Replies

1. 
   alan23 | Jul 06, 2008 10:05pm | #1

   you can try using a steady rest to keep the piece from whipping or turn it in two sections and use a round tenon to piece it together. 

2. 
   thumbnailed | Jul 06, 2008 11:08pm | #2

   As the first person said, you need a steady rest to break the span of your turning. I can't think of any material stiff enough not to move away from your chisel (chatter) when that thin and long. One of the few ways to avoid it is to turn with one hand around the work, holding the chisel tip with your fingers, using the tool rest as usual . As you turn, your hand fills up with the shavings, and your light-to-medium grip on the wood dampens the motion and acts like a steady rest. As long as you don't have huge pressure on your tailstock, the worst failure you can have is the turning coming loose in your hand. The best part, especially if you're doing a taper or constant cylinder, is you can "feel" when it's correct without a lot of measuring. Depending on how agressive your cut, you have to dump the shavings out of the back of your hand more or less often. Start trying this with a light cut till you get the hang of it. Have fun.  

1. 
   seajai | Jul 07, 2008 06:17am | #3

   thumb,

   thanks for the advice, I tried  holding onto the piece while turning, and it dampened the vibration enough so I could get a decent finish.

1. 
   thumbnailed | Jul 07, 2008 11:09pm | #11

   Glad it worked for you. I actually prefer to do most long turnings this way, after you get familliar with it, you get all kinds of different feedback through your hand, including lathe speed, chisel sharpness, and integrity of the piece. You also get a very satisfying sound telegraphed through your hand not unlike the shussing of a sharp plane on wood. Again, have fun.

3. 
   TaunTonMacoute | Jul 07, 2008 02:16pm | #4

   Put a leather glove on your off-hand and it will stand in well until you either build or buy a steady rest.

1. 
   dgreen | Jul 07, 2008 02:36pm | #5

   And when the glove gets caught in the workpiece you can have a 2 wheeled steady rest made to fit your stump.Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke

1. 
   TaunTonMacoute | Jul 07, 2008 02:39pm | #6

   A glove,  not a clown's mitten.

   Edited 7/7/2008 7:41 am ET by TaunTonMacoute

1. 
   Napie | Jul 07, 2008 06:17pm | #7

   I use a fingerless leather glove all the time to steady long turnings, it works great.

1. 
   TaunTonMacoute | Jul 07, 2008 06:18pm | #8

   Amen, brutha.

2. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Jul 07, 2008 06:32pm | #9

   Kapow, kazing!

   OK, what did you edit out/in?

   :-)

   Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres

   A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!

1. 
   dgreen | Jul 07, 2008 10:58pm | #10

   Probably just editing out errors caused by typing with missing digits or maybe his prosthesis is'nt fitting well.

   If you read the manual that came with the lathe or the relevant OSHA regs you will find that gloves are prohibited.

   While Napies fingerless gloves may be safer, the advice originally given was gloves. Bad advice for a novice turner.Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke

2. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Jul 07, 2008 11:12pm | #12

   Don,

   I wouldn't even consider myself a novice turner but gloves and lathes just don't seem to mix well with me. 

   Perhaps more experience might obviate that but I have this nagging vision of them getting caught on the workpiece and, well I'd just as soon leave it at that..............

   Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres

   A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!

3. 
   dgreen | Jul 08, 2008 12:35am | #13

   For you married turners out there remember to take off your ring too.

   A 24-year-old right-handed male carpenter, presented with avulsion amputation of the right fourth digit at the level of P1 resulting from an occupational accident. While fabricating a wooden piece, his wedding ring was caught by the wood-turning lathe. This led to an amputation at the level of the proximal phalanx with a section of the extensor and flexor tendons. The amputated digit was crushed [Figure - 3]. The case was defined as third stage according to Urbaniak classification. The patient was admitted to the hospital two hours after the accident where the stump was surgically treated. Considering the state of the amputated part and the fact that the patient was a manual worker, we decided against replantation.

    Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke

4. 
   Buster2000 | Jul 08, 2008 01:21am | #14

   For you married turners out there remember to take off your ring too.

   Agreed.  I almost always take my ring off when I get home (my wife knows we're married... she never lets me forget it...).  It's habit for me to take it off when I come home and put it on when I go out...

   When I was a kid a friends father was working in the garage on the door.  Something came loose and whacked him in the hand causing a pretty bad cut, and of course crushing the ring on his finger.  The ring cut deeply (worse than the cut from the hit), it had to be cut off.  His finger healed well enough but the ring was destroyed.  Of course he still hasn't lived down destroying his wedding ring.

5. 
   flairwoodworks | Jul 09, 2008 08:46am | #15

   Bob,

   I often wear a glove over my left hand when hollowing out bowls.  My left hand guides the tool and sits on the toolrest right next to where the wood is being cut.  I find that the shavings can get awfully hot - the gloves protect my hands from the heat.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com

    - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

6. 
   thumbnailed | Jul 09, 2008 11:51pm | #16

   As has been said, there's a hazzard in having any cloth or other material in contact with spinning wood. If it hooks onto any irregularity in the surface, you'll be surprised (litteraly) how quickly you will wish you hadn't. I'm half a thumb short, and have picked fingers off the shop floor (admittedly not lathe-related) , and I can't stress enough how fast these things happen and how little you can do about it. There are countless shop practices that you can get away with most of the time, then, BAM !, time for a new carreer. All of you take care !