Hey fellas I’m at the point where I need to finish out some of my turning tools and figured I should stop by before making the investment. I’ve got a Jet 1221 VS and am looking for both a bowl coring system and Longworth chuck appropriate for my lathe. Far as the coring system goes I’m almost settled on the One Way 12″ mini system. If there’s a better system out there for a beginner like myself please mention it, but I’m fairly sure this should be the best option for ease of use. I see they offer replacement cutter heads. If the kit doesn’t come with a carbide cutter should I go ahead and order that as well?
As for the Longworth chuck, I already have a Nova G3 chuck and wondering what’s the least expensive but capable option I should look at for a Longworth that’s compatible with my Nova G3? Also, not being that studied up on these kind of chucks, since my lathe swing is 12″ I assume any Longworth described as 12″ is appropriate for my Jet.
Last tool question…need advice on a good sanding system, drill, pads and disks. I get emails from the Woodturners Wonders and they’re advertising two of their systems. One angle drill driven and the other friction driven. I’m guessing the drill is the better option? Only issue I have with that kit is Reed Gray talks about how the softer backed pads don’t do well with the lower grits, so I guess I’ll have to get more parts than this kit offers. Are the Woodturners Wonders kits worth looking into or are there better options out there?
https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/sanding-bundle-sale
And last, I have absolutely lucked out and found 10 good sized Walnut trees that a guy needs cut down, so if it turns out I can get this very labor intensive job done I’ll have wood for a good long time to come. Brings me to the question, what’s the best way / procedures / time of year to fell a tree with the idea of keeping it’s bark on through storage / drying and the turning process? Believe I’ve seen winter is the best time to fell but is say November weather in Kentucky good enough or should I wait more toward late Dec or Jan?
Replies
These folks have some good disks.
https://www.thesandingglove.com/default.asp
Arbortech makes a random orbit tool that fits a small angle grinder, uses 2" PSA disks and is very effective for the inside of a bowl.
You want to get wood that is cut in the winter. I would wait until Jan.
I melt paraffin in a large crock pot to seal the end grain. You can buy 10lb slabs at Michael's very cheap.
You can make a Longworth Chuck with plywood. Do a search and you will find plans. Why do you want to keep the bark on the walnut?
Woah. Slow down a little....
Bowl coring systems are all very well and can allow you to make more than one bowl from a blank, but they are very generic bowl-shaped objects with little finesse to them. They originated in commercial bowl making where massive numbers of really cheap bowls are made for tourist sales.
As a beginner, you would be better off starting with smaller blanks and just learning to use a bowl gouge really well. By the time you've set up the coring system, you could well have turned a nice bowl. Some of my professional turner friends use them but they will always make a thick bowl then turn it 'properly'
Longworth chucks are easy enough to make, but probably not the best way to hold work - A set of Cole jaws can be obtained to fit your chuck and that will hold bowls for turning off tenons easily. They are not as quick to set up for a given size as longworths but do hold very securely and are cheap. Our turning club has a few which sit unused almost all the time.
I find Woodturners Wonders very helpful and have bought from them despite the murderous postage costs to New Zealand. Why not ask what will suit you best? Remember that second hand turning gear is almost worthless, so buy in haste and repent at leisure...
Personally. I use simple drill pads. The pad is firm, but you can get hook and loop soft backer pads which go between the pad and the paper. These help conform to curves. Sanding the inside of small objects like boxes can be a pain but there is little advantage in power sanding there - just get a simple stick with a small pad for paper...
'Good Sized walnut trees' - I know nothing of your arborist skills, but would counsel that this is a job for people who know what they are doing. It is very easy to get killed or seriously injured doing large tree work so if you are not experienced, it might be a job on which to pass. A good 'rule of thumb' would be to think 'If this tree were to fall on me, would it kill me' and if the answer is 'yes', then best to leave it to an expert. Even the 'maybe' trees need a lot of planning. One of the nice things about turning is the ability to use wood that is not well suited to other purposes such as branches, and these are much easier and safer to collect.
I can't help with experience on bark - I hear that it is best to harvest in Winter - once the leaves have fallen is probably best as the tree is then dormant. Also it's miserable work if it's hot, and you've less to get rid of. Leaves weigh a lot, en masse.
Don't hoard more wood than you can use. Turning is inexpensive and free wood is easy to obtain. It's tempting to take up every offer of wood (and I would not turn down walnut...) but there is plenty of time to collect a good stock. Have a look at Frank Howarth's youtube channel and see the sort of storage facility he has built for way less than 10 walnut trees!
ABSOLUTELY, everything that Rob_SS wrote!
Add another one, pump the brakes a little.
I "could" provide an answer to all those questions but that's only because I've been through all of that and came to those decisions by trial, error and experience. You can ask to be pointed in the right direction but you seem to just want a short cut to everything turning. At some point you need to figure out what works best for you by yourself, not just the consensus of a forum.
A little too much at once for me
Thanks for the link 27B_6. I think I've seen those guys before, should give them a good look. Is this the RO sander from Arbortech you're referring to...(pic)?
user-3395150. I'm new to turning but far as I can tell people pay higher prices for natural edge, bark on bowls but that may be a regional thing.
Rob_SS, point well taken on the coring system. Others have pointed out my 1HP 1221 probably is under powered for doing much coring, and you're so right that the cored bowls are extremely generic. I'd have to do like you mentioned, core thick and then turn properly.
Big thanks on your tree advice too. I'm seeing this big field of trees and just want to jump at it. Since I'm still exploring my area's extra wood potential I'd better slow down on this newest find and reach out to my local turning club for more advice, which I just joined last week. Seems to be lots of wise advice there.
That's it. I do a fair number of live edge bowels and have found it very effective for sanding the inside, particularly around the uneven edge
I am at the tail end of using a lot of two foot wide walnut that a pro felled and a sawyer made into 2 plus inch planks.First,I concur with the comment to leave the felling to the pros.Second,keeping the tree whole will surely lead it to crack in ways that you wont like.Try having some of it cut into say 12 inch thick rounds ,bag them in plastic and see if they dry slowly and dont crack.
A note on salvaging trunks to make wooden bowls on the lathe. The cut length should be 2 inches over the diameter so one can make good use of the entire log, so if the diameter of the trunk is 18 inches, cut it to 20 and by the time it gets resawn in the center and cut in a round blank the checks in the ends will be cut away. It is then rough turned to one inch thick and then set to dry in a box or bag for a year or so. Painting the end grain with anchor seal will also minimize cracks around the heart .
Thanks guys appreciate the extra advice.
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