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Lester Germanio

Lester Germanio

Lester Germanio

Joined
Sep 20, 2019
Messages
6
Likes
2
Location
West Lake Hills, Texas
I have turned some tool handles over the last couple of years. And just now trying to turn some bowls. I have been using an old Shopsmith. I have a bunch of cypress and ashe juniper. Any advise on dealing with these? I am trying to attach a couple photos. The bowl is cypress from some 35 year old porch columns. Fifth attempt at doing a bowl. Dried and checked. Some of the handles are juniper from trees cut and laying in a pile for 15 years. Others from dowels of various materials.

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Welcome. Judging from the stack of tool handles, you've been busy. The bowl is very nice with nice looking grain. Not a wood expert- cypress or juniper? Thanks for sharing.
 
The bowl on the Shopsmith is cypress. The handles are mostly a means of stress relief. My office is over the shop. Every once in a while I would stop answering the phone and go downstairs and turn a handle. Juniper is darker with tighter grain and seems to be more brittle. Cypress has color and grain more similar to yellow pine.
 
Yes, welcome Lester. Good handle supply. Like your awls too. I enjoy turning my own handles, shaping them for special purposes and making them to fit my hand. Makes tools a pleasure to use.
 
Welcome!
Always happy to see another from the Texas neighborhood.
I too started turning on my Shopsmith a while back--still have it.
Juniper and Cypress are fun to work with.
 
I was having trouble turning 10 inch juniper and cypress bowls. I have a 2 inch Nova chuck and could not turn the inside without them flying off. I tried both interior and exterior mount. So, I made myself a set of training wheels. Photo attached.

The blade on the awl is an old masonry bit. Ground off the carbide tip and then spun it in the lathe against a file.
 

Attachments

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Old dry Texas juniper can sometimes be prone to splintering. Based on the picture I would guess that you aren't maintaining bevel rubbing contact which could partially explain the unscheduled dismounts. On the interior of a bowl the tool needs to contact the wood above centerline. Looking at the picture, it appears that the tenon is too long. The end of the tenon should not bottom out in the chuck jaws ... instead, the top of the jaws should seat flatly against the shoulder that surrounds the tenon.
 
Lester,

One of your photos shows a long tenon on the bottom of the bowl, this could be the reason for your bowls coming out of the chuck.
A tenon should be shorter than the depth of your chuck jaws so the wood tenon does not bottom out on the jaws. If the tenon is too long and
bottoms out against the chuck jaws, every time you get a good tool catch it will leverage the bowl from the jaws. The bottom of the tenon ends up
being a fulcrum point.
 
Another factor besides a too-long tenon that affects the ability of a Nova chuck to hold a tenon is the diameter of the tenon. The maximum holding ability is achieved when the tenon matches the "perfect circle" diameter of the jaws. It's easy to eyeball judge when the jaws are at the perfect circle because the gap between the jaws will be very close to ⅛". This is true of all chuck jaws, but is a bigger concern for straight serrated jaws than it is for profiled (Oneway) or dovetail jaws.
 
Welcome to the forum Lester. You have some very nice turned hand tool handles and I really like the cypress and juniper bowls as well. Happy turning!
 
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