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Lathe roughing gouge handle & drawer

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Lathe roughing gouge handle & drawer

Postby Phil » 26 Feb 2022, 14:02

Lathe roughing gouge

When I bought the Walker Turner (WT) my knowledge of lathe tools bordered on pathetically-zero!

http://www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7151

However I knew that a roughing gouge would be needed for all turning work.

My office was based at one of the factories, so a visit to the plant engineer was called for. You are not allowed to misuse the company’s assets and employees, but a discussion of sorts and a small drawing was left behind.

When I returned to my office two weeks later after doing an audit at another factory, there was this piece of metal lying on my desk.

They had found a piece of tool steel, shaped the front and attached it to a metal shaft 15mm x 15mm. A “Weapon of mass destruction was created - WMD”

Gouge.jpg
The WMD gouge
(6.39 KiB)


Very heavy, but very solid.
The WMD was used as is on the WT.

The WT was pure brute force whether rounding a log, square or multisided piece. It just turned anything round.

The square metal handle was uncomfortable so I wore one of the workshop pig skin gloves.

Move on a number of years ……………….

I never found a ‘round-tuit’ for turning a handle and only when I started using the JET decided that my hands needed some protection.

Because of the thick shaft I needed to make a fairly thick substantial handle which must also be comfortable.

In the off cut bin there was a piece of Beech long enough, wide and thick enough.

A scrap of paper, pencil, and voila a construction drawing. This got lost, had all the dimensions.

What this entailed was hollowing out a section in the middle of the stock to accommodate the 15x15mm handle.

Measure, mark, double check, and again, and again before committing any tool near the Beech. Used an old Elliot marking gauge so the lines were very visible.

The most logical process would be on the router table, 10 minutes max.
However, the router table top was stacked with the train set and I had nowhere to box and store it.

So next step is to see what hand tools are available.

Not much.

An ancient Stanley No. 3 with blunt blade, too wide.
An assortment of paint tin openers.
And then this other ‘thing’ Record 043

http://www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7147&start=25

It was bought at a garage sale about 30 years ago for ZAR5.00 maybe, and I thought it would look very nice and impressive hanging on the tools pegboard in the workshop.

The condition is 'ok' and it has a 3mm blade fitted. Needs to be sharpened though.

With a bit of fiddling this thing might actually work.

(Bob-9F I humbly and profusely apologise to the machine-team for touching said object and actually using it!)

Clamped said piece of Beech in the bench vice.

Drilled a shallow 15mm hole 7 mm deep at each end of the line to be cut out using a Forstner

Approach the Beech with the 043, blade in hole, check and tighten fence, push.

Sheeettt will not move.

Ok blade needs retracting, stupid to try and cut with 3mm sticking out. (lesson no. 1)

Reset blade and try again. It moved and produced a sliver of thin wood! Woooopppeeeeeee!

Tighten fence again, bloody knobs keep on coming loose and loses direction.

043 At work.jpg
The little 043 working
(48.32 KiB)


Ok, repeat process until the trench is 15mm wide and depth about 14mm deep. The last bit will be removed using the paint tin openers.

Some chisel work.jpg
Some chisel work
(45.35 KiB)


Chisels.jpg
Chisels, mallet, marking gauge, ruler and brass hammer
(50.31 KiB)


The 13mm chisel had certainly seen better days, but was still sharp.

Seen better days.jpg
Poor chisel has seen better days ...............
(42.56 KiB)


Some of the chisels used were a bit blunt.

So, now to scratch through some storage containers and look for the oil stones, there should be 2.

Found one in the bottom of the hot melt glue gun box, looks like a real antique.

Oil stone antique.jpg
"Antique" oil stone
(39.13 KiB)


There was also one of those blade holders with a wheel which I deducted ran on the oil stone.

There were also some measuring tools for the lathe which I bought second hand from a woodwork shop in Kempton Park that was closing down. Paid a couple of ZAR.

Measure tools.jpg
Some old measuring tools
(40.82 KiB)


This oil stone and sharpening thing is a whole new ballgame for me.
In the past I just took the planer blade to the grinder.

At this point the Beech can now be cut in the middle and the 2 halves mated.

Bit of a gap in the middle from a slight bow. Not a problem, flatten it off using the belt sander.

Now to finish the trench.

Some more chisel work.

Cut & sanded.jpg
Cut and sanded
(32.92 KiB)


Then a test fit with some final fettling until the two halves mated together and the metal handle can just about be moved in and out.

Test Fit.jpg
Test fitting
(29.88 KiB)


The 2 halves were glued together and a block glued to the end where the hole is, this is to align it on the lathe.

Glued on lathe.jpg
Glued, ready on lathe
(29.33 KiB)


The blank can now be rounded using the WMD, the Beech corners were already bevelled.

This was a real ball ache. Ran the lathe at slowest speed. The gouge kept on jamming with the blank getting a nice hollow from the spur.

The tailstock lever came loose and moved.

Caught my finger between the tool rest and wood. No blood only bruised.

Decided that for the safety of the lathe, switch off for the day.

Next day take blank off, turn around and hammer the spur into the Beech end.

The tool rest did not look right, something amiss ………….
The stupid ID10T operator had the rest on the wrong way round!

So back to roughing until the blank was reasonably round.

StockRounded.jpg
Rounding the stock
(31.15 KiB)


Drew up a template for the final shape , marked on the blank and started cutting with the skew.

I needed to watch the diameter carefully as there needed to be a lot of meat around the metal, also wanted a thicker handle than the other lathe tools, easier to hold.

Done.jpg
Turning done
(28.3 KiB)


Parting from the block

Parted.jpg
Parted from block
(27.3 KiB)


Done & dusted.

The thicker handle is definitely easier for me to hold, some finger arthritis.

The WMD was then epoxied into the handle, hopefully strong enough.

Finished.jpg
This is finished ready to be used
(28.78 KiB)


Finish was 3 coats of Danish Oil followed by 2 coats of Wooddoc wax.

Just messed around and finished these two, handles from a broom stick.

Messing around.jpg
Just messing around with handles
(31.91 KiB)


Final comment -

The JET is really very lightweight and struggles with the heavy out of round blank.
A bandsaw would have been ideal to first get it rounder.

The motor, after the rounding, was too hot to even touch. Not sure if that is a bad sign.

The hand wheel kept on coming loose, tightens with 2 set screws.

The frightening thing about using these hand tools ……….. I actually enjoyed it! (again apologies to the machine members)

I also found the other large oil stone. Both of them need some serious flattening, will surf on that one. I will also surf on sharpening.
For dust collection I used my vacuum contraption

http://www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7151

Thank you for reading

Phil
Last edited by Phil on 22 May 2022, 08:28, edited 1 time in total.
We don't stop woodworking because we grow old, we grow old because we stop woodworking!

https://www.instagram.com/phil_pretoria/
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Re: Lathe roughing gouge handle

Postby Phil » 22 May 2022, 08:28

Just added to this thread, as it was done when I did the gouge handle ……………..

Lathe stand drawer

I decided to add a small drawer underneath the top.

This would hold the protractors, oil stones, chisel sharpening holder and the copper wire holder for burning lines.

There were some drawer slides somewhere in the one cupboard.

Timber available some pine offcuts not all the same width or thickness, o well will adjust as I go along.

Construction - half-lap-joints. These were cut on the RAS.

The drawer bottom some 3mm ply with a bit of a warp.

The groove for the bottom will be cut with the Stanley 043 plough plane (not worth the effort to set up the router.

The glue up

Glueing up.jpg
Glue up
(33.14 KiB)


Easy with the corner clamps.

I fitted a support underneath to keep the ply flat.

SupportForInside.jpg
Support for bottom with a bit of a warp (not glued, screwed on)
(36.12 KiB)


The drawer slides will be fitted underneath the stand top. Easy just screw them on.

No, no, no, does not work like that. Plan B is then to screw a support on the left leg with the slide screwed on.
The right side will get ‘something’ hanging from the top (skyhook #20)

FittingDrawer.jpg
Fitting the drawer
(35.59 KiB)


A lot of fiddling & choice language it was fitted and surprisingly slides like a dream.

It then got a front piece of same pine screwed on to finish it off.
The inside before front piece.

LatheDrawer_Inside.jpg
Inside of the drawer
(30.75 KiB)


Measure tools.jpg
Some very old measuring tools
(422.11 KiB)


Done, looks ok.

LatheDrawer_Complete.jpg
The drawer completed
(25.03 KiB)



Phil
We don't stop woodworking because we grow old, we grow old because we stop woodworking!

https://www.instagram.com/phil_pretoria/
User avatar
Phil
Old Oak
 
Posts: 3499
Joined: 23 Jul 2014, 05:11
Location: Southern Africa 0054
Name: Phil


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