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What am I doing wrong?

Lou Jacobs

Lou Jacobs

Joined
Jul 18, 2018
Messages
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Location
Baltimore, MD
Website
loujacobswoodturning.com
I’m turning replacement spindles/balusters for a stair rail. I need to transition from square to round, and am having trouble not getting splintering in the square portion. Below are pictures of the original I’m duplicating, and the beginning of my turning with a bit of splintering. The stock I’m turning is very old and dry fir. I’ve ripped the turning blanks from a bed I made my daughter 35 years ago. Too dry? I have tried sneaking up on it with a spindle gouge, used a parting tool, and even came into it with a skew. I’ve tried cutting a bit off the corners with a fine toothed saw, but am having trouble in each case. I’d love some suggestions!9727A19A-223F-49E8-8049-EE970C8F83F7.jpeg222B8F76-D8B0-44F5-B938-3A3D09C5570D.jpeg
 
My preferred tool for this is the spindle gouge, I don't think brand makes a difference, but I use a Doug Thompson 1/2 inch spindle gouge with a 35 degree bevel.
I basically make a "V" cut but one leg of the "V" is perpendicular to the lathe axis. The orientation of the flute is 9 o'clock for the right side of the "V" and 3 o'clock for the left. I suppose a skew would be quicker, I'm just better with the gouge. I would practice on scrap, making a normal V cut, then slowly shift the cuts so one side of the V is perpendicular. Here is a pic of a few shoulders.
Always wanted to set up an impromptu zoom meeting... It's easier to show...

V cuts.jpeg
 
I make that cut with a skew.
Easiest with the point down. The skew bevel rides along the face.
Make a vee cut first like above. Cut the cylinder close to vee. Then cut the square pommel and finish the cylinder into the corner. You may need several passes at this to make a sharp corner.

it can be done with a spindle gouge if the bevel is lined up with the face you want to cut and the flute pointing parallel to the floor. Let the tool feed in slowly.

if you are painting poplar will be a bit less likely to chip.
 
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There is no wood that splinters easier than old fir. I've seen splinters 2' long come off in front of a router bit. I'm with Hockenbery, a skew is the tool for best results. You'll have to angle the handle over so the bevel on one side is perpendicular to the spindle. An super shallow long angle on the skew bevel will also help. A short bevel will require a multiple passes as you can't go to deep. One cheating technique is to hand saw all around the square, but it's incredible difficult to get the depth of the cut correct.
 
nice looking work Clifton C

Mr. Lou....I don't want high jack your forum but I gotta ask.. My powermatic came with the same tooling I see in your photo. what the heck is it used for? it's like 3 times too long :)
 
Clifton, Al and Richard, thanks so much for your suggestions, I’ll give it a try again tomorrow. Clifton, I agree with Lawrence, beautiful work! Looks like those are poplar? I’m also thinking as you suggest, if trying poplar or some other species. This is what I had on hand in 1 1/4” thickness.
Lawrence, I think you’re talking about the duplicator (replicator?) holder. Not sure if that’s the name, but a place to mount a piece you are looking to copy right behind your work. Makes it easy to transfer diameters, etc.
 
Lawrence, I think you’re talking about the duplicator (replicator?) holder. Not sure if that’s the name, but a place to mount a piece you are looking to copy right behind your work. Makes it easy to transfer diameters, etc.

Thanks
 
Scribe the lines with a razor knife around the square. Once you’ve cut into the surface it should not splinter? Sharp spindle gouge with the tool rest adjusted so the point of the gouge is at center. Go easy depending on what your spindle speed is.
 
The long point of the conventional skew down. To start use a square to mark all four sides of the pummel then do the V cut with a little space to spare and round off the remaining area to the maximum diameter needed for the turned details. The final cuts on the pummel need to be made skew bevel moved perpendicular in light cuts until the line is cut in half. The other point is to tip the skew slightly away from the cut such that the very point is doing the the cutting.
ChairLegDuplication_Repair.JPG
 
As Roger mentions above, your skew needs to be razor sharp to reduce the tear-out of the wood fibers on the square to round transition, "bbergst" above also mentions using a razor knife to cut around the square to round transition, I have used a similar technique on several occasions using a Japanese fine tooth trim saw cutting along the pencil marks of the square to transition, the corners are the weak point where the wood fibers usually splinter off, you can cut a little deeper around the corners as needed and barely score the flat sections depending on the diameter your round transition needs to be.
 
John, they are for a neighbor. I haven’t even seen the inside of their house in the last year. They said their dog, several years ago, chewed two of their spindles, and when they heard I was a turner, asked if I could possibly make them replacements. I just delivered them a few minutes ago, but don’t expect to see them in place, (unless they send me a photo) for at least several months.
 
Lou Jacobs said:
John, they are for a neighbor. I haven’t even seen the inside of their house in the last year. They said their dog, several years ago, chewed two of their spindles, and when they heard I was a turner, asked if I could possibly make them replacements. I just delivered them a few minutes ago, but don’t expect to see them in place, (unless they send me a photo) for at least several months.
Click to expand...
Given the look of the original spindle, with many decades of paint layers, I bet the dog has (had) lead poisoning.:(
 
I used to do lots of spindles that had included square sections. My favorite tool for that is the table saw. When I had to make multiples that required sharp square corners I would use the table saw cross cut fixture fitted with a 45 degree fence, set the blade height just a smidge below the finished cut, and make four cross cuts while flipping the spindle and holding against the 45 degree fence. Doing that ensured that the corner cuts would be square and splinter free after turning the complete spindle on the lathe.
In the photo, half of the spindles were duplicates I made interspersed with originals.
balusters - 1.jpeg
 
Tom, those are magnificent! Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll try it next time I have to do something like this. The challenge on this one was that the round came right up to the edge of the square. What I’m trying to say is that if the square was 1 1/8” inches across, the diameter of the spindle around where it met the square was also 1 1/8”. Perhaps I could’ve started with the square slightly oversized and cut it down after turning. In any case your banister is really an amazing work.
 
FlutedBaluster duplication.JPG
The balusters shown here don't have the same square to round transition however the same chip out problem still exists. The best route to go is still starting with the finished dimension on the plinth where as going oversized will not guaranteed to eliminate all of the chip out, just the smaller chips. The best technique is still the long point of the skew down and the square to round dimension is never the same.
 
Lou Jacobs said:
Don, beautiful spindles! Are those flutes routed? I’m trying to picture a jig that would allow the router to follow the contour of the spindle and cut an even depth.
Click to expand...
The router jig used was overhead slanted to match the taper on the baluster, guided to maintain centering and indexed for each flute.
 
Tom, believe it or not, I thought of something similar. Turning the square stock on the lathe and cutting close to the turning diameter with a sharp, fine tooth saw. Have heard many say the table saw was one of the handiest things to have in a shop. That and a bathroom close to the shop.
Don, beautiful job.
 
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