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”
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.
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.
The 13mm chisel had certainly seen better days, but was still sharp.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Parting from the block
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.
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.
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