Practicing my thin turning
john lucas
Since I haven't really turned since Feb other than a couple of demo's I thought it would be prudent to turn as much as I can to get my skills back up for the Georgia Symposium this weekend. Since I don't have my bandsaw yet my mirror blanks start out square so I practice turning those corners away. It teaches me how to turn square turnings without tearout and I practice seeing how thin I can get them. It took a few to get the technique back but this one is .045" or roughly 3/64ths or a fat 1/32nd. It's poplar and probably won't handle any thinner. It was flexing badly and took a few practice pieces to learn to keep the pressure off the bevel. Anyway after a few mirror blanks were turned on this less than good wood I finally got my skills back up and got clean cuts and learned to not put pressure on the bevel. Practiced sharpening as well of course.
This blank is 5 1/2" square and 3/4" thick. The square wings are invisible when it's turning so it's quite challenging to turn, especially thin and even.
