Figs. 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56.
The chances are that this initiatory lesson will result in anything but a correct cylinder—the surface will not be true like a ruler, but if tried by a straight edge it will be seen to be wavy. Tested by the callipers, [Fig. 52], one part will be larger than another, even if the extreme portions be tolerably true to the proposed gauge. Now, the best turner on earth found just these difficulties, and nothing but perseverance and resolute determination will overcome them. Never mind spoiling the first piece of work, give up making it of a determined size, but do not give up making it a true cylinder. Keep the callipers at work, and gently level the prominent parts (you must work down to the size of the deepest hollow, for you cannot fill up such valleys like a railway engineer; you must throw down the adjacent hills instead), proceed gently, little by little; make the tool obey you, show it (as Ruskin speaks of pencil and brush) that you will not yield to its caprices and "henceforward it will be your most obedient servant." Having done the best you can with the surface of your cylinder, proceed to square up the ends, and mind the angle at this part is a right angle, square and sharp, not rounded off. Now this again requires care and a knowledge of the proper method. You will work chiefly with the lower corner of the chisel, and we shall best describe the management of the tool by supposing the cylinder an inch too long, and that the extra piece is to be removed. Now there are three positions in which the chisel can be placed to bring its lower corner in contact with the cylinder. First, with the blade perpendicular to the work; secondly, with the blade inclined to the left, [Fig. 53], as if to round off the end of the piece; thirdly, inclined to the right, [Fig. 54]. Held perpendicularly it will cut a fine line, but penetrate slightly; alternately in the other positions it will remove a V-shaped piece, and thus the cutting off is to be begun. One side of the cutting, however, has to be perpendicular, the other may be as sloping as convenient. Now, it is to be remembered in cutting the upright side, which is the end of the roller, the chisel is to incline rather to the right, for this reason,—if it incline to the left a momentary inattention will cause it to take the path a, b, [Fig. 55], the tendency being to cut a spiral track towards the left. The experiment may be made by gently resting the edge thus inclined on any part of the roller, when it will describe a spiral at once. To the right, then, the chisel must slightly incline, and it will cut off a thin curling shaving like [Fig. 56], leaving the end of the piece quite smooth and shining. When the piece is nearly cut off, great care and lightness of hand must be used, as the central portion will have become weak and ready to break off before the work is finished. When it will no longer bear the chisel, take it out of the lathe, break it off, and neatly finish with the sharp chisel the central portion, and your first lesson is learnt. There is certainly very little of interest in turning an imperfect cylinder, for it is useless when done, but the alphabet of the art, though not amusing, must be first thoroughly mastered, and the rest will follow in due course. If, however, the work seem unreasonably dull and stupid, the cylinder may be converted into a tool handle, which will be at any rate a useful article, besides affording practice. No special directions are needed in addition to the above, except in respect to the ferrule. This is to be cut off a piece of brass tubing or an old gun barrel, or it may be had at the tool shops ready cut to any size. Begin by turning down the place for this ferrule, taking care not to cut it too small or the ferrule will drop off. Take the piece out of the lathe, and with a mallet hammer on the ferrule. Return it again, taking care to centre it in the old marks, and finish the handle. The brass or iron may be polished with a file for this first attempt.
[Hollowed Work.]
It is now necessary to speak of hollowing out wood for the purpose of making boxes, cup chucks, &c., and the latter, which may be made in any quantity, and of all sizes, will afford excellent practice in this part of the turner's art. The majority of work of this kind is done rather by scraping or fretting out than by cutting; side tools of the forms of [Figs. 51 and 56] being used for the purpose. These however, are specially adapted for ivory and hard woods, the grain of which, being very compact and close, is not torn out in shreds by the action of such tools, as would be the case with softer woods. Where the latter material is used in quantity, as in the manufacture of wooden bowls, hook tools, like [Fig. 57], are made use of, which cut on their upper edges. These are exceedingly difficult to use, though the practised hands of those brought up to the art, make them cut with a surprising ease and rapidity—fairly surrounding the lathe with a ceaseless cloud of fine shavings removed in the progress of the work. The difficulty experienced in the use of these tools is not confined to the novice, for the majority of turners accustomed to hard wood often cut a sorry figure in the manipulation of softer material with the aid of the tools in question. The hard and soft wood turners form, in point of fact, two distinct branches of the trade. We have in part anticipated this section, by speaking of the making a wooden chuck when describing the use of the metal chuck with taper screw. We shall, therefore, proceed to describe the best method of turning a plain wooden box with cover, but not screwed; the latter being reserved for more extended notice hereafter. The best material to work upon is sound Turkey boxwood, and care must be taken that it is quite dry and well seasoned, or, after it is worked up with, it may be, great care and trouble, the box will split, or the cover become so loose as to fall off, either fatality being sufficiently vexatious. We may mention, in passing, that hard woods of all descriptions may be had in large or small quantities of Messrs. Fauntleroy[2] and Co., 110, Bunhill-row, Finsbury, or of Jacques and Sons, Covent-garden. Most of the lathe-makers also supply it, especially Holtzapffel and Co., of Charing-cross, but the first-named is a large dealer, wholesale and retail, and his charges are moderate.
[2] Now Messrs. Mundy and Berrie.
Figs. 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57.
Supposing a selection made of size proportionate to that of the intended box, including cover and a tolerable margin for waste and accidents, proceed as before to rough it down between two centres and thus to reduce it to a cylindrical form—there is, however, no occasion to use the chisel at present, as we only need a rough cylinder. Remove this from the lathe, and if you have no brass cup chuck into which you can fit it, proceed to make one out of a piece of beech, ash or, if you have plenty, boxwood. Do not hurry the work, but cut the chuck out neatly, screw and fit it, as previously directed, on the nose of the mandrel. We shall suppose it as yet merely a short neat cylindrical block, quite solid. Place the rest with the tee across the end of the piece of wood, the top edge a little below the centre (by the thickness of the blade of the tool). For the latter select one of the three following—either will answer well—58, 59, 60. With one or the other drill a hole in the centre, keeping the tool quite horizontal across the rest. Enlarge this hole by a left side tool, working from the centre of the piece towards the outside, not taking the whole depth at once, but a quarter or half an inch at a time. You must hollow it out about one inch, and see how nicely you can fit the hollow to the size of the piece you are going to turn. You will, of course, have squared up one or both ends of the latter, which must now be driven tightly into the hollow chuck. If you squared the ends of the cylinder correctly and left also the bottom of your chuck level and true, you will be gratified by seeing the piece run evenly at once.
Figs. 58, 59, 60.