I'm green and yellow with envy.

Paul Downes

Member
Messages
959
Location
Westphalia, Michigan
I spent the evening turning some walnut bowls. I got this chunk from a guy whom I cut up large log butts for. He heats his moulding factory with the butts from large logs. Anyway I was turning these butts into 'cookies' so he could fit them in his furnace and spotted this walnut piece that was where 2 limbs grew together. the area between the limbs was all crazy grained. I scribed out a 13" x 11" deep blank that included half of each limb and the cool grain in between. I got 2 small blanks from the off-cuts. (6" dia.)They turned easy and went into the alcohol soak. I then chucked up the big piece and with great trepidation fired up the lathe. I have a grizzly 1067Z and it was almost all that lathe can handle. I first had to make a new extension for my tool rest because the cheap casted rest that came with the lathe broke off some time ago. I did manage to true up the bowl and got it ready to chuck up.
This big bowl is being turned end grain and every time I would start a pass the variable speed lever would advance by itself. I kept reaching over to attempt to slow tha bugger down before launch. I finaly tied the lever down , but not before the chuck came loose from the adaptor nut. I find that it will be a long slow process to get the thing hollowed out. All the while I was having visions of the mustard machine I once ran......someday......someday
 
Wow, 13" x 11" is big on pretty much any lathe. Sounds like a piece worth fighting for, though. ;)

(And the Mustard machine is worth the wait.)
 
Minimum speed on your lathe is 600 rpm, a real whizzer for a large hunk. If you just put some WD-40 on the stop pin on the speed control lever, it might solved the problem. They do stick. Do be cautious with a big, out of balance, hunk going that fast. Wear face protection.
 
Body armour and a face shield. Just kidding on the body armour. I have seen firsthand the result of not wearing a face shield. A co-worker of mine was grinding overhead in a die with a wheel too big for the rpm of the grinder. It blew up and smashed his face; broken nose, cheekbone, eyesocket and bad lacerations. I don't need another object lesson. I'll try the wd-40 on the lever.

This is my first time turning end grain. I know a local master turner who exclusively (most of the time) turns end grain and I'm going to go pay him a visit. He has developed specialized tools for doing his thing. He is a retired toolmaker. I've also been eyeballing that Ci1 tool, and trying to decide if I will make something similar or buy one. I also have a bunch of tool bits and bars, etc. that I picked up a few years ago with the same idea in mind. I used to use a lot of insert toolng at work.

One such tool I want to make utilizes a 3' bar, 1-1/4 wide x 1/2 thick. It is tapered at the nose and has a 't' slot milled in it to take 1/8" thick x 1/2 wide cobalt enhanced tool steel bits. Basicly a scraper on steroids. The heavy mass of the handle goes a long way toward dampening the shock of turning. I just have to get my carcass over to a friend who has a mill to cut the 't' slot.
 
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