You would hardly suppose it possible to turn off the end of a piece squarely and accurately with the gouge, but it is a good tool for the purpose. You must lay it on its side upon the rest, so that its back or bevel rests flat against the end of the piece from which the superfluous wood is to be taken; the edge or point of the tool is then allowed to cut the work by a slight movement of the handle. You can only do it in this way, with the bevel against the piece from which the cut is to be taken. Turned over to its usual position, it will hitch in and spoil the work in a moment. In the same way you can face up a bread-platter or similar flat work; but such articles as these are not mounted between centres, but screwed upon the taper screw-chuck or the flat plate with the screw-holes, so that you can get to the face of them. At first, however, until the work gets tolerably level, you may bring up the back-centre, which will prevent the taper screw of the chuck from being accidentally bent; and when all the rough part is cut away, and the rim turned down, you can remove the back-centre to finish the facing up. In this work, however, the back and face do not need much turning, because the platter is turned from plank wood, planed up truly on each side, and cut roughly into the form of a circle. If accurately planed, it will run true at once, and the small amount of facing may be done with the gouge held as directed. Afterwards it may be necessary to take a light scrape with a carpenter’s chisel, which answers well for this. Then finish up with glass or sand paper. Take care to make a neat moulding to the edge, which will be about an inch thick, and will therefore look very heavy unless turned off so as to thin it down. A platter is a very good and useful work for a beginner.
In turning a platter you will certainly learn one lesson in mechanics. You will find that it is very hard work to turn anything that is larger than the pulley of your lathe, and you will only be able to take a very light cut. Probably you will find it the easiest plan to set the lathe in rapid movement, and apply the turning-tool only for an instant, and then to remove it until the work has recovered its impetus, thus cutting it, as it were, by repeated brief applications of the tool, instead of by one continuous cut. I do not mean that the tool is to be removed from the rest, but only eased off for a second from the work. If the latter is very large, and the pulley on the mandrel much less in size, you can only work in this way, finishing with a very light cut. There is a tool for the face of such flat works, called a broad. It is like a broad chisel with the end turned up at right angles to the side, only the edge is a bevelled one and thick. They work well in hands accustomed to them, but the gouge and chisel are sufficient for your present need.
I shall sketch here (Fig. 49) one or two articles not requiring to be much hollowed out, which will help you to decide upon such work as is suitable to a young mechanic desiring, by steady practice and application, to become a proficient at the lathe, and as soft-wood turning will teach you more than that in hard wood, I shall direct all the following to be made of it by gouge and chisel alone.
Fig. 49.
These examples are not given as specimens of the rich work which can be done in the lathe, but as easy examples of elementary turning. No. 1 is a stand for an urn or hot water jug, and a slight recess may be made in the upper surface, in which a piece of cloth, or carpet, or oilcloth can be glued, which will make a neat finish. No. 2 is a bread-platter, showing how a little neat moulding takes away the clumsy appearance of the thick board necessary for this purpose. No. 3 is a candlestick. The lower part or stand is to be turned from a separate piece of thick board screwed upon the taper-screw chuck. While it is in the lathe, the hole must be made in the centre (or marked, if the piece is not very thick) by holding a pointed tool a little on one side of the centre, so as to describe a circle of the requisite size. Into this will be fitted a tenon, fig. 3 B, which is turned on the pedestal, and which is to be glued into its place. By and by you will learn how to cut a screw upon such a tenon, which is a far more satisfactory method of proceeding; at present glue will answer just as well. You can make the upper part separate, forming the junction at the line C (Fig. 49, No. 3), if you prefer it, or if your wood is not long enough; but as you will not hollow out the top, you may as well let it be cut out of one piece with the pedestal. Turn the top quite level, drive in a piece of stout wire, and point the end of it. Cut out a round piece of tin to fit, and make a hole in the middle of it to let the wire through; drop it over the point, and let it rest on the candlestick; a wax candle can be spiked upon the wire, and will stand firm.
Figs. 7 and 8 are drawings of tool-handles. These are the best shape to grasp in the hand, and they look neat in the tool-rack. Tool-handles with a number of mouldings, are not only absurd, but are uncomfortable to hold, and not at all suited to their intended purpose. 9 and 10 are other forms of mouldings, and are given merely to show how angular and rounded forms should be combined to produce a good effect. If these were to be made in hard wood, they might be turned with beading and moulding tools similar to those at A, B, C, D of this figure; such tools are bevelled only on one side, and being held flat upon the rest, cut the curves and hollows rapidly, and clean. Sometimes a number of these are arranged side by side, so as together to make up the outline of the intended moulding, and being held in position by a handle designed for the purpose, are presented all at once to the work as it revolves. In other cases, a flat plate of steel is filed into shape, and bevelled to form a compound moulding tool. Of course, such contrivances greatly help the turner, especially if he has to turn a number of articles of exactly the same pattern, such as the pawns of a set of chessmen, or a set of draughtsmen; but none of these tools answer upon soft wood, because, as already explained, tools which have to be held horizontally will cut and tear up the fibres of all woods that are not very hard and compact in grain.
Fig. 6 is a profile of a draughtsman, and fig. 6 B shows how they ought to be made, but for this you cannot use soft wood, and had better make them of box and ebony, or holly and ebony—(and, by and by, of black-wood and ivory). A cylinder is first turned, then marked off as shown with grooves cut by a parting-tool. The pieces are then separated with a fine saw, and a chuck is hollowed out to fit them so that each can be readily turned upon the face. The desired mouldings having been made on one side, the disc is turned over in the chuck, and the other side operated upon in the same manner.
It is quite possible, you must understand, to cut these out of soft wood, even pine or deal. We often see boxes of toys, children’s wooden plates and cups, turned very neatly of this material; but it is not worth while to use it if you can obtain boxwood. Moreover, box can be stained black to imitate ebony, and is very often made to serve instead of it.