On Wood Turning

I have been turning wood since taking my first lesson in 1991; Pat took up the craft in 1993. We have two wood lathes, a Delta 46-541P and a Carba-Tech Minilathe Mark III. We use high-speed steel tools, mostly made by Henry Taylor, but a few by Sorby and others as well. We both learned wood turning from Master Woodturner Maurice Gamblin, of Perth Andover New Brunswick Canada. Maurice is a minimalist when it comes to turning tools. He started turning on a very tight budget and learned to do the most with the fewest tools possible. This is reflected in his teaching. For the first two years of turning, I used nothing but 3/8" and 1/2" bowl gouges and a diamond-profile parting tool. Since then, I've added the 5/8" bowl gouge and a few scrapers. The bowl gouges are sharpened to a non-standard profile invented by Maurice. A future version of this note may contain some photos.

Here are some things about our work:

• We do not use wood from rare, threatened, or endangered species of tree, except for the occasional piece of recycled wood from defunct furniture, cutting boards, etc.
• We do not cut trees or limbs solely for the purpose of "harvesting" wood or burls. Nevertheless, some of the wood we buy was certainly cut for sale.
• Some pieces are decorative and some functional; all are finished with food-safe oil or wax.

The picture on the right shows me making shavings in our workshop in the basement. I'm using the 5/8" bowl gouge on a piece of sugar pine. That funnel-like object hanging down at the upper right is the intake from a dust collector . The space helmet thing I'm wearing is a Racal Airmate 3 with face, hearing, and breathing protection. I try to keep sawdust out of my lungs... and with limited success out of the rest of the house. On the far right are some proto-bowls. The wood was turned wet to a thickness of about 1" (2.5 cm) and the outside was coated with Anchor Seal, a water based wax. Then they were put aside on a shelf for several months to dry. Now they're ready to finish. The lumpy thing of the top is the lathe faceplate screwed onto a bit of scrap wood (sometimes called a "waste block"). The proto-bowl is attached to the scrap wood with hot glue.

Here are some things to think about if you're interested in turning:

• Nothing can compare with taking one-on-one lessons from a master.
• Books and videos can help after you have some experience but probably not before.
• It's lots of fun and fairly easy to learn to turn out good stuff after only a few lessons.
• Sanding usually takes longer than turning -- often much longer.
• A lathe is dangerous and not a toy. If you have one, keep it and the tools, and the finishes, etc. locked up where kids cannot get to them.
• Breathing some sorts of sawdust can kill you. Dust from tropical hardwoods and spalted wood is especially risky. Use serious breath protection, not one of those paper and rubber band dust masks.

At some point, I'll probably add more, but that's enough for now. If you have questions about my technique, just ask.