Some turning heresies.

[Fergie 307]

Can't really see a problem with it myself, as long as you clean it properly afterwards. Wood chips and sawdust a lot easier to remove than brass, or worse still cast iron debris. Only thing I would avoid would be using sandpaper while the piece is in the lathe.

 

[voyager]

use my metal lathe for the odd bit of woodturning, always worth giving it a good clean afterward as some woods can stain the ways, fine sawdust and oil can gunge up the gibs so thats why i think some folk advise against it

 

[JimB]

i suppose my most heretical woodturning came before I had a lathe. Two pawns were lost in transit from a small chess set. I made two replacements using slow speed with quarter inch dowel glued into wood roughly trimmed to the right diameter and then mounted in a drill clamped in the vice and run at low speed. Files and sandpaper finished the job.

 

[chaoticbob]

Thanks for further replies - it seems I'm not alone in my heretical practices. The comments about musical instrument makers reminded me that when, many years ago, I picked up my first set of Uilleann (Irish) bagpipes from a chap in Sheffield he showed me his workshop and he did everything on an engineering lathe. Mostly African Blackwood and brass or nickel silver.

My Pommy mate in Australia was most adamant about not using a metal lathe for woodturning. Never saw the problem, but same mate, who worked for Vickers during WW2 also flatly refused to use carbide inserts. But there are lots of occasions when the metal lathe is preferable, like when making round rods that need to be of even diameter. Also, if you need a specific taper, they are preferable. Had a job making 350 tapered plugs for an architectural feature on an old house. Plugs were 45 mm long, 9 mm in one end 27 in the other. Quite a job, and the plugs came out at nearly £2 each. But the metal lathe, a Chester Crusader, was just the one for the job. One tip: Use RCGT inserts for woodturning on metal lathe.

Thanks for the tip about RGCT inserts Jonn - I'll give them a go. But I really need a woodturning lathe I think! Sometime this year I hope...

Bob.