I got the new lathe yesterday, and Khallie helped me set it up. That was good fun. I then mounted a piece of 2×4 in it to at least try the tools out a bit till I found a decent piece of wood somewhere to really mess about with it. Today I rooted around through the firewood spares, and found a couple of pieces of logs. So, I put one on the lathe and did all the wrong roughing and all the wrong cuts and came up with my first project. It has a lot to be desired, but most of that is not visible in the picture below. Luckily.
I told Missus she could have it as a yarn bowl till I can make her a better one. I want to do one with one of those curlicue slots that the yarn flows through, but holds a ball in the bowl. I expect that due to some dampness and some little cracks, this one will warp and fail in a few weeks or less.
I did all the wrong cuts because I set up the wood, then panicked! I had to get to work, and did not want to go look up a whole video on how to do a bowl, as none of them are very short. I used spindle gouges on the outside of this, and I should have used my bowl gouge, and not just for the inside. I also should have used a push cut. That will have to come to be on the next bowl. I watched a video after I finished this, and it all makes a lot more sense now, and I think I get it. I need the things I learned in the video, over an hour long, to stay in my head till I get to go do them myself, and I can reinforce them.
Anyhow, the new lathe felt very controllable and stable. I was able to set exactly the speed I felt comfortable with. The only thing I think I would like to do is finish getting the accessories, especially the light. I can really see how that would come in handy after turning this bowl. It is hard to see inside it with the overhead light. I could obviously go cheap and use a flashlight, but doing the accessory light, I would have better options and better light from above when I set it there. So, there are reasons. I also want a keyed drill chuck so I can use the drilling function of the tailstock. I also need to sort out sharpening on the tools. Here is a trippy thought. Say I turn another bowl. It is like this one, about 8 inches in diameter. That is the finished size, but it started out closer to ten, and had bark on it. If I have to spend an hour, and I only count it as the average of nine inches, and it spins at an average of 1,500 RPM, then the tool cuts 212,057 feet of wood. Tools don’t stay too sharp that way. Happily that ends up being a bit exaggerated to the cuts I would need to do such a bowl, but… It shows where an hour of cutting goes, and how much wood passes over a blade.
I look forward to the next chance I get to go out and work in the woodshop!