# First Turnings



## Sprung (Jul 16, 2013)

A while ago I posted a thread asking for where to find good info for a beginning turner. Then I posted a wanted thread for some bottle stopper blanks, etc. Last month, when I was on vacation with my family, I got to use my dad's lathe when we were visiting my parents in Michigan. I had a LOT of fun. I enjoyed it so much that I'm torn what my next big tool purchase will be whenever I can save up the money - a bandsaw or a lathe. My wife was also really pleased to see the outcome of my time spent at dad's lathe, so I know she'd be supportive of me getting one whenever money would allow.

I don't have any in progress pictures. Those got lost somewhere along the way. :dash2: But I at least have pictures of the finished products! I don't remember which order these all were turned in, but I do know that the first one I turned was the walnut stopper. Everything is finished with multiple coats of spray on poly, except the rolling pin, which is finished with beeswax/mineral oil. (What can I say - I'm a flat worker, and spray poly was the easiest finish to apply that I had on hand!)

From left to right: Walnut, Chinaberry, Box Elder, Sweet Gum, and Ipe. The sweet gum cracked a little bit after turning as the wood dried some more. I think it adds a little character.

[attachment=27825]

From left to right: Cedar, Cherry, Camphor, White Oak, and FBE.

[attachment=27826]

I made a few bottle openers too. Got to go to a Woodcraft store for the first time ever as there is one near my parents. They had one lone bottle opener kit available, which my wife let me purchase. But I wanted to make more than one! The other two are actually the bottle opening end of old paint can openers that I took a wire wheel to. I then cut them down to the length I needed and epoxied them in place. From left to right: Imbuia, Bubinga, and IRW.

[attachment=27823]

Here's the ice cream scoop I made from a piece of ash from rdnkmedic. It's quite yellow and looks to have some sort of staining in it. My wife and I quite like how it looks and how it feels in the hand. It's a big handle, but I've got big hands and scooping out ice cream is usually my job.

[attachment=27824]

And here's the simple straight rolling pin I made from a lamination of 3 boards of hard maple. I think that this was actually the most difficult item to turn as it needed to be straight with a consistent diameter. I made use of my digital calipers when turning this and, all said and done, the diameter variances throughout the entire length are less than 3/100 of an inch. I'll take it!

[attachment=27827]

I had a really fun time turning these. It's hard to pick which woods I liked turning the most. I really liked how the FBE/BE and Chinaberry turned, as well as the cedar and the cherry. Some of them were more challenging than others, but I liked the challenge. My dad stopped the project he was working on when I was turning the IRW. He doesn't hardly use his lathe, but even he could tell from the sound of things that it was giving me a hard time in comparison to some of the other woods, but I made it through!

Frequently sharpened the two tools I had to use - a 5/8" skew and a 5/8" round nose scrapper. Yes, all the turning I did, I did with just those two tools, because that's all dad had!

I don't think any piece is exactly perfect - there's some tearout on a handful of pieces, and probably a few places I could have sanded a little more. The biggest "disaster" I had was probably the camphor. I intended it to be a completely different form, but slipped with the tool and had to redo it to get rid of my mistake. The bubinga bottle opener has a couple of places where the tearout is very noticeable. The walnut piece came off the lathe before I was done with it, so I had to call it good where it was when that happened. The sweet gum, as I said, cracked on me after the fact. But, since it was my first time and I was working with a limited amount of time, I'm overall happy with how things turned out - and so is my wife.

All said and I done, I had a LOT of fun! My wife and I agree that our favorite stopper is the white oak one because of the effect achieved with the quartersawn sides. We'll be hanging onto that one, as well as the chinaberry one, since that one is also a favorite of hers. The cherry one my wife has already given away on me!

I would really like to thank Kevin (rdnkmedic) and Henry (SENC) for their trade offers for stopper blanks. They both sent me really awesome boxes of wood and I wish I would have had more time to spend in front of the lathe so I could try more of them. The rest will have to wait for next time!

Kevin and Henry, pick out a stopper of your choosing and let me know which one you want. As of right now, the white oak, chinnaberry, and cherry stoppers are claimed, but feel free to pick out whichever one you'd like so I can get them in the mail this week! I'll also be putting another small item in the box, but you'll have to wait to get your packages.

I think the only disappointing part of me was how close I came to dad sending his lathe out to North Dakota with me to borrow for a while. He hardly ever uses it, mostly just to experiment. I had joked with him about him sending it out with me since he didn't really use it, and he almost did. But, alas, he didn't. Just means I'll have to get my own sometime!


----------



## SENC (Jul 16, 2013)

Great work, Sprung. Looks like you had a great time and learned a lot! I'll take the ipe, but like them all!
Henry


----------



## rdnkmedic (Jul 17, 2013)

Looks like you had a lot of shop time. don't worry about the tearouts and other problems. We have all experienced that. It's part of learning on the lathe. And.....you must take from the wood what it will give you. great job with the limited tools you had.

I think I will take the FBE if it's still available. Great job. Glad I could help.


----------



## TimR (Jul 17, 2013)

Fine job! I hope you get your lathe soon, I'm sure the need to turn is in you now. 
By the way...very clever using the old paint can openers for bottle openers. I must have a dozen or more of the things, and thats a creative use of them!


----------



## Mike1950 (Jul 17, 2013)

I don't know but couldn't ya get just a little more accurate on the rollin pin!!!!!! :rotflmao3::rotflmao3::rotflmao3:
Seriously- very nice work!!!!


----------



## Sprung (Jul 17, 2013)

Henry and Kevin - your packages went out today. Post office says they should arrive on Friday!

Tim - The idea struck me when I was using one to open a can of varnish. Had a few extra ones laying around, so I put a couple of them to use. My wife thought it was really cool too. You can probably find these for all of 50 cents or so in the random bins at antique stores. I like the brushed finish left by the coarse wire wheel I used to clean them up.

Mike - I know! Sloppy work on my part! :teethlaugh:


----------



## rdnkmedic (Jul 19, 2013)

[attachment=27937]

Sprung, got the package today. Great work on the stopper. And I got a surprise. As you can see it has already been put to use. Great work. Finish looks good. Cool idea to repurpose the paint opener. Worked perfect on the Shock Top. Thanks again.


----------



## rdnkmedic (Jul 19, 2013)

[attachment=27938]


Perrrrrfect!  It's nice, real nice!!


----------



## Sprung (Jul 19, 2013)

There's a reason I wanted to make more than one bottle opener - so I could send a couple out to you and Henry!

I did a little testing with one of the openers before they got sent out to "make sure they really work." (Really, it was to open one of the few bottles of a wonderful homebrew chocolate stout my wife's cousin sent back out here with us.)

Good to see you got your package. Good to see it getting put to good use! Enjoy!


----------



## kazuma78 (Jul 19, 2013)

rdnkmedic said:


> Sprung, got the package today. Great work on the stopper. And I got a surprise. As you can see it has already been put to use. Great work. Finish looks good. Cool idea to repurpose the paint opener. Worked perfect on the Shock Top. Thanks again.



The shock top was a wise decision haha


----------



## SENC (Jul 19, 2013)

Mine arrived today, too!  The bottle topper looks great, and love the surprise bottle opener. Most of all love that we've conspired to create another woodturner!

Thanks, Sprung!


----------



## Sprung (Jul 19, 2013)

SENC said:


> Mine arrived today, too!  The bottle topper looks great, and love the surprise bottle opener. Most of all love that we've conspired to create another woodturner!
> 
> Thanks, Sprung!



Good to hear you got your package today too! Enjoy! (With the awesome boxes of wood I received from both you and Kevin, how could I not throw in a surprise!?!)

And, yes, I think another turner has been created! Just gotta get a lathe of my own someday...


----------

