Lathe Projects

[TexasBob]

I have always liked the idea of wood turning, but always found something else to spend money on rather than a lathe. FIL had his grandfathers shop smith collecting dust in a corner and was glad to send it my way. Circa 1960, his grandfathers name and social security number is engraved in the top. I don’t need the other tools, so it will stay configured as a lathe. Bought a nova chuck, appropriate adapter, and a new tail stock center.

First project was the tool itself. Years of surface rust, but some light sanding and all is well.








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[TexasBob]

First lesson was wear a face shield and make sure the chuck is really tight. Wife learned how much head wounds bleed.

I’m really intrigued by wood and epoxy combos these days so trying my hand at making blanks. Bargain bin wood from rockler and total boat.








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[Graysonhogs]

I've been a machinist over 30 years and wood turning scares me lol.

[ctom87]

That is a beast of a lathe. Biggest recommendation I have for you is to make sure to get the bubbles out of your workpiece by either vacuum, or preferably, using a pressure pot.

I don't have one and whenever I try to turn my projects, the bubbles all shatter. Looks horrible, can't fix, and I got some hardened epoxy in the eye. Not fun.

[TexasBob]

I do need to set up a pressure pot. Hoping this works but it definitely may not.

I wasn’t scared of it but taking a block to the head sure woke me up. Healthy respect now for sure.


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[hog_down]

nothing better than breathing life into an old machine, especially if it was your grandfathers.

[FLASH_OUTDOORS]

watching this


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[Hoggslayer]

Watching. My neighbor does a lot of turning. I keep saying I'm going to go set in his garage one evening and learn how.

[ctom87]

The coolest thing I ever did on a lathe was my first project. Bought a maple billet, turned a bat in about 2 hours, my first bat. It was crude. I didn't know how much to sand it, so it was very rough... Just did 80 grit it and to a beginner it felt smooth. Over all, it was HUGE. it was like 36 and a half inches long and 44 ounces... Just ridiculously big. You could not check swing because the bat carried to much momentum.

Anyway, I took it to my game that I had that afternoon. My first at bat went ball, swing and a miss, ball, grandslam. So much pride and joy to turn a bat that morning and 3 hours later the first time the bat I made with my bare hands ever touched leather, I knocked one out of the park. Cool memory.

[Goldeneagle]

I've been a machinist over 30 years and wood turning scares me lol.

All wood working equipment scares me.

[TexasBob]

After 24 hours I cracked it open. Tuck tape worked great. I did have some leakage underneath I’ll use hot glue to seal from now on. I did have some bad voids on the underside. I’m trying to fill those and see if it works.







I knew this block was too big for what I had in mind so I cut it down some and decided to not waste the epoxy on the ends and the form setup.




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[eaglegolfj]

That is a cool old machine. Welcome to your new addiction.

[eaglegolfj]

Not trying to hijack, but some of the things you will be doing.

[3ChordTruth]

Good for you TexasBob to get that old shopsmith making man glitter again. Lathes are like pure magic to me, and my high school shop teacher was a wizard on a lathe. With his help I made a huge salad bowl for my mom that was shaped like that bowl in eaglegolfj’s first pic (and very nice work on all those things you made eaglegolfj). Looking forward to seeing pics of this old shopsmith lathe work some magic again.

[eaglegolfj]

Thank you Sir, they are fun. That old machine is pretty neat. I would like to see some vids of it running.