# Turning ply?



## Jonzjob (14 Dec 2009)

Has anyone else tried turning ply? This is my second and last attempt. The ply that I used to get from Severn Ply in Stonehouse Glos was excelent quality and I decided to see what it was like to turn. It was very dusty and dulled tools quicker that you could say. Well, I had a brain wave a short while back and decided to glue 4 bits of 1 inch French ply together and turn a 12 inch by 4 inch deep bowl! I cut the ply so the bottom was a 4 inch circular piece with a 5 inch ring, 2 inches wide i.e. a 3 inch hole in the middle, glued on to that. Next 2 rings stuck onto that to finish up with a 12 inch-ish top ring. I hot glued a piece of pine to the top of the second smallest ring and hot glued a wooden faceplate chuck to the middle. Much easier to do than trype out believe me!

I mounted the assembly on the chuck and turned the bottom to take my expanding jaw chuck and turned the outside of the bowl. Once done and sanded it was sealed with a Liberon hard wax stick.

The whole lot was then turned, after belting the faceplate chuck out with a cabinet makers screwdriver and big hammer cause I put enough hot glue on to make sure the blasted thing wasn't going to let go when turning! I then mounted it on my expanding chuck and turned the inside. It was an awful job because the rubbish French ply took the edge off of tools in just a few seconds. It was turned fairly roughly and then I thught 'sod it' and put the coarses disk on my flex drive on my power sanding drill and finished it off with that. Then it was just a case of going down through the grits and a good coat of danish oil inside to finish.












If anyone has any ideas of trying the same thing then my advise is DON'T. It's too much like hard work, it will wear your gouges down big time and it's so dusty that even if you have a Powercap light like mine then you will be able to breath, but you will spend half of your time trying to see through the dust on the faceplate!


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## Frank S (15 Dec 2009)

THanks for that Jonzjob.
I have two discs of ply 16 inches dia. by 5 inches thick that a friend(?) wants me to turn as bowls,one like yours and the other convex outside shape.I was looking forward to the challenge but I shall walk around the job for a week or so and have a good think.Possibly set up a curtain around the lathe to keep the dust in check,and get some coarse discs for the big sander.


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## hog&amp;bodge (15 Dec 2009)

You have turned out a great result and it is a good looking bowl.
dispite all the trouble you went through..
Had not thought of turning Ply and from what you have said 
will pro never have a go at turning ply..
alex


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## loz (15 Dec 2009)

Maybe it was your ply ? - but i did this -->https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32348&highlight=plywood

and found it fine.

Loz


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## Ad de Crom (15 Dec 2009)

Hey john, looks not bad. I'm using plywood only for a couple of round disks.
But I'm agree with you, bad for your tools, lots of dust. 
Cheers, Ad


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## Jonzjob (15 Dec 2009)

Thanks guys. Yours looks good Loz! The way I stuck the rings to gether was upside down with a wooden bar across the top and clamped to the bench. I have clamps long enough. The rings were cut with a jig saw and I had thought of cuttind them at an angle but chickened out! I used water resistant PVA to put them together.

This is the other one I was on about, the first one. This one was done about 6 years or more ago and it took that long to forget what a sod it was!






It's made from 12mm Russian birch ply, very good quality. Someone asked me if it were porcelane? I used to get loads from Severn Ply and if you are in the Gloucester/Stroud area I would recommend them. 6 years back a sheet of 12mm was £38 or so, but I used to get it for £28 cut into 18/12" bits to make rocker boards for a chiropractor. I had some spare bits.


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## Anonymous (15 Dec 2009)

That looks like a good job for something that is so awkward to turn. I turned some chipboard once (don't ask why) and that had the same effect of dulling the tools very quickly.

Dave


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## Bodrighy (15 Dec 2009)

It's the glue in it. Plywood can look good if dyed as the different woods all take the dye in different ways so it can look really effective. If you really don't like the bowl have a go with some perhaps? 

Pete


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## OldWood (15 Dec 2009)

Bodrighy said:


> It's the glue in it.



I'm relatively new to turning and fancy a go at segmented wood some time. That's clearly glued - does it have the same problem or are the glues used in plywoods the problem ?

OW


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## Bodrighy (15 Dec 2009)

I don't think so. It isn't ordinary wood glue anyway. I haven't done segmented work....too much measuring in involved for me :lol: but quite afew people on here have so they can tell you what works best.

pete


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## Paul.J (16 Dec 2009)

Looks like the Ply used is the ply that is made up of partilcles as well as veneers which as caused all the dust.
It is the resin that is used to glue the ply together that dulls the tools.
Nice looking bowl though


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