Complete beginner - on the verge of giving up.....

[sammylou]

I'm hoping that someone on here could give me some pointers as to where I'm going wrong, before I end up completely terrified of my lathe and leave it to gather dust in a corner.....

I did a little turning a few years ago and I really enjoyed it, so I took my christmas money and bought myself a cheap lathe from Machine mart and a cheapish set of chisels. The first few things I turned were easy and quick and it was great, then I tried to turn a small bowl, the outside turned easy enough, a little slower but I think by then my chisels needed a good sharpen.

Fast forward to this weekend, I'd got a grinder and my chisels were freshly sharpened. Set the lathe up again and try to finish the bowl that was half done, chisel digs in again and again and again. I even tried using the chisels I hadn't yet sharpened and they dug in. I've varied the height of the lathe, the sharpness of the chisels, the speed, the type of wood, everything digs in! I actually broke a chisel!

I've read articles and watched youtube videos, tried what they suggest and it still digs in, and not just little nicks but huge chunks and gouges!

Help.....

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Join a club. Read Keith Rowley's Foundation Course. Possibly the best two bits of advice you'll get. Don't carry on on your own til you get thoroughly peed off.

 

[nev]

+1 for Keith Rowley's book.
The digging in is probably caused by any one or all of the following...
The wrong tool
The wrong profile (shape of cutting edge) on the right tool
And of course (politely) incorrect use of the correct tool including
Incorrect angle of tool presentation
Incorrect tool (rest) height

I will try and find a suitable video or two later that may show the correct way to do it - not all of the ' experts' on you tube etc are helpful.

 

[Paul.J]

Hello Sammy and welcome
I think most self taught beginners have gone through this stage i know i did so don't get giving up just yet.
Have you got a piccy of the tools you are using.
As above get KRs book and have a good read through that several times and keep referring back to it when you wannna know summat or ask here if you get stuck again.

 

[Robbo3]

+1 for the replies above, or

I would suspect that you are using either :
1. A gouge with a shallow grind angle (aprox 30°) or even a spindle gouge.
2. A bowl gouge with a steeper grind (45°+) but the bevel is too long

In both cases the bowl is concave but the tool is convex (hollow grind from a grinding wheel or flat from a belt sander) & won't travel round the curve without the nose digging in.
Experienced turners often grind away the heel (a secondary bevel) to shorten the length of the bevel.

3. The gouge is ground square across with large wings (like a spindle roughing gouge) & the pointed wing tip is catching.

These are only possible explanations, not advice, as I don't know what tools you have or how they are ground.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

If you've broken a gouge then it sounds like it wasn't a dedicated bowl gouge?? Was it a spindle roughing gouge by any chance? With a tang in the handle?

Please get the book and join a club, a broken chisel is symptomatic of you taking pretty bold risks with your technique and lathes really can bite if you get it badly wrong. Failing that, a one on one days instruction with any pro turner in your area wont cost the earth.

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

There's a saying that a good worker never blames the tools.
Alas, in woodturning this is probably not the case. I believe the "starter" set of tools from Machine Mart are the same as what I started with, similar to this lot?
They are horrible, and IMHO downright dangerous in the wrong hands.
Before giving up, try some budget tools from Axminster. Buy the bowl gouge, and if that doesn't improve things by a huge amount you will not be that much out of pocket.

That starter set will have a round nose scraper. You should be able to hollow using that if you take reasonably light cuts, with much fewer catches.

Don't give up until you have tried better tools, and as others have suggested join a club and/or read the KR book.

Self teaching is not easy, if you don't have anyone to tell you where you are going wrong. What I have done is started filming myself and watching the footage back. Comparing myself to turning videos allows me to see my obvious errors.

HTH

Tom

 

[tinyminds]

this post sounds very familiar. i had loads of trouble with bowls till i realized that what i though was a bowl gouge was not in fact a bowl gouge. once i got myself a nice long hefty one, turning was a joy. you can do pretty much anything with one and i very rarely get any catches anymore.

 

[Ghengis]

Try this guy, Mike Waldt, he has a playlist for beginners.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI_tt3 ... B8ebtB4k1w

 

[Silverbirch]

In addition to all the good advice above, I would suggest just practicing on pieces of scrap wood. You can learn a lot by practicing spindle turning i.e between centres. It`s also easier to pick up suitable scrap timber for this type of turning. Don`t bother about trying to produce anything, just make shavings.
Likewise, if you do some faceplate turning ( i.e. of the type which produces bowls, dishes etc) just start very gently and carefully, again using scrap, so that you can see what the tool is doing.
Also, it sounds as if you were perhaps turning your bowl at too high a speed?
Mistakes happen very quickly in woodturning!

 

[Dalboy]

I agree about buying "Keith Rowley's A Foundation Course" book and finding a club local to you, they will certainly help with any questions. Don't give up as you will find turning a very addictive hobby

 

[duncanh]

Where are you in Northumberland? You could try going along to Northuberland Woodturning Association. They meet every month and have larger demos every other month. The next meeting is this Friday.
There's also a small group in Blyth but I don't know the details for it.

 

[sammylou]

Thank you so much everyone. I have ordered Keith Rowley's book off Amazon and got in touch with the Border woodturners who meet not too far away from me, hopefully I will find someone there who can show me what I'm doing.

The tools I have are the ones Tasmaniandevil links too, they aren't particularly nice tools but I didn't want to spend a lot of money until I knew what I was doing. I think I'll order a proper gouge and not use the cheap ones.

Thanks again

 

[bugbear]

they aren't particularly nice tools but I didn't want to spend a lot of money until I knew what I was doing.

I think we should call this "beginner's paradox". It's reasonable not to want to commit money
to a hobby you might not continue, but with low skill levels, better tools would make the learning
curve easier.

BugBear

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Sammylou, I appreciate its a hell of a long way to drive but if you're down my way at all (Reading area) then you're welcome to a free mornings teach-in session. You would of course be required to supply the chocolate biscuits

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

We have a strange paradox where the advent of the Aldi type lathe makes the hobby more accessible, yet more difficult to learn because of the quality of the tooling supplied.
A huge number of us hobbyists are self taught, and run our hobby on a shoestring. I believe a middle ground is possible, where we can make numerous mistakes without losing heart.
The club experience is not for everyone, but should at least be tried. Most clubs will do a taster session for newcomers, and the majority of folk will make new members feel welcome. Do be prepared however for the odd flat cap and corduroy pipe type who will try to push newcomers to the back of every queue and stand in front of those less worthy at shows & demonstrations.
Books, journals, videos and magazines are a huge part of our armoury, but be careful of YouTube where absolutely anyone can post a video. Some of those are scary from a health & safety perspective. That's not to say all YouTube videos are bad. There are some very talented people out there making videos.
We have a hobby where anyone can buy a potentially lethal machine & tools with no checks on knowledge, ability or suitability. There is no practical way to enforce safety precautions, and little training in safety procedures available.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

which is precisely why at least a mornings one on one is in my view a very good idea

 

[Kalimna]

Just out of interest, where does one acquire the Rowley book? As it seems out of stock wherever I have looked online?

And Tasmaniandevil, have you been through Bridge of Allan recently? Seems the large cherry trees have been cut down with rather large lumps of trunk (complete with all the burr-y-ness) left around, though they may have gone by now.

Cheers,
Adam

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

which is precisely why at least a mornings one on one is in my view a very good idea

Absolutely. I had a couple of 4-hour tuition sessions and felt so much more confident after each one.

Just out of interest, where does one acquire the Rowley book? As it seems out of stock wherever I have looked online?

I got mine from Amazon. There are some UK sellers with it in stock. Some cheeky beggars are ramping the price up though.

And Tasmaniandevil, have you been through Bridge of Allan recently? Seems the large cherry trees have been cut down with rather large lumps of trunk (complete with all the burr-y-ness) left around

Someone else mentioned this to me, but I'm currently winged, with a torn rotator cuff. Heavy lifting is out, and TBH I haven't even been driving 'cos changing gear is a challenge.
Thanks for the heads-up though. Hopefully there will be some left when I'm more able.

 

[Kalimna]

The bits I saw the other night would have needed at least 2 people to lift anyway, possibly a winch too. Having said that, if it was during the day, and a kind word in the tree surgeons ear.....
I had seen the price on Amazon, so I may just keep checking elsewhere, unless it I'd out of print

Cheers,
Adam