tool rest.
Make something simple or even sacrificial. A gavel or candlestick. Use any
cheap wood you have around like cottonwood, poplar, basswood, pine, etc.
Dan

Ok, I have lots of pine, some poplar, so that's good.
What about stuff like maple and zebrawood - save that for later?

In article , mac davis
wrote:

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:24:04 -0400, "David C. Stone"
wrote:

Hopefully spinning up my lathe for the first time soon.

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

if you have no lathe experience, PLEASE check out the web pages of some of the
folks here first... a few examples:
http://aroundthewoods.com/

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/

http://home.earthlink.net/~kvaughn65/main.html

http://personalpages.tds.net/~upgeorge/index.html

http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/index.html

http://ghodgeswoodturner.com/

Thanks for the references - I'll be sure to check them out.

As they will ALL tell you, wear eye protection, work safely, and enjoy the
experience...

I've been steadily working my way up from drills to routers and table
saw. My collection of safety gear has been growing on par with my
toolkit! As a result, I still have all four eyes and eleven fingers...

If you have NO experience on a lathe, start out the way I started my kids...
with a closet rod and a few pieces of 2" x 2" pine or fir... get the feel of
the
lathe and the tools on the already rounded closet rod, then move up to
rounding
the 2x2... YMMV

That sounds like good advice. I've got a friend locally who can help
out, also. So far, all I've done is check that the lathe runs
smoothly, and figure out how to adjust the various parts. I also want
to make sure I have the bits'n'pieces to keep the tools in good shape
before I get too involved in anything. Looks like it'll be another
week or so before I'll be ready and have time to actually put some
wood in the lathe, so keep the suggestions coming!

Now all I have to do is figure out why I keep typing 'lather' instead
of 'lathe'...

"David C. Stone" wrote:
Ok, I have lots of pine, some poplar, so that's good.
What about stuff like maple and zebrawood - save that for later?

Sounds like a plan so far. Do you have a chainsaw and a bandsaw? One
allows you to make logs into appropriately shaped slabs of wood and the
other allows you to make bowl blanks out of them when you are ready to
switch from spindle to faceplate work. Wood at the side of the road or
from cutting crews is a VEY valuable resource. So is a person who knows
how to turn standing next to you. I posted the LDD document a couple of
weeks ago. If you do a google search under the groups setting, you
should be able to find it. To find the local turners, follow the links
in my sig line and go to the local chapters.

Dave in Fairfax
--
reply-to doesn't work
use:
daveldr at att dot net
American Association of Woodturners
http://www.woodturner.org
Capital Area Woodturners
http://www.capwoodturners.org/
PATINA
http://www.patinatools.com

"Dan Bollinger" wrote in message
news:bOBse.76877$nG6.74557@attbi_s22...
When I've taught woodturning, I start people turning between centers using
only scrapers held horizontally (or slightly downward) on the tool rest.
Make something simple or even sacrificial. A gavel or candlestick. Use
any
cheap wood you have around like cottonwood, poplar, basswood, pine, etc.

I always started the kids on shaker pegs. They have the five basic moves of
roughing, cove, bead, plane and parting. I always wondered if, given how
useful the simple peg is (was), and how many were used by the shakers, who
had to sublimate their other urges by putting "hands to work," they didn't
start their novices on them as well.

David, first tell folks what you have for tools, and then you can get more
specific answers.

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 13:47:45 -0400, David C. Stone put fingers to keyboard
and said:

In article bOBse.76877$nG6.74557@attbi_s22, Dan Bollinger
wrote:

When I've taught woodturning, I start people turning between centers using
only scrapers held horizontally (or slightly downward) on the tool rest.
Make something simple or even sacrificial. A gavel or candlestick. Use any
cheap wood you have around like cottonwood, poplar, basswood, pine, etc.
Dan

Ok, I have lots of pine, some poplar, so that's good.
What about stuff like maple and zebrawood - save that for later?

No... Zebrawood is awful to turn you must send it out to the rest of uss :-)

--
+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
Bruce Bowler | A fool's tongue is long enough to cut his own
1.207.633.9600 | throat. - Thomas Fuller
|
+-------------------+---------------------------------------------------+

Yep

David C. Stone wrote:
In article bOBse.76877$nG6.74557@attbi_s22, Dan Bollinger
wrote:


When I've taught woodturning, I start people turning between centers using
only scrapers held horizontally (or slightly downward) on the tool rest.
Make something simple or even sacrificial. A gavel or candlestick. Use any
cheap wood you have around like cottonwood, poplar, basswood, pine, etc.
Dan


Ok, I have lots of pine, some poplar, so that's good.
What about stuff like maple and zebrawood - save that for later?

Or if shaker pegs seem a bit on the droll or boring side, there are always
mushrooms. I must've turned a dozen of them before I tried anything else.
It was a great experience watching them take shape under my novice hands.



"David C. Stone" wrote in message
...
In article , mac davis
wrote:

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:24:04 -0400, "David C. Stone"

wrote:

Hopefully spinning up my lathe for the first time soon.

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

if you have no lathe experience, PLEASE check out the web pages of some
of the
folks here first... a few examples:
http://aroundthewoods.com/

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/

http://home.earthlink.net/~kvaughn65/main.html

http://personalpages.tds.net/~upgeorge/index.html

http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/index.html

http://ghodgeswoodturner.com/

Thanks for the references - I'll be sure to check them out.

As they will ALL tell you, wear eye protection, work safely, and enjoy
the
experience...

I've been steadily working my way up from drills to routers and table
saw. My collection of safety gear has been growing on par with my
toolkit! As a result, I still have all four eyes and eleven fingers...

If you have NO experience on a lathe, start out the way I started my
kids...
with a closet rod and a few pieces of 2" x 2" pine or fir... get the
feel of
the
lathe and the tools on the already rounded closet rod, then move up to
rounding
the 2x2... YMMV

That sounds like good advice. I've got a friend locally who can help
out, also. So far, all I've done is check that the lathe runs
smoothly, and figure out how to adjust the various parts. I also want
to make sure I have the bits'n'pieces to keep the tools in good shape
before I get too involved in anything. Looks like it'll be another
week or so before I'll be ready and have time to actually put some
wood in the lathe, so keep the suggestions coming!

Now all I have to do is figure out why I keep typing 'lather' instead
of 'lathe'...

"Kevin" wrote in message
...
Or if shaker pegs seem a bit on the droll or boring side, there are always
mushrooms. I must've turned a dozen of them before I tried anything else.
It was a great experience watching them take shape under my novice hands.


"Boring?" This is time for meditation, for reflection on the universe and
our place in it. Time to mentally snuggle up to the life force itself.
Never boring.


Come to think - they do look a bit like mushrooms, don't they?

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd recommend
for
learning on? Judging by some of the posts in the past week, I'm
guessing that would NOT include purpleheart or peach!

At a guess, most of the answers you get will be variations of "free
wood"
and "firewood." Someone might say "green wood," because it is relatively
easy to work. It's hard to argue with any of them.

Owen Davies

Which, of course, leads to the conclusion that "free, green, firewood" is
the best to learn on :-)

It certainly provides quick lessons in which woods/faults to look out for,
along with motivation to learn how to cure it!

- Andy

"mac davis" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:24:04 -0400, "David C. Stone"

wrote:

SNIP.......
As Bill Grumbine says in his DVD (
http://www.wonderfulwood.com/dvd.html ),
wear at least safety glasses, preferably a good face shield... if you're
not
going to wear face protection, make your first project a white cane,
'cause
you're going to need it..
==============
Safety glasses will protect your eyes, a face shield will keep you from
looking like a punchdrunk fighter (unless you already do). {:-)

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX.

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 09:24:04 -0400, "David C. Stone"
wrote:

Hopefully spinning up my lathe for the first time soon.

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

As a rank amateur myself, I recall turning my very first piece of pine
2"x2" and being very disappointed with the results. The second
material I tried was some 9/4 basswood, and it was a whole lot easier
to work with. Depending on what you've got easy access to, basswood
would be what I'd suggest. It's cheap, and easy to turn- it's also
soft enough to more or less prevent any major catches.

David C. Stone wrote:
Hopefully spinning up my lathe for the first time soon.

I was wondering if there is any particular wood that you'd
recommend for learning on? Judging by some of the
posts in the past week, I'm guessing that would NOT include
purpleheart or peach!

Box Elder, Butternut, and Poplar are great to learn on, green or dried.
I took apart an old couch today so I could fit it in the dumpster, and
scavenged some 1" poplar from the frame--cut it into square sticks, and
it was a joy to turn for skew practice.

Ken Grunke
Coulee Region Woodturners of SW Wisconsin
http://www.crwoodturner.com/

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