7. Working between centres

Roughing out - Making a table lamp - Use of gouge - Making a stool leg, showing use of chisel and gouge - Long work between centres, showing use of steadies - Repetition work-Templates.

I think the easiest way to learn turning is to make some­thing definite, although your first attempt may not be too successful. At least you can learn by your mistakes. Table lamps are my favourite articles as they can be turned and finished without removing them from the lathe, and there is, also, something useful and saleable. A very important factor.

Using a four prong centre in the mandrel, mount a block of wood 6 in. long and 4 in. square between centres. The corners can have been previously removed with a chisel or saw, but it is possible to do this on the lathe, if care is exercised. Set up your lathe by altering the driving pulley to give a turning speed of about 1,000 r.p.m. Tighten the tailstock so that the wood is held firmly between centres— not too tight or you will damage the bearings. Adjust the position of the tool rest so that it is as close to the work as possible and at a height of about a quarter above the centre line of the work. Now start up the lathe. If there is any vibration, this is because the wood is out of balance but it will soon disappear when it is trued up by the roughing out operation. Taking the 3/4 in. half round gouge, hold the handle firmly in the right hand towards your right side. With your left hand, palm upwards and index finger against the tool rest, grasp the blade of the gouge between thumb and fingers. This should give you a good hold of the tool. The fingers, besides holding the tool, will act as a guide against the tool rest. Slightly turning the handle hand to the right, commence to push the tool into the wood at a point about 2 in. from the tailstock end of the work and at an angle to the tool rest. Continue in stages working from left to right until a point is reached about 2 in. from the live centre, where the gouge is rolled over on to its left side to carry the final cut off the live centre end of the work. This roughing out procedure is carried out by taking a number of bites at the work and not in one long, continuous stroke. Your piece of wood should be a more or less true cylinder by now, although probably a little rough. To smooth it down a little, just run the gouge on its side from end to end of the work, holding the tool as has already been described.

The best way to smooth the wood down is by using the chisel, but as this is about the most awkward tool with which to commence turning, we will leave this till later. All I want to do at the moment, is to get you used to the lathe and just a few of the easier-to-handle tools.

The next stage in our first masterpiece is to true the ends of the block with the parting tool. As the wood has been more or less trued up and is pretty well balanced, you can now increase the speed of your lathe to about 2,000 r.p.m. The parting tool can be held in a similar manner to the gouge, but again, I prefer the palm up method. It must be remem­bered in turning that no brute force is required. It can, in fact, be done single-handed, as some operations call for, and if your tools are sharp and you understand what you are doing, only a very light touch is necessary. Forgive me if I repeat myself from time to time, but to get some of the important points home, it just has to be done.

With the handle hand down and the parting tool resting on top of the work, gradually lift up the handle and com­mence the cut, continuing until a point is reached close to the centre. Alternatively, the tool can just be pushed straight into the wood and it will scrape its way to the centre of the work. Make sure the point of the tool does not wander, as the left-hand side of the work will eventually be the base of the table lamp. We don't want our first project to rock or to fall off the table.

The next stage is the final shaping of the block to some pleasing shape. This is the whole joy of woodturning, as before your very eyes, a comparatively useless piece of wood is quickly transformed into a thing of usefulness and beauty. Take the 3/8 in. half round gouge holding it as with the other tools. Turn it on its right side and commence to cut away the right-hand end of the cylinder, pointing the tool in the direction of the cut, with the bevel rubbing the work. Continue with separate sweeps of the gouge until the desired shape is reached, as in figure 13. This will be the top of the table lamp. The next stage is to shape the stem. Holding the 3/8 in. gouge as before, cut a small V-groove about 2 in. from the headstock end and continue to enlarge this, taking alternate cuts first on one side of the V and then on the other, thus shaping it to the required design. On no account cut down one side of the V and back up the other. This will really get you into trouble. Always cut from the larger diameter to the smaller, no matter how small the detail you are shaping. If you are using the gouge correctly, you should be getting nice curly shavings coming away from your tool. If you are not, try tilting the gouge a little more in the direc­tion of the cut. Continue cutting at this point until you have produced a nice curved neck. To shape the two little steps or coves, just turn the gouge completely on its side and cut with the tip of the tool.

The parting tool could, however, be used here if you prefer it, but the cut will not be so smooth. The small groove at the top of the lamp is cut in the same way. We used the parting tool in the early stages to true the ends of the wood, but as this leaves the work rather rough, the end next to the tailstock must be cleaned up. Here again, we can use the f in. gouge, but turn it completely on its right side, so that you are making a slicing cut with the tip of the tool. Carry the cut right up to the tailstock centre. If you prefer it, try a cut with a long pointed or skew chisel. Grasp the tool as before, but with the long point of the chisel downwards and the bevel rubbing the end of the work, push the tool into the wood, taking off quite a light shaving.

Figure 13. Shaping a cylinder of wood.

All that remains is to sand paper the lamp smoothly and polish. Polishing will be dealt with later in the book, but when sand papering, hold the paper under the work, so that, in the event of accident, it is taken away from your hand and not forced into it.

I hope that by now, you have gained a certain amount of confidence in yourself and that you are getting the feel of your tools. Some may criticize your method of working, but there is plenty of time to master the other tools. Get confidence in yourself and your lathe and turning will almost look after itself.

You have now had a fair exercise with a gouge, so let us make a stool leg, using chisels and gouge. Part of a stool or table leg has to be left square, to enable the cabinet maker to make joints, etc., and this usually presents a problem to the amateur. Get a piece of wood about 21/2 in. square and 18 in. long, preferably planed square on all four sides. Before mounting between centres, carefully mark a diagonal cross from corner to corner at each end of the wood. This will give you the true centres. Centre punch these marks and mount in the lathe between centres, screw up the tailstock and lock in position. If you are using a plain, or cup centre, in the tailstock, remember to apply a little grease or oil, to prevent burning. This is most important.

Use your longest tool rest and adjust it for correct height and as close to the work as possible, remembering that you are turning a square piece of wood and you do not want to knock the corners off on the rest. It is a good idea to rotate the work by hand before starting up under power, to make sure all is clear and the work truly centred. If it is difficult to turn by hand, this indicates that the tailstock is too tight, so slacken it off by a quarter of a turn. In this project, I propose leaving 4 or 5 in. nearest the headstock in the square. The rest of the wood will be turned. We must, then, make a cut marking the point and also to keep it square whilst turning the rest of the work. This can be done in several ways. The best way is to make a nick, using the point of the skew chisel, which will prevent the work from splintering. Holding the chisel as before, with the point downwards slightly in the direction of the tailstock, push the tool into the work, at the same time lifting the handle. Make a second cut slightly to the right of the first pass with the tool pointing slightly towards the headstock. This will cut a small V on all four corners of the wood.

Continue cutting alternately on the left and the right of this cut, until a continuous line is round the work. Remem­ber to cut with the bevel of the tool rubbing the work. Taking a 3/4 in. gouge, commence to round off the work to the right of the V-cut. Work from a point 2 in. from the tailstock progressively working back towards a point about 2 in. from the square of the work, tilting the gouge slightly on its right side and pointing in the direction of the cut. When nearing the square, reverse the position of the gouge, that is on to its left side and gradually round off the remainder taking great care not to damage the squared piece of work. An alternative method of cutting a square shoulder is to use the parting tool, although the finish will not be so good and there is a risk of splintering the wood unless the tool is really sharp. We now have the basic form for our stool leg and we can start to turn a design.

If several legs are required of the same design, it is a good idea to make a template, or lay out the design on a piece of cardboard or hardboard showing various sections and sizes. Or use a piece of wood with sharp brad points to mark all the basic features. All that is necessary is to press the pattern board against the revolving work, the brad points marking the wood wherever the design changes. These templates or layout boards should always hang up in your shed for further use, when required.

Figure 14. Turning a square to round using skew chisel.

Let us assume that we have our design already marked on a piece of hardboard and that it looks something like that shown in plate 7. Holding the template against the tool rest and with the work rotating about 2,000 r.p.m., mark the various changes in design on the rotating wood, with a pencil. With the parting tool, cut at these various points to the depth of the cut desired. This will leave the work looking something like plate 8. The next stage is to form the two beads. For the beginner, I would recommend using our old faithful tool, the 3/8 in. half round gouge. Commencing in the centre of the bead, and holding the gouge flat on the work with the bevel rubbing, gradually twist the handle first to the right, thus turning the right-hand side of the bead, and then with the gouge again flat on its bevel in the centre of the bead, twist or roll the gouge to the left. Make two separate operations of this and on no account go backwards and forwards around the bead. Remember the very vital rule in turning of cutting from the larger diameter to the smaller.

If you are feeling really confident with your tools, the beads can be turned using a square ended or skew chisel of about 1/2 in. wide. The process is exactly the same as before, but make sure the bevel of your chisel rubs all the time, and the cut is made using only the heel of the chisel, or you will be in trouble and you will have no bead left at all. The cut is started in exactly the same way as with a gouge and rolled to the left or right to form the shape. Although the chisel is more difficult to use, the finished cut is much cleaner and the points where the design changes much sharper. Our next detail is the coves, or concave cuts, at points Z. Here again you will find the 3/8 in. half round gouge the best tool to use, although a lot depends on the size of the cove. It may be necessary, in some cases, to use a much smaller gouge. The gouge is placed on edge and at right angles to the work and pointed directly at the centre of the work, the tip of the tool, only, doing all the work. The starting angle of the gouge is most important, otherwise the tool will wander all over the place. To commence the cut, push the gouge into the work and at the same time, slightly roll the tool on the rest, drop­ping the handle at the same time, keeping the bevel always rubbing the work. Only half of the cove is cut at a time, the gouge being reversed to cut the remaining half and gradually blending the two halves together. Don't forget, you must still cut from the larger to the smaller diameter. If you are anxious to make your work a little easier, you can make all the beads, coves and other shapes by scraping to shape with a parting tool or specially made scraper. This is not true turning and the finish will be very rough and it will be diffi­cult to get a final finish. Remember that sand paper will not improve matters very much if the original cut is not smooth. I know of one person who calls himself a wood­turner and makes all his shapes with either a rasp or coarse sand paper wound around a piece of wood. This is a poor substitute for true woodturning. Try to cut the wood the way it should be cut.

The rest of the stool leg is shaped with the 3/4- in. half round gouge. Start your cut at the largest diameter and work to the right and left. Remember that the gouge must use the bevel and be held slightly at an angle, pointing the whole tool in the direction of the cut. Great care must be taken when nearing the finished shape, otherwise your beads and coves may be damaged. Wherever the design changes make a definite break in your turning. It is a very bad practice to slur or run together the different parts of the design.

If you have followed my instructions so far, you should be getting quite used to handling your selection of tools. Do not be too upset if your stool leg is not as good as you had hoped for. You will soon get 'in the groove'.

On more than one occasion I have been given a very slender piece of wood and asked to turn a fishing rod on my lathe. The customer assumes, of course, that because a fishing rod is round it is quite an easy job to turn it on a lathe. Well, you can take it from me, that this is not so. I mention this because it brings me to the next item which is steadies.

Figure 15. Lathe steady.

When turning any slender work, there is always a great risk of the work bending and buckling as soon as the chisel or gouge is put to the work. The old craftsmen quite often use one hand held round the work to support it, whilst the other hand does the cutting. After a lot of practice this method can be used quite successfully, but for the ama­teur, I would suggest you leave this well alone. A more positive method is to use a steady. This is a device which is usually fixed to the bed of the lathe and exerts a slight pres­sure against the work whilst the operator is turning, as shown in figure 15. In use, the work is first turned down to a cylinder somewhere near the centre of the work. The lathe is stopped and the steady is moved to a point on the bed of the lathe opposite this section. The three arms of the steady are then adjusted to exert a firm pressure against the wood but not sufficiently to cause overheating. A little grease or soap at points of contact will help a little here. Turning is then carried out, first to the right of the steady, and then con­tinued to the left. The portion occupied by the steady is turned last, the steady being removed, and very light cuts being taken. If you can pluck up enough courage, it is a very good idea to support the back of the turning with the left hand, whilst this final cut is carried out.

Most manufactured steadies are made of metal and have three adjustable arms, the whole fitment being bolted to the lathe where required. Many turners would rather have a wooden steady and these are quite easily made, although they work on a different principle and adjust themselves to the work. These wooden steadies can be either fixed to the lathe bed or bolted to the workbench behind the lathe, and usually consist of a notched piece of wood, which is adjustable for height, and pivoted, so that it can be brought to bear on the work. Figure 16 shows a typical wooden steady, its operation being self explanatory. In use it is self adjustable, which is one advantage over the metal type. The three arm metal steady can also be used for supporting work when end boring, as in slender table lamps, etc. Most amateurs will probably have little use for a steady for some considerable time and, I must admit, that I seldom use one, although on some occasions it would have been very useful.

Figure 16. Homemade steady.

The lathes I have mentioned in an earlier chapter have a maximum distance between centres of 30 in., although larger ones can be supplied to order. This distance is a very con­venient one, as nearly all tables have legs 30 in. long and tall floor standards of 5 ft. overall length can easily be made by turning two lengths of 30 in. each. The days of extra long bed­posts and newels reaching to the top of the house have passed. When they were in fashion, the lathe steady was put to very good use, especially when some of the lengths of timber turned were nearly 20 ft in length. If you have no steady, do not try to turn lengths of timber less than 2 in. in diameter. If you do, you can expect the wood to jump all over the place as soon as you start to turn. Some woods, being more springy than others, really give you quite a headache. The turner can soon see whether a steady or back support is required as spiral ridges build up as you start turning. Whenever you are turning fairly long lengths of wood, always start your shaping at the tailstock end and gradually work back towards the headstock. The reason for this is to keep the maximum amount of wood towards the driving end of the lathe to minimize the extent of bending or whipping.

If you do commence turning at the headstock end and you reduce the wood to 1 in. or 11/2 in. in diameter, you will find it very difficult indeed to turn from a point about half way along and towards the tailstock, owing to the amount of vibration or chatter which is set up.

When your turning is completed and you stop the lathe, look and see if there are spiral ridges where there should be none. If there are, you must remove them with your cutting tool or a scraper. It is no use thinking that you can sand paper these ridges out easily because you cannot. Quite often chatter or ridging can be overcome by exerting more pressure on the bevel of the gouge or chisel, but do not take off a thicker cut in so doing. At all times in this type of turning, keep your tools really sharp. I cannot stress this latter point too much.

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