New Lathe Owner.

[Yorkie]

Great to hear that your lathe is now up and running Joe!

Given that it's a metalworking lathe, I assume that you turned the wood with a metalworking tool bit in the toolpost on the centre line, just as you would if turning metal Joe. If so, you did well with the end result because wood doesn't cut at all well in a metalworking lathe - it just tears out the grain. Then instead of sanding the shape of the wood, you end up sanding the wood to shape! It you look at a demo of woodturing of which there are many on youtube, you will note that woodturning gouges have a bevel on them, and that bevel has to first rub the wood, then you gently lower the gouge (by lifting up the handle so the gouge pivots on the toolpost), till the gouge starts to take off shavings. The point at which the cutting edge meets the wood is well above the centre line. You must also always cut 'downhill' - that is if you want to cut a cove (a rounded concave groove), or a bead (a rounded convex 'hump'), you must cut one side downhill, then the other side downhill too - you can't go down the groove and back up the other side.

As to the speed of the lathe for woodturning, for anything up to say 6" diameter, ordinarily it needs to be at least 1,000 RPM.

I'm not knocking your efforts of course Joe - I've used a wooturning lathe to turn acetate rod before I had a metalworking lathe, on which acetate turns much better.

The main thing is that you got the result you wished for, and already the lathe is proving useful!

Here are a couple of short youtube videos. Two main tools are used for Spindle work (which is the job that you did). Namely, a 'roughing gouge' to turn the wood to a cylinder, then a spindle gouge to cut coves and beads. For bowls, a bowl gouge is needed, which is like a spindle gouge but much stronger. Turners who have the nerve and the knack (which excludes me) also often use a skew chisel - a tool that strikes fear into the heart of many turners. You'll notice in the videos that the wood come off in shavings - sometimes in 'streamers' rather then in small chippings. Not the best two videos on youtube, but they're short and basic:

Small vase:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee5BkT3KBz4

Woodcarvers mallet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS5XoD8D0VI&list=PLF0056A6B79054EDB&index=5&feature=plpp_video

Hope that's of interest.

Every success with your lathe Joe!