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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What are the key steps to achieve accurate Long Hole Boring results?
1. Turn the piece to a cylinder and then bore the long hole to ensure concentricity after final outside profile is turned. Its also less costly if it does go wrong.
2. Has the cutting edge of the Auger been damaged or modified. Used correctly they should very rarely need to be sharpened.
3. Keep the lathe speed down to between 350 to 750 rpm.
4. Take very short cuts between 1/2 and 1 inch depth at a time.
5. Do not push to hard (except initially to get the bore started).
6. Clear the tail stock of sawdust with every 1/2 to 1 inch withdrawl of the auger.
7. Bore halfway and then turn the wood around and bore from the opposite end. (put an elastic band on the auger to indicate the halfway point).
8. For further info see Tools page under Long Hole Boring Tool.
What would you use a cup chuck for?
Cup chucks are usually used for turning items such as egg cups, knobs and finials and many other relatively small parts that require access to the right hand end of the item such as hollowing the egg cup.
The fixing method is rather like the action of a Morse taper that is used in the lathe tailstock, the piece of wood has to be spindle turned beforehand to enable a tight fit into the cup.
It is possible to do this work with other types of chuck such as a 4 jaw self centering chuck and this is often the case. However the advantage of a cup chuck is that it is small, compact and round with no protrusions and therefore safer and if you have a number of knobs for example to make it may be a bit quicker.

Why is it advisable to remove the square corners from your timber before setting it on the lathe?
This is done for safety reasons as a revolving piece of wood in the lathe with corners can be very painful if you get your fingers in the way (I've done it!!) or get them stuck between the tool rest and item whilst it is rotating and in the rough state the item can be very unbalanced. However most turners carry out this operation on the lathe by making sure that the piece is firmly held and the speed of the lathe is reduced. Initially small cuts are made usually with a Roughing Gouge working from the ends outwards and gradually working towards the centre until a cylinder is produced. The speed can then be increased to normal. I say this because I know two people that have had accidents whilst trying to remove corners with a bandsaw and a planer. 

How would you form a concave curve?
In turning a convex contour is known as a bead and a concave contour is known as a hollow.
The method for cutting a hollow usually would be as follows. Mark the left and right edges of the hollow and with a parting tool cut a recess to about half the final depth at mid point of the hollow, then use a detail gouge and working from the cut made with the parting tool work always downwards  from the left and right edges sloping down to the centre final depth keeping the bevel in contact with the surface of the wood.  Until you have worked out to the marked edges  NB Working upwards would pull out the grain at the top edge. (As in planing wood always work with the grain.)

   

        


     

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