More pictures of shop made lathe tools

I get more questions about my carbide lathe tools than anything else, mostly about grinding, so here are more pictures of the business end.

The diamond tip is ground with a taper then flattens for the cutter. Nothing holds the carbide in place except friction and it hasn't budged. A few folks expressed concern because it isn't form fit like Easy Wood Tools but that isn't necessary for holding it in place.

I've had less success with the radius cutter and will eventually replace it with a round carbide. Radius cutters don't do anything the other shapes don't do better. I suggest that you use square bar for square, radius, and diamond cutters otherwise the tool tends to spin when using the corners. This cutter has several chips where catches have flung it against the tool rest.

The tapped hole goes completely through.

The grinding doesn't have to be pretty to be functional. Leave steel under the cutter for support then grind a relief matching the angle on the carbide.

Soon I will be making a new one with a square bar. I purchase my carbides from AZ Carbide, excellent prices and customer service along with fast shipping. I have no financial interest in the company and receive no compensation for recommending them.

Dinky Turned Box

While waiting for glue to dry on another project I was looking for something to do. Found a little nub from a previous turning and made a small box. 2 inch diameter, 1-1/4 inches tall.

Wooden coffee cup experiment

A wood coffee cup has been on my agenda for awhile so decided to do an experiment. This sample cup was turned from silver maple and unfortunately cracked while turning. The cracks were sealed with super glue inside and out. Then the cup was finished with three coats of brushed on lacquer. I was afraid the cracks might come back to haunt me and they did. After only a couple hours holding tap water, the lacquer failed and the wood swelled and burst along the crack lines. If anyone has successfully made coffee cups from wood, some advice is appreciated. Next time I might try some epoxy.

Turning an ipe and maple mallet

Final weight: 17 oz. 
Woods are ipe & maple

The handle is 2 pieces of 4/4 maple about 2×12 inches. The head is 4 pieces of 4/4 reclaimed ipe about 2.5×7 inches.

Getting the ipe flat without a jointer was trial and error. Hand planes dull after a few strokes and I didn't want to risk my planer knives, so it was a matter of using the table saw and skimming a little at a time until the pieces were reasonably flat. “Reasonably” meant a little more clamping pressure than usual but at least with ipe you don’t have to worry about leaving marks, it doesn't dent. Not that leaving marks would have mattered since they would be turned away.

Corners were knocked off on the table saw. The band saw would have been my first choice but mine only has a carbon steel blade and ipe can damage carbon steel.

I forget to take pictures so we jump from mounted on the lathe to pretty much done.

I only have carbon steel (cs) and carbide tools (note to self: really need to get some HSS), so it was carbide on the head and c.s. on the maple. The ipe machined nicely but carbide tends to cause more tear out than steel so I had a good bit of sanding. Ipe is merely amused by sandpaper so I got the head fairly smooth but not perfect.

Tried burning a lines in the end grain but it wasn't happening.

Finished with blonde shellac. Normally I prefer oil only on tool handles, especially hammers/mallets, but wanted to keep the maple a neutral color. 

The lines were burned with a piece of Formica which produces a cleaner line than wire. 

Formica samples like these can be found in most home improvement stores.


I would change one thing, make the head larger. My goal was to hit about 21 oz. but got too aggressive on lathe and ended up at 17 oz. Still, it's a fine mallet.

Turning a shallow bowl

Turned from recycled ipe.

Ipe Bowl

A glue block cut with a hole saw 

Removing the corners. Clamping a speed square was quicker than swinging the saw to 45 degrees.

Mounted to my Nova Midi chuck.

Roughed out.
Sheesh, this stuff is hard but I used carbides mostly because ipe dulls tools quickly.

Bead cut around the edge and a recess for the chuck jaws in the bottom.

The face hollowed.

Side shot.

Full frontal.

Color is yellowish in this shot but I like the busy background.

Finished with linseed oil and wax.

Making a maple microphone stand

A bent clothes hanger had been serving as a microphone stand for too long so I tossed it and turned a new one from silver maple. This is part of the maple tree that fell in our yard over a year ago. The black plastic holder came from a clamp-on microphone stand I had no use for. See the videos for details on how it was made.

The wood for the base was spalted (dark bands of color cause by a fungus) and bug eaten. I filled the bug holes with a padauk dust and super glue mixture (red) and gasket sealer (black). Dyed epoxy was the plan but it had disappeared so I used what was on hand.  The gasket sealer worked okay but I didn't get it deep enough into some of the holes.

Yes, that is a halo sticker on my file cabinet and yes that is a Guitar Hero microphone, I am a gamer. The mic is actually a decent USB microphone so I kept it when we sold Rock Band and Guitar Hero. 

Video

http://youtu.be/DKIY6MwD_-0

Part 2

Russian children's video on how to build a lathe

From what I gather the plan comes from a Russian magazine, pictured below. The video is based on the magazine and features a young boy, maybe ten years old, building a lathe from wood and bicycle parts. At the end he turns a chess rook. The lathe pictured below is a little different than the one in the video. You won’t need to understand the words to follow the build. The design is solid, with a little more care you could build a decent lathe this way.

From their website (translated via Google):
Yunost.RU – children TV channel that is broadcasting short films, which are a good tool for a better understanding of some school subjects. They are taught to carry out personal leisure and fun with good, believe in themselves, learn how to do something yourself.
(editor's note: sounds good to me!)

Back in 2007, Don Weber wrote an article for Popular Woodworking on building a more sophisticated treadle lathe from wood and bicycle parts.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/bicycle-lathe-plans

Spinning tops on the lathe

Made from odd bits of scrap with a maple dowel through the center. Turned on my 1958 Craftsman lathe using a Nova chuck with pin jaws.

Walnut and maple.

Mahogany and maple. 

Solid maple with brass point. 

  

This one developed a crack while turning. 

I sealed it with cyanoacrylate (Super Glue).

Inverted top. 

The bottom is hollowed. Tricky to spin but works nicely.

Apologies for the poor video quality. My phone struggled with the lighting.