pauly99
Member
I guess we all have things that we are good at and hobbies that we pick up and are in the learning phase. I almost have all of my tools (waiting on the chuck jaws for drilling on the lathe) and I'm excited about starting to turn pens. Super excited. I'm sure there are many opinions on the best ways to sharpen tools, best kits to buy as a beginner, etc... For now I've got a simple question. I just finished building a bird feeder and was hoping to practice turning with the cedar wood that I have left over. I cut the wood down to size, did my best to drill in the center handholding a drill, and put it on the pen mandrel. The best that I can do with a rough gouge is to chip at the wood (running about 3500 rpm).
Is it possible that the wood is just too soft, that maybe the rough gouge is not sharp enough (using an 8" Grizzly wet grinder), or a combination of the two? I probably have about 4 slimline kits ready to turn and a good block of poplar (maybe 18"x5") but until I get the chuck jaws I don't want to start throwing away blanks that I will most likely not hand drill correctly.
Is it possible that the wood is just too soft, that maybe the rough gouge is not sharp enough (using an 8" Grizzly wet grinder), or a combination of the two? I probably have about 4 slimline kits ready to turn and a good block of poplar (maybe 18"x5") but until I get the chuck jaws I don't want to start throwing away blanks that I will most likely not hand drill correctly.