Using a Wood Lathe
**************
WARNING **************
Improper use of ANY tool,
especially power tools such as a lathe, will almost
certainly lead to injury.
PLEASE!!!!
Never use any tool you are not properly
trained on and read my page on safety.
Also, learn to be safe in the workshop for you own sake.
When I first started learning
how to turn wood, a good friend took me into his
shop and statred teaching me all about turning
metal on a metal lathe. Little did I know he had
already purchased the old wood lathe he would be
giving me for Christmas.
The first task he assigned, once I had my lathe,
was to read an old Wood Turning course book.
I will passing on lessons I learned from that
book an a long series of min-articles right here.
Wood turning is used in various forms in making
furniture and furniture parts, building trim,
tool parts, toys, athletic paraphernalia and many
other useful and beautiful articles in common
use. When properly learned, it is one of the most
valued skills as it embodies both the play and
work elements.
Excellent tool technique is developed in wood
turning as the success of the operator depends on
the exactness of every movement and any slight
variation will spoil a piece of work. When your
tool makes a "run”, you must determine
the reason and figure out why a certain result is
obtained when the chisel is held in a given
position. Certain cuts must be fully mastered,
and it takes a good deal of experience and
absolute confidence in one's self in manipulating
the tools before it is possible to attempt
skilful work. If scraping is allowed the
educational value of the work is lost.
In wood turning, a vast field for design and
modeling is opened and art and architecture can
be correlated. You see for yourself the need of
variety in curves and must use your judgment in
determining curves that are so harmonious and
pleasing that they will blend together. If
properly learned, the beauty in the orders of
architecture can be brought out in the making of
the bead, fillet, scotia, cove, etc.
Proper wood turning awakens the aesthetic sense
and creates a desire for the beautiful. The
person who has learned to make graceful curves
and clean-cut fillets and beads will never be
satisfied with clumsy effects which are
characteristic in cheap commercial work, made
only to sell.
Success in turning depends on the following:
1. Care of lathe, tools, selection of materials.
2. Study of the scientific elements of: a.
Revolving bodies. b. Points of tangency. c. Study
of results by reasoning and observing.
3. Development of technique and exactness.
4. Correlation of mental and motor activities. |
|
