Woodturners love making shavings

[Steve Jones]

Hi everyone,
All woodturners love the feeling we get when the long shavings are flying off the bowl gouge.
Today I have been making tapers for lances.
I manage to get the shavings flying on a 950mm lg. 38mm dia. spindle, in dry wood using a skew.
I have made over ten thousand of these over a period of 14 years and the method used is the quickest way to produce them so that is the way I do them.
They are tapered from 38mm to 25mm with a 25mm tenon.
After turning they are split into quarters down the length stopping just short of the tenon, painted and attached to my 7' long lances. Then smashed to bits at medieval jousting tournaments all over the country.
If you ever go to a jousting display at an English Heritage property you will know what I mean
Enjoy and comments are welcomed.


https://youtu.be/sZK1FzVH924

[TONY MALIN]

How critical is the speed?

[Steve Jones]

How critical is the speed?

Tony the speed is not critical the faster the easier to get the shavings to fly. This is at about 1300 rpm. any faster and it becomes difficult to steady (hands get too hot) so you get vibrations.
It is critical to keep the skew at a constant angle we all know what happens with the snatch and using it backwards uphill is risky.

[Les Symonds]

I love watching these vids of such proficient tool work.
Les

[GBF]

Fantastic Steve I like the way you get the cut going backwards.
How do you cut them after turning.


Regards George

[Steve Jones]

Thanks Les & George.
George they are cut with a bandsaw in a simple jig.

and here is how they smash them up!

[Richard Findley]

That back cut with a skew is a really handy one to know. Can really help with tricky grain and difficult situations.

What timber is that?

Richard

[Steve Jones]

Richard, I use the backwards cut quite often when it saves time and sometimes on grain that rips up.
The wood is Balsa which is almost imposible to scrape a planing cut is the only way to work it.

[Mark Sanger]

Steve

Saw this on YouTube, amazing to watch. thanks for sharing. I like the jousting pics too, amazing how turning is still needed today and how much is still done with it.

[GBF]

I have been watching Steve's video's very carefully and hopefully learning from them
Spindle turning is my weakest part of turning as I make mostly bowls and hollow forms so these videos are a big help.
I have made up my mind to try and do at least half an hours spindle turning each day.

Regards George

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

George if you do that and going by the lenght of Steve's videos what are you going to do with 60 lance heads a week?

[GBF]

I have done my half hour for today John.
Improving already LOL

Regards George

[Steve Jones]

George, knowing that my videos have encouraged you to work on your spindle work makes the effort of posting them well worth while. Thank you for letting us know.
It's great that you feel they have been some help. As we have said before no one knows it all and we all can improve. We must keep trying to improve and learn continuously.

[GBF]

Hi Steve.

When you turn beads do you change hands from right to left that is how I do it and find it imposable to do both sides of the bead with one hand.

Regards George

[Steve Jones]

Hi George,
No I never swap hands when using the skew. It is all about body position try turning a bead to the left with your feet almost square on to the bed of the lathe then move your right foot back about 8" to turn the right side. Remember to bend your knees slightly when you start and straighten as you turn the bead.