Advice for new turners

[Alan Weinberg]

Advice I wish I got early on but finally learned:
1. learn to sharpen and do it often
2. find a mentor and learn
3. learn the line of fire and stay out of it.
4. be sure you need a tool before you buy it.
5. Join a local club and attend meetings
6. Read, watch videos, but mostly turn.
7. learn safety rules and follow them—respiratory and face protection.
8. Research and ideally test drive lathes before a purchase.
9. Take classes from experienced turners.
10. Don’t turn when you are tired.
11. Join and support AAW.

Add to the list.

 

[hughie]

sage advice

 

[Darryl Fective]

Listen for chainsaws. (they're often a source of free wood)
Check mounting of work (and other parts of the lathe) is/are tight/secure
Listen for changes in sound or unusual noises.
Use sound wood and stop and inspect regularly
Keep the speed down until you really know what you're doing

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

Advice I wish I got early on but finally learned:
1. learn to sharpen and do it often
2. find a mentor and learn
3. learn the line of fire and stay out of it.
4. be sure you need a tool before you buy it.
5. Join a local club and attend meetings
6. Read, watch videos, but mostly turn.
7. learn safety rules and follow them—respiratory and face protection.
8. Research and ideally test drive lathes before a purchase.
9. Take classes from experienced turners.
10. Don’t turn when you are tired.
11. Join and support AAW.

Add to the list.

Don't be afraid to mess up, it is the one of the best ways to learn.

 

[Bob Vaughan]

Dick Burrows gave the following advice.
Cut down a poplar tree
Turn everything you can
Burn it all
Now start turning.

 

[John K Jordan]

Dick Burrows gave the following advice.
Cut down a poplar tree
Turn everything you can
Burn it all
Now start turning.

If you mean True Poplar, then I have no experience or comment.

However, If you mean Tulip Poplar (Yellow Poplar) it can be great although the wood doesn’t usually have much character - often has green, purple, brown, and cream colors. I have some struck by lightning with deep color, sometimes called “Rainbow Poplar”.

I like to turn Y. Poplar since it’s quite stable and easily dried in larger sizes without cracking. Cuts cleanly,

This is a Beads of Courage box I made from a large blank I cut and dried. It has a music box in the (thick) lid.
(If anyone doesn’t know, BOC boxes are for sick children, mostly cancer patients, to hold their special beads.)
The form is a little “clunky” but the goal was not to win any awards but to meet the BOC volume requirements.



I also make boards on the sawmill for siding for horse shelters, etc.

JKJ

 

[hockenbery]

As you make different objects make five or more before moving on to the next .

Spin tops, boxes, pepper mills, gavels, spheres, eggs, pens, tool handles, goblets, ornaments are all great fun to turn and build skills.
you build stronger skills when you make multiples of each object instead of one of each.

I encourage new turners to focus on surface from the tool. If you get that right the quality of the form will follow.

 

[John K Jordan]

Advice I wish I got early on but finally learned:
1. learn to sharpen and do it often
2. find a mentor and learn
3. learn the line of fire and stay out of it.
4. be sure you need a tool before you buy it.
5. Join a local club and attend meetings
6. Read, watch videos, but mostly turn.
7. learn safety rules and follow them—respiratory and face protection.
8. Research and ideally test drive lathes before a purchase.
9. Take classes from experienced turners.
10. Don’t turn when you are tired.
11. Join and support AAW.

Add to the list.

Good list. Some I might add:

• Don’t collect more green wood than you can turn in a short time. Unless you have a good use for firewood.
• Be selective in acquiring turning wood. The late, great “other” John Jordan, the famous one, was known to say “life’s too short to turn crappy wood.”
• Even if you hear the swan call to turn big bowls and hollow forms, learn spindle turning 1st. Numerous experts say spindle turning will teach the fine tool control that will let you turn anything. Make friends with the skew. I have references.
• Even if you really love turning one type of thing, step outside the zone occasionally and turn something completely different.
• Plan form and sketch out designs. I don’t let the wood “speak” to me - when wood speaks to me it usually says “why’d ya do that!”
• Skip power sanding and learn better ways to smooth wood after turning. Various scrapers, especially hand scrapers, are game-changers.
• There is sharp and there is sharp. I go for razor sharp, shaving sharp.
• Along with “sharp” tools, wait if needed to buy tools made from good steel.
• Can’t have too many chucks.
• Besides not turning when tired, don’t use the chain saw or bandsaw.
• Be extra careful when not working alone - distractions can cause disasters.
• Take the advice of random YouTube videos with caution - some are good, some bad, some horrible. Some downright dangerous. (Hint: AAW has a list of videos vetted for value and safety.
• I second the advice to read. Read, read, read. The info in one good book would take dozens of videos. Hard to put sticky notes or underline passages in a video.
• I strongly second the advice to find a mentor. Or several, since each has strengths. Many clubs can connect you with mentors. (More than one mentor is great since each has different skills and methods of teaching.) When I started turning it was in isolation - I knew nothing of clubs or other woodturners! I taught myself, mostly from two books.
• After gaining experience, volunteer to become a mentor. Teaching requires a bit of planning and organization, and is a wonderful way to improve your own skills. There is joy in sharing what you have learned.
• If you have the luxury of building a new shop from scratch, make it twice as large as you think you will ever need. You will still probably run out of room.
• If building a shop, install heat and air if appropriate for your climate AND a good dust collection system. The two best things I ever did.
• Take every opportunity to introduce people, especially young people, to the wood lathe. You never know what spark you may ignite. At minimum, the person will get an understanding of the process.
• Turn, turn, turn, but don’t keep everything. Spread the joy.
• If a spouse/partner isn’t particularly enthusiastic about turning, make things for them or things they can give to friends.

I’m doing the last one now - my Lovely Bride asked me to make things for two friends. So far I’ve made a half dozen variations so she can choose.

JKJ

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

If you mean True Poplar, then I have no experience or comment.

However, If you mean Tulip Poplar (Yellow Poplar) it can be great although the wood doesn’t usually have much character - often has green, purple, brown, and cream colors. I have some struck by lightning with deep color, sometimes called “Rainbow Poplar”.

For whatever it's worth, the Tulip tree is actually a magnolia.

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

• Even if you hear the swan call to turn big bowls and hollow forms, learn spindle turning 1st. Numerous experts say spindle turning will teach the fine tool control that will let you turn anything. Make friends with the skew. I have references.

This something I did not do. I don't regret it, but I still need to do this.

John, the weekend before last I went to Bristol for the NASCAR race. As I went through Knoxville, I realized if I had planned my route beforehand, I would have allotted some time to stop by your place. Next time!

 

[Ric Taylor]

If you are using a variable-speed lathe, do not use the start-stop button to start and stop the lathe. Turn the speed control down to zero each time to stop the lathe.

The start-stop button is only to start the lathe at the beginning of the day, and to shut it down at the end of the day.

This habit could save your life, and I emphasize this to all new turners I work with.

 

[R Henrickson]

Good list. Some I might add:

• Even if you hear the swan call to turn big bowls and hollow forms, learn spindle turning 1st. Numerous experts say spindle turning will teach the fine tool control that will let you turn anything. Make friends with the skew. I have references.
• Even if you really love turning one type of thing, step outside the zone occasionally and turn something completely different.
• Plan form and sketch out designs. I don’t let the wood “speak” to me - when wood speaks to me it usually says “why’d ya do that!”
• I second the advice to read. Read, read, read. The info in one good book would take dozens of videos. Hard to put sticky notes or underline passages in a video.

I started with bowls and hollow forms. Then I spent most of the covid shutdown doing a wide variety of spindle turning. I used more than 200 BF turning 1x1 spindles. Since then I have fund that my tool skills are well beyond where they had been. The improvement was evident everywhere -- whether platters, bowls, multiaxis. or Windsor chairs.

Definitely try new things. There is more to turning than bowls, hollow forms, pens etc. Seeing Derek Weidman demonstrate, then taking classes with him was a mind altering experience. I haven't turned an animal head outside of his classes, but his fundamental approaches to multiaxis work underpin much of what I do now. One of the things I enjoy most in turning is coming up with an idea and figuring out how to execute it. This means that in club show-and-tells, people can usually pick my work out from a fair distance. There also seems to be an assumption that if it is 'different' that I probably made it. I also enjoy building Windsor chairs not just the turning but also the extensive work with drawknife and spokeshave.

I sketch out some turning design ideas with dimensions when they are critical, but once I start turning the project, I observe the critical dimensions but let details develop.

I have a large collection of woodturning books. They can be very helpful, although some have better writers -- or perhaps better *editors* -- than others. I watch relatively few videos. There are some good ones out there, and some that are indeed dangerous or ill-conceived.

Overall you'll probably learn more by watching fewer videos and spending much more time actually turning.

Find a mentor.

 

[R Henrickson]

If you are using a variable-speed lathe, do not use the start-stop button to start and stop the lathe. Turn the speed control down to zero each time to stop the lathe.

The start-stop button is only to start the lathe at the beginning of the day, and to shut it down at the end of the day.

This habit could save your life, and I emphasize this to all new turners I work with.

YES! In teaching, this is one of the first things I will emphasize, especially since much of what I teach is multiaxis work although generally with small blanks. One member in our local club shared a lathe with his wife. He put a sizeable bowl blank on the lathe after his wife had been turning pens. He turned the lathe on. It quickly spun up to 2000-3000 rpm and launched the bowl blank right into his face. He was lucky to get away with a couple major facial operations costing him tens of thousands of dollars. He could easily have died.

 

[robo hippy]

There are some days when I am "too tired to turn". Only thing I do on days like that is to clean up my shop. Maybe sand out some bowls....

robo hippy

 

[Bob Vaughan]

Nobody has mentioned: "Hire a sharpening valet"

 

[John K Jordan]

If you are using a variable-speed lathe, do not use the start-stop button to start and stop the lathe. Turn the speed control down to zero each time to stop the lathe.
The start-stop button is only to start the lathe at the beginning of the day, and to shut it down at the end of the day.
This habit could save your life, and I emphasize this to all new turners I work with.

This is good advice for many, especially beginners, but there may be cases where I think working differently is acceptable. One thing helpful would be more information. What is being turned? What size? Is the turner a student/beginner or an experienced turner?

One thing I think is universally important:

• Always turn the lathe switch off and the speed control down when walking away or when passing it to another person.

When working on small things, spindle orientation mostly, sometimes finger tops, bottle stoppers, etc, when doing similar operations, for example turning at high speed then later sanding the same piece at a slow speed, I generally set the lathe speed appropriate to the operation and turn it on and off with one of the two switches on my lathe - the main on/off buttons or with the safety switch on a magnetic base. When sanding at slow speed, I don't want to turn the speed up and down dozens of times between sanding and inspecting. When turning at high speed, if I turn the speed down and back up I lose what I had carefully set as the optimum speed for that operation.

If freehand hollowing holding the tool with both hands, I sometimes turn off the lathe with the leg-operated safety "off" switch mounted on the side of the lathe bed. THEN remove the tool to clean out chips.

I read that some people who turn deep hollow forms and other large turnings sometimes use the on/off switch instead of the speed control since they already have the speed set to what is working best for that piece. Unlike some older lathes which can be damaged if the speed is not turned down before switching on or off, modern lathes with VFDs have no such problem

I also think the lathe speed should be turned down before power switch is turned off if shutting down the lathe for the day or for an extended time.
I insist on this too: Always turn the speed down and the lathe off with the on-off switch before mounting or removing a piece from the lathe.
However remember the traditional case of production spindle turners who often NEVER turn off the lathe between pieces - just loosen the tailstock, catch the finished piece, then mount the new blank and tighten the tailstock and start turning.

If turning larger things, especially when switching between a student and me demonstrating a technique, OR there is more than one person using the lathe, I do insist on the on/off method for safety reasons.


Other obliquely related things I didn't see mentioned, or maybe I missed it:

• Always turn the piece by hand after adjusting the tool rest to make sure no part of it hits the tool rest.
• Never adjust the tool rest with the lathe spinning. This has become a joke with even pro demonstrators saying one thing and laughing while doing the other.
• And related: Release any spindle locks before turning the lathe on or the speed up!

And one I forgot to mention:

• Certain chucks benefit greatly by tightening in one socket then turning to tighten in the other. This can take up play in the mechanisms, especially for chucks with internal pinion. For the most security, I tighten at least 4 times, rotating the chuck each time by 180 degrees. I heard a demonstrator say once "tighten the chuck in all 6 places." I even do this with keyed Jacob's drill chucks. Note that specialized small chucks are used in veterinarian practice. Watching a surgery once, a vet told me they were taught in school to tighten in multiple sockets.

JKJ

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

If you are using a variable-speed lathe, do not use the start-stop button to start and stop the lathe. Turn the speed control down to zero each time to stop the lathe.

The start-stop button is only to start the lathe at the beginning of the day, and to shut it down at the end of the day.

This habit could save your life, and I emphasize this to all new turners I work with.

Good advice, but it's only applicable to certain lathes. Many lathes don't stop when you turn them to the lowest speed setting.

 

[Russ Braun]

Learn to segment, you will never be disappointed with all the doors that opens for your creativity!!

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

If you are using a variable-speed lathe, do not use the start-stop button to start and stop the lathe. Turn the speed control down to zero each time to stop the lathe.

The start-stop button is only to start the lathe at the beginning of the day, and to shut it down at the end of the day.

This habit could save your life, and I emphasize this to all new turners I work with.

Ric I hate to rain on your parade but not all lathes stop when speed is turned down the new Jet 1221 is one that I know of and probably there are others.

Well just saw Kent beat me to it.

 

[Donna Banfield]

Don’t limit your experienced turner/teachers to the famous Woodturners. Being a great woodturner doesn’t necessarily mean they are a great teacher. It takes a completely different skill set to communicate your knowledge to someone else, in a language that they understand.

Not unlike the best coaches in professional sports. Some of the greatest coaches weren’t the best athlete performers. But they understood the ins and outs and all the subtle nuances of how the game was played, and knew how to get a whole bunch of very different personalities to play together on a team and win.

 

[Jon Rista]

Advice I wish I got early on but finally learned:
1. learn to sharpen and do it often
2. find a mentor and learn
3. learn the line of fire and stay out of it.
4. be sure you need a tool before you buy it.
5. Join a local club and attend meetings
6. Read, watch videos, but mostly turn.
7. learn safety rules and follow them—respiratory and face protection.
8. Research and ideally test drive lathes before a purchase.
9. Take classes from experienced turners.
10. Don’t turn when you are tired.
11. Join and support AAW.

Add to the list.

The best one I ever heard, I think, and these are all great, was this:

"Safety is a CHOICE! You choose to be safe, or not. Every time you compromise your safety, you ARE BEING UNSAFE. Make the right choice."

I run this through my head every time I use one of my cutting machines in particular, my router, etc. Particularly high speed/high RPM things, this runs through my head all the time. I had to actively burn it in, so I actively made myself think of it at first, but now its automatic. I think this is one of the most important things. Thinking this, makes you not only be safe with the obvious stuff, but over time, it makes you REALIZE when you might in fact be doing something unsafe, and you start recognizing just how many STUPID things we can do as woodworkers that...might lop off a finger, or mangle a hand, konk you on the head, etc. It applies to more benign things too...E.G. wearing PPE, all the time! (I can speak all too well, to the real consequences of NOT wearing appropriate PPE, and the kinds of respiratory, nasal and other issues that can arise as a result of insufficient protection!)

I made this my Rule #1. The rest come after it.


I'll also throw my backing against #1 in the list above. Sharp tools, are so important! I've gone through phases, where I have just kind of gotten fed up with sharpening all the time, and the end results are always worse than when I sharpen often and really sharpen well. Projects also go faster when you have good sharp cutting tools...cutting wood well, is fast. Cutting wood poorly, is actually quite SLOW!!

Also think that #8 is really important too. I've owned four lathes at this point. Overall, grand total spent, is about $8000!! (More when you account for shipping.) I ended up selling one for a bit less than $2000 (recovered most of my original cost.) For that kind of money, I could have just bought a Robust outright, and been done with it! I now own a Powermatic 3524C, and it is the first time I've had a lathe that has had zero problems, works optimally every time I use it, and is machined to very tight tolerances (i.e the quill is perfect, even at full extension, which is actually really important!) If you can, test out lathes with friends, or at clubs, rent time at Woodcraft, something like that. Maybe more than once. Make sure you know how each of the key features of the lathe works, because sometimes it takes a little use, to identify a problem (in my case, I found out I REALLY HATE Laguna's "Precise Point" technology, and wish I'd never wasted my time with the Revo I purchased...and wished instead I'd gone strait to the Powermatic!)

 

[hockenbery]

Being a great woodturner doesn’t necessarily mean they are a great teacher.

So true
I had a week long class with a famous turner. I rate him as a poor teacher. But he had a profound influence and i left the class with a half dozen nuggets.

One simple one was we were hollowing in the class. He had borrowed my straight bar for another student to use.
I thought I needed my straight bar to finish the hollowing. He came by and told me you can cut the bottom with the bent tool you won’t hit the far side. I learned I already knew how to do something I had never tried.