Proper knowledge of wood lathe accessories is vital for wood turning.
It’s futile to begin your wood turning career before you get familiar with the basic tools of wood turning.
No need to be concerned. I’m here to help.
In this article, you’ll get to know about all the wood lathe accessories, which will make wood turning easier and fun for you.
Faceplate
A faceplate probably is the easiest way to mount the stock on the lathe.
In order to clamp the workpiece to the lathe, you can either use the t-nuts in its slots or the threaded holes in the faceplate.
A faceplate opens up a lot of possibilities for you.
It allows you to work with various shapes and even finished products, which you can then redesign according to your preference.
Roughing Gouges
This wide fluted gouge is employed to round the material and roughly shape it. They are generally made of high-speed steel.
With them, you can remove the stock swiftly while the cutting edge is being sharpened around about 40-45 degrees.
However, it often leaves an imprecise finish. Hence, they shouldn’t be used for making bowls or when working with the face plate.
Boring Bars
Boring is a very effective technique for drilling. You can use them for making circular plunge cuts.
Skew Chisels
Most of the beginners find skew chisel intimidating. For, it’s not easy to use and can cause serious damage to the workpiece if not handled properly.
However, it’s an extremely useful tool to smooth your spindle. And once you are experienced enough, you can even make long tapers with it.
It is also possible to produce V-cuts and bead with this tool. However, you will need to use only the toe of the skew chisel for that.
Mandrel
Mandrel holds the workpiece in place, when they are being rotated in the lathe.
You will find various types of mandrels available on the market.
Get a mandrel which is suitable for your project.
No need to worry if you can’t find one that meets your requirements. You can get a custom made mandrel, which fulfils all your demands.
Spindle Gouge/Detail Gouge
Spindle gouge is the most conventional tool used to create details such as beads and coves.
However, the tool movement to create beads and coves are totally different from one another.
The main difference between rough gouges and spindle gouges is that the groove is shallow in the spindle gouge, while it is wide in the roughing gouge.
The spindle gouge comes in several different sizes and can be found in local shops.
Parting Tool
You can create sizing cuts, such as spigots by using a parting tool.
There are 2 ways to use this tool:
Peeling and scraping.
But I’d suggest that you use a combination of both of them. It will give you more accuracy.
A 1/4” parting tool would be ideal for beginners. Although you will need a bigger tool to carry out a more advanced level of turning.
Bowl Gouges
Perhaps it is the most used tool among the lathe accessories of a wood turner.
Bowl gouges are very adaptable and appropriate for shaping both inside and outside of a bowl.
They have a longer handle than spindle gouges to give you more control.
If you are looking for a bowl gouge capable of working on a wide range of bowl sizes, then I’d tell you to go for the 5/8”. It is large and suitable for most of the bowl sizes.
You should try a bunch of bowl gouges to figure out which one works best for you.
See Also:
- How to build a wheelchair ramp out of wood?
- How to distress wood: the ultimate guideline for beginners
- Remove all types of glue from wood?
- How to join two pieces of wood side by side?
Scraper
Scrapers are a blessing for newbies as it allows them to eliminate cutter marks left by the bowl gouge.
It’s a little bit different from other wood turning tools. As you would have to use the tip of the scraper instead of the bevel while turning.
Needless to say that the edge must be always kept sharp.
Make sure that you hold the scraper at a downward angle while turning the spindle.
In order to erase the marks on the inside, you’d need to use a round nose scraper.
In contrast, the square nose scraper is employed to work on the outside of the bowl.
You should buy a large scraper as it provides additional sturdiness.
Collet
Collet is one kind of a clamp which is used to fasten the workpiece to the machine. It is externally threaded on the lathe and its holding capacity is between 0 to 7 inches in diameter.
It can hold different shapes such as square, hexagonal, and square.
Center Finder
As the name suggests, center finder helps to find the centre of any square or round stock for turning in a lathe.
It usually has a diagonal line on a round stock on one side and diagonal line on square stock on the other.
By marking these 2 opposite diagonal lines, you can easily find out the centre of the stock.
Bottom Line
Tools are the best friend of a wood turner.
The more you know about them, the more you are gonna get out of your work using them. So, the knowledge you have won’t go in vein.