First venture into square turning

[Steve Jones]

Hi everyone

Thought I'd share these pics with you, I recently aquired some pieces of English walnut so decided to have a go at turning a square candle dish.

overall I'm reasonably pleased with the outcome but there are things that I would do differntly the next time and at least I still have all my fingers intact to have another go.

Please feel free to comment, I still have a lot to learn

Steve

 

[Paul.J]

Looks good to me Steve
Beautiful piece of Walnut and looks to be well finished.
Never turned a piece like that meself so well done to you.

 

[dickm]

Wow. That really is something. Brilliant.
Especially if you still have all fingers - I've never dared try that sort of thing.

 

[Steve Jones]

Hi

Paul, for you info the walnut came from Kevin at earlswood, I think he still has some left.

Dick, I can tell you it's not for the faint hearted, I had a couple of near misses on the fingers where the corners ripped the abranet I was using out of my hands :shock:

Still it's all good fun at the end of the day as long as your careful

Steve

 

[Bodrighy]

Looks good Steve. Lovely piece of wood and well finished by the look of it. You can get squares of abrasive on a foam backing which I find much safer for this sort of thing. Expensive but if kept just for things with finger eating corners and obtrusions well worth it.

Pete

 

[Dean]

Looks great from here steve, lovely piece of wood and the shape you've turned brings the wood out even more, the finish looks just right on that piece, very nice

I put a tiny spot of bright yellow marker pen on the tip of each corner then when it's spinning you can see the nasty bits to avoid.

 

[mikec]

Looks great Steve.
Beautiful piece of wood, lovely finish.

 

[cornucopia]

excellent in every way

 

[Steve Jones]

Thanks for all the nice comments.

Forgot to add in original post that it's about 7 1/2" square and finished with sealer 2 coats of lacquer and woodwax 22

Pete, I'll definitely look into getting some of those foam sanding pads.
Dean, thanks for the tip I'll remember that for the next one.

Can anyone point me in the right direction of a supplier for the foam sanding pads ?

Seasons Greetings

Steve

 

[johnny.t.]

Thats really nice Steve, well done for keeping your fingers intact , I made a rectangilar base for a teapot stand about 9" across last week and got sucked in, my little finger still hurts!!!

JT

 

[PowerTool]

Very nice work,Steve - beautiful piece of timber,shape is very appealing,and finish looks excellent (Oh,and it's useable as well!)
I do most of my sanding on such pieces with Axminsters sanding pads and discs;normally use a cork sanding block and abrasive for doing the edges (with the lathe OFF).
When sanding the wings,tilt the drill back slightly,so you are sanding only with the bottom half of the pad,so you can't catch it with the wings as they whizz past.. :wink:
Toolpost do foam-backed abrasive,Axminster do foam pads and sanding blocks

Hope this helps,although it looks like you've got it pretty well mastered already 8)

Andrew

 

[Steve Jones]

Thanks Andrew, Toolpost is only about an hours ride from here by car, so may go and check them out after xmas.

Steve

 

[Dean]

Steve, stop right there, I've got a sandmaster hanging up that I never use
think it may need a new pad but they don't cost much, you can have it mate, no charge merry christmas, PM your address and I'll drop it in, you're only up the road from me, I think

 

[TEP]

Mornin' Steve.

I don't think you have anything to be ashamed about as your first attempt at this work. Beautiful piece of timber and not too fussy, a nice shape.

I'm with Andrew on his comment of sanding the wings with the lathe stopped, it can be done with the lathe spinning, BUT when it goes wrong it is usually in a big way. Fingers or a broken edge. (Broken edge, job knackered. Fingers, blood all over the work, and it can put you off for the rest of the day. :twisted: )

One suggestion I will make on square edged turnings is to be very careful when working the corners. IMO they should be the same thickness all along the edge. The corners on the bowl have been cut/sanded away at the ends, which is also one of the consequences of trying to sand with the lathe spinning.

Nice bit of work!

 

[The Shark]

Hi Steve,
Well done! A lovely piece of wood that has been well turned. Glad you still have all your fingers.
Something else for me to aspire to

Malc

 

[Steve Jones]

Hi Tam,

What you are describing regarding keeping the thickness equal up to the corners is what I was trying to achieve, but I can see from doing this first square that it's going to take a lot of patience and practice.

Dean you have PM

Steve

 

[Wanlock Dod]

Hi Steve,

It's a really nice piece, one to keep I'd say.

I always sand the edges of stuff like that withthe lathe stopped, although I'll sand the central parts carefully with the lathe spinning.

Cheers,

Dod

 

[pete honeyman]

Lovely piece, reminds me of some of Bob Chapman's boxes. I always power sand the corners with the lathe stopped - doing it with lathe running tends to take the sharp edges and corners away (although you can get them back with a belt sander later).

Pete II

 

[MikeG.]

I am a non-turner, so forgive me if this is a naive question!

Given all the comments about "glad you still have your fingers" etc.....why wouldn't you turn this round, and then cut the edges off to make a square?

If the answer is that this is the width of the board you started with, how about gluing some cheap sacrificial stuff around it so that you have a circle? Then you would turn a dish-like shape and cut the spare off..........no danger to the digits.

........or am I missing something?

Mike

 

[Bodrighy]

One way of doing these is as you said having sacrificial pieces around it. Perhaps we turners just like trying to do things the hard way. Same as some like making bowls so thin that they are more fragile than porcelain. :lol:

To be quite honest, I personally find it easier to turn the way that it's been done here than faffing around gluing bits on. Horses for courses I suppose. No right or wrong way, the end result is what matters.

Pete