Boy, My Tools Got Dull Quickly

Vaughn McMillan

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I was finish turning a piece of (now) dried box elder tonight, and things were going swimmingly. I was switching around between different gouges and the Ci1, and getting nice results with all of them. Then I did a bit of sanding to clean up the few remaining tool marks, but after a bit, I decided to grab a gouge and even up the curve a bit more.

I started doing a shear cut with the gouge, and it was like I was using the wrong end of the tool, No cutting whatsoever. I grabbed another gouge...same results. I even tried leaning into the tool with a bit more aggressive cut, but still got nothing. All I was doing was burnishing the wood.




















Then it dawned on me that I still had the lathe in reverse after sanding. The tools cut just fine with the wood spinning the right direction. :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:
 
Vaughan I believe your story, it happened to me, while taking my lesson with Wally Dickerman. I was drilling the hole into my HF and the drill wouldn't work. Wally hopped in and said let me try it. We looked at each other and at the same time looked at the switch. Both of us started laughing at the same time. It does happen...Bruce
 
I did something similar with a dado blade on a table saw; had the two outside cutters backwards. The amazing thing was that I managed to cut the dados, with lots of smoke and resistance. Only afterward did I discover my error.
 
You have a lot of guts to admit that in public... and no I never stood at the lathe scratching my head trying to figure out why a tool wasn't cutting. :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
You have a lot of guts to admit that in public... and no I never stood at the lathe scratching my head trying to figure out why a tool wasn't cutting. :rofl::rofl::rofl:
Nah, I figured it was worth bragging about. It was, after all, the final play in my shop blunder hat trick. I've reversed the blades on both my table saw and bandsaw, so the backwards lathe just "rounded" out me record. :p
 
You have a lot of guts to admit that in public... and no I never stood at the lathe scratching my head trying to figure out why a tool wasn't cutting. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Nor could I write down what was said when I found out the lathe was in reverse. Tablesaw... I've even had a bandsaw blade in upside down.
 
Be careful Vaughn.

Despite the fact that lathe tools are harder and usually made of HSS, if you sand a piece and then go back to apply cutting tools on it, they may get dull pretty easily due to the silica particles that get embeded on the wood with the sanding process.

So it is better to avoid doing it.

The fact of having the lathe in reverse is just an error, with no more consecuences and has nothing to do with my previous comment.:)
 
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