Wood Turning

Turning & the Woodwork Lathe

Lathe Parts Revolving Centre Forked Centre Headstock Tailstock Bed ToolPost Toolrest On/Off Switch Lathe Parts

When turning between centres the work piece is held between a Forked Centre and a Revolving Centre

Headstock The headstock supports one end of the work piece. It contains the driveshaft as shown below.

Forked Centre The Headstock can be fitted with a Forked Centre to support one end of the work piece when turning between centres.

Tailstock Tailstock Locking Lever The tailstock supports the other end of the work piece

To support this end a Revolving Centre or Dead Centre must be fitted in the tailstock.

The parting tool can be used to cut narrow slots in your work piece.

The Gouge Cross Section The Gouge utilises a slicing action and can be used for both roughing down and fine finishing

The Skew Chisel The skew chisel can be used to produce a very smooth finish When using this tool remember only to use the bottom third of the blade Copper

The Scraper Scrapers are available in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Scrapers are among the easiest lathe tools to use however as the name suggests the tool scrapes rather than cuts and can leave a rather rough finish.

The Faceplate A Faceplate is used to attach a wood blank to the lathe when making a bowl Faceplate

This next video shows how a wooden baseball bat would be made in Industry using the method of turning.

Turning Between Centres

1) Using a Tenon Saw and Saw Board cut your piece of wood to length* * Add 20mm extra to each end to allow for holding the wood on the lathe.

2) Next use a rule to find the centre of each end. 3) Use a set of compasses to mark a circle on each end.

4) Use a Jack Plane to plane each corner down to the edge of the circle.

5) Plane all 4 corners

6) Make a large hole in one end with a bradawl

7) Use a Tenon saw to cut a V shaped slot in the other end.

8) Fit the wood to the lathe between the Forked Centre and Revolving Centre