A fair exchange

[bobh]

2 weeks ago I stopped in to see a local woodturner and happened to have a few 3" elm boards in the back of the truck that I had just milled.

Mr Woodturner got really excited when he saw these and after a little negotiation I unloaded the planks and loaded up an old Coronet Major lathe plus together with lots of accessories and some basic chisels.

Anyway over the last couple of weekends I've been playing with my new toys and am quite happy with the progress so far.

Lots of areas to improve, particularly my sharpening and my finishing.

Any tips or comment welcome, I need as much help as possible!

 

4 items made so far (plus a mallet for my O/H)

2 large bowls, one tea light holder and and small bowl that the side dropped off whilst I was turning it which ended up my favourite.

[Chippy]

You got a nice lathe in the coronet

 

you say you only have the basic chisels, try get hold of a few good quality ones there a lots going on ebay, depending on your budget, Marples, Record Power are cheap but acceptable, bigger budget tools are Hamlet and Robert Sorby.

Also I would get a cheap wetstone grinder as these give a far better grind.

 

Nice work by the way

[delabodge]

very good for a newbie,,,,:thumbup1:if the timbers green,,,part turn it ,to get rid of the bulk then remound to sand,(after a couple of weeks, making sure you dont dry it too quickly)not jumping more than 60grit between the grits,,ie, 120/180/240/320/400,,,,,,if you jump more than this it will leave the marks from the previous grit,

by the look of your first turnings,, your a natural, once you`ve learnt the basics, design,style,shape etc will come ,and you`ll become your own critic,,,,its very addictive,,

[geoff]

Great deal you got there,& nice work too.

[bobh]

Thanks for the tips guys.

Chippy - bought 2 record chisels off ebay this weekend, a good saving on new prices but still stretching the (non-existent) budget.

Delabodge - Thanks for the tip about the green wood, managing to get a few bits of seasoned together at the moment in fact the bottom 2 pieces came off the log pile.

[slackbladder]

if you join a local woodturners club lots of the members will help out and you often find tools really cheap

[bobh]

Just pick up a bandsaw to go along side the lathe, it's a butcher's saw but has been used for woodworking so hopefully it should be OK. Cost me nowt so I can't loose anything on it.

Picture below taken from the internet, I pick mine up at the weekend.

P.S. Also got the long term loan of a Kity 636 planer thicknesser from the same person

[muttley9050]

You should be able to butcher your blanks nicely with that, 636 is a nice tool to use. Good luck and have fun.

 

 

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[bobh]

Time for an update on this. 10 months since I got the lathe I've done a fair bit of turning, in between work and moving house twice.

Up until recently I really struggled to get a good finish from the tools and was trying (fairly unsuccessfully) to sand out my mistakes. Suddenly in the last week or 3 something has clicked and I'm getting on far better, think it's probably a combination of better tool presentation and better sharpening (something I've been concentrating on)

Here's 4 of my most recent pieces, please feel free to give your opinions, I need to get some feedback.

 

 

Small pot, base sycamore, top oak.

 

 

Small pot not sure of wood, probably sycamore

 

 

My first hollowing, tulip wood, made up a small scraper out of an old chisel to get under the lip.

 

 

Yew

 

Also a chunky salad bowl that I did earlier in the summer, just cos I loved the spalting

 

[se7enthdevil]

2nd pic down is ash...

 

 

 

looks like youre making good progress there, tips have been requested on many an occasion and i maintain the best thing to so is get in the shed and start turning...

 

plenty of advice on this thread.

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/woodcraft-forum/62016-recommended-lathe-books.html