Nailed it

[Kevin Jenness]

I have struggled for a long time trying to reduce sanding time by getting a fair curve and clean cut with a gouge on bowls and hollow forms. I could generally get a tearout free surface but there were always stutters in the curve that required scraping to smooth out and then excessive sanding as the scraped cut rarely was as clean as it should be. I took some lessons from local turners Tom Dunne and Alan Stirt which helped and at least showed what was possible but had a hard time reproducing those results on my own. Covid time has not exactly been conducive to mentoring sessions either.

After being laid up all winter I have been woodshedding for a week, finish turning a pile of dry roughed out bowl blanks. Nothing spectacular, cherry, yellow birch and hard maple from 5"-11" diameter, decent turning woods and cheap enough to waste if they don't turn out right. I've blown up several that got too thin as I recut repeatedly. I'm not sure what changed, but in the past few days I made a breakthrough. This morning I turned the exterior of a simple 7" maple bowl that I can easily sand with 220#. I'm sure that doesn't impress most experienced turners, but it is very satisfying. Floating the bevel, not forcing the tool, using torso movement to guide the gouge in a flowing movement are all just words until it actually happens. Maybe this is what Odie means by "spiritual turning".

I am mainly using a 40-40 ground v shaped gouge and push cutting, but I can get equivalent results with my Ellsworth grind as well, and I use that on the inside of deeper forms when the other won't reach. I still can't get as clean a result as I would like with a pull cut.

It helped that I set up the outboard bed on my fixed headstock General 260. I have had the bed all along but didn't have any way to use the 1 1/8"-8 left hand spindle thread. Getting adapters for several of my chucks along with flat jaws and a making a set of wood jaw extensions made it possible to hold the blanks with a rabbet cut on the inside and make an unobstructed push cut. Being able to address the piece from the end of the lathe and tuck the tool handle into my side is a lot easier on my wonky shoulder.

 

[hockenbery]

Sweet looking curve and smooth too!

Al Stirt is a terrific teacher. Got to show Al some alligators.

I still get a thrill when I nail a curve with a smooth surface. I’ve done it a few times.
Logged a few miles on the generals. My 260 has electronic controls. Looked at the control box in the picture - it has a dial - have you added electronic control?

 

[Kevin Jenness]

My 260 has electronic controls. Looked at the control box in the picture - it has a dial - have you added electronic control?

Yes, with the vfd and Reeves drive I have 10 speed ranges. The Reeves is a little noisy at some rpms but not bad. I can go down to about 40 rpm.

 

[robo hippy]

Some days, you can't even do wrong right, and some days, things just flow. With most of the bowls I turn, I will start sanding at 120. I do say that I could have sanded out every single bowl I ever turned, but I would still have 3/4 of them left to sand....... There are lots of ways to refine lines, and with practice you do get better.

Sugar/hard maple? Only turned a little of it. It is one that can leave a very clean surface. Saw one turner get an almost glass smooth surface on a side grain lamp base using a scraper where the burr had been totally honed off....

robo hippy

 

[Dean Center]

Congratulations! "I love it when a plan comes together" (what movie is that from???)

Now do 50 more and you'll own the technique. At which point something new will pique your interest and present a challenge to be overcome all over again.

 

[Doug Freeman]

It might be what @odie was referring to (I think he and I describe the same thing quite differently). I refer to it as “flow”, where everything just comes together and works, you become engrossed in the activity, lose track of time, and obtain results you’ve not had before. Its great when it happens!

Floating instead of riding the bevel, using body vs hand/arm tool control are major contributors to your success. Using outboard turning to allow body tool control for OD push cuts vs S Batty’s over-the-bed arm control helps us mere mortals do that cut.

The goal is taking the new methods/skills to the point of unconscious competence - you do it automatically, without thinking about. The only way is through repetition, usually hundreds and thousands of reps. But, conscious competence - (thinking about how to do the skill while doing it) comes much faster.

 

[William Siegl]

Sweet looking curve and smooth too!

Al Stirt is a terrific teacher. Got to show Al some alligators.

I still get a thrill when I nail a curve with a smooth surface. I’ve done it a few times.
Logged a few miles on the generals. My 260 has electronic controls. Looked at the control box in the picture - it has a dial - have you added electronic control?

I think that is a Reeves drive. It has a split pulley with a spring pushing them together
. The lever moves the halves apart and the speed changes as the diameter changes.

 

[hockenbery]

I think that is a Reeves drive. It has a split pulley with a spring pushing them together
. The lever moves the halves apart and the speed changes as the diameter changes.

You’re right about reeves drive lever. But you missed Kevin’s reply about the speed control dial

@

Yes, with the vfd and Reeves drive I have 10 speed ranges. The Reeves is a little noisy at some rpms but not bad. I can go down to about 40 rpm.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Congratulations! "I love it when a plan comes together" (what movie is that from???)

Now do 50 more and you'll own the technique. At which point something new will pique your interest and present a challenge to be overcome all over again.

George Peppard "The A Team" and one of my favorite expressions

 

[Dean Center]

George Peppard "The A Team" and one of my favorite expressions

Thank you! That one was not in my top 20 possibilities, so I never would have figured it out.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

A great example of what mentoring and putting time on the lathe can do for you.