COMPLETELY UPDATED AND REVISED THE BOOK A Complete Guide to the Machine and Its Accessories ERNIE CONOVER The Lathe Book A Complete Guide to the Machine and Its Accessories Completely Revised and Updated Ernie Conover The Taunton Press PubliJsIMhC HeIrL:DS EditHEoLrE:ANL BERT AssocEidaittJeEo NrN:IF ER RENJILIAN CopEyd itDIoArN:SEI NITSKY IndeLxYeNrDSA:T ANNARD CovDeers igLnYNeNrPE:H I LLIPS InteDreisoirgM nAReYrM c:K EON LayoAurtt iROsStA:LVI AEC CARO FroCnotv Pehro togrSaCOpThPTeH rIL:L IPS BacCko ver Phot(uoatghroarp h)peR:Ahr No DtYo O'ROURKE IntePrhiootro grEaRNpIhCEOe NrO:V ERe,x cewphten roet ed IulsltrMaAtRoIOrF E:R RO © Text 2010 Ebryn ie Conover © PhotogbryEa rpnhise Co2n0o10vb eyTr h eTa untPorne Isnsc,. © Iulsltrat2i0o10bn ys MaFreiror o Alrli grhetsse rved. Prinitnte hdUe n itSetda otfAe mse rica 109 8 7 6 5 TheTa untPorne Isnsc6,.3 S, o uth SMtariePneO Bt o,5x 056, NewtoCwTn0 ,6 740-5506 e-matipl@:t aunton.com LioCbfor Cnaagrtryae lDsoasgt ian g-in-Publication Conover, Ernie. Thel atbhoeo: k cao mplgeutitedot e h mea chainnidet asc ces/s ories ErnCioen oveCro.m-plerteeavln.uyd p dated. p.c m. Incliunddeesx . ISNB-1937:8 -15-845-1661-1 ISNB-1:1 0-55681-64-19 1. 1L.a th2eT.sur .n ingTti.l e. TT021. C62601 0 68.40'8- -3cd-21 00-066300 mother talented Tom y andf ather.B oth artiststl1,eh ya alvwea ys quest nuratu redf okrnow ledgaendlav eo afrt cr,a aftnd,h istory. 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I'adl sot otl hiakanelk ol f ftlohkeas tT heTa untPorne wsist,h specmieanlt tiooH ne lAelnb earnmtdy e diJteonnri fReerni jlian. ABYOOSUUATRF ETY Workiwnigtw ho oidis n herdeanntgleyr ouhsa.n odUr s ipnotgwo eorl s improoprei rglnyos raifnpegrt ayc tilceeatsdop ecramna innejnoutrr y evedne aDtohn.' tt opt erryf oopremr aytoiuo nlsaeb aohruentr { eo r elsewuhnelryeeos}us c' erret tahieanyrs ea ffoeyr o uIs.fo mething about ano peratiofnee lrdi ogedhsotnn,d'' oitt t L.o ofkoa rn otwhaeyr. We wanyto tuo e njtohyce r a,sf opt lekaeseesp a ffeotmryoe sty oiumnri nd wheneyvoeuri' nrt ehs eh op. Contents Introduction 2 4 Chapter 1 - The Turning Machine Lathe Construction 5 Lathe Anatomy 11 Chapter 2 - Choosing and Buying a 2L7a the Entry-Level Lathes 29 Mid-Range Lathes 30 Dream Lathes 31 Specialty Lathes 32 Chapter 3 - Setting Up a Lathe 35 Workflow 35 Machine Placement 35 Chip Removal and Ventilation 37 Electrical Service ��� 37 � Tool Storage 38 4 Chapter - Holding the Work 39 Centers 40 Faceplates 45 Special-Purpose Chucks 53 Chapter 5 - Accessories 75 Steady Rests 75 Arm Rests 77 Sharpening Equipment 80 Safety Equipment 98 Jigs for Special Techniques 101 Lathe Duplicators 111 112 Chapter6 -Tools Gouges 115 Chisels 124 Scrapers 137 Hook and RingT ools 143 ChatteTro ols 144 Chasers 145 7 Chapter -Maintenance, Repair, 147 and Modification RoutineM aintenance 147 ReplacinBge arings 149 DriveP ulleysB,e ltsa,n d Motors 155 RemovingS eizedM orse Tapersa nd Faceplates 158 ToolR ests 160 Modifyinag L athe 161 Restorinag U sed Lathe 164 Chapter8 -TurninTge chniques 165 Coves and Beads 165 TurninSgq uaret oR ound 171 FaceplatTeu rning 172 Sanding 176 Finishing 180 Glossary 181 Resources 184 Index 186 Introduction n this book, I will share with you my love of the woodturning lathe. I This is a book with a difference because it doesn't focus on the lathe to the exclusion of all other woodworking. Rather, it treats the lathe as another essential tool in the woodworking shop-a tool that can expand your woodworking horizon and add pizzazz to your work. All woodworkers need to be more familiar with the lathe because at some point your wood­ working projects will require turned parts. When The Taunton Press asked me to do the second edition of The Lathe Book, I was delighted, but I never realized that rewriting is much more difficult than writing. Much has changed since the first edition, so there are many new machines, accessories, and gadgets to share. Turning is becoming gentrified, and there are now tools and accessories that had never before been dreamed of. While the philosophical side of me laments the simplicity lost, the tool junkie side of me opens each "absolutely indis­ pensable" new piece of hardware with childlike enthusiasm. My wife, Susan, appropriately bought me a T-shirt claiming, "He who dies with the most tools wins." I am in serious contention for the grand prize. I am also a better turner today than I was eight years ago and have taught scores of people to turn, so I can tell the story better. Because I have also written Turning for Furniture Makers (a detailed spindle-turning book with an accompanying video) and Turn a Bowl with Ernie Conover (an action manual for bowl turners) since the first edition of The Lathe Book, I decided to drop some of the techniques and concentrate more on the lathe and it accessories. The tool chapter is much more readable and the illustrations are better. Photography is entirely new and in color. Turning books generally speak to dedicated turners who pursue turning to the exclusion of all other forms of woodworking. But most woodworkers are interested in turning only enough to use the lathe in their general woodworking. Additionally, most turning books miss the mark because they never really teach you to turn. They talk about equipment, philoso­ phy, and history, but they never truly teach turning. With that in mind, I've tried to keep this a wood turning book that speaks to all woodworkers and gives the information necessary to be able to employ turning in furni­ ture making. This book also offers much to the pure turner. A second objective is to offer advice on buying, maintaining, modifying, and repair­ ing lathes. A good part of the book is devoted to the intricacies of lathes and their accessories. I grew up at the lathe, and I've been turning both wood and metal since I was 12 years old. I understand lathes and how they work. For many years, my father and I owned a company that produced a lathe we codesigned­ the Conover Lathe. An outgrowth of our lathe-manufacturing business is Conover Workshops, a woodworking school that my wife and I now run year-round. In 24 years of running the school, I've taught hundreds of people to turn and have a fair sense of where the hurdles are in the learning process. It's my firm belief that most people have the ability to turn, but this skill has been buried deep inside during the process of growing up. In many cases, it has been masked by fear and dull tools. If you read through the next 180 or so pages, I think you'll be able to regain your instinctive turn­ ing skill and have some fun in the process. I look forward to this book starting a revolution in your workshop. Introduction 3 chapter 1 The Turning Machine oodturning is the art of shaping a rotating piece of wood by the W application of sharp tools. The machine that holds and rotates the wood is a lathe. The wood turning lathe is a simple work­ shop tool that can greatly expand your woodworking horizon. If you want to shape table legs, chair spindles, and bedposts or add embellishments to your furniture in the form of drawer pulls, cabinet knobs, and finials, then you need a lathe. And if you want to make bowls, plates, stool seats, table­ tops, and lidded boxes, a lathe is an indispensable machine. In spindle turning, the grain of the wood being turned runs between the centers of the lathe, that is, parallel to the axis of the lathe (see the illustration on the facing page). You would spindle-turn table legs, porch columns, and chair rungs. In faceplate turning, however, the grain of the work runs at right angles to the axis of the lathe. You would faceplate-turn large drawer pulls and bowls. Most lathes are supplied with basic chucks-a set of centers and a faceplate. Some people mistakenly think the type of turning is dictated by the type of chuck used to hold the work. For example, many woodworkers associate turning between centers with spindle turning, but it's possible to hold work between centers and yet be faceplate turning. Similarly, it's pos­ sible to spindle-turn while having a piece screwed onto a faceplate. (The screws in this case would be into the end grain of the wood.) The impor­ tant thing to remember is that the orientation of the grain, not how the work is held, dictates whether you are spindle or faceplate turning. It is imperative to understand this distinction because each type of work requires different tools and turning techniques, as you shall see in chap­ ter 4. In fact, using spindle tools for faceplate work can be dangerous.