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.



I'm never lost, someone is always telling me where to go...

Hi Andy,

We're always ready to give a newbie more advice than he can possibly
use. Welcome to the sport of wood turning.

Speed--the faster the wood turns, the smoother the cut. Run the lathe
as fast as feels comfortable. If you feel uncomfortable, slow it
down. For pens, you should be able to run it pretty fast. I do chisel
handles at about 1500 rpm. You will find that each piece of wood
seems to want its own speed.

Shavings. They should squirt off the chisel like Silly String. If
they aren't, your chisel is probably dull. It may FEEL sharp to you,
but how the shavings come off is the real indicator of sharpness.

My indicator of technique is noise. Actually the absences thereof.
If all I hear is the "whish" of wood passing by the chisel, all is
well. If I get squeal, chatter or growling, there's a problem.

Cut lots of trial blocks, and when you are done, you will KNOW what is
good technique or bad.

Old Guy




On Jan 1, 7:33*am, Andy K. mcse666@gmail_com wrote:
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. * *

I'm never lost, someone is always telling me where to go...

"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!

In article ,
Andy K. mcse666@gmail_com wrote:

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.



I'm never lost, someone is always telling me where to go...

Buy this book
http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/st...__Turning_Pens
_and_Pencils_Book___rb_tpapb?Args= they have forgotten more about pen
turning then most of us know

--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv

On Jan 1, 5:33 am, Andy K. mcse666@gmail_com wrote:
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.

I'm never lost, someone is always telling me where to go...

Happy New Year to you and all of the rest of the people who visit this
newsgroup.

When I started turning some 20 years ago, I had a pile of maple and
alder firewood that I started turning into cylinders. When the piece
was round, I made beads the length of the piece. I then made coves on
the top of each bead. I then made the wood round again. I repeated
this process until the wood was wasted. Finally, when the beads were
mostly good and the coves were pretty good, I tried turning something,
like a tool handle. I made handles for all of my files and rasps. Then
I tackled lamps for all of the ladies in my family (a total of six
sets of table lamps).

The smaller the diameter of the spindle, the higher the speed can be.
Pens turn best at about 2500 to 3000 rpm. For this I recommend a good
sharp skew chisel. However, the harder the wood becomes, the better it
responds to a scraper. African Blackwood (about the hardest wood in
the world) for example works best with a scraper. But a scraper will
tear the surface of softer hardwoods.

As others have said, the shavings tell the story. If your tool isn't
sharp, you'll likely get dust. If the tool is sharp and applied to the
wood properly, you will get shavings and the shavings will become
longer as the wood become round.

Finally, I recommend turning spinning tops as a good project to gain
tool control. You can turn them from a solid block. It is best if the
piece of wood is mounted on a faceplate or in a chuck. Turn the wood
round, then cut a taper to make the point that touches the floor when
it is spinning. Then turn the top part of the spinner, and finally the
stem of about 1/8" in diameter. I've turned several thousand of these
over the years and is one of the first projects that I recommend for a
beginner.

Welcome to the world of woodturning.

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com

On Tue, 01 Jan 2008 08:33:46 -0500, Andy K. mcse666@gmail_com wrote:

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.



I'm never lost, someone is always telling me where to go...

PLAY!!!

Put a chunk of scrap on with the intention of turning it into shavings... no
finished project in mind, no stress, just play with the tools..

Enjoy the sound and feel of the tool/wood interaction... try things that you
might not if it was a $40 bowl blank or a olive candlestick...

Read your shavings, practice sharpening your chisels... make a mess and learn to
be "alertly relaxed".. I don't think you can really turn well if you're too
tight, you relax and get into the zone..

OH.. and spend a few minutes trying to get the big-ass grin off your face before
going back into the house..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Hi Andy,

Here's a site with a nice chart. Hope it helps.
http://turnedwood.com/LatheRPM.htm

Dan


"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.



I'm never lost, someone is always telling me where to go...

andy - a basic pen starts with a 3/4 inch square piece of wood - I'd turn
at 2,000 to 3,000 RPM, it is actually easier to turn fast than slow. take
light cuts. use a spindle gouge (3/8 inch is the size I use for pens) - do
NOT make fancy pens at first - make the simple ones that are a knock off of
the CROSS pen, and try to get the shape perfect - no ripples, bulges, etc -
then make the one that is a copy of the Mont Blanc (they call it "euro" I
think) - when you have those to shapes down right, you can decide what you
want to do next. I haven't made pens in a while, when I did, I would put a
small (about 1/10th inch) bulge near the tip to make them easier to hold -
pens with lots of coves and beads are tiresome to look at and not
comfortable for writing either (my opinion, others may differ). Also, stick
with woods that have high contrast grain close together - zebra, cocobolo,
etc - things like walnut and maple don't look good in pens. Bamboo is
interesting, baltic birch plywood is interesting, but I found that teak,
zebra wood, canary wood, and that kind of stuff sold the best (and as gifts,
when given a choice, those were choosen first). Also, eschew pencils - no
one seems to want them.


"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.



I'm never lost, someone is always telling me where to go...






--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

One thing I always keep repeating to my students is "keep your bevel
rubbing". Which means always start a cut with the bevel, that's the
ground surface on the back of the tool that leads up to the sharp edge,
keep it rubbing against the wood. So that the cutting edge of the tool is
always supported by the bevel whenever it is cutting. This will help your
control of the tool, it will help cut down skewbacks, it should help get
rid of those annoying ridges and give you a smoother finish. Good Luck.
Hotfoot

"William Noble" wrote in message
.. .
: andy - a basic pen starts with a 3/4 inch square piece of wood - I'd turn
: at 2,000 to 3,000 RPM, it is actually easier to turn fast than slow. take
: light cuts. use a spindle gouge (3/8 inch is the size I use for pens) -
do
: NOT make fancy pens at first - make the simple ones that are a knock off
of
: the CROSS pen, and try to get the shape perfect - no ripples, bulges,
etc -
: then make the one that is a copy of the Mont Blanc (they call it "euro" I
: think) - when you have those to shapes down right, you can decide what you
: want to do next. I haven't made pens in a while, when I did, I would put
a
: small (about 1/10th inch) bulge near the tip to make them easier to hold -
: pens with lots of coves and beads are tiresome to look at and not
: comfortable for writing either (my opinion, others may differ). Also,
stick
: with woods that have high contrast grain close together - zebra, cocobolo,
: etc - things like walnut and maple don't look good in pens. Bamboo is
: interesting, baltic birch plywood is interesting, but I found that teak,
: zebra wood, canary wood, and that kind of stuff sold the best (and as
gifts,
: when given a choice, those were choosen first). Also, eschew pencils -
no
: one seems to want them.
:
:
: "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.
:
:
:
: I'm never lost, someone is always telling me where to go...
:
:
:
:
:
:
: --
: Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
: