# New to wood turning, Help Please !!



## monty (15 Feb 2009)

Hi, 

I'm new to wood turning and would like to pick your brains. 

I would like to turn small pieces of balsa wood from dowel, approx 8mm diameter and 15mm long diamond shape with a 1mm hole through the centre. 

My questions are: 

1. If I want to make the pieces as detailed above or similar all exactly the same how would I do it ?? 

2. Can I use tooling made to suit each piece I require ?? If so what would the tooling be made from, steel or grinding wheel ?? 


Thanks in advance for any replies. 

Mark


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## PowerTool (15 Feb 2009)

Hello,and welcome to the forum  

What are these pieces for? 
Never tried turning balsa,would have thought it would be too soft for the dimensions you are talking about?

Andrew


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## monty (15 Feb 2009)

Hi there,

They are for fishing float bodies. Many floats are made using a lathe, and I have been advised they need to be turned slowly so as not to tear the wood.


What I need to know more than anything is how I would turn say 50 all exactly the same, what tooling would be used and how ??


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## Struan (15 Feb 2009)

Welcome to the forum!
I'm a noob too, so what you asking is beyond me. But i would have agreed that you need a lathe that has a very low speed setting. I think there are sets of smaller more intricate detailing tools you can buy. I should have thought a very sharp set of these would do the job

Struan


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## Jenx (15 Feb 2009)

Hello there Monty ! \/ 
Not too sure as to how Balsa would turn ... some more experienced lads will be along and have a better idea...

But meanwhile, welcome !
Great to see you 8)  8)


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## PowerTool (15 Feb 2009)

Make a jig,or use a stop, to cut dowel to same length;drill hole through the middle;mount between centres - if you made the mountings the same size as finished end diameter (with a 1mm tenon,to match your central hole - like a smaller version of this) then you would only have to measure the centre,then taper each half down to the same diameter with a sharp skew chisel.
This would work on a bigger scale with hardwood,don't know if you can adapt the idea.

Andrew


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## Bodrighy (16 Feb 2009)

I would have thought that Balsa wood would be easier turned just using abrasive as it's so soft. My little experience of it making model boats when a kid remembers it as a bit like punky spalted wood.

Pete


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## TEP (16 Feb 2009)

Mornin' *Mark*.

Never tried to turn Balsa wood, but I would have thought speed wouldn't matter too much. My thoughts would be that the sharpest edge possible on a skew would be best, but with that type of wood your looking at literally at having a razor edge. Even a razor sharp edge would tear Balsa unless presented at a very sheer angle. These are only my thoughts so maybe someone may come up who has actually turned Balsa.

I like *Pete's* of the sandpaper, but you could try it with a piece glued to a flat wooden block. May give you more control, I should imagine that Balsa could virtually disappear as soon as touched by sandpaper, so you would have to be careful.

PS - On the speed front, I would turn fast for cutting. Slow for sandpaper.

On the copying part, use what they call a 'story board', which is a flat piece of wood, plastic, cardboard, with your dimensions marked on the edge in ink. 

How i would go about it. Put the rod in the chuck so as only enough for one item shows. (_This is where hollow spindle's come in useful_) Drill your hole, present the story board to the work, mark gently, then cut to shape. Part off.


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## John. B (16 Feb 2009)

I wouldn't turn it at all. As they are very small pieces A sharp knife, craft, or better still a carvers knife then sandpaper would be better.
IMHO It would be much quicker and have more control particularly with balsa.
I doubt it would be strong enough to stand up to being between centres.
A chuck would crush it, the tailstock would break it when you tightened it.
You could use a jam chuck, but by the time you've done all that you'd have carved, finished, and had em in the water. :roll:

John. B


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## mark sanger (16 Feb 2009)

Hi

I have never turn balsa and am not sure what the item is for. But all of the advice before sounds fine and trial and error is probably going to be the best option as what works for one may work for another.

Obviously balsa is very light and soft hence it being great for modelling etc. 

If I were going to turn it I would first soak it in cellulose sanding sealer or a liquid that stabalised rotten wood. This then would make it easier to turn. I would also use a skew but a small shape spindle gouge can give good results on soft wood as long as you keep the cutting edge at as sharp angle say 45 deg to the cutting surface or more. The steeper the angle the slower you will need to traverse or you will get lines.

I have to say the sandpaper idea is probably as good away to shape it as any as it is so soft.

If you let us know a bit more about what it is for it may help as if they need to float the rot liquid compound may inhibit this.

Hope this helps.

Mark


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## Daven (16 Feb 2009)

I have only done it once before - not on a lathe, but a drill!

Not impossible but I would try laminating sheets cross grain (like ply wood) into square blanks which would give it a bit more strength depending how thin the finished piece needs to be.

Tools do need to be sharp and use the densest Balsa you can get - cut to a rough shape and the finish off with glass paper - you could make a former, glue the glass paper to the former and use it to sand to the same shape for each piece maybe!?

You could drill the hole first and mount the Balsa on a mandrel like pen turning - bit of thredded bar could do the trick!

HTH

Dave


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## exfish (16 Feb 2009)

Hi there,
I regularly make float bodies for coarse fishing, quite simply drill the body and put on a mandrill, I use a piece of bamboo stick that I bought in the local supermarket for putting meat on for cooking. I use the same stuff for the float stems.

Anyway I simply stick my leccy drill in a vice, fasten the mandrill in the chuck and turn on. Shaping is then done free hand with a bit of sandpaper, job done 2 - 3 mins max. Glue to bamboo body, leave to set and hand sand finish. Don't forget to give a couple of layers of dope prior to painting to help waterproof.

Tight Lines,
David.


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## monty (16 Feb 2009)

Thanks for all the info guys, I'll try and post some photo's tomorrow, that may give clearer picture of what I want to achieve.


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## Jenx (17 Feb 2009)

Be interesting to see the results Monty ! 

Exfish .. hello By the way ! Welcome ! 
great to see you here 8) 8)


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## monty (17 Feb 2009)

Here are some floats that i've bought, I'd like to make similar balsa bodies.


Any Ideas ??





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## Jenx (17 Feb 2009)

I don't know if it helps Monty, ..
I fly-fish all the time nowadays, but when I lived down south and did a lot more coarse fishing, I made all mine from quills and cork.
( glued on, and then 'fashioned' with a craft knife, before sealing and painting ).

Cant see why Balsa wouldnt work just as well 8) 

HTH


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