Wabbitpo is strugglng with acrylic, I can't do beech & a

[TobyB]

FRUSTRATED!

Had the opportunity to try to make a couple of Xmas presents, and not happy with what I have achieved ...

Got given a couple of 100 x 40 cms beech logs from a branch off a friends tree. Chainsawed in half and made up some rough blanks for a number of bowls ... have tried natural-edge and centre=bowl-rim versions based on various books advice about wood shrinkage, etc.

It's been terrible to work. End-grain tear-out +++. Tried various with different bowl-gauge grinds from different directions (going back to Rowleys Foundation Course amongst others). Tried scrappers (plain and shear) - made it worse. Sharpened tools repeatedly - probably wasted a lot of metal. Ended up using buckets of sanding-sealer and very light cuts gouge to get anything even poor, and then doing a massive amount of sanding, starting at 60 then 80 grits, to end up with a moderately acceptable surface ... but very disappointed with result.

Fed up, pulled out an olive-ash blank to try to make a 45 cms diameter platter. Initially seemed fine, when I did the outside. Then worked down the inside - bit at a time to support the rim - then it started to rattle around. Went back to the books - and tried very slow (eg Raffan "drop speed to 15-20%) and very high ("wood can't react against the tool" speeds, various gouges and angles, scrapers, etc (Raffans bowls & Chapmans new approach seemed to have helpful advice) - think the surface was flexing around or had hard/soft-regions to deflect things ... used a cotton glove on my left hand to support behind to no avail, scraping maybe flattened the ripples but the tear-out was awful (worse than the beach!), attempts at very light gouge cuts were fine for a bit until it dug in on a ripple/ridge leaving to even more damage to repair ... sadly it all went terminal when trying to sand it out as salvage-job when a terribly minor catch of the 180 grit in a tear-out resulted in the whole thing shattering!

So - NOT my greatest efforts

Letting off steam (as you can all tell) ... but finding turning bowls/platters of more than about 25 cms diameter extremely difficult.

Any sage advice, etc to be had?

Cheers

Toby

 

[cornucopia]

was the beech wet? as wet beech cuts so easy its a real pleasure to work.

sounds like you need a day with a tutor?. as it sounds like a mixture of technique and wood adding up to a frustrated turner.

 

[CHJ]

As George says much easier to demonstrate/show how, if it was possible to see how you approach the cuts, which is where a tutor fellow turner can help.
Sounds very much about not having correct bevel contact, and this is a relational thing between the bevel you have and the angle of the tool approach, either could/maybe not optimal.

But every turner is likely to use the same tool in a differing way so there is no magic 'perfect' way, it's a case of finding the way that suits you and a tutor should be able to guide you in this.

On a safety note, I strongly advise that you do not wear gloves of any type whilst touching a rotating piece of wood, if ever the glove catches as did your abrasive it could well be your fingers that are detached not just the bowl from the chuck.

 

[Bodrighy]

As Chas said every turner does things differently but I find that the ripples usually occur for me when I am too far away from the wood on the tool rest. Usually when I am roughing down and am too lazy to move the rest in as the wood gets smaller. I resort to a scraper to get rid of them ad stop being lazy. Can't say I have ever had them on the enside however.

End grain can be a sod in many woods. It's all a matter of practice. (I'm still practicing and sometimes get it right. What I did was get hold of some pine (lumps of 4x4) and practiced getting as smooth a finish as I could with that.

These are end grain in pine.



Believe me if you practice getting a good finish on pine from the tool you are on the right track and it's a lot cheaper than doing it with beech or olive ash.

Pete