rick_lindsey
Member
Hello! I've always been interested in getting a lathe and setting up a shop in my garage, but everytime I saved up enough to buy a lathe I realized I also needed tools... and a grinder... and a sharpening jig... and a bandsaw for cutting the wood... and a drillpress... and it never happened.
After moving to tucson, I discovered that my new employer had a woodworking club, and in fact had an entire woodshop on the plant-site! I joined the club, and have been going over a couple times a week to practice with the lathe during my lunch hours. At first I was having a hard time, because the lathe tools were all dull and I didn't know how to sharpen them. I still don't, really, but one of the club members showed me how to sharpen them freehand on the belt sander, so that's what I've been doing before I start. I picked up some purpleheart and bloodwood and have been playing at making hairsticks. Another member gave me a handful of pre-drilled pen blanks to play with, and I turned my first pen on my own... a walnut slimline (I took a woodcraft pen turning class last spring).
I decided to make pens for the father-figures this christmas (my father, her father, her step-father, and her grandfather), so I picked up a chunk of cocobola and cut it into 4 pen blanks and 2 stopper blanks (planning to make a bottle stopper for my honey).
I've got a handful of Euro kits and a bushing set for the Euros, (I like them better than slimlines, and they were on sale! I would have gotten all black-titanium but they only had 2, so I also got a platinum and a gold. This was also the kit I made in the woodcraft class). The club has a standard mandrel for slimlines, which I understand will also work for my euros.
Wish me luck as I take my first big step down this slippery slope! I'm hoping to get all 4 pens made before we go to Reno for christmas (a week and a half, yikes!).
I have a few questions and concerns... on my walnut slimline I noticed that the barrels are just a touch out of round... the top barrel is flush with the centerbarrel on one side, but rotate 180 degrees and it stands a bit proud. The bottom barrel doesn't ever get quite flush so it's harder to tell on that one .
I assume this is because i'm turning both barrels together on a mandrel and it's bowing ever so slightly? I've heard of going to "mandrel-less" turning to avoid this problem, how does that work? Are there shorter mandrels available that solve the problem but still use the standard bushings?
Also, my wood is cocobola, which I think i've heard is an oily wood. What finish recommendations would you have for a newbie in a hurry with cocobola? I really like the way the grain looks where I cut it (it was waxed or something so you couldn't really see the grain from the outside of the 2x2x12 chunk), and I think it's a more appropriate wood for the father figures than purpleheart.
thanks!!!
-Rick
After moving to tucson, I discovered that my new employer had a woodworking club, and in fact had an entire woodshop on the plant-site! I joined the club, and have been going over a couple times a week to practice with the lathe during my lunch hours. At first I was having a hard time, because the lathe tools were all dull and I didn't know how to sharpen them. I still don't, really, but one of the club members showed me how to sharpen them freehand on the belt sander, so that's what I've been doing before I start. I picked up some purpleheart and bloodwood and have been playing at making hairsticks. Another member gave me a handful of pre-drilled pen blanks to play with, and I turned my first pen on my own... a walnut slimline (I took a woodcraft pen turning class last spring).
I decided to make pens for the father-figures this christmas (my father, her father, her step-father, and her grandfather), so I picked up a chunk of cocobola and cut it into 4 pen blanks and 2 stopper blanks (planning to make a bottle stopper for my honey).
I've got a handful of Euro kits and a bushing set for the Euros, (I like them better than slimlines, and they were on sale! I would have gotten all black-titanium but they only had 2, so I also got a platinum and a gold. This was also the kit I made in the woodcraft class). The club has a standard mandrel for slimlines, which I understand will also work for my euros.
Wish me luck as I take my first big step down this slippery slope! I'm hoping to get all 4 pens made before we go to Reno for christmas (a week and a half, yikes!).
I have a few questions and concerns... on my walnut slimline I noticed that the barrels are just a touch out of round... the top barrel is flush with the centerbarrel on one side, but rotate 180 degrees and it stands a bit proud. The bottom barrel doesn't ever get quite flush so it's harder to tell on that one .
I assume this is because i'm turning both barrels together on a mandrel and it's bowing ever so slightly? I've heard of going to "mandrel-less" turning to avoid this problem, how does that work? Are there shorter mandrels available that solve the problem but still use the standard bushings?
Also, my wood is cocobola, which I think i've heard is an oily wood. What finish recommendations would you have for a newbie in a hurry with cocobola? I really like the way the grain looks where I cut it (it was waxed or something so you couldn't really see the grain from the outside of the 2x2x12 chunk), and I think it's a more appropriate wood for the father figures than purpleheart.
thanks!!!
-Rick