Beginning Woodturning - Mounting the Wood

While it is obvious that wood is spun on the wood lathe and then shaped with various hand tools, it is less obvious how to mount the wood on to the lathe in the first place. A bit of observation and common sense can turn this into an easy and safe operation.

Wood is mounted to the lathe in either spindle or faceplate orientation. Spindle turning means the grain of the wood will run parallel to the ground while faceplate implies the grain runs perpendicular to the ground. While there can be variations on this theme, the beginner is advised to follow the scheme until sufficient practise is obtained to change it with safety.

Chair legs and rungs are almost always turned in spindle orientation for reasons of strength. The pieces that join the legs together are often called spindles, hence the use of the term in woodturning.

Most wood lathes come with a spur center for the headstock and a tail center for the tailstock. Each of these has a center point. Many tail centers have ball bearings and turn freely. Spur centers are surrounded by two, three or more spurs that engage the wood. Spindle stock is mounted between these centers. Be sure to place the centers into the appropriate head and tail stocks. Ensure they are seated so that the spurs engage the wood and make it turn. From time to time while turning, tighten the tailstock to keep the spurs working. They will try to bore their way into the wood somewhat like a drill bit.

Again, most wood lathes will come with a faceplate. Like spur and tail centers they are also readily available from a variety of after market suppliers. Just get one that fits the threads on your lathe. The larger the piece of wood that is to be turned, the larger the faceplate that may be required, however, it is rare for most home wood lathes to require a faceplate larger than six inches.

Faceplates are used to turn objects such as bowls, platters, vases and hollow forms. They are mounted to the wood with screws and number fourteen, self tapping, sheet metal screws are advised. These have deep threads that hold the work well and are extremely strong. Usually screws that allow the threads to go three quarter inches deep are sufficient for most turning but longer ones give more security if needed. Be sure that the wood surface to which the faceplate attaches is flat. This gives a great deal of the holding power of the faceplate.

While there are other means of mounting the wood such as dedicated chucks, glue blocks, and four jaw chucks, centers and faceplates will allow the beginning turner to mount wood to the lathe for a great many projects. The old time wood turners used just these to outfit homes and businesses with wood turned essentials and art work.

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Mounting Wood On The Wood Lathe: Do Not Forget The Jacob's Chuck

One of the best and worst things to happen to modern woodturning is the invention of the four jaw chuck for holding wood. While it is a great addition to the woodturner's arsenal, it is also an expensive tool and many beginners find that it costs more than their wood lathe. Also, like many tools a cheaper version is aggravating and in some cases simply dangerous to use. One thing to remember is woodturning has been around for thousands of years and there are many ways to mount the wood without the newest fashions. The Jacob's chuck is a great tool for all turners.

A Jacob's chuck is designed for holding drill bits. It is the chuck on the end of the drill press or the electric hand drill. As such it is often used held in the tail stock of the lathe to hold a drill bit for putting a hole in a piece of wood in the head stock or vice versa. However, it may also be used to hold a piece of wood for turning.

The difficulties in using a Jacob's chuck for holding wood are

1. its size which is generally limited to one half inch although slightly smaller or larger ones are available for some lathes

2. it's having three jaws which make it awkward to hold onto a square piece of wood

3. it is made for holding metal and may well crush the wood in its jaws

These limitations are easily dealt with.

The time to use a Jacob's chuck is generally to turn a spindle that needs to be held on one end only. This means that the stronger grain orientation of long grain is being used as opposed to face grain. In such circumstances a piece of one half inch wood such as maple is easily strong enough to support a three inch spindle of reasonable length. It remains to mount the spindle first between centers and turn it round, allowing for a short length at one end to be turned down to one half inch so as to fit in the chuck. Now it can be remounted in the chuck, trued up and finish turned.

Note that this also removes the second difficulty of trying to fit a square piece of wood into a three jaw structure. The tenon to fit the chuck is now round. It also deals with the third problem of crushing the wood. This would serve to mar the wood and also to move the piece off center for turning. A truing cut will put it back on center and the tenon is considered waste wood and removed from the finished piece.

The old and established technology of the Jacob's chuck is not as versatile as the newer four jaw chuck but it is reliable at a much lower cost and opens new avenues of wood turning to the beginner without a lot of expenditure. Besides which, a Jacob's chuck is a welcome addition to every turner's arsenal.

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Mounting Wood On The Wood Lathe: Using A Glue Block

While one of the great advances in woodturning in recent years has been the development of the four jaw chuck to mount wood for turning, the price tag on a good chuck is a shock to many turners. In fact the price for a decent four jaw chuck often accedes the price of many starter lathes. One of the things that a wood turner needs to remember when going into faceplate turning is the use of the old fashioned glue block for holding wood.

The use of the glue block arises from the desire to not have screw holes observed in the bottom of such items as bowls and platters. Generally such an item is made by first rough turning it from green wood and then letting it dry in the shop for some time. Later it is remounted to the wood lathe and finish turned. It is during this remounting that it may be screwed to the faceplate, thus leaving holes in the finished product. These holes then have to be filled or covered in some way. In addition, the length of the screws determines a certain depth of wood that cannot be used or the tools would hit the screws themselves.

A simple solution, and one centuries old, is the use of a glue block to hold the wood to the lathe. First the bottom of the bowl is flattened using a plane or other tool. Second, a waste block of wood is screwed to the faceplate. Third the waste block is flattened. Third, the waste block is glued to the bottom of the bowl using carpenter's white glue.

Generally a piece of craft paper is glued between the waste block and the bowl. This enables the bowl to be finish turned and then a chisel blow between the block and the bowl splits the paper down center. Then the waste paper can be sanded from the bottom of the bowl and the bottom finished. If desired, the paper could also be removed from the waste block and it could be used again.

There are a few draw backs to this system. While glue has a great hold but it needs to be clamped and let dry for at least eight hours. Also, the wood used has to be dry so this can not help with green turnings. In addition there is the fuss of sanding away all that glue and paper, a combination known for quickly clogging sand paper.

Thankfully, a couple of modern glues rise to the occasion. When turning dry wood such as a dried bowl blank, hot glue can be used to glue the wood block to the bowl. Withing a couple of minutes it is ready to mount on the lathe and turn. Either the block can be parted from the blank with the lathe running or the whole assembly can be taken off and the waste block removed with a a sharp rap of a chisel at the glue line. Any remaining glue is easily pealed off.

Similarly a medium thick cyanoacrylate glue can be used to bond a green blank to a waste block. The glue is applied to the waste block and accelerator to the blank and the two are pressed together. Again, a couple of minutes are sufficient to hold the work for turning and again a sharp blow at the glue line will separate them after the turning is done.

Modern adhesives simply allow the old methods to work in today's shops. While the technology advances us a little we are still working in the historic fashion. The old ways may not always be the best, but they certainly work and work well.

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