Tymur Kharkivskyi

[Tymur Kharkivskyi]

Hello everyone. I am happy to join this forum to learn from your experience and improve my skills. I am a beginner in woodturning, but I take great pleasure in studying both woodworking and metalworking—it allows me and my family members to disconnect a bit from what is happening around us. I live in Kyiv, Ukraine. I make projects on my own and also help my father. Working with wood is so fascinating and wonderful.

 

[John Torchick]

Welcome to the forum. This is a good place to learn and share.

 

[hughie]

Well, you have arrived at one of the best places to learn. Given where you etc I imagine tool purchase etc would be largely out of the question. But fortunately there are many here who make that thier own tools. So look through the various posts, if that doesnt work for you post/request away, remember there are no dumb questions

Looking forward in seeing what you make.

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

Welcome, Tymur! You will learn a lot here.

 

[Tymur Kharkivskyi]

Thank you

 

[John K Jordan]

Hello Tymur! I love woodturning and metal working too - machining, welding - good fun!
For woodturning, I mostly like to turn small things, lots of spindles. I've been playing on wood lathes for over 20 years now. There are lots of people with experience on this forum - any questions, just ask!

What kinds of things do you like to make? Do you have any photographs?

I have a good friend with parents from Kiev, now a veterinarian who works on large animals. She came to my shop on my farm for both the animals and for woodturning lessons while she was in school. Now she has her own lathe, makes lots of things, and gives them all away!

JKJ

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Welcome here and keep your head down!

 

[Bill Boehme]

Welcome to the AAW forum, Tymur.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to seeing your progress on the road to turning excellence

 

[Tymur Kharkivskyi]

Hello Tymur! I love woodturning and metal working too - machining, welding - good fun!
For woodturning, I mostly like to turn small things, lots of spindles. I've been playing on wood lathes for over 20 years now. There are lots of people with experience on this forum - any questions, just ask!

What kinds of things do you like to make? Do you have any photographs?

I have a good friend with parents from Kiev, now a veterinarian who works on large animals. She came to my shop on my farm for both the animals and for woodturning lessons while she was in school. Now she has her own lathe, makes lots of things, and gives them all away!

JKJ

John, thank you for the well wishes.

I am currently spending a lot of time on my studies, so my hobbies have stalled a bit. I used to make many things, but now, due to the lack of time, I’ve focused on experiments with different cutters and variations of hollowing systems. I hope I will soon be allowed to start my own threads and post photos—I will definitely share something then. As I understand it, that will be in about three weeks; there are specific rules here regarding that.

In our country, women aren't usually very interested in woodturning. I suppose your friends' daughter from Kyiv was born in the US, and she picked up that interest there. I know that many women in the US and English-speaking countries enjoy woodturning. It really is interesting. Thank you, and thanks to everyone else for the warm words and wishes. I am trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible through communicating with all of you.

 

[John K Jordan]

Tymur,

I think studies are the MOST IMPORTANT thing to focus on! I would be interested it what studies you like.

I'm almost 76 years old now but remember well my classes in secondary school and college. My favorites were the mathematics and science courses. (My least favorite were the language classes, although I did enjoy three years of spoken Spanish language study.) Unlike in the US, some of my friends in Europe are fluent in several languages - one girl in Italy speaks and writes seven languages!

When younger I was fortunate to have access to a good library and read science books on every subject - physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, and biology (especially animal science), a bit of medicine and psychology. All this helped a great deal when I worked at a major US science laboratory - it let me communicate effectively with a groups in a wide variety of fields and devise ideas to help them with problems and acquire funding. I had the best job in the world!

But I retired about 20 years ago. I now play on the farm with horses, llamas, and peacocks. I built a shop for woodturning, woodworking, metalworking and welding. Outside I have big equipment to dig in the dirt, move rocks, and work with trees and logs.

I love to teach woodturning and do demonstrations in woodturning clubs! If you ever find yourself visiting the US, we live in Tennessee in the south east - perhaps you could come visit sometime! Maybe we could work on some turning and trade ideas and stories! Maybe introduce you the Ukrainian parents of my friend - her father is a scientist.

OH, the friend of Ukrainian parents got interested in woodturning at my shop! She and another friend would come to the farm for the live animals and to work with some smaller animals I saved in a freezer for them to dissect and study.

One day I asked them if they would like to try a lesson in woodturning. Yes!! Neither had seen a lathe before. We did a morning lesson on spindle turning, starting with the skew chisel, and they both make things to take home. In the afternoon I showed them how to turn a bowl. They both made small practice bowls then turned bowls from black cherry wood to take home! The other girl is now in graduate school working on her Doctorate degree in pathology. The girl who is now a veterinarian had lessons in my shop for over a year while working in vet clinics and animal rescue organizations, then later when finishing school. A friend gave her a lathe, I provided tools and wood, and about four years ago moved all of her things to a house near where she works! A success story!

In the US, there are notable female woodturners but there are usually more male turners. Many of the guys in the clubs I've attended are older and retired from work but there are sometimes new younger people attend!!

JKJ

 

[Donna Banfield]

Welcome to the forum, Tymur! There are many women in the US that are woodworkers and Woodturners. And outside the US as well. I look forward to your posts on this forum. And stay safe.

 

[Tymur Kharkivskyi]

Tymur,

I think studies are the MOST IMPORTANT thing to focus on! I would be interested it what studies you like.

I'm almost 76 years old now but remember well my classes in secondary school and college. My favorites were the mathematics and science courses. (My least favorite were the language classes, although I did enjoy three years of spoken Spanish language study.) Unlike in the US, some of my friends in Europe are fluent in several languages - one girl in Italy speaks and writes seven languages!

When younger I was fortunate to have access to a good library and read science books on every subject - physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, and biology (especially animal science), a bit of medicine and psychology. All this helped a great deal when I worked at a major US science laboratory - it let me communicate effectively with a groups in a wide variety of fields and devise ideas to help them with problems and acquire funding. I had the best job in the world!

But I retired about 20 years ago. I now play on the farm with horses, llamas, and peacocks. I built a shop for woodturning, woodworking, metalworking and welding. Outside I have big equipment to dig in the dirt, move rocks, and work with trees and logs.

I love to teach woodturning and do demonstrations in woodturning clubs! If you ever find yourself visiting the US, we live in Tennessee in the south east - perhaps you could come visit sometime! Maybe we could work on some turning and trade ideas and stories! Maybe introduce you the Ukrainian parents of my friend - her father is a scientist.

OH, the friend of Ukrainian parents got interested in woodturning at my shop! She and another friend would come to the farm for the live animals and to work with some smaller animals I saved in a freezer for them to dissect and study.

One day I asked them if they would like to try a lesson in woodturning. Yes!! Neither had seen a lathe before. We did a morning lesson on spindle turning, starting with the skew chisel, and they both make things to take home. In the afternoon I showed them how to turn a bowl. They both made small practice bowls then turned bowls from black cherry wood to take home! The other girl is now in graduate school working on her Doctorate degree in pathology. The girl who is now a veterinarian had lessons in my shop for over a year while working in vet clinics and animal rescue organizations, then later when finishing school. A friend gave her a lathe, I provided tools and wood, and about four years ago moved all of her things to a house near where she works! A success story!

In the US, there are notable female woodturners but there are usually more male turners. Many of the guys in the clubs I've attended are older and retired from work but there are sometimes new younger people attend!!

JKJ

John, I’ve noticed that in woodturning, there are many military people. It seems like military men have their own "caste" there.))) I think you are a happy man. You have your animals, and the way you talk about them shows me that you truly enjoy life. That is important for everyone.

I see many people, both young and old, who have no purpose in life. Especially now—if you cannot find a way to detach yourself, you burn out psychologically. I am glad that I can spend time away from the city. Nature, squirrels in the trees, neighbors' cats coming to visit, and the singing of birds can make a person happy even on the hardest days.

You cannot imagine how many people and animals have died here. People are dying for a patch of scorched earth, destroying everything in their path. I have been living through this for five years now, and sometimes it feels like it’s been my whole life. No one here believes anymore that it will ever end. Many young people are leaving for other parts of the world in search of peace and quiet. I doubt they will ever return.

You know, humans destroy the world that surrounds them. Near my apartment in Kyiv, there is a specialized Spanish school. My dad graduated from there. He told me that in school, they learned the language by practicing Spanish songs. He often sings Mexican mariachi songs for us. He also said that in that school, all the boys were taught woodturning and metal turning so that during a war against "the West," they could turn a shell casing. Now, the "Wild West" is helping us resist and survive, and the wood lathe helps me distract myself and create something beautiful.

John, love your family and your animals, and enjoy every moment of your life.)

 

[Tymur Kharkivskyi]

Welcome to the forum, Tymur! There are many women in the US that are woodworkers and Woodturners. And outside the US as well. I look forward to your posts on this forum. And stay safe.

Thank you, Donna. Today I was reading the carving section and saw your work. I think I still understand and know so little about woodworking. I suppose this is something one must study for a whole lifetime. There is no limit to perfection.)

 

[Tymur Kharkivskyi]

John, you asked if I had any photos of the things I make with my own hands. I don’t make a whole lot.

I dug into the forum settings yesterday and realized that I can already post my own photos. I'm still restricted from using the Marketplace for another three weeks, but I’ll be posting some photos today.

Today I woke up a bit earlier and decided to make a grill spatula. Ours broke recently, and my father made a few replacements. But as it turned out, they are a bit narrow—fine for pancakes, but not great for something larger. I thought I’d treat myself and my family today.


We once watched Richard Raffan making these and decided to try it ourselves. To be more precise, I only managed to repeat it today, but a couple of weeks ago, I watched how my father handled it.



This is the second version. I finished the first one, but when I was trimming the handle, it snapped. So I had to make a second one. However, it went faster and turned out just as good.

You mentioned that you were teaching your friends' daughter how to use a skew chisel. Personally, I don’t really like that blade. A couple of years ago, I had a serious catch, and I don’t feel comfortable working with it anymore. It’s a bit of a fear. I made the spatula using a bowl gouge.

Here is mine compared to my father's.

 

[Tymur Kharkivskyi]

Some time ago, my father saw an American man making Tsumiki—a Japanese toy—out of pallets. We always have various wood scraps lying around. We usually use them for firewood, but he decided to put them to use instead. They make great gifts, and we always give them to our friends. A year ago, I made a set for myself. This is how it turned out.



I probably rejected half of them, but what remains turned out very well, both aesthetically and geometrically.

 

[John K Jordan]

grill spatula. ...when I was trimming the handle, it snapped. So I had to make a second one. However, it went faster and turned out just as good.

You mentioned that you were teaching your friends' daughter how to use a skew chisel. Personally, I don’t really like that blade. A couple of years ago, I had a serious catch, and I don’t feel comfortable working with it anymore. It’s a bit of a fear. I made the spatula using a bowl gouge.

Tymur,

Thanks for the photos! I like the spatula - I saw the Raffan video but haven't made one myself. I have made many things that have "interrupted" cuts ("cutting air" on every rotation) and the most important thing I know as moving into the interrupted part imagine it as solid wood and move the tool firmly on the rest and into the interrupted part exactly as you would if the wood was solid.

Handle snapping sometimes comes from wood with defects or grain that is not straight with the rotational axis. Sometimes a catch.

I always start students with the skew chisel precisely because it ioftes n feared. It's frightening to get a catch with it and some people decide to never use it again! Once people learn it properly, EVERYTHING seems easier!

I've also given "remedial" skew lessons to some old, experienced turners. Absent from the club for several years while building my shop, on my first return an older may saw me and jumped up from the back and said "I want to shake your hand!" I forgot that I had given him my custom skew lesson a few years ago - he said now the skew was one of his favorite tools! Made me feel great.

I developed a way to teach the skew and spindle turning that so far has ALWAYS worked - I've introduced dozens of students to the skew this way and so far NOT ONE has gotten a catch. Knock on wood (do you have that expression for good luck?)

If you are interested, I can provide details of my method of teaching the skew - the only thing needed is a skew, a rounded spindle blank, and a second person to assist at the beginning.

And if you haven't seen it, my document on turning thin spindles has a lot of info about turning spindles, skews, and other tools. It also covers holding methods (and those I like the best), and the most important thing, how to control vibration during the cut.

Thread 'Turning Thin Spindles'

Oct 7, 2024

This document shows the tools and methods I use to hold, shape, and successfully finish a thin spindle. I wrote this update for a recent club demo.

As spindles get long and thin, there are challenges to turn them successfully. My demos use “magic” wands to show the techniques but they apply to many types of thin spindles. I always take some long examples, a couple of tapered shafts that go from about 1/2” diameter down to 1/16” diameter in more than 24” - one I turned from a piece of shelving pine board from Home Depot.

Some things covered here are about the wood itself and how to...

• John K Jordan
• Replies: 9
• Forum: Tutorials and Tips

• 

Some people use a steady rest to control vibration but I don't. Never have, I've never even had or used a steady rest!

As an example of thin spindles that are almost impossible to turn without controlling vibration, I take these two to demos as examples. The are over 2' long, pine and walnut, and taper from about 1/2" down to about 1/16" in diameter. That is a 12" ruler in the photo. I turned a handle for one. The one from walnut has the holding method I like - a short #2 morse taper that fits snugly into the lathe headstock spindle. I had NO problems turning these with a skew with the methods I use.



Other examples, "magic wands", conductor batons, and hair sticks (girls with long hair LOVE these!).
(Sorry if you've seen these here before.)

Cedar (with "distressed" texturing, and ebony (with carved stippled texture - one of my favorite texturing methods. (I posted a separate document on texturing.) I've made 100s of wands so far and often use them to teach thin spindle turning to students and at demonstrations and classes.


I started making conductors batons when a former kindergarten student asked me if I could make one she could give to her boyfriend for a graduation present, about to graduate as a band director. "Sure, no problem!" I didn't tell her I'd never made one before. She asked how much would it cost? I always tell people the same thing: "$60". But if the person comes to the shop, helps with the design and picking out the wood, and watch me make it, the cost is free! That gets people to come and experience the lathe, usually for the first time. Good fun!
I've since made more of these and some are in the hands of band, orchestra, and choir directors.


I made and took these hairsticks to a good friend in Italy. Seven or eight inches is a good length. A little texturing or "swelling" in the diameter helps to hold it in the hair. Many with long hair love them - and they use very little wood and are quick to make! Another friend wanted some a few blanks so she could make some so I took her a box with a few dozen blanks.


All of these things can be sold but I often give them away UNLESS someone really wants something I want to keep for a demoinstration/show piece.

One important thing about learning the skew and spindle turning. Various turning experts have said basically the same thing: "If you learn spindle turning it will teach you the fine took control needed to let you turn ANYTHING! The same is not always true for those to start with and stay with turning bowls. (I can provide references!)

John, I’ve noticed that in woodturning, there are many military people. It seems like military men have their own "caste" there.))) I think you are a happy man. You have your animals, and the way you talk about them shows me that you truly enjoy life. That is important for everyone.

There are many who used to be in the military, but also MANY who have never been! I haven't noticed any "caste" - those in or previously in the military are just normal people!

Some turners started when very young and have a lot of experience, some just recently and are beginners or intermediate. Our club usually has 30-40 people attending each month.

And yes, I am an extremely happy person - good family, good friends, great place to live, enough food to eat, access to good medical care! If you are interested I can send a few animal and farm pictures in another message.

Also, if you are interested and haven't seen it, attached is a video I made of using my bandsaw to cut up log sections into turning blanks. I cut these blanks, seal them, and let them dry before turning. It has a couple of pictures of outside and inside the shop. Good clean fun.
(I made the video for a club demo during the start of the Covid pandemic so it's kind of long. Includes all-important safety info. I made it in a hurry so there are lots of things I would change if I had time. Time is the most precious resource (and friends are the most precious part of life!)

View: https://youtu.be/4Rbdas-jtD0


And sorry I write so much! I get excited and can't stop.

Any questions at all, just ask. I, and many others here love to help!!

JKJ

 

[Tymur Kharkivskyi]

John, thank you so much for the long letter, the many photos, and all the time you spent on this. It’s absolutely fascinating. Please do send the pictures of your animals and your farm — I’d love to see them. You mentioned that you always tell people the same price: $60. Is there any particular symbolism behind that specific number, or is it just your standard rate? I'm going to head over to your YouTube channel right now to check out the videos.

 

[John K Jordan]

You mentioned that you always tell people the same price: $60. Is there any particular symbolism behind that specific number, or is it just your standard rate?

The $60 is just a number I made up!

There's not much on my youtube channel(s)! I don't don't make videos for likes or attention or money, mostly just short things! The bandsaw video was the longest I've made. I did make a very short version for a specific club demo and left out a lot - I carried a bandsaw to a carpeted meeting area and described things and did the safety talk for the club - never turned the bandsaw on!

Some clips I do for kids, some about birds and animals, all for fun.

Some short, random videos on two tiny youtube channels:
https://www.youtube.com/@johnk.jordan
https://www.youtube.com/@thegoatfarm

I'm rarely serious about things!

Well, I've very serious about some things (music, honesty, faith, helping others...) but that's all fun too! Last year I gave away a spare lathe which left extra space in the shop, enough space for a good electronic piano - now I can play as often and loud as I want without disturbing the family! I like to play improvised duets with other musicians, played a number of weddings and special pieces at church. A couple of large hospitals around here have good pianos just off the main entrances and I sometimes sit and play - then look up and see I have a audience. Yikes! (I mostly do classical pieces and love improvisational hymn playing: think of a song, a key, and play it without music - play a bit differently each time. Good clean fun!)

After facial and shoulder surgery I can't play the french horn, trumpet, violin, bass guitar, or accordions now, but it hasn't affected the classical guitars, and I'm working on learning the cello. Life is good!

OK, I shut up now...

JKJ