Woodturning Beginner

[Ptofimpact]

Altho an Older woodworker, ready to Start, have a Midi Lathe 14 x 20, have Spur, Live centers, chuck, chisels, gouge set on way, full face guard.
Plan on starting with small diameter green wood for starters. Basic question, should I begin with just the Roughing gouge to get a feel?
Have been reading, watching Vids that you all have posted. Guidance appreciated.

 

[bob vaughan]

A good, wide roughing gouge is always a good choice for the quickest and easiest roughing to round. After that, the detailing tools come into play. Every between centers turning I do starts out with a roughing gouge. The roughing gouge is rarely used for a finishing cut, but sometimes that's the best tool for the job.

 

[Dee2]

Start with a skew. Learn to turn beads and coves with it. When you learn that, any tool you hold you can make work. YMMV

You’ll only fret that advise from me.

Actually, learn to sharpen turning tools is first.

 

[Ptofimpact]

Thank you Bob and Dee, much to learn

 

[Dee2]

Yep. Get a coach/teacher. Learn fast.

Somewhere out in YouTube land there is an Aussie who has a good video on skew use. After watching him and a Saturday Turing 1-1/2x1-1/2 pine, I knew how. Need to do a refresher.

If you head down I20 towards hotlanta, I’m about 3 miles off ext 11 in SC. Stop by. We’ll make some shavins’.

 

[bob vaughan]

Richard Raffan is always fun and instructive.

 

[Ptofimpact]

Richard Raffan is always fun and instructive.

I have been watching his vids, thank you

 

[wndopdlr]

If you can find a local turning club, you may be able to hook up with a mentor who will improve your learning curve substantially.

 

[Chaz]

You mentioned geed wood.

Think about this, too.

If you have the right tools, buy a 2x4 and cut it up onto pen blanks and practice on that. There may be 1x1 stock available. Buy that. You want wood as cheap as possible when you're learning.

If you have a band saw start looking for people cutting down Bradford Pear. Turns pretty easy. Start sniffing around sawmills and look for scrap. cedar, pine, and if you're out in the low country, cypress.

 

[wndopdlr]

When I transitioned from carbide to HSS, I watched Ken at Turnawoodbowl.com. I found his teaching methods to be better than average and he has videos on YouTube that cover about every aspect of turning bowls.

 

[bob vaughan]

I have been watching his vids, thank you

I think the key for you right now is something you seem to be planning to do and with the right material: practice, practice, practice.

Ornamental mushrooms with a bark edge cap is always a well received gift.

 

[JRedding]

You could certainly start with a single gouge to learn it, but for me having a small project to learn on was a better approach. A couple to start with are tops, mushrooms, and Christmas trees. All have similar shapes and require similar skills - you’ll definitely use a couple gouges and can also use a skew.

Learn to sharpen - I had a neighbor who turned so he showed me and brought over some of his tools for me to “practice” with (he left with smile having saved a bit of work for himself). There are plenty of videos and jigs out there, and I found the Wolverine made it easy to start for gouges - spindle and bowl.

As for the tools themselves, never use a spindle gouge for inside a turning - use the bowl gouge. The skew is a great tool, but can be finicky - watch videos by Alan Lancer. Also for the skew, consider grinding a radius on it as you’re learning - the likelihood of catch is lowered significantly.

There are a lot of willing teachers around and don’t be shy about asking - everyone I’ve ever met in turning (and woodworking in general) is very happy to help if they have time. If you really get the bug, David Ellsworth puts on a 3-day class that is great (and consider his book - I found it instructive along with the class).

 

[Ptofimpact]

When I transitioned from carbide to HSS, I watched Ken at Turnawoodbowl.com. I found his teaching methods to be better than average and he has videos on YouTube that cover about every aspect of turning bowls.

Yes John I am watching those very detailed on How To, thanks

 

[Ptofimpact]

You mentioned geed wood.

Think about this, too.

If you have the right tools, buy a 2x4 and cut it up onto pen blanks and practice on that. There may be 1x1 stock available. Buy that. You want wood as cheap as possible when you're learning.

If you have a band saw start looking for people cutting down Bradford Pear. Turns pretty easy. Start sniffing around sawmills and look for scrap. cedar, pine, and if you're out in the low country, cypress.

Chaz, have plenty of green branches to use and cutoffs Thank you

 

[bob vaughan]

A note about the skew (even though this thread question was about the roughing gouge). The grain structure of some pieces of wood can dip and dive. This situation will result in a skew cut picking out divots of wood when doing a long planing or smoothing cut with the grain. To avoid this picking, I'll go with the roughing gouge and sand. Figured wood is particularly susceptible to this picking. So is osage in general. I do a lot of screwdriver handles and by the time I've got a blank with a screwdriver shank glued in, I've got enough time in the piece that I won't take a risk of using the skew for a smoothing cut even though it is faster and easier.

Typical screwdriver handle work in process

The tools I use to get the job done as fast as possible. The roughing gouge turns the cylinder and then I'm through with it. The skew cuts the grooves.

 

[Ptofimpact]

A note about the skew (even though this thread question was about the roughing gouge). The grain structure of some pieces of wood can dip and dive. This situation will result in a skew cut picking out divots of wood when doing a long planing or smoothing cut with the grain. To avoid this picking, I'll go with the roughing gouge and sand. Figured wood is particularly susceptible to this picking. So is osage in general. I do a lot of screwdriver handles and by the time I've got a blank with a screwdriver shank glued in, I've got enough time in the piece that I won't take a risk of using the skew for a smoothing cut even though it is faster and easier.

View attachment 223833
Typical screwdriver handle work in process

View attachment 223834
The tools I use to get the job done as fast as possible. The roughing gouge turns the cylinder and then I'm through with it. The skew cuts the grooves.

Thank you Bob, handles look great, and looks like a few hand made tools in there

 

[bob vaughan]

Three are 3/8" water pipe stuck in a handle. The skew and "Bedan" type skew are made from an industrial grade HSS unavailable in retail turning tools. The little detail spindle gouge was removed from its original handle and put in the water pipe and held in with socket head set screws. The diameter of the water pipe makes gripping a tool of that tiny diameter so much easier. The skew's water pipe holder was compressed in a vise so I could get the steel in. I much prefer using these water pipe tool holders on small detaily spindles. I also have a water pipe handle that I've put a 3/8" bowl gouge in. Big difference in convenience.

 

[Ptofimpact]

Your skills far Exceed mine, again thank you

 

[bob vaughan]

Given the same amount of practice time, I suspect your skills will far exceed mine. I started when there was very little visual instructions. I think I learned more in the first fifteen minutes of watching a Richard Raffan video on VHS than I had previously learned in the previous 22 years of my "scrape and sand" method. I also had awful tools to start with. Nothing like what's available now.

Best woodturning advice I've ever heard and didn't heed was to cut down a poplar tree. Turn every bit of wood you can. Burn everything you've turned. Now you're ready to start turning. Some of the early stuff I turned and gave away as gifts lingered in homes of friends and family. The turnings were awful. I used to try to get my mother to give me back some of the things so I could make much better ones. She wouldn't hear of it. I would cringe every time I would look at those turnings.

 

[JRedding]

Bob - I read your post and started laughing. I have a number of those early ones sitting on shelves in someone’s home and every time I see them I cringe. But nobody will part with them and some even put a modern one next to one of those early turnings and it’s night and day.