Good luck with the new hobby! Sharp tools are your best friend here. I recently bought a carbide tipped chisel where i can swap out the tips (round, square, & diamond). Cut through some purple heart like buttah.
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What's On Your Workbench?
- Thread starter HaMMerHeD
- Start date
You got insurance?.....A rather ancient, slightly rusty Sears 1hp lathe landed on my workbench today. Looks like this, but way more crusty -
View attachment 3938725
I did manage to make the motor run, the tool rest slide and adjust, the tailstock slide and I chucked up a piece of wood and made it spin quite rapidly. I'm equal parts excited and terrified!
Oh yeah, a big pile of turning tools arrived with it too. Now all I gotta do is figure out how to do this.
Even if you don't build a grinder jig, there is a lot of good information here. Wood Turning Tools: Sharpening
I have a Craftsman setup with a fine wheel that turns slowly. I did the initial sharpening with that and finished up with stones. I touch up with diamond stones. It’s been ok so far but I should get a slipstone for the gouges. I mostly just try to match the angles that are already on the tool. If you don’t have any turning tools the ones with the replaceable carbide tips would be the way to go but since you have the tools diamond stones or oil stones are your friends.
Coming soon to a workbench near you (or, near me at least)...
My son and I got it into the workshop and on the stand last night and got it mostly set up. Still needs some fine tuning but man, do I appreciate all the modern features and nice little touches.
I just made this table saw sled. I've always wanted one and decided its about time. Its all mdf so it's dead-on square. Makes angle cuts and cutting small pieces so easy.
Been a busy week in the shop with ukuleles too
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I think the body’s basswood,I routered off the top 8th of an inch or so and put my gfs Panama’s on it,lol...the necks mohagany,walnut with a couple strips of maple with a maple fret board.the E strings 36” and the g is 34,...one mec pickup out of a Warwick rockbass and the other brand out of an old hagstromvbridge came of the hagstrom as well
It entonate itself?and is a blast to play,anyone know if that’s the bridge that would have came on the hagstrom?
It entonate itself?and is a blast to play,anyone know if that’s the bridge that would have came on the hagstrom?
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Nice! Looks very similar to the Laguna. Enjoy it!
It's similar for sure. I was on the fence about the laguna but I felt like I couldn't justify the price increase. The Rikon has a 13" resaw capacity, tool-less guides, and came with a nice tall fence and a resaw bar and was like $200 less (plus it comes with a blade! I doubt I'll ever actually use it, but still...)
I resawed some 8"-ish walnut just for practice - garbage boards that were warped - and it just went through it like butter. Really happy with it so far.
In other news.......
I stopped by my favorite woodworking store yesterday and picked up a wood turning apron and a face shield -
I have yet to put a gouge or skew to spinning wood, because I was waiting to get some safety gear first. I have no clue what I'm doing, but that guy in the picture clearly looks like he is having fun, so I should be fine, right?
The turning tools have been sitting in a case in storage for probably 10 years, so they are by no means "properly dressed". But I'm thinking I may stick a gouge to it today just to see what happens. I'm sure they will still cut wood, just probably not as well or clean. I know they would work better if properly sharpened, but I don't own a grinder or any way to sharpen them so I'm just gonna see what happens. This is why I wanted some safety gear first.
Mostly i just want to make round wood out of not round wood. Step one in learning to turn my own knobs here. Well, I also want to make a mallet, so there's that. Pray for me!
#FiveFingersOnThatHand #FiveFingersOnThisHand #WereGood
I stopped by my favorite woodworking store yesterday and picked up a wood turning apron and a face shield -
I have yet to put a gouge or skew to spinning wood, because I was waiting to get some safety gear first. I have no clue what I'm doing, but that guy in the picture clearly looks like he is having fun, so I should be fine, right?
The turning tools have been sitting in a case in storage for probably 10 years, so they are by no means "properly dressed". But I'm thinking I may stick a gouge to it today just to see what happens. I'm sure they will still cut wood, just probably not as well or clean. I know they would work better if properly sharpened, but I don't own a grinder or any way to sharpen them so I'm just gonna see what happens. This is why I wanted some safety gear first.
Mostly i just want to make round wood out of not round wood. Step one in learning to turn my own knobs here. Well, I also want to make a mallet, so there's that. Pray for me!
#FiveFingersOnThatHand #FiveFingersOnThisHand #WereGood
Okay, decided to dive in even though I'm fully aware that these turning tools are old and haven't seen sharpening in a decade......or maybe more. It's just wood, it'll still cut, right? So we had some old spindles that we removed from our house when we purchased this place. They screamed "70s" so we took the saw to them. But, I still had them kicking around, so I figured "what better thing to practice on" and chucked one up.....
Then, I started sticking tools to it. First with the roughing gouge, then used a parting tool to mark out some spots and then switched to a bowl gouge to start making actual shapes and finally the skew chisel to smooth things out and refine. I ended up with this for my first attempt......
I can see how properly sharpened tools will cut a lot smoother, but that's not bad for a very first effort I think. I kind of understand how this is starting to work and what tools can do what. Paying close attention to cutting angle is key. I did have one time where the gouge got away from me and had a really quick catch. So yeah, cutting angle is key. But I'm having fun with this and it'll lead me to knob turning. My next attempt will be a mallet handle out of a piece of maple my brother-in-law gave me out of Grandpa's stash.
Then, I started sticking tools to it. First with the roughing gouge, then used a parting tool to mark out some spots and then switched to a bowl gouge to start making actual shapes and finally the skew chisel to smooth things out and refine. I ended up with this for my first attempt......
I can see how properly sharpened tools will cut a lot smoother, but that's not bad for a very first effort I think. I kind of understand how this is starting to work and what tools can do what. Paying close attention to cutting angle is key. I did have one time where the gouge got away from me and had a really quick catch. So yeah, cutting angle is key. But I'm having fun with this and it'll lead me to knob turning. My next attempt will be a mallet handle out of a piece of maple my brother-in-law gave me out of Grandpa's stash.
Okay, decided to dive in even though I'm fully aware that these turning tools are old and haven't seen sharpening in a decade......or maybe more. It's just wood, it'll still cut, right? So we had some old spindles that we removed from our house when we purchased this place. They screamed "70s" so we took the saw to them. But, I still had them kicking around, so I figured "what better thing to practice on" and chucked one up.....
View attachment 3947741
Then, I started sticking tools to it. First with the roughing gouge, then used a parting tool to mark out some spots and then switched to a bowl gouge to start making actual shapes and finally the skew chisel to smooth things out and refine. I ended up with this for my first attempt......
View attachment 3947740
I can see how properly sharpened tools will cut a lot smoother, but that's not bad for a very first effort I think. I kind of understand how this is starting to work and what tools can do what. Paying close attention to cutting angle is key. I did have one time where the gouge got away from me and had a really quick catch. So yeah, cutting angle is key. But I'm having fun with this and it'll lead me to knob turning. My next attempt will be a mallet handle out of a piece of maple my brother-in-law gave me out of Grandpa's stash.
Man, that looks like fun.
My wife keeps asking me to get one because she wants to learn too... I just don't have enough room at the moment.
I’m gonna say, it really doesn’t need a big footprint. But, be ready for some crazy shaving piles to clean up.Man, that looks like fun.
I'm headed out to buy a shop vac here in a bit.
I’m gonna say, it really doesn’t need a big footprint. But, be ready for some crazy shaving piles to clean up.
View attachment 3947847
View attachment 3947848
I'm headed out to buy a shop vac here in a bit.
Yeah, I would imagine that dust/chip collection would be a challenge for sure. Personally, I would be concerned about the money-pit aspect of it... all of the turning tools plus chucks... sounds like a potential rabbit hole!
