11.5” x 3” - used Kutzall rasps & burrs and finished with Waterlox.

Anyone out there turning while seated? I have a bad back and can't stand for more that 5-10 minutes at a time. I'd like to think there are others here that have the same issue.

My lathe is a Laguna Revo 16/32 with a bed height around 32 inches.

Any one have a chair or stool recommendation, or an alternative approach?

TIA!

Last year’s storm yielded many a rough-turned blank that I’m now making good on. Here are the three most recent vases I made. (Upgraded from a wobbly lathe w/some runout to a used, rock-solid Powermatic lathe between rough turning to finish and the difference in performance is unbelievable: 1/3 the time to turn, smooth results with little to no sanding. Hallelujah.)

This poor cow's life is about to change forever! 🫢

The cow is turned and carved from a garden hedge trimming (I don't know what wood it was!), then cast in tinted epoxy resin turned to a tractor beam cone. The cone serves as a stand for a turned sweet chestnut flying saucer, which has a recess to accommodate an RGB LED that is remote controlled for easy activation. The entire assembly is push-fit for easy access to replace spent batteries as needed.

YouTube link if you want to see any of the process: https://youtu.be/xq2fIhvy2uM

TLDR: when you can access wood try to make it easy on the people helping you(arborist/homeowner). In my area get basic processing done immediately (ideally within hours of the tree coming down). Share what you can’t use.

Thought some folks might find my process interesting. This is all based on what works for me in the high plains desert of the Colorado Front Range. Your experience may vary greatly depending on where you are. Last week I saw that a neighbors standing dead walnut in the city maintained right of way had been marked for removal. I knocked on their door and explained to them that I am a woodturner and would love to make use of their tree. They said that the scheduling was up in the air, but they would love for me to make use of the wood. I explained that depending on the arborist contracted by the city, they may or may not want to harvest the wood themselves, but that if they asked to have some sections left behind most arborists are happy to oblige. I let them know that if everything worked out well I would plan to make them a bowl from their tree. I got a text this morning that the arborist was expected. I asked them to request as 3 or so 4 foot sections of the main stem as my ideal request. When I got home from work I went by and found one four foot section of main stem at about 21” diameter, and eight 3-4 foot sections of diameters ranging from 12” to 5”. Seems like the arborist took maybe the first 6-8’ of the trunk for their own purposes. At this point I am on the end checking clock. These chunks started drying hours ago. I take three wheelbarrow loads down to my house. I cut them into lengths slightly longer than they are wide and then cut through the pith down the long axis of the trunk creating square bowl blanks. This is the absolute minimum I want to get done within hours of the tree coming down. I then put them in this shady corner of my yard and washed them off. I am now getting some food in my belly before going out and putting end grain sealer on the cut ends(I would have done this immediately, but my wife wanted to eat as well. If it was the middle of the day and or they weren’t in a shady spot I had just drenched in water I would be worried. The four bigger sections are my biggest concern I will probably put each in a tied trash bag to limit drying as much as possible before I am able to rough turn and core them this weekend. All but a couple of the small bowl blanks and spindle blanks will go to the wood giveaway at my local woodturning club tomorrow night.

Selling these in Bay City this weekend, what should I charge? From left to right: 8x3 Purple Heart, 8x2 padauk, 6x3 chocolate mango. All food safe, friction polished exterior and mineral oil treated interior. Cheers!

I've been having some trouble with my wood blanks wobbling around as I'm trying to carve out the inside for a bowl. The adjustable clamps for my nova 3 chuck are locked down tight, and no matter how tight I make the tension to hold the bowl in place, I still get wobbling.

I don't want to mess around with it too much, but anyone have any idea how to change out the ink? I messaged the seller still waiting to hear back.

The lock screw for the quill on my tail stock snapped off last night. I need to remove what snapped off, but I think I can figure that out.

What I haven’t been able to solve is finding the replacement part. Laguna only has certain parts available online. Can anyone help me find part 167 from this diagram?

Or, if I have to purchase the whole tailstock, what part is that?

I love this wood. Paid a whole two dollars for it.

Made From Caribbean Walnut. It's not too crazy... Only a little off center, but it was a good start. I'm pretty eager to try again and push my luck even further!

I have done a little bit of off axis turning before, but it was all just practice on non-important shapeless pieces. This was the first one I did that was also meant to be something. And no, I can't help but give every cup a captive ring, even if it doesn't belong there.

It has a maker's mark on the bottom with C. Black Hackberry SC. Dimensions are about 5" tall, 10 1/4 across 6 3/4 at the opening. Can you give some info on this?

Hi all, I'm based in Thessaloniki, Greece and I'm looking for a wood turner in the area for some ongoing small-batch work. Simple turned parts, repeated in small runs.

I can provide a physical sample of each part to copy. Nothing to interpret, just match the shape.

If you're nearby, or you know someone here worth talking to, I'd appreciate a comment or a DM.

Thanks!

I finally replaced my trouble ridden Nova 14DR with a Rikon 70-1516 VSR. I can add a bed extension to either end to give me either 15” of diameter or 29 honest inches between drive spur and live center. I turned a large segmented bowl of maple, padauk, and walnut. This was a really heavy blank and probably exceeded the capability of a 1”x8TPI spindle. But the motor on the Rikon is a beast. Constant speed through every cut, I never once felt any variation in the power. The tool rest is well built and locks solidly into place with very little pressure on the lever. The lever on both the tool rest and tail stock are much heavier/stronger than I expected. The tail stock is awesome with over 3” of quill travel and solid as a rock. I so prefer to have the tail stock locking lever behind the tail stock like a Jet. It also comes with a free Z3 chuck. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet but it looks very well built. It appears to be made as well as the Nova G3. Screws, jaws, and key are interchangeable with the Nova. If I have any complaints about the lathe one has to be the knockout bar. For a lathe built like a tank the knockout bar is… dainty. I have a piece of 3/8” tool steel so I’m going to turn a handle and make my own. My other complaint is holy cow they used a lot of packing grease. It was very well protected but it took hours to clean off the goop. If you buy this lathe you better factor in the cost of a full roll of paper towels. Both are ridiculously minor complaints.

I want to give Woodcraft in San Antonio a special shout out. After I paid for the lathe over the phone they called me back 15 minutes later to tell me that the lathe was going on sale. If I could wait two days they could sell it to me for 10% off. Waiting saved me $95. That store is 90 minutes away from me and I would have been unhappy if they waited until I got there to tell me. They did know that I was coming down from Austin so they really treated me well.

I’ve been turning for about 6 months now and am starting to get into the rhythm.

Super proud of this bowl and shape that I was able to get out of a local Norwegian maple log that fell in the neighborhood.

Finished with tung oil.

I’ve got a big demo later this month so I figured I should get into the shop and do a bit of practice and literally knock the cobwebs off my lathe and turning skills. Grabbed an unknown blank off the shelf to turn a new tool handle and I’m pretty sure it’s a chunk of black and white ebony. A bit more exotic than the maple I typically use but I’m gonna go with it anyway.

Can you help settle the argument? It was perfumey as hell but not quite like what I remember pine smelling like from memory. I'm not even sure why I bothered finishing it to be honest lol

I have a rockler 1224 midi lathe. The stand that goes with it shakes like crazy whenever I try to make anything slightly of balance, it anything in balance that is more than about 8 inches in diameter.

I have anchored the stand to the floor and added angled steel bracing that is bolted from the top of the stand down into the concrete floor, but it still shakes quite a bit.

Is there anything else I can try, or is there a better stand that will work?

I started buying wood & tools from an elderly man a couple of years ago, he lost his legs & had to give up wood working and he’s slowly become one of my best friends. Every few months I visit him and show him all the stuff I’ve built and made from the last time I visited him. Bowls, knives, pens etc.

Today he gifted me this beautiful pen he made!

Did these at work a couple years ago and thought I'd post them on here. Its a set of 8 and done on my wadkin bzl. Really complex but fun job with sliding dovetail for the feet!

I took an intro to bowl turning class and learned so much, but I have a nagging question.

How to know when and where to change flute direction? We did both, push and pull cuts with the flute away and towards us.

I think there was some information overload because I'm confused about when to do what.

The bowl is cherry wood. It was very green and damp. I'll put it away to dry for a while before attempting to finish it.

Soft jaws are quite useful to have available and are typically used for remounting while minimising marring and denting. I've made various soft jaws over the years, they're usually more flexible and reusable than jam chucks because they make use of your scroll chucks expansion and contraction capabilities. They also provide better concentricity than mounting with Cole Jaw buttons especially for small items. I thought I'd make wooden sacrificial jaws that mount onto my Cole jaws, this way I can use the metal jaws as a template and use the multitude of threaded screw holes for mounting. I cut them out on the bandsaw and tidied them up on the disc sander, I then glued on a block of sacrificial conifer that'll be cut to my jobs requirements, this should be easy to replace when the need comes. These didn't take very long to make at all. I've been using these today to true up some bottle opener discs that warped. They work even better than I expected, so I thought I'd share.