Hello all,

I'm sure this is a question that has been hashed to death in previous
times, but I can't for the life of me find any information on it. I'd
really like to try my hand at turning some spirals, but I don't have
the cash to get one of those spiffy Sorby spiralling and texturing
tools. I do have a router, so my best option may be building a
carriage with a cable hooked to the spindle to turn the work as the
router advances, but it just seems like there should be some way to do
this with a regular turning tool- after all, there are plenty of old
spindles with spirals on them, and I doubt they were *all* carved by
hand. Does anyone know a technique for turning these freehand with a
turning chisel, and if so, is there a description of the process
somewhere on the internet? Might this involve making an initial
groove with a v-shaped chisel by rotating the headstock by hand and
then following the groove with the lathe on it's slowest speed, or is
that just asking for all sorts of nasty things to happen?

Thanks for your suggestions!

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

"Prometheus" wrote: (clip) Does anyone know a technique for turning these
freehand with a turning chisel, and if so, is there a description of the
process somewhere on the internet? (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There are videos that teach this. A good one is by the talented British
spindle turner, William White (I'm pretty sure that's his name.) Basically,
it is not really a turning proces--it is done with the lathe stopped. You
lay out a series of equally spaced circles in pencil, and a group of equally
spaced axial lines. At this stage you have constructed "graph paper" around
your wood. Then draw diagonals in the squares, and you wind up with a
spiral running like a barber pole along the wood. Then you HAND CARVE the
unwanted wood away, to leave a spiral.

By changing the spacing and the way you draw the diagonals, or the number of
diagonals, you can create a multitude of patterns.

Prometheus wrote:

spiffy Sorby spiralling and texturing
tools.

Too bad I'd sell ou mine! Consider yourself lucky this time.

Saw a magzine article (turning mag) about this very thing.

In article ,
Prometheus wrote:

Hello all,

I'm sure this is a question that has been hashed to death in previous
times, but I can't for the life of me find any information on it. I'd
really like to try my hand at turning some spirals, but I don't have
the cash to get one of those spiffy Sorby spiralling and texturing
tools. I do have a router, so my best option may be building a
carriage with a cable hooked to the spindle to turn the work as the
router advances, but it just seems like there should be some way to do
this with a regular turning tool- after all, there are plenty of old
spindles with spirals on them, and I doubt they were *all* carved by
hand.

Other than a few that might have been done on an ornamental lathe, your
doubt is misplaced. Large spirals may be done between centers, even on a
lathe as a convenient source of centers, but they are basically a
hand-work process unless you have an ornamental lathe, or the equivalent
(such as the router-spiral arrangement).

Does anyone know a technique for turning these freehand with a
turning chisel, and if so, is there a description of the process
somewhere on the internet? Might this involve making an initial
groove with a v-shaped chisel by rotating the headstock by hand and
then following the groove with the lathe on it's slowest speed, or is
that just asking for all sorts of nasty things to happen?

The best way to answer your question is to try (or simulate with a
pencil instead of a chisel) what you've just suggested, and see why it
is impractical. Discussing it is not nearly so educational as trying it.

--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by

On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 22:13:29 -0600, Prometheus
wrote:

I'd really like to try my hand at turning some spirals,

Usually a really good catch with the tip of my skew gives me a
gorgeous spiral, often down the entire length of my spindle!


--
Chuck *#:^)
chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply.


September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 19:50:47 GMT, (Chuck)
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 22:13:29 -0600, Prometheus
wrote:

I'd really like to try my hand at turning some spirals,

Usually a really good catch with the tip of my skew gives me a
gorgeous spiral, often down the entire length of my spindle!

I've had a few of those too, but they sure weren't gorgeous! So I
guess it's time for me to start designing a little router carriage to
make once the weather warms up and my full shop opens up again (right
now it's limited to quickly cutting out blanks on the table saw while
shivering violently! The lathe is in my entryway, so it has quickly
become the winter woodworking tool of choice...)
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Prometheus wrote in
:

Hello all,

I'm sure this is a question that has been hashed to death in previous
times, but I can't for the life of me find any information on it. I'd
really like to try my hand at turning some spirals, but I don't have
the cash to get one of those spiffy Sorby spiralling and texturing
tools. I do have a router, so my best option may be building a
carriage with a cable hooked to the spindle to turn the work as the
router advances, but it just seems like there should be some way to do
this with a regular turning tool- after all, there are plenty of old
spindles with spirals on them, and I doubt they were *all* carved by
hand. Does anyone know a technique for turning these freehand with a
turning chisel, and if so, is there a description of the process
somewhere on the internet? Might this involve making an initial
groove with a v-shaped chisel by rotating the headstock by hand and
then following the groove with the lathe on it's slowest speed, or is
that just asking for all sorts of nasty things to happen?

Thanks for your suggestions!

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Find a copy of 'Techniques of Spiral Work' by Stuart Mortimer. Mr. Mortimer
covers it very well. I saw this technique demonstrated by Paul Petrie (a
very talented turner) at this years woodturning symposium in Albany NY.
Regards,
Hank

The Article On Spiral cutting is in the Winter 2004 issue of Woodturning
Design

Steven Raphael
Ithaca MI
http://www.geocities.com/steven_raph...turnings1.html

I managed to spiral a pen blank...not planned at the time...I envy your
"cool" shop. My shop is only cool for about 3 months. It faces the west
and so gets afternoon sun all summer so from about April to late October it
is too hot to work in my shop unless it is early morning. It can get to 120
degrees F.
"Prometheus" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 19:50:47 GMT, (Chuck)
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 22:13:29 -0600, Prometheus
wrote:

I'd really like to try my hand at turning some spirals,

Usually a really good catch with the tip of my skew gives me a
gorgeous spiral, often down the entire length of my spindle!

I've had a few of those too, but they sure weren't gorgeous! So I
guess it's time for me to start designing a little router carriage to
make once the weather warms up and my full shop opens up again (right
now it's limited to quickly cutting out blanks on the table saw while
shivering violently! The lathe is in my entryway, so it has quickly
become the winter woodworking tool of choice...)
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 16:12:15 -0800, "Jeff S"
wrote:

I managed to spiral a pen blank...not planned at the time...I envy your
"cool" shop. My shop is only cool for about 3 months. It faces the west
and so gets afternoon sun all summer so from about April to late October it
is too hot to work in my shop unless it is early morning. It can get to 120
degrees F.

Oh, no- that's the wrong reason to envy my shop. I've got a bit of
space, but it gets as low as -20 in the winter and as hot as 100 or
110 at the height of summer. Nasty stuff, weather. Luckily, it's not
going to be an issue anymore- I'm closing on my first house next
Wednesday, and it's got a nice big basement (about 25' x 30' with 8'
ceilings) with an entrance directly into the garage (no stairs). Shop
is going in the basement, and air compressor and dust collector are
going into the garage, with ducts and air lines coming in. The wife
gets the rest of the place because I've claimed the basement and
garage, but that seems like a small price to pay for a nice shop!

"Prometheus" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 19:50:47 GMT, (Chuck)
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 22:13:29 -0600, Prometheus
wrote:

I'd really like to try my hand at turning some spirals,

Usually a really good catch with the tip of my skew gives me a
gorgeous spiral, often down the entire length of my spindle!

I've had a few of those too, but they sure weren't gorgeous! So I
guess it's time for me to start designing a little router carriage to
make once the weather warms up and my full shop opens up again (right
now it's limited to quickly cutting out blanks on the table saw while
shivering violently! The lathe is in my entryway, so it has quickly
become the winter woodworking tool of choice...)
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam


Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

have been wanting to try doing spirals myself...found out that the sorby
spiral system
is out of reach for my wallet and the other system is about twice as much.
so i gave up on
buying the right tools. considered making one of the sorby style with an
old motorcycle
sprocket, a handle and a grinder and may try it yet.

started 5 pen blanks in spiral patterns made with different colors of wood
and they look cool,
but discoved that unless you are making cylindrical pens, the color patterns
disappear when
too much wood is turned off and parabolic patterns show up just before they
disappear...still
interesting to look at...will next try the same thing using triangular
sections of wood instead of
rectangular sections...making the cross section radial will keep the colors
present, though the
shapes will be harder to make.

after trying the above and discovering the problem with disappearing colors;
i decided to try
to carve a spiral in the spiral colored wood cylinder. using a piece of
masking tape, i laid it
on the cylinder in a spiral pattern and drew a line along the spiral which
co-incided with the
spiral pattern of wood colors. then i measured and marked off the ends of
the cylinder in 1/16"
and divided the total by four to produce four parallel spirals. then i used
tape to mark the other
three spirals equal distantly around the cylinder. i used an exacto backsaw
(normally an almost
useless tool except for model making) to saw along the lines on both sides
in a V cut. I smoothed
up the V cuts with a triangular rasp. now i have a spiral cylinder with
spiral colored woods and
it looks pretty interesting...don't have a clue what i'm going to do with it
yet...it's too big as it is
to make a pen with and i can't turn it down and keep the colors. i plan on
trying this technique
out on a pen once i make a blank using triangular sectioned colored woods.

so far my cost in the above experiment was an exacto backsaw and riffler
rasp...cheap in comparison
to the sorby and other more expensive tools!
rich