Newbie Small candle stick Second attempt

[hog&bodge]

Warning newbie in action
I had another go on the lathe. Set out to make a small
candle stick with a wax collector cup under the candle all was going
well but cracks started to form.
Had the log around two years, it was not thick felt very dry
and looked dry..

I continued anyway

Drilled out the base and filled it with a lump of lead
to give it a good balance and felt it would be safer....
Just finished it off with teak oil.

Have been reading other members threads & the standard of turning
is just stunning..
Looks like I have a long long rocky road of learning & disasters to
come.

Was it the heat of the turning that caused the splits E.g having the lathe
to fast or cutting to hard..?

Want to have a go at the cup and ball game seems to be a good
project for a beginner.
Thanks for looking hope it was not to traumatic.. :lol:
P.s
First attempt was seriously disastrous.:shock: To shocking to post :shock:

 

[John. B]

What wood is it?
Did you sand it at speed? (one of the biggest reasons for wood to crack)
Too much heat build up.
must sand at slow speed IMO.
The shape is not for me I'm afraid, I like balanced work and this does seem to be a little unbalanced.
If you put a standard size candle in it, I think it would look top heavy.
Good attempt though, It's a long learning curve.
I hope I don't sound too patronising It's not meant to.

John. B

 

[Jenx]

H&B, thats nae a bad effort for a first go ! ... you've much to be happy about there !

I'd go along with the 'hazards of sanding with gritted teeth' :lol: ...
Best, if you can to sand really slow.. which I learnt to my cost ! having ruined quite a lot of stuff with heatsplits, caused by overly-exhuberant sanding !

I'm just learning my way along too at the minute... and definately the more practice, the better.
There's a good few of us here that are at the starting out stage, and that candlestick of yours is a good first go, for sure !

Well done & keep them coming ! 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[loz]

Nice curve in there !

sanding is a pain, and you'll find out fairly quick to try and get the best finish from your tools, other wise you will spend just as much time with the abrasives !!!

keep them sharp, run that bevel, and learn some shearing cuts !

keep going !

Dont worry about design ! - you made it from a bit of old wood ! - Be Proud !


The design bit will come ! ( well i hope it will to me soon !! )

Loz

 

[hog&bodge]

Thanks for your comments, will be trying to turn the Cup and ball game.
Spent last night sharpening the chisels to a good edge & I suppose
having no tool marks on the wood comes with a lot of dedication & practice.

With having a Nutool lathe I have two speeds fast and Faster....lol
The wood was a piece of birch..One of the smaller limbs. I have a large
log from the same tree drying under some tarp, think I will
leave it for another 3 to 4 years.

Again thanks for the encouragement :lol:

 

[tekno.mage]

You should be proud of that piece as a beginner - the curves are nice and smooth and you've hollowed out the end for the candle. My first several pieces were tool handles - functional and still in use, but poorly shaped and with a terrible finish from the tool!

Regarding the splits, if you noticed them first when you were cutting (rather than sanding) they may have been hiding in there all the time unnoticed - I've found small splits lurking inside pieces of wood that I hadn't spotted prior to turning, often in areas of nice figure (ie near where there used to be a knot or fork.) It's unlikely that running the lathe too fast will cause the wood to split, cutting too aggresively or with un-sharp tools will tear the surface and chip/tear any edges but shouldn't cause the wood to develop splits from heat.

How did you hollow the candle holding end? If you used to drill bit to do this, then excess heat generated when drilling does cause splits. Drill large holes slowly, use a sharp drill and frequently remove the drill bit from the hole to clear shavings and let the bit cool down... It's much quicker to hollow using a gouge once you know how!

As has already been mentioned excess heat from sanding can definitely cause cracks & splits. Sand at slow speed, use fresh sandpaper, keep the sandpaper moving on the piece, don't press too hard & don't expect fine paper to remove anything other than scratches from coarser grits. If there are marks and blemishes, remove these using your coarsest grit (120 or even 80) before moving on to finer grits.

Keep up the good work!

tekno.mage

 

[Jenx]

H&B, ...... this is something that may perhaps help you ... apologies if you already know about it ...

There's stuff available called ABRANET -- I now use it all the time instead of sandpaper ( well, 95% of the time, anyway :wink: ).
Its like a 'mesh', rather than the 'grit' of a sandpaper, and in use, because of the way its made, it doesn't seem to generate anything like the same heat that sandpaper does... its possibly down to 'dissipating' the heat rather than not 'generating' it.. but the end result is the same, a 'cooler' process.

As an added bonus, again due to the 'mesh' nature of its construction, it can be easily 'cleared' and therefore doesn't clog up like traditional abraisive paper does.

I find it to be absolutely superb stuff ...
and although it may look a little more expensive than sandpaper, its longevity in use sort of counter-acts that, ... it lasts for ages.

As far as I know it comes in 120,240,320,400 & 600 grit equivalents, and the sheets are maybe 5" x 2 1/2" or thereabouts.
It leaves a great surface on all the woods I've used it on... I can't speak highly enough of the stuff, its wonderful !

May be worth a consider !

Be also interesting to see if others use and like the stuff too.
8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[The Shark]

Hi Jenx,
I too use abranet in the grades you mentioned (and 180 as well), and find it absolutely excellent. It doesn't build up heat, and produces an excellent finish.
And we only pay just over £1 at our club for 6 sheets!

Malc

 

[tekno.mage]

Jenx - regarding Abranet, yes, I have used it and sometimes still do but for most things I still use Rhynored for several reasons....

I find abranet can shed bits of the abrasive grits in use which I don't find wqith Rhynored (which is coated) - which means having to be scrupulous in removing all traces dust etc between grits (particularly inisde bowls and boxes). I had nasty scratches suddenly "appear" on nearly finished work because of this.

I do use the abranet 80 grit on occasion inside bowls.

For powersanding I cut out my own disks from sheets of Rhynored and find there's more wastage with abranet as the sheet sizes are so small. Also, I'm concerned that an open coat abrasive like abranet will mean the velcro on sanding arbors wears out faster than with a closed coat as there is less to protect the little hooks from abrasion/heat and the velcro clogs up with sanding dust!

Also, I prefer hand sanding with rhynored as it folds up nicer than abranet.

tekno.mage

 

[Jenx]

Hi TM

I thought Rhynored was a village near Aberystwyth :wink: :lol: :lol:

I've not hear of it before... will seek it out and try, thanks for the 'heads-up' on that one !

 

[hog&bodge]

Thanks for the heads up on sanding Jenx & tekno.mage I will have to try them both out.
Have some abranet coming off Bay but was struggling to find any
Rhynored typed it in to Google all I got was Rhino red..will keep looking.
Best yet keep the tools very sharp and work out the tool marks

I tried another pice of the beech to make the cup and ball game &
had the same probs with splitting, so I feel it is not ready to use yet
The splits could already be in the wood and expand as I turn, as
tekno.mage mention.
Forming the ball was harder than I thought it would be, might look
round but I can assure you it is not.. But am pleased it looks right :lol:
The ball dictated the rest of the project as the cup size has to match
the ball...

Marked out the curve end and bottom semi cup

The top cup nearly finished

Working on the base

End product no finish as it has splits

One thing I did find was paring off the ball, found I had not gouged
the bowl deep enough, Probably because I do not have a
chuck, should have defined the bowl more & try not to do it all in
one piece, par off the ball and then do the rest.
Was a fun little project and will have another go using a nice lump
of Ash courtesy of Mr.T ( Chris ) Cut off sale last Saturday
have around 14 foot of the stuff so I should get one decent cup and ball
game out of it :wink:
P.s
Is the tool rest close enough...??

 

[Jenx]

The closer you can get it, the less likelyhood of vibration through the tool/workpiece. I 'aim' for about 1/4" when possible... 'aim' being the operative word !

For Abranet, you can get from Turner's Retreat :wink: :lol: :lol:

 

[tekno.mage]

You can get Rhynored abrasive from Hegner or (I think) from John Berkley's website.

tekno.mage

 

[hog&bodge]

Well after 4 days of no internet connection I have got back on line :lol:
This morning I turned some mushrooms first I made out of small bit of teak
but I got a dig and lost the cap...second turned out Ok...caught the cap
again but not full blowout, lost most of the bark of the edge.
Will have another go tomorrow. I all turns out well will post pics.
Want to turn two big ones and few small ones for friends garden
will not last long as his dogs are tenacious chewers...Lol

So many posts and so little time to read them...will get round to
reading all of them..

 

[Bodrighy]

Design is very much a personal issue and unless you are thinking of selling or giving things away you only have yourself to please though there are some good 'rules' that seem to work. Looking at the things that you are turning you are working on shapes that IMHO are definitely not newbie shapes, undercutting, balls, these are all hard to get right and take good tool control. To me it looks as though you have dived in the deep end and succesfully managed to stay afloat. Bodes well fro the future. Be proud and hang on to what you make now as it makes a good reference point for the future.

pete

 

[penman]

Yes you can get rhynored from John Berkley.
See here http://www.johnberkeley.co.uk/abrasives.htm
I get all mine from him, I usualy buy the special packs from him.

Malcolm

 

[hog&bodge]

Thanks all for your help...
Mushrooms are fun to make...and I agree I did jump in the deep end
to soon & am backing off a bit doing small spindle work.
shattering the mushroom cap was a good lesson I do not want to repeat
it hit the mask quite hard..
Am getting sand paper and a few other goodies in the post... :lol: