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Story from the past concerning the temperature expansion - I'm a retired electronics engineer with a career predominantly in military avionics. I designed a phenolic resin block into a bit of electronics that ran at high temperature - it worked well, went through all the rigorous qualification...

I don't know anything about the sharpening systems that the OP has gone for, but I would like to add my penny-worth as a relatively inexperienced turner. I did some hunting about on sharpening systems when I started turning and spotted a 110v Tormek on Ebay that I got for a very comfortable...

What a nice happenchance - I found a 16mm thick sheet of this in a scrap yard not so long ago and built it as the top for my router table. It was just convenient at the time - I had no idea it was there would be such strong recommendation for it. Such is lady luck - she just doesn't visit me...

Hi George - just across the water from you so I know the hassles of getting kit up here. Can't help you on the transport side and now I come to think of it, I'm more recording my Ebay success than helping you along the way. I struck it lucky some months ago in that a 3 ph Fobco Star came up...

Thanks a lot, George - that Osmo oil has been mentioned here before and I'd forgotten about it. I'm to the west of Edinburgh so Glasgow isn't that far away - in fact if I hunt far enough I may be able to find a local outlet too. Useful link as they also do an 'un-greying' oil which I could...

Thanks George for your warning about the gluing. Your point about the work piece length is the valid one - ie the leverage length. A glue joint will tolerate a sheer force as in holding a short large diameter piece but will not cope well with the pull forces from a what is effectively a butt...

The other thing I did mean to bring into the discussion with respect to the yew cylinders and sections shown is whether the wood turning world has found a way of retaining the magic colouring that occurs with some yew, and is much evident in the pictures of those items. I first met the...

Glue chucks - one of the weaknesses I've found with glue chucks is that the standard method of application of hot wax glue from some sort of heating device is essentially flawed when it comes to using it to glue large chunks of wood together - that is large with respect to the amount of glue...

Thanks for your guidance, George. Unfortunately I don't have any small faceplates and having a Wadkins Bursgreen with a 1 3/8 UNC nose thread, I imagine these are like the proverbial hen's teeth. I tend to use glue chucks which would probably be OK - is a flat base OK or a rebated one? Rob

These are both stunning work - the first form flows so smoothly, the shape helped so much by the grain. The 2nd is interesting in that it is not what one expects and like one of the earlier posters I wonder how it would look if the stem was effectively cut into the bowl. And now the question -...

Oops sorry - it was nearing my bedtime and I wasn't really taking in what I was reading !! :roll: Rob

Quite a few months back either through this group, or from some other link, I watched an internet video of a guy making and using a deep cutting tool from a 3/8" metal milling cutter. I mentioned this to a friend who I see at a monthly gathering - he is a significant amateur engineer and does...

I know this is hindsight to the conversation, and again I have not used a chuck on the tail of my lathe so I may well be sounding off with a load of rubbish. But why did you get rid of the 3 phase motor when for all of the cost of the 1 ph replacement you could have got an electronic inverter...

George - thanks for replying. The base is like the base for a table top lamp and the whole unit is an exercise in spindle and face turning; it's not a case of too much detail as each element has been easy enough to turn and 3 elements over an 8" diameter disc is not that elaborate at all...

I'm fairly new to turning and am making the Hand Stand from Mike Darlow's Fundamentals book. I've successfully cut the the base for this as a 8" x 2" disc and the shape is a torus, a step, an ogee, a step and a cavetto. How do I sand up to the steps without taking the edge off them? I foresee...

Thanks Chas - those are useful pages, though don't answer my particular query in that I am dealing with a quarter 'log'. On the basis that the items I'm wanting are shallow (2" max) with respect to the log, this however all looks OK. The nearest picture is the 5th one in with the blank turned...

I'm making a hat stand (viz. Darlow's Fundamentals of Woodturning) out of cherry. The base and top are cut from discs 8"dia x 2 and 5"dia x 1.5. I'm looking at a bit of cherry I have which is a quarter trunk section 12" lg by 6.5" radius - the long dimension across the sector is around 10"...

Thanks very much guys - as I said it was a low priority query based on restoration rather than use. Apologies again for the thread highjack, which I won't keep going any further than say that my drill must be a later build as it has two holes for push buttons where the rotary switch is in the...

It also helps if you have a log burning stove - - - - to conceal all the failures !

Bob - I recently got hold of a Fobco Star. What a difference to the Chinese import I had previously. Beautiful smooth, quiet running machine, but at the expense of weighing 150lbs. This is where my true colours as a thread pirate show ( and apologies to GWR, though the question may be a...