What did they just say!

[Les Symonds]

A very good friend of mine, who claims that she has never had an artistic or creative moment in her life, went out and bought  a very cheap second hand little lathe and a few tools, then asked me to give her a few tips, so we had a session making mushrooms and Christmas trees, which she thoroughly enjoyed. I am not going to name the maker or the UK agent (for obvious reasons) but suffice to say that this is a well known make of equipment from a very well known retail chain.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I found a manual on-line for her lathe and emailed her a link to it, then read it myself. UNBELIEVABLE!
Here's a few quotes....

• All face plate work is done by scraping. Any attempt to use a cutting technique on edge grain, will result in hogging or gouging, which
  may tear the tool out of your hands.
• The main use of the gouge is for rough circumference cutting of raw stock down to a cylinder of working size. it is the best tool to use for rapidly cutting away large areas of the workpiece, but when so used does not produce a smooth surface.
• Unlike the gouge and skew, the parting tool is seldom held with the bevel against the work. As the amount of stock removed is  small, a support for the bevel is not necessary. The tool is simply fed into the work at an angle (for cutting), or pointed at the workpiece centre (for scraping) it can be held easily in one hand.
• Clear glass smooth finishes (especially on soft woods) can be obtained by using a block plane set to take a fine shaving. The tool rest should be raised up approximately to the top of the workpiece, and the plane should be horizontal,but turned slightly in the direction of travel so that it will take a shearing cut. Two tool rests, one in front and the other behind the work, can be used to advantage in positioning the plane so as to exactly limit the depth of cut (and finished size of the workpiece).
• A wood rasp will remove stock quickly when held against the revolving workpiece. Care should be taken to support the rasp firmly against the tool rest however, as it can tear the hands painfully if caught by a rough edge of the workpiece and kicked back. The rasp will leave a very rough finish. Finer finishes (similar to those produced by scraping), can be obtained by using files in the same manner.

I need a glass of wine!

Les

p.s. ... I have contacted my friend and told her not, under any circumstances, to read the manual

[GBF]

You must have made this up Les it is obviously a joke.

Regards George

[Les Symonds]

You must have made this up Les it is obviously a joke.

Regards George

I'll tell you what worries me most, George, is the number of customers who bought such a lathe and then tried to follow the manufacturer's instructions.
Les

[John D Smith]

 
 As George said this must be a JOKE I am of the opinion that any idiot who issues a Manual of this nature should be Named & Shamed after all if this was followed it could cause serious injuries to someone if you do not want to do this maybe the AWGB should be involved.

                                                             Regards John

                                                     

[Les Symonds]

 As George said this must be a JOKE I am of the opinion that any idiot who issues a Manual of this nature should be Named & Shamed after all if this was followed it could cause serious injuries to someone if you do not want to do this maybe the AWGB should be involved.

                                                             Regards John

                                                     

It really is not my place to involve the AWGB in any action against a manufacturer. However, I have personally written to the manufacturer's agent to advise them of my concerns.
Les

[edbanger]

Are you sure you've not already had a few glasses of wine Les   

Glad to hear that you have contact the agent to point out the problems with the instructions -

All the best

Ed

[John D Smith]

 I understand your concern Les about naming the Manufacturer and i think you have done the right thing in notifying their Agent the AWGB might take the initiative when BHT reads this thread.

                                                        Regards John

[Schurchy]

  Wow unbelievable. It will be interesting to read the manufacturers reply, however I dare say you probably won't get one.
Steve

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

"A wood rasp will remove stock quickly when held against the revolving workpiece. Care should be taken to support the rasp firmly against the tool rest however, as it can tear the hands painfully if caught by a rough edge of the workpiece and kicked back. The rasp will leave a very rough finish. Finer finishes (similar to those produced by scraping), can be obtained by using files in the same manner. "
I must say I know a few turners who obviously use this technique!!
On a serious note we should not allow commercial companies to get away with this, Les I applaud you for writing to the company can you let me have the details too please? PM me.

[Les Symonds]

Hello John....I'll pm you.
Les

[Les Symonds]

In all fairness to the Manufacturer/dealer, I have had an email within 12 hours (business hours) asking for full details and an assurance that all erroneous information will be removed from the web-site.
John (BHT) is on stand-by, ready to add gravitas to my concerns if they are not dealt with promptly.
Les

[bodrighywood]

When I learnt to turn in school ** years ago all we had were scrapers and skews, some made from old files. Did both spindle work and face work with the scrapers. Rasps and files were iused but not when the wood was turning. H&S consisted of being shown how to do someting then left to get on with it. Fortunately common sense has come on a lot since then. Apart from the danger of being sud I agree with naming and shaming when this sort of info is given out to probably new turners.

Pete

[Sandy]

Would Trading Standards be the place to report this?

or, initially, Citizens Advice offer this advice:
"Call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline and tell them you want to report a trader to Trading Standards. The consumer helpline will assess your problem and pass it on to Trading Standards if it's appropriate"
Link:  https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

[Duncan A]

I took one guess as to the supplier and was right first time, unfortunately confirming my views of this supplier and their business model.
The shame of it is, the tool usage info is far more detailed and well written than most owner's manuals and, corrected, would make a very useful quick reference for those new to turning.
Well done Les, on taking it to the supplier. Let's hope they act upon your comments - or even pay you a fee to re-write that section of the manual!
Duncan

[howlingbaboon]

I'm a beginner and it sounds like madness to me! It's odd how a user manual would include such vague and poor information especially how it doesn't seem to be in agreement with the current practices of most turner and is absent from any other instructional literature that I've seen. You'd think they'd sooner defer the responsibility by putting in no information and suggesting people seek proper training.

An onlooker, the other day, suggested to me that I might speed up my bowl finishing by using a power planer on the spinning lathe. I suggested he was mad!