I tried my first square-edge bowl today. The blank was a 5" x5" x 2" piece
of Honduras Mahogany. All went well as I mounted the blank on the woodworm
screw of my Super Nova chuck and proceeded to turn the back side of the
bowl. I was sanding with a small piece of sandpaper, when my hand slipped
and a couple of the wings cut two small, but deep gashes in my second
finger. Ouch!

After a little self-applied first-aid, I resumed turning and finished my
first square-edge bowl, a little wounded and perhaps, (hopefully) a bit
smarter. Watch those wings!

Barry

Barry
You only hit them once! Trust me, the learning curve is a quick one. I
usually sand these with the lathe off.

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com

Darrell Feltmate wrote:

Barry
You only hit them once! Trust me, the learning curve is a quick one. I
usually sand these with the lathe off.

Barry, as Darrell said you only do it once and then learn to keep your
hands well clear of the edges. Darrell, I use a power sander to sand
the bowls but do it very carefully. After a couple of bowls one learns
to hold the sander very lightly against the bowl. I only lost a couple
corners of a couple bowls but I sure developed good reflexes.

"Barry N. Turner" wrote in message
.. .
I tried my first square-edge bowl today. The blank was a 5" x5" x 2" piece
of Honduras Mahogany. All went well as I mounted the blank on the
woodworm
screw of my Super Nova chuck and proceeded to turn the back side of the
bowl. I was sanding with a small piece of sandpaper, when my hand slipped
and a couple of the wings cut two small, but deep gashes in my second
finger. Ouch!

After a little self-applied first-aid, I resumed turning and finished my
first square-edge bowl, a little wounded and perhaps, (hopefully) a bit
smarter. Watch those wings!


I like to use the opposite color method to help with the wings. Lay a
light-colored piece of cardboard under/behind a darker wood, opposite for
light.

You can also play with your lighting, of course, but it seems the best view
of the "ghost" wings comes from a spot position that you block immediately
as you start sanding.

Got pin jaws for the Nova? Try the method in
http://groups.msn.com/NovaOwners/geo...to&PhotoID=237
and a few "Next" taps.

As Darrell says, sanding with lathe off is a good choice, and since you can
sand in straight lines more easily with square stuff, it's often my first
choice inside.

Barry N. Turner wrote:
I tried my first square-edge bowl today. The blank was a 5" x5" x 2" piece
of Honduras Mahogany. All went well as I mounted the blank on the woodworm
screw of my Super Nova chuck and proceeded to turn the back side of the
bowl. I was sanding with a small piece of sandpaper, when my hand slipped
and a couple of the wings cut two small, but deep gashes in my second
finger. Ouch!

A safer approach is to glue scrap to the edges before you start turning.
Then you can turn and sand a round bowl, and finish by cutting / planing
/ sanding the scrap off of the edges.

Obviously this only works for straight edged bowls and is no good for
waney / natural edges.

--
Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com
http://chipshop.blogspot.com - a blog for my customers
http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/TheToolrest/ - a blog for woodturners

In article , "George" George@least
wrote:

As Darrell says, sanding with lathe off is a good choice, and since you can
sand in straight lines more easily with square stuff, it's often my first
choice inside.

Lathe-off sanding also lessens the tendency to round any crisp edges.

--
Owen Lowe

Northwest Woodturners
Pacific Northwest Woodturning Guild
___
Tips fer Turnin': Place a sign, easily seen as you switch on your lathe, warning you to remove any and all rings from your fingers. Called degloving, extended hardware can grab your ring and rip it off your finger. A pic for the strong of stomach: www.itim.nsw.gov.au/go/objectid/2A3AC703-1321-1C29-70B067DC88E16BFC/index.cfm

Besides, rings can easily mar the surface of a turning as you check for finished smoothness.

Barry N. Turner wrote:
I tried my first square-edge bowl today. The blank was a 5" x5" x 2" piece
of Honduras Mahogany. All went well as I mounted the blank on the woodworm
screw of my Super Nova chuck and proceeded to turn the back side of the
bowl. I was sanding with a small piece of sandpaper, when my hand slipped
and a couple of the wings cut two small, but deep gashes in my second
finger. Ouch!

After a little self-applied first-aid, I resumed turning and finished my
first square-edge bowl, a little wounded and perhaps, (hopefully) a bit
smarter. Watch those wings!

Saw Stewart Batty make a square edge bowl in a turning club video once.
Noticed he had a finger missing. Always wondered if there was a
connection...

....Kevin
--
Kevin Miller
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
Juneau, Alaska
Registered Linux User No: 307357

In article ,
"Barry N. Turner" wrote:

I tried my first square-edge bowl today. The blank was a 5" x5" x 2" piece
of Honduras Mahogany. All went well as I mounted the blank on the woodworm
screw of my Super Nova chuck and proceeded to turn the back side of the
bowl. I was sanding with a small piece of sandpaper, when my hand slipped
and a couple of the wings cut two small, but deep gashes in my second
finger. Ouch!

A method that has been mentioned here is to hot-glue on some waste wood
around the square, so you can turn and sand full-round, then pop off the
waste wood and clean up the finished edges when you're done with the
faces.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

Makes me wonder too. If you take a look around.............a lot of
woodworkers have one or more fingers missing.

Barry


"Kevin Miller" wrote in message
...
Barry N. Turner wrote:
I tried my first square-edge bowl today. The blank was a 5" x5" x 2"
piece
of Honduras Mahogany. All went well as I mounted the blank on the
woodworm
screw of my Super Nova chuck and proceeded to turn the back side of the
bowl. I was sanding with a small piece of sandpaper, when my hand
slipped
and a couple of the wings cut two small, but deep gashes in my second
finger. Ouch!

After a little self-applied first-aid, I resumed turning and finished my
first square-edge bowl, a little wounded and perhaps, (hopefully) a bit
smarter. Watch those wings!

Saw Stewart Batty make a square edge bowl in a turning club video once.
Noticed he had a finger missing. Always wondered if there was a
connection...

...Kevin
--
Kevin Miller
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
Juneau, Alaska
Registered Linux User No: 307357

That sounds like a viable alternative, although I was doing okay avoiding
the corners until my hand slipped.

Barry


"Ecnerwal" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Barry N. Turner" wrote:

I tried my first square-edge bowl today. The blank was a 5" x5" x 2"
piece
of Honduras Mahogany. All went well as I mounted the blank on the
woodworm
screw of my Super Nova chuck and proceeded to turn the back side of the
bowl. I was sanding with a small piece of sandpaper, when my hand
slipped
and a couple of the wings cut two small, but deep gashes in my second
finger. Ouch!

A method that has been mentioned here is to hot-glue on some waste wood
around the square, so you can turn and sand full-round, then pop off the
waste wood and clean up the finished edges when you're done with the
faces.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

On Sat, 7 Jan 2006 20:42:13 -0600, "Barry N. Turner"
wrote:

I tried my first square-edge bowl today. The blank was a 5" x5" x 2" piece
of Honduras Mahogany. All went well as I mounted the blank on the woodworm
screw of my Super Nova chuck and proceeded to turn the back side of the
bowl. I was sanding with a small piece of sandpaper, when my hand slipped
and a couple of the wings cut two small, but deep gashes in my second
finger. Ouch!

After a little self-applied first-aid, I resumed turning and finished my
first square-edge bowl, a little wounded and perhaps, (hopefully) a bit
smarter. Watch those wings!

Barry

been there, done that... especially while learning to make Angel Wing bowls from
Darrell's site!

(Hurts like a sumbitch when the wing comes around and raps your knuckle, too)

I use 2 lines of defense now:

I buy the "turner's bargain box" of roll-ends from
http://www.woodworkingshop.com

It's good sandpaper cheap and has a VERY thick backing... I've found that if I
take a 10 or 12" piece and bend it almost double, it forms sort of an oval shape
that can be held at one end and let "flap" on the surface to be sanded... the
loop and backing form sort of a shock absorber and you don't get smacked OR
vibrated to death..

If I have to make contact with the moving wings, I keep a couple of chunks of 2"
foam rubber to wrap the sandpaper around and keep my fingers on the non-sanding
side of the foam...



mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 13:29:12 -0600, "Barry N. Turner"
wrote:

That sounds like a viable alternative, although I was doing okay avoiding
the corners until my hand slipped.

Barry


yep.. it's those damned "until"s that get me every time.. *g*

If you do power sand them, the H&L pads that go between the disk and the
sandpaper are really a big help.. cushion the shock and do nicely on odd shaped
stuff..



mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Barry,
I can relate, even though I haven't had that experience. I have had my
knuckles rapped a few times. One friend of mine glues blanks of
secondary woon onto the square edges (with paper inbetween) so that the
bowl will be round when finished, until you remove the blanks. As with
natural edged bowls, it is better to sand the wings without the lathe
on. Not only because of the hazard of knocks and cuts, but also because
you will round the edges over more than what looks proper.
robo hippy