Playing with my lathe!!!

[Gerald]

A little more information...

When it comes time to sand a finished piece, I use an old broken belt from my belt sander. Just hold it to the wood as it spends in the lathe, but always keep sand paper moving.

I found that the standard tools just would not make the deep cuts that I wanted. A file is made from very hard metal and will hold a very good edge. Making any shape tool is easy using a grind stone in the lathe. The more pointed tools that I made are very good to use when first starting to work on a piece of wood. With the narrow point, it does not take off too much wood at a time.

I also made a tool rest that is a little longer and to sit closer to the wood. Now, I mostly use the lathe to sharpen stuff or grind metal as needed. The table is a mess, but it showes the old Craftman lathe. Don't buy a grinding stone from Harbor Freight....cheap but very poor quality.

I don't have most of the things that I have made, but here are some picture of one of the first things I made. The plant stand was made from a log from a Sycamore tree. I love the wood grain that it has.

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