Turning in Wood
And now we come to another and highly fascinating kind of wood-work and this is to spin a stick of wood in a lathe and shape it with a chisel or gouge, or wood turning as it is called.
While the outfit you need to turn wood with costs more than for scroll sawing you will never forget the pleasure of rounding up of a bit of wood into a shapely form, no, not if you were to live a thousand years.
Get a Lathe First.
—It is far better to buy a lathe than to try to make one, that is if you expect to turn anything on it, for in the first place it is hard to get the things to make one with and in the second you can buy one for very little money.
How a Lathe is Made.
—A wood turning lathe consists of four principal parts, and these are (1) the headstock; (2) the rest; (3) the tailstock; (4) the bed and (5) the stand, the first three parts of which are shown in [Fig. 16].
| SPUR | ||
| HEAD STOCK | REST | TAIL STOCK |
Fig. 16. the chief parts of a turning lathe
The head stock is fixed to the bed of the stand; it is formed of a cone pulley mounted on a spindle in a frame. A spur center is screwed to the spindle and this holds the wood tightly in place while it is being turned. The rest, which is adjustable, is used to lay your turning tool on and so keep it in position. A long and short rest usually go with the better lathes.
The tailstock has two adjustments, the first of which allows it to be slipped back and forth on the bed and clamped at any point which gives a rough adjustment, and the second is a spindle which is threaded on one end and has a taper center, that is a sharp point on the other end. This allows the piece of wood which is to be turned to be set between the spur center of the headstock and the taper center of the tailstock.
These parts rest on the bed of the lathe and this in turn is mounted on a stand. The stand is fitted with a drive wheel and this is driven by a treadle with which it is connected by a pitman exactly like a foot-power scroll saw.
Fig. 17. the cheapest wood turning lathe made
The Cheapest Lathe You Can Buy.
—The cheapest lathe you buy is called the Companion; it is made by the Millers Falls Company, Millers Falls, N. Y., and it costs $10.50. It has a long and a short rest, three turning tools and a 2 inch face plate and spur center. When you get it uncrate it, set it up, oil it well and you are ready to do some turning. The lathe is shown complete in [Fig. 17].
Attachments for the Companion Lathe.
—This lathe is fitted with a 4 inch emery wheel without extra charge. A very useful attachment is a circular saw 3 inches in diameter and a saw table 6 × 7 inches with a straight edge guide; it costs $1.25 extra. A scroll saw attachment that can be clamped on the lathe bed may be bought for $3.00 extra. Both of these attachments are shown in [Fig. 17]. Of course better and larger lathes can be had for more money.
Turning Tools for Wood.
—The tools used for turning wood[14] are simply chisels and gouges. The chisels are made with four kinds of points, namely, (1) skew point; (2) round point; (3) square point, and (4) spear point, and these are shown in [Fig. 18]. These chisels can be bought in all sizes from ¹⁄₄ inch to 1 inch wide.
[14] Buck Bros.’ turning tools for wood are counted best.
Gouges also come in sizes from ¹⁄₄ inch up to 1 inch, and a parting tool, which is used to cut off a turned piece and which is simply a V shaped chisel, can be had in ¹⁄₂, ⁵⁄₈ and ³⁄₄ inch sizes. These turning tools are also shown in [Fig. 18]. You can buy them fitted with applewood handles and sharpened ready for use for about 50 cents apiece. You can buy them of hardware dealers or of Hammacher, Schlemmer and Co., Fourth Ave. and 13th Street, New York.
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| SKEW POINT | ||
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| ROUND POINT | SQUARE POINT | SPEAR POINT |
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| THE GOUGE | ||
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| THE PARTING TOOL | ||
Fig. 18. a set of wood turning tools
How to Turn Wood.
—Before you can turn out a really good job on a lathe you must practice awhile. A good thing to try your hand on is to make some tool handles. The size of these will, of course, depend on what you intend to use them for.
Take a stick of wood, round or square, it doesn’t in the least matter, a couple of inches longer and a trifle larger than the largest diameter that the handle is to be and drive one end against the spurs of the face plate as shown in [Fig. 19].
This done screw up the feed of the tailstock until the back-center is forced into the end of the wood about ¹⁄₈ of an inch; clamp the rest so that it comes to within ¹⁄₄ an inch of the wood you are going to turn and you are ready for work.
Fig. 19. putting the rough wood in the lathe
Now put your foot on the treadle and work it up and down; very soon the speed of the drive wheel will carry it round smoothly and it will deliver considerable power to the pulley of the headstock. If the drive wheel is 5 times as large as the pulley and you treadle the drive wheel 100 times every minute, the stick of wood which you want to turn will revolve 500 times a minute.
Fig. 20. the right way to hold a wood working tool
When you have the wood rotating at about this speed grip the handle of it firmly with your right hand, lay the back of the chisel on the rest and press down on the blade with your left hand as shown in [Fig. 20]. Of course the top edge of the wood is turning toward you.
Whatever you do when you are roughing down a stick of wood don’t try to take off too large a cut. Go at it very gently with the point of your chisel and as it begins to cut you can swing the tool around so that the whole width of the blade is cutting.
Gouges are used in the same way as chisels and with them you can turn out hollow parts. A parting tool is used for cutting off the ends of the wood after you have finished turning it.
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 | SIZING WITH A PAIR OF CALIPERS | |
| A REGULAR SIZING TOOL | ||
Fig. 21. sizing the turned work
When you want to turn a piece of wood down to a given size you can do so by testing it with a pair of calipers, as shown in [Fig. 21], or you can size it with a regular sizing tool. To size the work measure off the distance between the points of the calipers with a rule for whatever thickness you want the turned part; then as you turn the wood you can try it from time to time until the wood will just slip through between the points.