I also started using some more exotic wood species than I had in the past. Now I am using walnut, jatoba, sapele, soft maple, and black ebony. Oh, and I finally got them down to a more reasonable size.
A repository of creations by a developing artisan.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Pointy Pendulums
A couple of weeks ago I made another batch of hardwood pendulums on the lathe. This time, I used the scroll chuck, so I was able to get them to end in a nice sharp point (which is something I can't really do with a drive spur and live center).
I also started using some more exotic wood species than I had in the past. Now I am using walnut, jatoba, sapele, soft maple, and black ebony. Oh, and I finally got them down to a more reasonable size.
I also started using some more exotic wood species than I had in the past. Now I am using walnut, jatoba, sapele, soft maple, and black ebony. Oh, and I finally got them down to a more reasonable size.
Nice!
ReplyDeleteYeah, using a scroll chuck opens up a lot more options and makes turning small stuff like that a lot easier and less time consuming.
What tool are you using? Skew, spindle gouge?
Some other woods that deal well with intricate details or very thin parts are: Pink ivory, Purpleheart, apple, pear, plum, beech (spalted it's a really beautiful wood), boxwood, yew, olivewood, lilac, Laburnum, dogwood, Black Elder, some sorts of cherry, bocote, Cocobolo, Grenadillo, Snakewood, Kingwood and Ziricote to name some.
I use skews and two or three different sized spindle gouges mainly. Almost never use scrapers, except for carbide tools occasionally. Keeping my tools sharp is one of my main problems.
ReplyDeleteI am just getting to the point where I am moving away from cheap woods and buying decent hardwoods. Soft maple turns very nicely.
Yeah, maple is great to turn. Also easy to stain. I use fountain pen ink a lot for maple. Works great and you can just finish it with shine juice as usual.
ReplyDeleteSharpening: my nemesis, too...
I also mainly use different sized skews (oval ones) and spindle gouges. The skews are refreshingly easy to sharpen, just a nice flat bevel to take care of ;-)
ReplyDelete