Turning end grain plane knob. Biting in alot question

[bobham]

Man made sheet goods like particle board, MDF, and plywood are really hard on cutting edges. That is actually the main reason that carbide tipped saw blades have become the norm rather than the steel blades that used to be the only kind a home woodworker used.

John, I just noticed your question at the end of your post. If I had actually been intending to use these knobs I would certainly have drilled the hole first so that the turning would be concentric to the hole. Since it was just a demonstration I didn't bother with holes.

Take care
Bob

 

[Jonzjob]

As has been said Simon, those handles you have made are great and you definitely won't loose them. The ply bowl had 2 large, long voids in them and it took a fair amount of 'chemical wood' and a hell of a lot of power sanding. That bowl is now usually full of apples and pairs on our welsh dresser. Striking and a one off!

What I did was to do some turning on scraps of wood to see just how thin I could get them. Good fun, good practice too and now I love to turn thin. I always start a goblet with the blank mounted on a screw chuck, turn the base to mount it on my expanding chuck. Mount it on the chuck and turn the hole to the shape and depth I want. Then follow the hole on the outside. That way I can get a good match and thickness.

I have shown this before, but here it is again. It wasn't till I cut the side out I realised how uniform I had managed to get the walls. I was quite chuffed I must admit! Yew, one of my favourite woods.

It is used quite often when friends drop in for an aperitif, just the job to put me knuts in? Behave you lot, peanuts!

Thank you Bob for the explanation! When I turn anything like that I use an Ian Wilkie light pull drive. I did a weekend course on turning boxes with Ian and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Edit :- I just had a thought Simon? You could call your new handles Zebras? They are striped and live on planes don't they :evil:

 

[Jonzjob]

I just had another thought Simon, must be the wine?

Your plane in the photo was sat flat on the bench, almost certainly not it's normal stance, but I have a couple of old planes that I inherited and decided that they needed some protection for the blades. So after a lot of thought, or was it the red stuff, that a simple blade and foot protector could be made. i bought some small rare earth magnets from Axminster Power Tools and with some hardboard and PVA glue made a couple of foot protectors. Dead easy and very effective. I cut a slot across the board where the blade sits.

You guys from the flat probably know all about anyway, but it may be useful???