Terry Brasher

[Terry Brasher]

Hi Everyone! New member and new turner. My dad was a shop teacher and I helped him remodel homes while growing up, so I've always been around wood and woodworking. Been wood carving since 1993, and have always wanted to turn. So finally bought a lathe, a used Nova 1624-44, in September and joined the local turning club... TAW in Dec and then the AAW in Feb. The TAW club meetings are very informative, and the monthly 'Turn and Learn' in Feb was terrific!

It's hard to go from carving, where I don't have to think about my tool and body movement, to having to concentrate on tool angle, swing, edges, weight shift, etc. I'll get there eventually with the turning. So far, I've turned about 30 bowls and feel like I'm making progress and learning with each mistake and problem encountered. The last 4 items I've turned have been spheres. Those spheres are tough to turn round! Excellent practice for me!

My husband is very tolerant of all my interests, and just smiles when I tell him I'm sure I can get by with only a few gouges. I've already found I could do with a few more... oops.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Terry,
Welcome, you will most likely incorporate your carving skills into your turned pieces which can be works of art!
If you mark the axis points on all sides of your wood blank that you are turning into a sphere you can rotate the piece between these axis points to balance and turn the piece into a perfect sphere. The trick is observing the shadow effect of the out of round wood and cutting it away until you get down to the sphere surface. If your axis points are not perfectly marked you will never get it round as you switch between the different axis points, when you get to this point in turning a sphere, mounting the sphere between cup centers will allow you to easily get it turned to sphere. There are several videos on YouTube that detail turning spheres on the lathe the old school way. Or you can purchase or build a sphere jig with a pivoting cutter to quickly and easily turn any size of sphere.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Welcome to the forum, Terry. I have the Nova 1624 as well. It's a great lathe that can grow with you. I've upgraded mine to the DVR motor, added the bed extension with swing away and the outrigger tool rest holder. Give me a shout out if you're looking to add any of these accessories to your lathe and I will let you know of my experience with them.

 

[hockenbery]

Welcome to the forum.
The TAW is a good group.

Turning spheres is fun. A very useful tool in turning spheres is a ring of pvc or other material.
When the ring lays flat on the surface that part of the sphere is spherical.
Sliding it around shows the high spots. A careful layout helps in the beginning. As you do more you can do less layout. Most important don’t cut too deep anywhere as this reduces the size of the sphere

When I demo spheres I show a few slides to set the stage somfolks know what to look for.
http://swat.hockenbery.net/Turning_a_ball_the_easy_way.pdf

The only video I have is the Ball in a Ball on the 2010 AAW techniques video.
I can’t post it to YouTube but will see if I can get you link that will work

 

[Bill Boehme]

Welcome aboard, Terry.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Welcome Terry. I know you are just looking for that one tool that will make you a great turner and so are the rest of us.

 

[John Torchick]

Welcome. I live in SE TN. There are four chapters within an hour or so. I don't have time to attend all of them but the Dalton Area Woodturners Guild is an outstanding group of turners. The DAWG must have been the idea of a Georgia fan.