How big do you turn

Re: How big do you turn

George Balock

John,

I like to turn big salad bowls. I'll start with a 20 plus inch log and end up with four rough turned bowls, 20 plus, 18"-16", 12"-10" and a 9" small core.

I'm also just finishing a maple burl hollow form that is in the 10" tall by 10" wide range and the Blackwood finial takes it to 13" tall

On the opposite end, right now I'm in the process of turning bird house ornaments, which are much smaller.

You can always turn little things on a big lathe.

George

chicken and egg problem

steven antonucci

How many people tend to turn things because it is what fits on their lathe?

My bowls would mostly not fit on 12" swing. I'd probably make them a little larger if I had the swing. On the other hand, if I had a larger lathe, they'd probably fit my 16" swing when they were done. You almost always lose 2" of swing in maximum practical size.

Length... I have 19# between centers and I can get to 22" if I scoot the tailstock ALL the way down. If I throw the other bed section on, it goes to 42" or so. I made some baseball bats. Can't do those in sections.

If I was making hats, I'd want 20"...they seem a little small at 14-15"

Re: How big do you turn

George Balock

Here is a photo of some of the latest ash bowls. The ruler on the big one is 24".

Re: How big do you turn

robo hippy

I seldom turn bowls over 14 inch diameter. That size just does not sell well for me and is bigger than what 99% of my customers want. Volume wise, I sell more personal size 'meal' bowls, but $ wise, I sell about the same amount of small to big bowls. My first lathe had a 12 inch throw, and I got many requests for bowls a bit bigger than that. Bought a 3520A and it paid for itself 3 times the first year I bought it, which means it covered all the extras that I needed to go along with the bigger lathe. With the PM, fitting a 30 inch table leg onto it to turn a spindle was a really tight fit. Adding in the spur drives, and you were right at 30 inches between centers. With my Beauty and extended bed, I can go longer and bigger. Mostly I wanted the 3 hp, compared to the 2....

robo hippy

Re: How big do you turn

John K Jordan

My biggest lathe will swing 20" over the bed or a great deal bigger outboard. Although I have turned an occasional 18" platter MOST (98.6%?) of what I make would easily fit on a 12" swing lathe. (The larger lathe may be better for other reasons, of course, including stability, stronger spindle and bearings, better tailstock, often more length)

Nothing to do with swing, but some smaller lathes don't have quite enough torque or worse, don't have electronic variable speed which would be an issue for me.

JKJ

Re: How big do you turn

Keith Tompkins

To turn one of my bigger winged pieces, such as this one, at 24" long, required turning a 48" diameter plywood disc outboard, with a counterweight to keep vibration to a minimum. both sides were turned, including wing profile.

Re: How big do you turn

John C Lucas

Keith . Ive turned a couple of 1 piece mirrors. Requires 21 inches of swing and my Powermatic only has 20. I used my friends 2442. Im going to rig up my 3520A to take a lowered bed extension like the 3520B so i can play with the larger pieces.

Nice work, George.  They look great.

Re: chicken and egg problem

Greg Haugen

Steven, I've often thought that about hats. Talking about wearable ones of course. It's do-able but limited room for error. I've wondered about trying some of the Bowler style of hat. Less brim that way. Haven't taken that leap though.

Re: How big do you turn

Greg Haugen

Interesting topic, John. I've been thinking a lot about Bill Luce lately as I follow his recovery. Bill is one of the people that inspires me and we have had a number of conversations over the years. At one point I was playing around with different bowl forms. Some were a success and some were the proverbial turning a tree to make a tooth pick. I've seen a number of pictures of Bill's masterful pieces that were no bigger than 3" in diameter. And if you couldn't tell by the grain, it would be hard to gauge the true size by a photograph. Far too often emphasis is put on size or thinness and not on form and execution.

Doesn't have to be bowls. Same applies to spindles too.

Re: How big do you turn

John C Lucas

One of my best bowls is a pine knot and its 2 1/2" across. Everytime someone sees it they just go on and on about it.

Re: How big do you turn

Barry Irby

My lathe has an 8" swing or to be clear I can turn a 16" bowl, at least in theory. As mentioned earlier, its difficult to get anything much bigger than 14" off the lathe. I have two bowls that are close to 15 1/2". I carefully cut the blanks and mounted them and then painstakingly ground off anything that touched the ways with a belt sander. An exercise in lunacy. Not worth it.

I also turn finial on the same lathe that have part less than an 1/8".

Bowls much bigger than 13 or 14" and not "practical" because they are so hard to store. Won't fit in standard kitchen cabinets or display cases.

The older I get, the smaller stuff gets! *LINK*

Mike Brazeau

I have a Oneway 2436, which turns em all, big or small. These days tends to be the smaller stuff. I like salad bowls in the 13-14" range. Also have a couple of Delta midis which are hard to justify keeping with the amount of shop activity lately. If and when we downsize the VS will be a keeper.


The Joy of Wood

Re: How big do you turn

David Walser

Barry -- If the distance between the spindle and ways on your lathe is 8", your lathe has a 16" swing.

I was befuddled, not unusual for me.

Re: The older I get, the smaller stuff gets!

mikeee12345

On a prior post Barry mentioned trying to turn larger pieces on the lathe can be a pain.

There are several solutions when mounting larger pieces that have corners and odd shapes

on the blank that will not allow a full rotation between centers.

I have an electric chain saw in the shop which can be used to knock the high points off of the blank.

The angle grinders and cutting blades designed to remove material also work very quickly for removing

high points on wood blanks.

The other obvious solution is to carefully measure the blank prior to mounting and cut the blank on a band-saw or trim with a chain saw prior to mounting between centers. You will always have a high point

on the larger billets that are close to the maximum turning radius for your lathe, so a power tool in your turning shop will help with this obstacle. I have a laser set up on my lathe now which can indicate the high

points quickly and assist with guiding you with your power tool to get the blank trimmed to turn 360 degrees. Prior to the laser I would use a sharpie to mark the high spots as the wood blank rotated between

centers would hit the ways. This process was time consuming and required repeated attempts at trimming

the blank and checking to see if it would clear the ways. The laser quickly highlights the high spots on the top side of the billet where you have access to trim it with a power tool. Caution must be used when using a chainsaw for this purpose, one slip and you ding up the blade and ding up your lathe. Some of the newer angle grinder and cutting blades provide better control over the tool while cutting away excess

wood on a blank mounted between centers.