Sometimes it is the right time of year for certain turning projects. September and October seem to fit for Christmas Ornaments. Its that time of year. Early fall, the children are back in school, and you’re still working at harvesting the garden. It might be a bit early to think about your personal Christmas, but …
Turning Blanks from your Table Saw
Getting wood to turn on you lathe can be a challenge. However the off cuts from a building site have great potential as practice turning blanks. Off cuts of commercial 2 x4s make good turning blanks for beginners. The wood is usually fir, spruce, or pine. These are soft woods rather than hard woods. The …
Woodturning Shop Notes
Shop notes are an often neglected tool of the woodturner. Planning your project helps you avoid mistakes and reduces your turning time. Keeping shop notes is easy with this template. Add them to your toolbox today. I can recall several occasions where I had turned a wonderful project. One was a seed pot maker and …
9 Shop Safety Tips for Woodturners
Wood turning involves spinning wood and sharp tools. Spinning wood can lead to dangers and injury. But following some simple shop safety tips you can avoid common injuries associated with wood turning. Let’s start by looking at your woodturner shop. Did you notice that I said “your shop” and not mine? There’s a reason for …
Parting Tool – More versatile than you thought
The parting tool is one of the first tools that most turners get with their lathe. The obvious purpose is to help you “part” the turning off of the lathe. However the tool is much more useful than just getting the wood off of the lathe. So let’s take a look at two different parting …
How to secure wood to your lathe
In order to turn wood on a lathe you have to secure the wood to the lathe. For spindle turning the wood is held between the head stock and the tail stock. For bowl turning I will show you how to mount a bowl blank with a face plate. These two methods lets the lathe …
Introduction to Woodturning – What you need to get started
Welcome to the wonderful world of woodturning. If you are not sure what you need then this post will help you understand woodturning and the related woodturning equipment. At this point I need to make some simplifying assumptions. First you will need a powered lathe. The lathes come in a range of sizes from mini …
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Wooden Handle – A woodturning project
My wife is great in the kitchen. I love to turn projects that she then uses to create culinary delights that I get to eat. One day she asked if I could make a wooden handle for her tablespoon measure. The metal spoon had lasted longer than the plastic handle. I think it suffered contact …
Mounting Wood on a Lathe Without Using a Chuck
When you have just acquired your first lathe the number of accessory selections can be overwhelming. All you want to do is turn some wood. For many of the posts on this blog, I use a multi-jawed chuck. While this chuck is convenient it is not necessary for your turning. Most lathes come with a …
How to top a good wine – make a bottle stopper – A woodturning project
A wood turned bottle stopper is a great accent to a good bottle of wine. This gives you a chance to try different turning techniques like adding burn lines or a captive ring. This is a small project that does not require special wood or specialized turning tools. Be creative and make different shapes with …
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5 Steps to Prepare Rough Wood for Turning
A very common question is where do I find wood for turning. The next challenge is, once you have collected some wood, boards, or branches, how do you get the rough wood onto your lathe? The key to successful woodturning is preparing the wood to turn, then securing that wood on the lathe so that …
5 Wood Turning Projects for the Garden
Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies usually ranking either 1st or 2nd in surveys. This makes gardeners a perfect group for you to turn for. What can you turn for your gardening friends? Here are five projects that will get you started. I’m sure you will come up with more ideas for woodturning …
