Daniel Geiger

[Daniel Geiger]

Greetings, new aspiring woodturner here, so lots to learn. Got myself a starter lathe from Wen with 12" swing, starter set of tools from Wen, some new bowl gouges and parting tools from Carter & sons, a Nova 2 chuck, some Fostner bits, polishing mandrel, plus safety gear. Slow speed grinder and jigs.

I have a lot of Coastal live oak wood in yard (Quercus agrifolia) and want to use it. Made "my first bowl", some honey drippers, some coasters, in addition to a lot of mistakes with that wood. Also a first lidded box from a scrap piece of white oak from a bannister. A few incense burners from cross sections of live oak with bark and lichen still on, stabilized in cactus juice. A bunch of big manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.) branches made nice incense burners when cut long way (yes, not turned, but anyway). I also have a bunch of ipe scraps from a deck job, but will wait with working on that until the Trend Airshield arrives. I know the dust of ipe is rather nasty.

I want to use what's available for free in terms of wood, even it it is not "desirable" wood. I like more "natural" look, with live edges. Eventually will also want to get a bit into resin casting and filling cracks with colored resins. Pressure pot is on order. May want to try segmented work with the live oak, as it splits very easily. Not interested in pen turning, goblets, or furniture spindle work.

Got a few books, but have some questions about technique, for instance what a "feathering cut" is, and when "riding the bevel", is the contact line parallel to tool rest, or at right angle, or does it change. I have not been able to figure that out from any book or video. So I just try all the different ways, make lots of mistakes, and learn rapidly. Unfortunately, I don't know anybody else in the area who could show me, and currently social gatherings are anyway not advised. So I do the best I can.

This is pure hobby. By day, I am a natural history museum curator working on systematics and evolution of marine snails and orchids, including lots of electron microscopy.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Welcome aboard. You might want to look for a club to get more hands on help and we will try to answer some questions. To find a club at the AAW website under Chapters and then Find A Chapter.

Not sure on the feathering but riding the bevel is something you will hear a lot. My explanation is that the bevel just brushes the wood allowing the edge to make the cut. You start by rubbing or touching the wood with the bevel and then rotate the tool til the edge engages the wood. Just remember to not rotate too much and keep contact with the wood. Maybe Al will come soon and give you the ABC's

 

[Dave Landers]

Riding the bevel has two aspects to me.

First, a gouge is just a weird-shaped knife. A knife cuts in the direction it is pointing. So if you ride the bevel on the bit you just cut, you'll keep cutting in that direction. If you roll the gouge back so the edge doesn't touch (and thus the bevel is not "riding"), nothing happens. If you roll it over the other way, it'll dig into the wood (try to cut in the direction you're pointing it - right into the wood). That generally ends up grabbing the spinning wood, which is often unpleasant for you and/or the wood.

Second, the bevel against the wood is actually part of your tool support. There are a lot of geometries at play for various cuts. But basically your tool rest acts against the force of the spinning wood trying to push the gouge down. And the bevel against the wood you just cut helps work against the force of the cut, which is trying to push the gouge to the left or right (depending on which way you're cutting). It keeps the gouge from "skating" (cutting a spiral, which is what happens if you just place a knife at an angle against spinning wood). When the wood is spinning quickly, that skating happens quickly, which is also unpleasant for you and/or the wood.

 

[John Torchick]

Welcome!

 

[Daniel Geiger]

Thanks everybody.
Gerald: re meetings, that is a bit tricky in California with massive Covid spike. I suspect there will be no meetings till about end of 2021. Just a back of the envelope guess of mine.
The term "feathering cut" is found in Keith Rowley's book on Woodturning a foundational course, but I cannot figure out what he means. Googling did not help either.
Dave: Re "riding the bevel" I get the main idea, but the reason for particular geometries elude me. Hollowing out a bowl with a gouge running from center to periphery (with grain) in a push-cut fashion, I can either engage the edge by moving tool parallel to tool rest towards the center, so the riding bevel is parallel to tool rest, or I can engage the edge with lifting handle from low position to higher position, at right angle to tool rest. Then the bevel that rides is vertical and at right angle to tool rest. Then there are all the intermediate 3D angles. Which should it be, and why? I may also be overthinking the whole thing. As a scientist, I have an analytical mind, that can occasionally get in the way. Some more quality time at the lathe may be better than any theorizing.

There are a lot of resources on the website particularly the FUNdamentals series. Is there a way of searching for a particular keyword in those pubs?

 

[Dave Landers]

So re: what you said about the various ways to cut the interior of a bowl... Either is ok, and which you do depends on lots of things: some bowls you will have interference between the back of the gouge and the rim of the bowl, so lowering the handle will get you some extra room. Sometimes the wood cuts better one way over the other, so that makes your choice. But either way you are getting support for the cut by “riding” that bevel.
Where the bevel riding is important is, perversely, where you can’t do it - that initial entry cut into the bowl rim. When you realize that you’re missing that little extra tool support, then you’ll know why it’s so important to have your gouge cutting completely vertically using just the tip - until you cut enough that there’s a “lip” on which you can ride the bevel - then you can “open up” the gouge and get a more efficient cut.
So it sounds like what you’re doing is ok. Let your scientific side step aside until something isn’t right- then that analytical thinking is helpful to diagnose what went wrong.

 

[Daniel Geiger]

Thanks Dave! So bottom line, practice makes perfect, and let the wood's response be my guide to proper technique. I also think with coarse grained dry live oak, I upped the ante quite a bit. I noticed how much easier the white oak was. Still loads of fun, and quite satisfying to make something literally from yard trash.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Don't know about your area but all the clubs within 200 miles of here are doing Zoom sessions. We have one tomorrow night on the Wheel of Delight with Michael Alguire. If you are interested see events calendar on our website https://mwt.clubexpress.com/