diaganol blanks

[fjd]

I purchased some diagnol blanks which the barrel trimmer
cracks the blank or they chip on the lathe. Are these blanks
hard to use. I didnt find this with other blanks

 

[bitshird]

Diagonal or cross cut blanks are more difficult to turn than the same specie of wood cut wit the grain (rip cut) but the results are normally far more spectacular, Very sharp tools MUST be used, normally barrel trimmers don't fall into the category of Very Sharp. Sanding on a belt/disk sander with a simple home made jig will usually yield better results.

 

[ToddMR]

i have turned two types of diag cut blanks and havent had issues with either. one was canary wood and I forget what the other one was.

 

[DurocShark]

Flip the head of your barrel trimmer around on the shaft and put some stickyback sand paper on it. Use that paper instead of the cutting edges for tricky materials.

I actually bought a "trimmer" made just for that use so I don't have to flip the regular trimmer head around anymore.

 

[lorbay]

Diagonal or cross cut blanks are more difficult to turn than the same specie of wood cut wit the grain (rip cut) but the results are normally far more spectacular, Very sharp tools MUST be used, normally barrel trimmers don't fall into the category of Very Sharp. Sanding on a belt/disk sander with a simple home made jig will usually yield better results.

Here is a link to the disk sanding method.

http://content.penturners.org/articles/2010/squaringpenblanksonabeltdiscsander.pdf

 

[arw01]

That's a doh! moment. Wanted one of those other trimmers, but I have a dull one that leaves the tube proud in normal mode now that would make a great reverse unit!

Sometimes I need to clean up the end of a turned blank and that will be wonderful. If I recall they sell a 2" self adhesive sanding disk someplace.

 

[DurocShark]

I just buy cheap self-adhesive paper in whatever shape, and tear it somewhere near the shape of the trimmer. A cheap hole punch gets a good hole but a bit big, or you can use an old 1/4" drill bit.