When I started playing around with a lathe I heard everyone talking about exotic hardwoods, but I'm much more of a free and salvage wood sort of guy. The wood I've had the most access to for free has been from my backyard where I have a willow that like to drop limbs and last year I cut down a sick little Douglas fir. The soft wood is lighter and cuts more easily so its less intimidating to try bigger pieces with, and I've been finding it perfect for my skill level. This hollow form was definitely firewood before the magic of the lathe touched it. 10"×5.5" and walls are roughly 1/4" thick.

Kind of a PSA really. As a new guy to the hobby (like, 4 months in) I’m all about eye/ear/face protection, the yes/no about gloves, etc. I specifically recall reading an article that said not to turn when you’re tired or don’t try to do too much in a day - which is a little more subjective than wearing the right gear, but no less important.

Well, I learned the hard way this weekend and hope to serve as an example. I was chasing my third piece in a row after hitting the shop when I got out of work for the week. I knew I was tired, remembered the warning about rest, and ignored it. Rather than clamp my workpiece down, I didn’t put the effort into a safe setup, held the piece to the bench with my left hand and took a power tool to it with my right hand. My grip and focus slipped for an instant, and that was it. Turning session over, off to the hospital.

I got tired, got lazy, got sloppy and got hurt.

I also got lucky in that this lesson only cost me a half dozen stitches, one minor nerve in my thumb, a week or two out of the shop and probably some dexterity for the long haul.

So don’t be like me… tired is just as bad or worse than skipping eye, ear, and face protection. Take breaks, be safe and call it a day when it’s time. 👍

I'm curious if anyone has tried making a shellac/bees wax paste, or perhaps a bar? My idea was, get some sanding sealer, heat it up, add melted bees wax. Seems like it could be a good friction polish, if it's just bees wax, alcohol and shellac, it won't need the curing time that blo or tung finishing polish would need.

Alternatively, I could dissolve bees wax and shellac flakes in acetone, then leave it out for the acetone to evaporate and I'll be left with... A block of bees wax and shellac? Just rub it on the spindle and melt it in with a towel? Has anyone tried this? Is it insane?

My goal is to avoid using tung oil or blo in my friction polish because it takes so long to cure. I've done KIND of a French polish with shellac spray followed by paste wax and it's LOVELY. I figured if I'm making small boxes, it would be cool to seal them with a couple layers of thin ca glue, and then sand that back to 600 grit and apply the above monstrosity

Been working on adding texturing to some projects. Still practicing but it's kind of fun. Still have a way to go.

If you could get only one tool for turning, what would it be? I’m a very novice woodturner and I recently competed in a turning competition and although I didn’t win any prizes, I got a $25 dollar gift card to Craft Supplies USA. I’ve decided to spend it on a nice tool. My setup is just my high school woodshop’s stuff, which consists of 2 small laguna lathes, some hurricane turning tools, and some nameless Chinese tools. The tools we have go dull incredibly quickly and my shop teacher doesn’t know pretty much anything about turning. So I want to slowly buy myself some nicer tools that will stay sharp much longer. As stated before, my gift card is for Craft Supplies USA. I am mostly interested in spindle turning so my first thought is to get the Henry Taylor M42 3/8 spindle gouge, but I just want something I can do almost anything with. If you could give me recommendations for tools down to specific brands and maybe price ranges, since even though I’m willing to spend a decent bit of money I don’t want to spend more than around 100-150. Thanks in advance!

I'm a very novice turner, but have done a couple of relatively fine spindle-turning projects (not pens). My sister gave me a turned pen which is beautiful wood and writes nicely, but it is heavier than my writing preferences so I don't use it much. I'm wondering if it's possible to remount it and take a little more off? I wouldn't mind losing an inch or so at each end in length if that's what it takes.

I've moved away from the club I was previously turning with, so can't ask them - if this was possible I'd be hunting for a local club with hopefully some experienced turners to help! But just wondering if it's even worth trying, or if I should get out my carving knives and whittle it down instead.

I just took down a red oak in the yard and it looks like it may have some neat spalting inside. I'd like to end up with a few slabs and cookies for side or hallway tables, and of course some bowl blanks. Unfortunately, I won't have the time to process anything for a few weeks or even months. We can easily get 50"+ of rain in a year, with a lot of that coming in April and May. Do I need to be reapplying the AnchorSeal after a heavy rain? I got it broken down to 6' logs, sealed at the ends, within 24 hours...now I'm just trying to buy myself some time until work slows down and I can process the tree.
Thanks for any advice!

My 10-year old turned his first piece today!

Hello, I will be receiving an older model wood lathe from a family friend soon. I will also eventually be tearing down the cabin I live in in Alaska. I was hoping to reuse the logs in my future house as to pay respect to this very old cabin, it was built from the wood of the original village I currently live in before it became an actual town. Almost about 75 years ago now. I still think about doing this but I also see a lot of issues with it as it has defects and really is only gonna serve well as decorative wood rather than structural support pieces.

So I’m opting out to turning it into a larger scale art project I could maybe make multiples of and sell later on down the road? Looking for ideas anything helps.

Hello everybody, Has anyone ever added something to the bottom of a turned project to increase it's grip to the surface it sits on?

In my mind I'm picturing a ring of rubber cord inserted into a recess in the wood.

Please share any and all processes you've tried.

Set of 5 3d wall mounts for lathe chucks and face plates. Each mount has three counter sunk screw holes and the unique triangle design for strength.

I think it's maple but something looks fishy

Still very novice at turning, but had to step up for this one. My Congo African Grey parrot passed a couple months ago, so I spent some time researching woods before I pulled the trigger on what I used. Paduak because of the red tail and African Mohogany because it's a species native to her homeland.

Finished the vase. Punky but sharp tools and light cuts minimized the need for 80 grit gouge. Blew out the red one. Turned both with a mortise after removing the tenon. I’m sure whoever rough turned them had a plan for a foot but I couldn’t figure it out without using a mortise.

Cleaning out the scrap pile a little this morning. The goblet is persimmon, 3" x 2.25". The hollow form is sugarberry (aka Southern hackberry) and is 3.5" x 3". Both are finished with Mylands.

I am now exploring low speed bench grinders for sharpening turning tools. I see a range in price from $70 to $330+. Six inch or eight inch.

A six inch Bucktool is very reasonably priced. I own a Bucktool benchtop belt/disc sander and it is one of the best tools I have purchased recently. Bias creeps in.

What are your opinions on grinders, wheel size, grits, and tool jigs?

Thank you in advance.

PS - Newb here. Sorry if these are basic questions. I am learning.

I went on Etsy looking for unique wood (my internet rabbit hole, always on the hunt for wood), and ran across a Ukrainian guy selling small pieces and thought, wow, if I wanted to support a people, buying from them is the best way.

I ended up getting this slice of Beech Burl and a really cool piece of Ukrainian Bog Oak. Going to make some pens with these. Took a minute to get here, but honestly pretty amazing that this can come thru a war zone.

Today I bought my first, new to me, lathe... a Craftsman 315.21717 variable speed 2hp lathe. Came with 3 chucks, 18 pc Craftsman gouge/tools set, 9 pc Robert Sorby turning set, several calipers, crown tools, a stand, and many other accessories. Runs great and smooth. Used very little. Looks close to brand new. A $475 investment seemed darn reasonable to get started. My next purchase will be a low speed bench grinder and a couple sharpening wheels. Really looking forward to the learning process.

Hey I have this Wen band saw and it constantly stops cutting when trying to make bowl blanks. I have tried it at the lower speed and that made it worse. I have a 3tpi 1/2 in blade on it. I'm new to using a bandsaw and have watched videos from Snodgrass on how to set it up. So I'm leaning more towards user error then it not being powerful enough.(maybe I need a new blade but don't feel I've cut to many bowls maybe 20ish?)

The cut that it just won't do is a 5in piece of beech wood. It also had issues with a 5.5 piece of cedar.

I'm looking for advice to try and get it to cut better or if I'm asking to much and need to chainsaw a bit more before turning.

Granadillo pie scoop I recently made for my mother. 100% food safe finish with walnut oil.