HELP!! Turning Burl (Trying that is)

[ragswl4]

Well I successfully turned one pen from a burl wood but have now had two failures in a row. I guess I was just lucky on the first one. I have been keeping the tools sharp (4-5 sharpening per session) and going slow attempting to take shallow cuts on each pass. I am using a gouge (small one) and as I get down to about 1/8" thickness left I am getting "catches" and eventually the wood has split both times. Always happens at the bushing.

So I am looking for advice/guidance on what I may be doing wrong. I am running the lathe at 3000rpm which seemed to work very well on non-burl woods like cocobola, goncalo alves, curly maple and a few others. Maybe this is the problem (too fast) but I don't want to take a chance on ruining another blank. The blanks do seem to be very dry and hard as they were difficult to drill using a new bit. In fact the blanks were smoking when I drilled them even when lowering the bit slowly. DP speed was 1950 rpm.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. It may just be my lack of experience or current skill level but thought I would seek the wisdom on the forum. Thanks in advance.

[Hoakie]

I was having similar issue with teak. I can't find the guide but somewhere I found some tips for turning delicate blanks. Basically what I recall the top issues were

1) Insure glue adhesion
2) Don't over tighten mandrel nut
3) Sharp Tools
4) Small cuts
5) Decrease speed

I've also heard people stabilize with CA as they go, I'm not an expert turner (12 or so pens/wands) so haven't tried this. maybe something to try

[dabeeler]

Go over to the http://www.penturners.org/forum/portal.asp forum and state your problem with the burl as you have here in the penturning section of the forum. You will receive plenty of advice from people that have already been there with the burl. You will also find links to some very good tutorial videos. Thin CA is one remedy but the drawback is the blanks tend to stick to the bushings.

[guycox]

I have a couple of suggestions..
1) Get all the nicks out of your tool rest... Take a mill file and get the top edge of the tool test slick as a whistle.. If you hit a an nick in the tool rest on a small item the "attack" angle may chage substantially.
2) Unless you a turning some wicked coves on your pens, learn to use a skew. You'll actually spend less time trying to get a good surface.
3) Learn the body sway, keep you elbows in an elbow of the rear hand anchored on your hip. This will help keep the "attack" angle constant.

My term for attack angle is the combination of the skew edge with the respect to the long axis of the blank and the angle of the skew with respect to the horizon. You should be able to look down at your toes through a nice triangle formed by your arms and your chest. ( the size of the tirangle will be determined by your girth) Works for me.. I usually start sanding my pens at 220.. or higher.

[Russianwolf]

Have to agree with Guy, the way a gouge attacks the wood is too aggressive for burls. Switch to a Skew, This will give you a very clean sheer cut, which isn't very aggressive at all. If you cant the skew a bit to say 10 degrees (pulling the short point more towards you), you will increase the sheer cut and decrease the aggressiveness even more.

You can actually get to the point where you can turn an entire pen with the skew. roughing and finishing.

Just keep the long point away from the surface of the wood. That's how you get a catch with it most of the time. You do use the long point to cut grooves, but that's about it.

[ragswl4]

Go over to the http://www.penturners.org/forum/portal.asp forum and state your problem with the burl as you have here in the penturning section of the forum. You will receive plenty of advice from people that have already been there with the burl. You will also find links to some very good tutorial videos. Thin CA is one remedy but the drawback is the blanks tend to stick to the bushings.

Thanks for the advice. I posted at penturners and got a number of ideas to try.

[ragswl4]

I have a couple of suggestions..
1) Get all the nicks out of your tool rest... Take a mill file and get the top edge of the tool test slick as a whistle.. If you hit a an nick in the tool rest on a small item the "attack" angle may chage substantially.
2) Unless you a turning some wicked coves on your pens, learn to use a skew. You'll actually spend less time trying to get a good surface.
3) Learn the body sway, keep you elbows in an elbow of the rear hand anchored on your hip. This will help keep the "attack" angle constant.

My term for attack angle is the combination of the skew edge with the respect to the long axis of the blank and the angle of the skew with respect to the horizon. You should be able to look down at your toes through a nice triangle formed by your arms and your chest. ( the size of the tirangle will be determined by your girth) Works for me.. I usually start sanding my pens at 220.. or higher.

Thanks. Some folks over at penturners.org also advised me to use a skew rather than a gouge. I had not even thought about the tool rest. I'll check the tool rest to make sure its smooth.

[Russianwolf]

what type lathe do you have. I may be getting rid of my PSI turncrafter soon, so if you have a 5/8th inch post toolrest I might have an extra.

[ragswl4]

what type lathe do you have. I may be getting rid of my PSI turncrafter soon, so if you have a 5/8th inch post toolrest I might have an extra.

I have the Rikon Mini Lathe. It does have a 5/8" post toolrest. Is the toolrest that you have something other than the standard type? My is a 7" long standard type of rest.

[Whaler]

I use the Sorby modular tool rest and tossed the stock Jet cast iron rest. I picked mine up at Rockler and it was $34.00 for the 6" rest and a 5/8" post.

[ragswl4]

Giving up for now. Starting to think I'm dumber than a post. Wasted two more blanks this morning. Took 30 minutes to turn down a blank and was just about ready to sand and "snatch, catch and rip" one more in the trash. Tried again and same #%&*@# thing. Going back to some easier wood till I get better. I think I need more practice with the tools and my technique and not so much a problem with the wood. Wasted $15 in blanks so time to move on.

[dabeeler]

I have had some catches where a piece would come off next to the busihing when I was almost ready to start sanding. Took the piece, glued it back in with CA and then finished. After sanding It was really not noticeble. I have also had holes appear in the blank for one reason or another. Took some of the shavings or sanding dust depending on what stage I was in and mixed that with CA and filled the hole with the mixture. After finish sanding it too was not very noticeble.

[Russianwolf]

I bought the 3 piece set from PSI recently. So I have 2 extras. These are round steel rest similar to what whaler posted, but not modular. The set comes with 6, 8, and 12 inchers, so I can part with the 8 incher if you have problems with yours.

Also go check the classifieeds over at penturners.org there are a couple people over there that sell blanks that are a lot better than what you'll find at the store, and for less. Red Mallee Burl for $2-3 for example.

[ragswl4]

I bought the 3 piece set from PSI recently. So I have 2 extras. These are round steel rest similar to what whaler posted, but not modular. The set comes with 6, 8, and 12 inchers, so I can part with the 8 incher if you have problems with yours.

Also go check the classifieeds over at penturners.org there are a couple people over there that sell blanks that are a lot better than what you'll find at the store, and for less. Red Mallee Burl for $2-3 for example.

Thanks for the offer but I really don't have a problem with the tool rest. Also thanks for the info on the blanks.

[guycox]

That could be the problem depending upon the length of the cone on your live cener.. With a 7" long tool rest you may not be able to get the tool rest close enough to the blank...