Long finishing mandrel

[JPW062]

I was thinking about my continuous WTF time consumption finishing problem, and I realized a LOOoong mandrel would solve my problem. Something I could utilize the full length of my lathe bed with using the plastic finishing bushings to run as many as possible at once.

Anyone tried this? Anyone want to turn and thread a rod for me?
I have a cheap pen mandrel now, but with a pro mandrel and mandrel saver I think I might be able to use just a 7mm rod.

On a shopsmith I could finish... I might keep my shopsmith after all.

 

[Curly]

You will have to keep the rpm's very low or risk the thing bending like a girls jump rope. You would need at least one steady rest in the middle so the time you spend futzing with loading the mandrel and putting it in the lathe you might as well use a regular one or finish between centres.

 

[dogcatcher]

I have done game calls that way, but I was finishing with Teak Oil mix. I has a 3 foot piece of 3/8" all thread stuck in my collet chuck. I made plastic plugs so that I could slide on a plug, then a call barrel, a plug and then a call barrel until I reach the end, there I added a plug and a nut to keep it tight. I rotated the thing by hand, as I applied teak oil with the other.

That lasted about a week, I rigged up a variable speed drill and hooked it up to one end and a V notch on a 2x4 for the other end. Turn it on slow and start wiping the call bodies. For me, there was better ways, I eventually went to a tapered mandrel, where I could turn the lathe on slow, slide call body on, wipe, slide it off and rack it, slide a call body on, wipe it, slide it off and rack it, repeat until finished. Took me less time.

 

[JPW062]

With WTF I do 6+ coats at about 5 minutes a coat.
I like the results a lot, just not the time.