Scots pine
Rake the spindle
4:00on the clock
First cut: the long taper
Pole700rpm
EdgeSkew25 mm
Set at84.0deg
Bite0.0mm
Loadclear
Heatcold
Edgesharp
Gauge0.0mm—
work orderwhat you have turnedwhere the edge will reachunder the line
Wind the pole up and present the tool.
The turning shop
Lathe
A rough blank, a turning pole, and one tool. What comes off depends on the edge you present and how deep you set it — and a diameter you have taken away is gone for good.
W / S feed and withdraw · A / D slide the rest · Space is one escapement tooth · C changes the tool · J / K set the angle · E reads the gauge · R hones · Enter calls the form · M mutes · H for help
The pole is stopped
Paused
How the lathe works
Edge, bite, and order
- Presentation
- The angle sets the shape your edge leaves. A skew near 90° cuts a cylinder; near 45° a bevel. A round nose scoops a cove in one pass, and the width it sweeps is the nose's own radius.
- Bite and load
- Load is chip thickness times the depth of bite times the hardness of the timber. Feed faster, or run the pole slower, and the load climbs. Past the spring's travel the rest rides up; past the timber's limit the surface tears.
- Order
- A wide edge reaches behind its tip. Cut the fine features first and a later wide cut will destroy them; the work order on the left is in the order the wood allows.
- The knot
- Oak and boxwood carry knots. They are harder than the wood around them, and the edge will catch in them. Take a lighter bite and give the pole more speed.
- Escapement
- One tooth is half a millimetre of feed, exactly. The narrow paring tool is for the last band beside a finished edge.
Measured
The form is off the lathe
0out of a hundred