other tools for lathe
 

So I was going through the owners manual for my lathe(my F.I.L. finally found it) and it showed several examples of tools other than chisels being used with the lathe like wood rasps and hand planers. Anyone out there use any of those? Looked like an interesting way to cut down(pun intended....lol) on my blades dulling during the roughing down phase. Any insight is always appreciated.

I keep a sharpening stone near by to refresh the flat tools and even the gouge sometimes it also requires a round file to knock a burr off the backside of the gouge likely because I have the harbor freight set and may not be the best steel but it works well enough for the small amount of plugs I do.
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I just sharpened mine on a belt sander, but i will need a few files as well to get that nice edge






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sorry, I think I should have been more specific. Has anyone ever used wood rasps or hand planners while the lathe is turning to take down the squared ends of a blank BEFORE they used their chisels, and if so, does it work well?

I use a rasp all the time to knock off the square edges when I'm turning EVA handles. There is not too much chatter if you are turning with enough speed. (speed is more important than pressure with the EVA)

I would gently lower it onto a piece of wood to give it a try and see what happens, unless someone else can chime in and describe their injuries from doing just that!

I went ahead and tried it last night! Wow!! I love it. I think I'll be using the rasp from now on to take of the corners on all my stock...it was fast and really easy.

i have a friend who uses a hand plane to "make dowels"
he is from a different style of turners. he uses a lot of green wood and turns things roughed in oversized to allow for drying then turns the finished item later. first i had heard of this. he also saves the green shavings to keep the oversized items in to do the drying process.
he used to make bowls and such. quite a craftsman.

Capesams told me to turn my green wood round and oversize and then let it dry several years ago he was right. I have made some plugs out of a McIntosh apple tree and have a bunch left in the round. Stuff is hard as all hell though. You could make a hammer out of the stuff.

I haven't done shopwork for a long time but had never heard of the green wood style. Waxing the ends and covering in the green shavings is supposed to let it dry without cracking. Never done it but he swears by it.
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That is interesting have never heard of that. Did you see this you might find it interesting.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/...orking-eletter

Just talked to him to get the skinny on this. It mainly was for the larger bowl sized turnings. Wax the ends and cover in the shavings. Put in a paper sack for a month or two. Keep in the basement. The waxed ends kept the moisture from escaping that way and forced it to dry thru the side grain. Which is desirable. It will deform so the oversizing is necessary. The dowels he tried it on warped bad but were 2 or 3 feet long. He didn't try it on dowels again because the projects he was working on were for longer items. He thought the shorter pieces we use might be ok to dry with this method. Sounds like a lot of work and space for me but I have a dawn redwood with the top blown out of I might try it on.
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