turning extremely hard wood

[Basil9981]

I have a coronet wood lathe and have been trying to turn some very hard woods (Ironwood/ebony etc) It is taking the edge off my tools in seconds.
I have an idea that by buying a milling compound table I will be able to use metalworking tool cutters with very hard cutting edges. If I go down this route, can anyone give advice?

Basil9981.

 

[hawkeyefxr]

How about tungsten carbide tipped tools, you can make your own or buy complete chisels they are not that expensive.
I got mine from http://www.ukwoodcraftandcarbidechi... with a bit of practice you get used to them.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Some very hard woods often respond better to being scraped than being cut.

 

[MusicMan]

Yes you can turn extremely hard woods on a metal lathe (which is essentially what you are trying to do. Dalbergia melanoxylon (African blackwood, mpinga, grenadilla) and cocobolo are routinely turned in this way for musical instruments.

You want a tool with an extremely high rake, essentially cup-shape. An excellent choice is a profiling tool, such as made by Glanze

https://www.glanze.co.uk/acatalog/Lathe ... Tools.html

which is carbide tipped.

Pay attention to the stiffness of your crosslide and tool post arrangement when you modify your lathe.

Keith

 

[Basil9981]

Thanks Keith, that's great advice.

Basil9981

 

[bugbear]

Ornamental turners routinely turn boxwood, ebony etc (when they can't get ivory).

Their lathes look a LOT like metal work lathes.

BugBear

 

[Basil9981]

I'm chuffed that my initial thoughts on the solution to my problem seem broadly to gel with those members who obviously have more experience than me.
My only problem now is to find a used XY table close enough to home for me to collect.
Thanks BugBear for your thoughts.

Basil9981.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

This little one in blackwood and sterling silver was done with normal wood turning tools - it can be done. Stanley blade for scale.

 

[Basil9981]

Thanks phil.p

Basil9981

 

[TFrench]

New small one if you can't find a 2nd hand one:
http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Workholding/Work-Tables/Cast-Iron-Work-Table-200x90mm

 

[Basil9981]

Thanks for the heads-up TFrench it looks like a good size and price. If I don't find a good used one in the next week, I may go for that.

Cheers.

Basil9981

 

[bobajobob]

Hi Basil. I am not an expert turner but I have used quite a few abrasive hardwoods. I have found ebony to be a pleasant, if dusty, wood to turn. I use home-made HSS tools of pretty dubious quality and find sharpening intervals are frequent but tolerable. To benefit from an engineering table/toolpost you would probably need carbide tools as advised previously. I would think the linear travel of that setup would be a bit limiting and would also suggest carbide insert wood turning tools as a more economic and versatile option. Carbide does blunt too (but much more slowly) and needs a diamond hone. For difficult woods I often use carbide to rough turn and HSS to finish. Hope that hasn't complicated your decision.

 

[woodfarmer]

I have used greenheart from time to time. It will wear tipped metal cutting tools quite quickly and from them and carbide tipped saws will often give off sparks !

Switching to oak afterwards feels like turning balsa wood

bowl shown is upside down in greenheart on an oak base. took over two weeks to make for a competition.