08-05-2011, 10:36 AM
Hi,
You are most welcome David and the praise is well deserved.
Hobby wood turners tend to specialize in their chosen projects. Many like faceplate work (or chucks) turning out bowls and platters some as large as six feet diameter all turned to a very high standard. Others prefer spindle work turning between centres producing items such as table legs and four poster bed corners. Spindle work can also be expanded upon by the use of a router set to traverse along the lathe bed to produce flutes and reeds and if the traverse is geared to the mandrel rotation many patterns are easily produced such as barley twists.
Ladies tend to produce very delicate work on small lathes such as ornamental boxes or pens and lace bobbins.
Not only is wood used but turning can be done in many materials such as plastic; nylon; alternative ivory; bone; Banksia and Tagua nuts. Tagua nuts in particular are a good match for ivory and are only available in small sizes but I've seen beautiful items produced from them.
Many years ago I bought the full set of five volumes; "Turning & Mechanical Manipulation" by Charles Holtzapffel. The first volume making its appearance in 1843. My books were bought new from Camden costing £105 for the set and make fascinating reading.
Holtzapffel lathes were eye wateringly expensive even in their day but years ago I read that a fully equipped Holtzapffel Rose Engine would these days cost well in excess of £500,000. The Rose Engine is a very specialized lathe indeed and for years produced the pattern on printing plates for printing paper currency.
Your work is exemplary David; segmental work requires precise cutting of timber as does laminated work such as your candle sticks; how do you achieve such accuracy; do you buy timber ready thicknessed or can you thickness your own? I'm always interested in machinery and have a 10" planer/thicknesser of my own which has been used to produce 1/8" thick section. For very accurate thicknessing many build their own abrasive drum sanders; these are readily available to buy but are expensive; building ones own saves a great deal of cash. These drum sanders can accurately sand down to veneer thickness and are much favoured by luthiers.
The candle sticks are wonderful as is the ships wheel; The square blank in the picture actually looks like woven cloth. To turn out work to such high quality and accuracy takes a great amount of time and patience; a simple slip or dig in can ruin it in the blink of an eye. I agree that matching hand turned items is very difficult especially if the items are to be viewed side by side; the candle sticks however look perfect.
Industry uses copy lathes and I was fascinated to watch an antique "back knife lathe" being used to turn spindles on The New Yankee Workshop. As the name implies the blank was mounted between centres and set in motion; a large heavy gauge knife tapering upwards from the headstock containing the desired profile was lowered into the revolving blank working just like a large skew chisel producing a beautiful smooth finish in seconds.
Whilst turning matched table legs; I've set up "metal fingers" on a rod at the back of the lathe; the first leg is turned to size then fingers added to the rod adjusting perfectly to the profile of the leg. with a blank mounted and set in motion the fingers are allowed to ride on top of the blank and once the diameter of that particular part is reached the finger drops through giving rapid accuracy. This method is commonly known amongst wood turners.
This thread is interesting and I hope it encourages others to have a go at wood turning; it is a most rewarding hobby.
Kind regards, Col.
You are most welcome David and the praise is well deserved.
Hobby wood turners tend to specialize in their chosen projects. Many like faceplate work (or chucks) turning out bowls and platters some as large as six feet diameter all turned to a very high standard. Others prefer spindle work turning between centres producing items such as table legs and four poster bed corners. Spindle work can also be expanded upon by the use of a router set to traverse along the lathe bed to produce flutes and reeds and if the traverse is geared to the mandrel rotation many patterns are easily produced such as barley twists.
Ladies tend to produce very delicate work on small lathes such as ornamental boxes or pens and lace bobbins.
Not only is wood used but turning can be done in many materials such as plastic; nylon; alternative ivory; bone; Banksia and Tagua nuts. Tagua nuts in particular are a good match for ivory and are only available in small sizes but I've seen beautiful items produced from them.
Many years ago I bought the full set of five volumes; "Turning & Mechanical Manipulation" by Charles Holtzapffel. The first volume making its appearance in 1843. My books were bought new from Camden costing £105 for the set and make fascinating reading.
Holtzapffel lathes were eye wateringly expensive even in their day but years ago I read that a fully equipped Holtzapffel Rose Engine would these days cost well in excess of £500,000. The Rose Engine is a very specialized lathe indeed and for years produced the pattern on printing plates for printing paper currency.
Your work is exemplary David; segmental work requires precise cutting of timber as does laminated work such as your candle sticks; how do you achieve such accuracy; do you buy timber ready thicknessed or can you thickness your own? I'm always interested in machinery and have a 10" planer/thicknesser of my own which has been used to produce 1/8" thick section. For very accurate thicknessing many build their own abrasive drum sanders; these are readily available to buy but are expensive; building ones own saves a great deal of cash. These drum sanders can accurately sand down to veneer thickness and are much favoured by luthiers.
The candle sticks are wonderful as is the ships wheel; The square blank in the picture actually looks like woven cloth. To turn out work to such high quality and accuracy takes a great amount of time and patience; a simple slip or dig in can ruin it in the blink of an eye. I agree that matching hand turned items is very difficult especially if the items are to be viewed side by side; the candle sticks however look perfect.
Industry uses copy lathes and I was fascinated to watch an antique "back knife lathe" being used to turn spindles on The New Yankee Workshop. As the name implies the blank was mounted between centres and set in motion; a large heavy gauge knife tapering upwards from the headstock containing the desired profile was lowered into the revolving blank working just like a large skew chisel producing a beautiful smooth finish in seconds.
Whilst turning matched table legs; I've set up "metal fingers" on a rod at the back of the lathe; the first leg is turned to size then fingers added to the rod adjusting perfectly to the profile of the leg. with a blank mounted and set in motion the fingers are allowed to ride on top of the blank and once the diameter of that particular part is reached the finger drops through giving rapid accuracy. This method is commonly known amongst wood turners.
This thread is interesting and I hope it encourages others to have a go at wood turning; it is a most rewarding hobby.
Kind regards, Col.
