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A55 Smoothing Plane

The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

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The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

#1

The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

Chuck Ludwigsen

>Hi folks,

Well, I was working on completing a few things today and experienced both success and failure.

First, the good:

Here is an oak candy dish (6-3/4" x 1-3/4") that I turned for a friend and his wife as a "This is how you turn something" project.


Next, the bad:

Don't have a picture of this, but I was trying to finish off the first of the bowls from that Magnolia I cut and it went all to pieces. I worked very hard on drying the rough-turned blank and was excited about this piece. But I caught a bad catch from what I'm sure is sloppy tool handling, and it ate it up pretty good. I tried to turn it down smaller to clean it up but did the same thing again.

Crud.

Finally, the ugly:

In an effort to make this 1983 Buffalo lathe more steady, I "enhanced" the stand I made for it with some big, ugly, hairy "Hobbits Feet" along with 240 pounds of sandbag in the stand. If you have seen any of the "Lord of the Rings" movies, you can see why the name fits. Here is a quick before and after pic.




Here is a close-up of the feet.


Have a good day. As for the Magnolia? Back to the drawing board.

Chuck in Memphis, TN.

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

#2

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

Mike Rubes

>Hi Chuck,

Wow! I love that oak bowl! I've done a few pieces of oak and it never turns out that well. What finish did you use? I like the rim accent work.

Sorry to hear about the magnolia. I've currently got 1 roughed out bowl drying and one blank waiting to be turned. Had yours spalted?

Thanks for the pics,

Mike

Gonna give my oak logs a second look in Apex, NC!!

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

#3

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

Chuck Ludwigsen

>Thanks Mike,

I had shied away from Oak too for the same reason - the finish quality. This was a ratty looking piece that was sitting on the shelf when a friend asked how I would take a piece from the stack and start it out. So I showed him.

I followed the instructions of several here at WC on how to improve the finish on open grained wood.

After sanding through 400, I applied a couple coats of Sanding Sealer and let dry. Smoothed that out with 4-0 steel wool then re-sanded through 800. Then the brown paper bag burnishing. Finally, a couple coats of paste wax burnished in and buffed.

Thats about it.

Chuck in Memphis, TN.

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

#4

Keith Tompkins

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

Keith Tompkins

>HI Chuck, That is a nice piece. The bowl is rather shallow, yet you have produced a piece that gives a sense of "volume". Your photo makes me want to pick it up and examine it.....I like it.

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

#5

Chuck, did it work?

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Did the feet improve the stability? I'm using the stock stand with my Delta, for now. Trying to get the enthusiam up for building a better stand.

I really like that candy dish. Looks superb. As for the magnolia, how does it smell in a fireplace? (grin)

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

#6

I think it looks great Frodo!

Dominic Greco in Richboro PA

>Extending the legs out like that is a great idea! I think it looks great. By adding them, you basically made the stance wider and enhanced the lathes ability to resist the moment imparted by a large, out of balance blank.

And I have to say that shallow bowl looks very nice!

See ya,

Dominic

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

#7

Re: Chuck, did it work?

Chuck Ludwigsen

>Oh man, now I have to build a furnace ;-)

Ya, the stand works great. The combination of the wide stance and 240 lb of sand makes this thing rock steady. There will always be a little play just from how the lathe itself is designed with those thin bars for the ways.

If I find a local metal worker, I would like to replace the ways with angled steel. To this day, thing most expensive thing there is the SuperNova chuck.

These feet are each made by laminating 3 2x8 boards that are 24" x 7" with an extra 1-1/2" "foot" on each end. The center board is "pocketed" to hold the original leg and adds 1-1/2" height. The bottom feet add another 1-1/2" so I also gained 3" from this "upgrade". At 6'5" tall, my back needed it.

The next step is to move the motor a bit farther back with a longer belt. It currently reduces my swing height by about 3/4".

Take care,

Chuck in Memphis, TN.

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

#8

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

George Van

>Hi Chuck,

Nice area you live in. I went to school at the National Hardwood Association for grading hardwood lumber.

I too like the bowl, I hope I will be able to make and finish something that well, I still have trouble with catches on small bowls. I saved a copy of your bowl as I would like to have one like it for candy or nuts on my coffee table.

How did you create the detail below the rim, I think that really enhances the rim.

George

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

#9

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

Chuck Ludwigsen

>Hi George,

Thank you for that compliment. I'm honored.

I added the rim accent by burning it with a wire. I first cut a slight groove with the tip of a skew, then wrapped a piece of copper wire between 2 dowels and held it in the recess. Be careful not to pull the wire tight by the dowels or the heat will simply break the wire (DAMHIKT). Just gently lay it in the groove and let it heat up.

It took more time to choose where to cut the groove than it did to burn it ;-)

Chuck

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

#10

Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Feet

George Van

>Thanks Chuck,

You made a good choice on placement.

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