Craft Forum / Wood/Metal / Woodturning / October 2007

Hey friends,
Cheap calipers are at least 10 bucks each. Does anyone
have plans/skills in making your own?
Thanks

Can anyone suggest a brand and source of a good digital protractor for
precise measuring of angles for segmented turning?

It was time to make another thirty or so favors for Lori's Waves & Navy
Nurses monthly luncheon. I chose to make small ring bowls and turned
them from mahogany offcuts and burned a crude fouled anchor in the
bottoms. To speed things up I thought to chuck and turn short cylinders

Anyone using this beast?
How good a unit is it?
Any drawbacks?

Is there are formula or rough correlation for a starting (roughing down)
speed as it relates to the diameter of the piece being turned?  What do you
use?  I have a Jet 1442 (reeves) and if it means i can't safely turn a piece
on its lowest speed, I'll have to make a design change ...

Demo Deception
Perhaps "deception" isn't the right word - "misleading" is probably a
better term.  But Misleading Demo just doesn't have the flow of
Demo Deception.  Please excuse my taking Literate License with

Among woodturners these days there's a lot of wringing of hands and
gnashing of teeth about stealing ideas from mother nature, antiquity and
each other.  We on rcw have remained relatively quiet, but
we have issues too. Don't we have the same right to weep, wail, agonize

Numbers are important in woodturning, no doubt about it. Exs.: accurate
and repeatable grinding angles, heights of finials and depths of feet,
rules of thirds, and carets of the golden rule. No less necessary to
determine accurately are composition of finishings, length, width and

I recently bought a Jacobs chuck and a Morse Taper for my lathe. I think
I'm missing a step somewhere. When I mount it in the tailstock, it just
spins freely, leading to a less aggressive drilling action than I hoped
for.

Last Saturday a local woodlot owners association had a meeting where
an instructor from the Forest Industry Safety and Training Institute
gave an abbreviated (but excellent) class on chain saw use complete
(after lunch) with some pictures of injuries.   He said the only time

If you have a Nova chuck this chart might be handy to download,
print, laminate and around the lathe.
charlie b

In the process of searching for a motor to power my "new" turret
lathe, I ran across a guy who also offered me a 1918 Oliver wood lathe
with a 15" swing and 36" between centers for $200, ready to run.  He
said he'd also toss in a motor to power it.

I posted a few pics on ABPW of a simple modification of my lathe handwheel
that allows for an inexpensive vacuum attachment if you have a suitable
pump. It works great and I hope it can help if you have such a need.
Dick Mahany

<http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=3&p=46300&cat=1,330,49232&ap=
1>
I bought this the other day and am having trouble with catches. Can
anyone help with cutter setting and technique?

   I'm adding some more converters to www.fast-math.org. I'm
wondering if woodworkers have need for any math conversions that are
not already there? If you have a good let me know, and I'll add it.
Thanks,