Thursday, November 14, 2013
Woodturning 101 Class with Devon Palmer
coptool.comcoptool.com: Woodturning is one of those areas of woodworking that we’ve never delved into for mostly a lack of accessibility and knowledge. Having talked with many other accomplished woodworkers and learning there are plenty who have dedicated year of their lives to wood as a medium but have never turned anything it became even more of a fascination. As a long time member of the Columbus Idea Foundry we technically did have access to some older lathes in the shop but had never actually seen them operational and mostly collecting dust in the corner so we didn’t want to tempt fate.
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9 comments:
I've been interested in learning about wood turning for a long time now but I have never had the chance to learn anything about it. I know that we have at least one lathe in our shop at CMU, but I've never used it and I've never been in the shop when someone else was using it. About the only thing I know about lathes is that they are very dangerous. This article didn't really teach me anything about how to use a lathe, but it did get me more interested in learning more. The video was fun to watch, but it also confused me because he touched the spinning part with his hands. That seems like it would be pretty unsafe. Idea Foundry sounds like a nice place, if I didn't go to school here I might join a place like that.
I'm just going to get this out of the way and say that I wish the camera was focused more on the wood and lathe and less on the guy getting sawdust in his beard. That's all.
Cinematographic complaints aside, woodturning is fascinatingly difficult. The few times I've done it on a wood lathe have been tons of fun, but always seems much harder than it looks. I've watched videos on the various tools commonly used, custom-made tools specifically for woodturning, and advanced techniques such as clamping the piece down off-center to achieve unexpected effects.
As Akiva said, this didn't teach me anything about turning. But it did fuel (refuel?) an interest in the craft. As for touching the wood, it's surprisingly forgiving. The lathe turns fast enough such that the surface isn't too rough and slow enough that it won't burn your finger as you touch it. For the most part, that is, I'm sure there are some speed/wood combinations that can leave a nasty burn. Maybe I'll get to find out.
I think we should hold a special class on turning wood. Both dry and green, maybe? Please?
Much like any time I see a demonstration of people making something that i don't know how to make, im interested. While yes, this process would be great to have in our shop if we were going to be making our own spindles or baluster toppers, but on a day to day basis, i dont think it would help much with flat milling. The only reason why i dont think it would help as much as metal milling does is because small parts made from wood tend to not work as well as ones from metal.
I was given a short demo/lesson on woodturning a few years ago, but haven't had much of an opportunity to turn anything since and really develop that skill. We have a wood lathe at the warehouse, and I think it would be a nice additional to the Advanced Fabrication class, we cover a good amount milling both with wood and metal in those courses and we've learned the metal lathe (which is the lathe located in the shop currently). I found the video rather intriguing, just because I have a general interest in honing my fine carpentry skills as a hobby, someday when I might have some free time and a small shop of my own, maybe then I can successfully turn a nice set of bowls.
This is cool, it's like sideways wheel pottery, but with wood. Wood turning seems intriguing, probably because the guy in the video makes it look really easy. I think it is funny that I have never seen these before because the tools themselves seem like simple ones. I have never seen any sort of advertising or even heard of someone wood turning, I cannot help but wonder if there are people really trying to sell these. The article made it seem like these tools have been around for a long time, which does not surprise me, it is just a bit funny that there are not more people skilled in this craft.
I really enjoyed this video, especially the music. But on a serious note, I think that woodturning could be an exceptionally interesting hobby to partake in, considering one would need quite a while to become proficient in it. I also think that this could be a great addition to the advanced fabrication class, like Joe said, for it would teach an invaluable skill that could be used for many different applications.
Wow! This article is entirely right. I never even know that woodturning was a word, much less a really cool way to get interesting woodworking effects. I have seen this sort of turning done a lot with clay, and that is something I have always wanted to try but never had the chance to, but I had never even heard of someone turning wood. It seems so efficient as far as getting things even everywhere. I do wonder how challenging it is though. It seems like it would take a seriously stead and firm hand to not get thorn back or worse, under the spinning wood, while you were working on it. I imagine something like that could do almost as much damage as a table saw. I am sure though that it must take some real skill because not only do you have to be careful of safety, but you don't get to fix mess-ups as easily and quickly as you could if you were working with clay.
This does make me wonder if there are other things that you can turn like this. There must be an entire range of possibilities.
ahhhhh!!!!!!! I want to do this so badly!!!!!! Its so similar to ceramics trimming! I miss it so much. Ceramics that is and watching this video makes me want to go back to working with it and i really want try this Lathe thing!. I feel like this guy makes it look super easy though. I really wish I could've seen what the end result of this was! This video also made me think that having a beard whilst doing everything in the shop would be incredibly annoying. ALso This guy must have a ton of wood particles in his lungs. but maybe his beard acts as some sort of respirator. who knows.
Its really cool how easy it looks to manipulate wood like that. Its like a ceramics wheel for wood so that you can get an even surface all the way around. I feel like it is much harder than this mountain man makes it look because while he cuts through the wood like butter he still looks like hes using a bit of strength to hold the tools in place. We don't have a wood lathe in the shop do we?
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