Woodturners. Lets see those woodturnering projects

My second attempt at a cigar ashtray

I picked up a piece of 2” thick 18” wide and 33” long walnut a couple weeks ago and cut it lengthwise down the middle. A 3/4” x8” x8’ piece of finished poplar was then laminated between the two pieces of the walnut, then the entire sandwich was cut in half longways on the bandsaw and the poplar top of each side put through the planer to smooth out the top. Each section was then cut into 6 1/2” square bowl blanks on the table saw.

Two blanks were taped together with double sided lathe tape and 4 cigar rests were drilled into the blanks with a 1 1/2” Forstner bit on a floor drill press.

I finally got a chance to get a blank on my wood lathe tonight and turned a cigar ashtray for a friend’s belated Christmas gift. The bottom is lined with a 3” diameter 3/8” thick round stone puck.

My goal was the create a cigar ashtray that resembles a Benedictine medal cross for my friend who is a fellow traditional Catholic.

It’s mostly sanded but I still need to put some kind of wood finish on it, but I’m quite pleased with how it turned out.

This was the first time I attempted a mortise instead of a tenon for my Nova G3 lathe chuck. I’m happy with how the mortise turned out. I kinda cheated because I got a mortise lathe chisel (along with a load of other lathe tools and accessories) for the Nova chuck when I picked up my used Rikon 70-1218vs lathe in December and it made creating the mortise very simple.

 

I replaced my iPhone recently and the new case protector doesn’t have a stand on the back that flips out to stand the phone up like my old one did.

So I‘ve been looking at iPhone stands. Then I saw images of ones that have one mini megaphone as part of the stand. But those only redirect the sound from the bottom iPhone speaker forward, and only with the phone in the portrait position.

I’m partially deaf in the right ear following strokes, so I wanted a stand that has a mini megaphone for both the top and bottom iPhone speakers, and holds the iPhone in the landscape position.

So I created one from scratch.

I took a piece of 7” round ash limb from the firewood pile, resawed it into small boards on the bandsaw, and ran them through the planer and cut them down on the table saw.

Then I turned two mini megaphones on my wood lathe. The ash turned out to be nicely spalted and figured and really “popped” once I put some Walnut oil on the stand when it was completed.

I drilled holes into the sides of the mini megaphones where the iPhone speakers were pointed, and put a piece of the ash board on the rear to hold everything together.

It actually works.

Passive megaphones aren’t amplified beyond the power the iPhone speakers themselves put out, but this stand effectively refocuses the sound waves in a tighter path forward towards your ears, so the IPhone sounds significantly louder in this phone stand without the need for a Bluetooth speaker.

 

Very nice invention. Glad it worked out and it looks very nice

 

I use my bandsaw to re-saw firewood pieces into something I can use on my lathe. But that dulls bandsaw blades fast. I wanted a quick easy method to sharpen the blade while still on the bandsaw and did a fairly thorough internet search to find one. Every one I found required filing each individual tooth, either on or off the saw, with a file, a Dremel or a bench top grinder. So I was brainstorming the other night after sharpening several lathe chisels with a diamond credit card file, and I thought up this method.

It does NOT require stopping to sharpen each individual tooth, and it can be done on the saw without power tools. I haven’t seen anything like it yet online.

Please let me know if you try it and it works.

(Of course saw must be off and unplugged and the top wheel rotated counterclockwise with one hand while holding the file with the other.)

 

All I turn wood into is firewood or boards but I do have a couple of interesting burls I've come across. This first one is a red (I think) maple.

This picture is from April '20 and I think the tree is at least 10" across for size.

I also have a nice yellow birch burl that I thought I had some pictures of on my phone. Nope but it's about the same size as the one above.
How do I harvest a burl for the best use for turning or furniture use? I could slab it up on my band mill.

 

How many of you have seen and/or used an antique foot treadle lathe?

I’ve been intrigued by the idea of a foot powered wood lathe since I saw a gentleman display and demonstrate a treadle powered pole wood lathe whenever we visited “Mountain Craft Days” at Somerset PA’s Historical Society throughout the 1990s. (Photo below.)

I have a chance to buy a treadle lathe from the late 1800s in good usable working condition. Photos below.

But my plan to use it is a bit heterodox. I will use it as it currently is designed.

I also plan to buy an older used “modern” style lathe that I can mount on this frame and run it with the foot treadle, one that accepts modern chucks, drive and live centers, etc. I’ll make it so it can easily be converted back to its original design without “molesting” it.

Has anyone ever seen or heard of this being attempted?

Does a treadle lathe with a nice heavy weighted flywheel like this one have enough oomph from the foot treadle to turn a modern spindle head?

I would think a modern spindle would actually be easier to move than the 1800s version here.

 

I found a “modern” lathe free for anyone willing to haul it. This looks like it would be perfect to mount on this treadle lathe frame.

 

My landlord put the kibosh to this idea. He thinks it will take up too much space in his workshop space I share with him and ultimately won’t get used enough.

I’ve “graduated” to making dry goods kitchen scoops on my wood lathe. Traditional style wood lathe kitchen scoops, from cherry wood:

I decided I didn’t like the handles on these scoops. They’re just not ergonomic.

Yesterday I tried a two axis turning for these scoops, which moves the axis of the handle above the axis of the scoop cup. As far as I’m concerned it’s much easier to hold and use this way, and I kinda like the appearance.


The two styles compared:

 

Those are really nice.

They'd be nicer with an FHC burned into the area above the handle, facing the user.

 

I could do that. My sister has a laser cutter/ engraver.

 

I found a Barnes 4 1/2 velocipede lathe from around 1900 so he acquiesced. I brought it home Tuesday. It is operated by foot pedal and you sit on it. It’s actually a metal lathe but Barnes sold a tool rest for it so it could also be used to turn wood, and I’ve talked to several people online who use it as a wood lathe today
The seller bought a house 14 years ago from the estate of a retired machinist and this antique was in the garage. He is now selling that house, had no idea what this is, and just wanted it out of his garage.


I spent a couple hours cleaning it up last night. I’ve never in my life owned such a highly engineered and precisely machined piece of equipment.

A 125 year old machine, and everything on it turns freely and nothing is rusted tight. The only rust is some surface rust that was on the flat belt pulleys. I’ve never been so impressed with a piece of tooling as this lathe.

 

Brian K, I am envious. Glad that lathe found a loving home and didn't get scrapped. Look forward to you posting a video of it someday!

 

Not much, but it’s a start:

The Barnes 4 1/2 velocipede metal lathe was manufactured from 1900 to 1925. The chain on this one seemed too long when I brought it home, so I took three links out of it earlier today. After cleaning and oiling the pedals, sprocket and flywheel axle, I was turning the pedals with my foot and the chain abruptly jumped off the lower large sprocket.

On examination the lower sprocket was way out of alignment with the upper sprocket on the flywheel. I realized the left and right extension bars that hold the pedal crank were way out of alignment too, so I loosened them up at the frame legs, added the three chain links back into the chain, let the lower sprocket and pedal assembly hang tight in the chain off the upper flywheel sprocket, then re-tightened the arms that hold the crank. Now the entire pedal and flywheel assembly is spinning freely and smoothly.​

 

Very nice! Have you considered or made a leather belt? Exercise while working, buy 10 of these and charge people a gym membership and have them make things at the same time!

 

LOL!

I picked up a Harbor Freight linked belt just to get it working.

A guy on one of the foot powered machine forums kindly volunteered to send me enough 1” leather flat belt for it, just to help get it restored. The guys into these antique foot powered machines are a tight knit, very helpful group.

 

Mounting a modern wood lathe banjo and tool rest on the Barnes 4 1/2 velocipede metal lathe so it can be quickly removed and restored to original:

 

It works!!
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/NlYnwhRozns?feature=share

 

And I couldn’t go to bed tonight without trying it out on an actual piece of wood:

 

Tickled, what a wonderful you tube explanation. Me, I would have been a couple expletives and a fist punch in the air! Does the seat swivel to the right and left? Might be camera angle but your body looked out of position. I was actually going to suggest HF's link belt but didn't know how much of a purist you were and that could have been blasphemous to some. I can imagine how excited you are, I am on this side of the inter web and very happy and excited for you and your progress with this machine. How cool when you complete your first turning!! Thanks for the videos and look forward to seeing more.

 

I enjoyed the video. I learned to sew on a treadle sewing machine and I enjoyed the rhythm of the treadle. I guess it is all in rotation for the lathe but for me it looked like you were going backwards with the pedals.