Lathe Vase

Woodturning Techniques

Woodturning is a way to make wooden projects using a lathe.  The wood is generally turned by a motorized lathe while a tool us used to shave, gouge, and shape it into different objects.  Woodturning is commonly used to make bowls, furniture, bats, instruments, wooden toys, game pieces, spindles, chair or table legs, and plates.  Of course, as with any woodworking hobby, woodturning can be used in a lot of different ways.  The project is only limited by the imagination and skill of the woodturner.

Projects usually start with a blank piece of wood.  For spindles, toys, tool handles, doll house parts, and other small projects, you may be able to start with wooden dowels.  This can simplify the process for you.  If you don’t start with a dowel, you will need to use a woodturning tool designed to get the blank into the basic shape that you want to work with.

Most projects start with a roughing gouge to round the wood blank into a spindle.  The spindle can be smoothed using the razor sharp edge of the skew chisel.  However, if you are making a bowl, which is the most popular woodturning project, you will need a special bowl gouge that is designed to turn the inside and outside of the bowl.  You may also need a hollowing tool to cut out the deep sections of the bowl, especially if the bowl is narrow, or you’re turning something like a vase.  A tool called a bowl saver is popular because it allows you to cut a smaller bowl out of a larger one, saving your wood pieces for later projects.

You can work with a blank while the wood is still wet or green to more easily get it into the basic shape that you want without having to wait for the entire block to dry out.  Turning on wet wood is actually easier and creates less sawdust than dry wood.  However, you may not want to turn your whole project while the wood is wet.  This technique of cutting on wet wood is usually used only to get the wood into the basic desired shape so that it will dry out faster.  Wet wood that is turned will distort a little as it dries and shrinks.  You want to make sure that you have enough wood thickness left to work with so that you can remove the rough exterior and any distortions once the wood is dry.  Drying out large pieces of green wood can result in cracks, so many woodturners prefer to rough turn their pieces while the wood is newly felled.

There are many different styles of woodturning that can help you to create artistic and functional pieces.  Pool cues, wooden eggs, candle holders, and platters are some other commonly turned items.  You can use <a href=”http://www.goodwoodinc.com/”title=”Dowel”>dowel</a> rods of varying thickness to get you quickly started on a lot of different projects.  Research which type of wood is better for your project before you order or make your dowels.  You can purchase birch dowels, maple dowels, red or white oak dowels, cherry dowels, poplar dowels, ash dowels, or walnut dowels, giving you a large selection of woods to choose from for your woodturning project.  Some companies will even turn wood that you provide into custom diameter dowels so that you have complete creative control over your project.

About the Author

About the Author: Dave Murphy is the founder and president of Good Wood, Inc. which manufactures wood products in Ohio.  Good Wood, Inc. makes dowels and dowel rods, wooden balls, wood knobs, wooden toy parts, custom wood parts, and more. They offer safe wood finishing, wood turning and can import dowels from off-shore suppliers when necessary. Visit http://www.goodwoodinc.com for your wood product needs.

Segmented Woodturning Wood Lathe Vase by Josh Cain

Turn It Up with Jimmy Clewes Set of 3 DVD $67.95 Turn It Up 3 DVD Set With Jimmy Clewes. Woodturning personality Jimmy Clewes presents his 3rd set of popular woodturning DVDs. Jimmys style and personality along with superb camera work bring close to the experience of learning these stunning projects. Topics include: use of custom colors, multi-off-center turning and a visit to mass production turning facility and to a Germany exotic wood supplie…

Turnaround with Jimmy Clewes DVD $22.99 International woodturner Jimmy Clewes demonstrates his relaxed teaching style while turning an end-grain vase, an exotic looking oyster box, various spindles and a dramatic colored platter. Multiple angle camera shots take you close to action, duplicating the next best thing to hand on instructions. Entertaining and insightful to turners of all levels. 133 Minutes…

Turn It On with Jimmy Clewes Set of 3 DVD Popular woodturning instructor Jimmy Clewes demonstrates six detailed projects in this 3 DVD set. Jimmys teaching approach, for each of the six projects, allows instruction with a level of detail seldom seen. Close up photography, shown from multiple angles, helps you understand what is happening with the turner, the tool and the project. Projects include: a spalted Birch bowl, oriental rosewood b…

Segmented Vases and Urns with Don Russell and Ron Brown $39.99 This presentation was recorded live at a three day hands-on class at Don Russell’s shop. Learn from one of today’s recognized master craftsman as he leads you step by step through the process of making your own fantastic polychromatic segmented vase or urn. Don regularly teaches 5 day hands-on classes at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. He has personally taught his uniq…

Wooden Bowls from the Scroll Saw: 28 Useful & Surprisingly Easy-To-Make Projects (Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts Book) $12.25 While wood bowls are commonly made on a lathe, this guided resource offers 28 projects for crafting beautiful bowls with the more accessible scroll saw. Each project is organized in a progressive learning format; beginning crafters can start with the most basic starter bowl and gradually work their way toward more elaborate bowls—such as laminated swag bowls; a flared lobed bowl made with var…

The Art of Segmented Wood Turning: A Step-by-Step Guide $16.35 Woodturners learn how to cut and combine pieces of wood to produce multicolored geometric designs in turned bowls and vases in this highly illustrated book. Techniques are provided to achieve the accuracy required in segmented work, and professional tips reveal how to create preliminary blueprints. Step-by-step instructions and hundreds of color photographs explain how to accomplish the often-comp…

Segmented Turning: A Complete Guide $11.33 You won’t find a more complete and beautifully illustrated introduction to this spectacular woodworking technique. Every instruction and image thoroughly demystifies the art of segmented turning and enables ordinary turners to master advanced skills and produce works with stunning geometrical and pictorial effects. From the initial planning to the final product, and from cutting accurate angles …