Merry Christmas to me

It was a bargain that I couldn't pass up. I first decided not to buy it. Then I went to Cedar Lakes and spent three days using one just like it and fell in love with the power and sturdiness of this lathe. The final straw was my wife's suggestion that this could be my Christmas present from her. So, I recontacted the seller and negotiated a mutually agreeable price. We disassembled it, loaded it in my Explorer, drove it to my workshop, and reassembled it. Here I am standing next to 440 pounds of cast iron that Mary Lou and I moved from my car into my shop.

This is my new baby: a Jet #708359 JWL-1642EVS 16-Inch Swing 42-Inch between Centers 1-1/2 Horsepower Electronic Variable Speed Woodworking Lathe. I bought it from a small business that purchased it to make trophy bats and then discovered they could buy preturned blanks and reduce their costs. It was only used slightly and appears almost brand new. There are a couple of accessories that should have come with the lathe but did not. I will order those this coming week. The overall cost savings on the lathe is about 35%.

Along with the lathe I bought the Vega duplicator that the seller had also purchased to make the trophy bats. It is used to follow a template or another turning to duplicate turnings. Here again I initially was not interested in the duplicator. Again, my wife intervened to suggest that I would probably regret not getting it. So, that came along as well. The duplicator is already set up to work with the Jet lathe that I bought. Although I don't intend to make trophy bats with it, making spindles, chair legs and Windsor chair spindles did come to mind. This cost me about 50% of the retail price listed on Amazon.

Finally, the listing for the lathe sale indicated that a tool set was included. It is a Steelex 6-Piece Deluxe HSS Lathe Chisel Set. I have never heard of the brand but I did see some listing on Amazon for the set and several other Steelex products. This particular item did not have any reviews but another Steelex chisel set was really downgraded as poor in quality. I don't need any of these tools but will at least give them a tryout. This set lists for just over $100 which would be about the cost for one good chisel so I know not to expect too much.

I really don't want to end on any kind of negative comment. The lathe was a beautiful gift from my wife and a fantastic tool to help me improve my wooturning skills. This was a fantastic deal all told! Merry Christmas just a few weeks early.

Cedar Lakes 10-14-09

My projects:


My first project was a walnut bowl turned from a 6x6x4 inch piece of wood. I had seen a video on YouTube in which the turner embellished the outside of the bowl with several lines - two burned into the wood and one in which a copper wire was glued and then turned to follow the flow of the bowl. The video can be seen as this link.
I have tried this embellishment a couple of times. Cutting the groove into the wood using a skew chisel gives the correct depth and width for the groove. This then determines if the wire will be far enough into the bowl to seat properly and not reveal too much of the CA glue used to adhere the wire to the wood. The other precise action is to cut the wire so that the wire appears to be a seamless.

Also that first day I made a paperweight. I had wanted to give something to the Coordinator at Cedar Lakes who allowed me to spend my week in their turning studio. I got the idea for a paperweight that included the state quarter embedded into a turning done in the wood of the state tree. In this case, the 2005 West Virginia quarter embedded in a turning of sugar maple.
I based my turning on a Fall, 2005 article in the American Woodworker magazine written by Nick Cook. The top of the piece holds the back side of the state quarter. Inside the piece of wood is a hollowed place for three 2 inch washers which add weight to the piece. I altered his suggested procedures only in relation to the bottom piece which conceals the washers. Where he suggests using a piece of plywood, I turned and parted off a 1/4" x 2-3/8" section of the maple, then drilled the 2-1/8" hole for the washers, and finally, enlarged the first 1/4" of the opening to accommodate the insert. In that way, the bottom of the piece can match the grain and color of the rest of the paperweight.



My final project for the first day was to create a mallet. Again, I used a YouTube video for ideas on creating the mallet. I used a 3" x 3" x 10" maple blank. The mallet is essentially tailored to fit the user's hand but it is roughly half the length for handle and the remainder for the mallet head. There are beads at each end of the handle and the handle is slightly convex. Again the thicknesses are really determined by the user's comfort. The head is beveled at both ends to eliminate sharp edges and the end of the head is coved so that is easily stands on end. This was a practice piece to try and become more comfortable using a skew. I did quite a bit of this project with that tool. It took a lot longer but the experience was valuable.
There are a series of five YouTube videos by Bob Hamilton that show this project in great detail. The first of the five is at this link.


Bob Hamilton also inspired my Tuesday and Wednesday project, a Christmas ornament. He has nine YouTube videos and several pictorial articles showing the steps to create the ornament body, interior decoration, top finial, and bottom finial. His updates correct some tolerances for the ornament body and offer some easier methods.
The woods I chose were paduak for the ornament body and maple for the decoration and finials. It was a challenging project for me in several ways. First, there is a lot of "turning air" since you round the ornament body after the holes are drilled in the sides. The illusion is that you can see through the interior of the spinning ornament. You have to look at the "shadow" of the outline in order to see where you are cutting. It was also challenging for me to turn such small pieces for the finials. The whole ornament is about five inches long and the bottom finial is half of that length. That bottom finial is less than 3/8 inch at its widest.
Each of these projects are finished with sanding sealer and friction polish except for the mallet which will mellow naturally with use.


My final project for Wednesday was to turn a large walnut platter. It is turned from a 10" round blank of claro walnut. The wood is just beautiful - a gradation from the gray-brown of the sapwood to the dark brown of the heartwood. I like this particular bowl since it has thin arching sides with a large supporting bottom ring.
My challenges here were to turn the thin sides with consistent thickness and to produce a relatively flat bottom.
I finished this platter with sealer, polish, and Bri-Wax. I will need to complete the bottom of the platter at home when I can use my vacuum chuck.


Tomorrow is another day of turning and I have not yet decided what I want to do. I have more of each of the preceding projects that I could repeat. I also brought pen making supplies, pepper grinder kits, and tea light blanks that I could do. I certainly won't run out of supplies before I run out of time tomorrow. I will need to clean the wood shop and pack up all my supplies since we will be leaving Friday morning to return home. This has been a real gift.

Cedar Lakes - a turning class of one

Mary Lou and I are at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley, WV, for Zapora's Quilting Conference. There are several hundred women here from all over the United States (although half of them are from Ohio). They are all in four days of classes which are scattered in every nook and cranny around this campus.

Well, every nook and cranny except for the wood room in the Craft House. That is full of wood working machinery including several wood lathes. The Coordinator of the Craft Center Services graciously allowed me to bring my wood turning tools and supplies along with two boxes of wood blanks and entertain myself during the day while Mary Lou and the other quilters did their thing.

Each morning and afternoon I am going to the wood room and having the greatest time. My first day I turned a walnut bowl with inlaid copper wire accent, a maple mallet which I promptly began using in my turning, and a maple honey dipper.

I am using a Jet lathe which is much heavier and more powerful than the Delta lathe I have at home. It is a real treat. The entire body of this lathe is cast iron, the motor is 1 1/2 horse power, and it has the capacity to turn a 14" round vessel. None of the projects I brought will tax this lathe.

Here is a short video showing some of Cedar Lakes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg0hK-7sGdE