This has to be the best woodworking series on TH-cam at the moment. I think it show great humility that such a highly regarded woodworker is will to take us through his learning curve.
Hi Matt, great first effort mate, i did cringe a couple of times especially when the forcner bit came out LOL, but one thing i did notice that may save your fingers in the future is when applying any kind of finish on a spinning lathe use paper towl, it will rip if it get caught in the chuck, a rag wont,,,, it will just pull your hand in. excellant as usual mate, thanks
You had a really good idea with this turning series. Tips and tutorials from experts are great but being able to follow one of them learning a new skill from the start is something rare and just as usefull. Being told which mistakes to avoid is always informative and priceless but discovering those mistakes with you as they happen just makes them stick to the mind and it's encouraging. Thank you for sharing your learning experience in this humble way and congrats for the results!
Keep it up. Your normal stuff is unbelievable good. This series shows how we all start somewhere and sometimes you are doing good in showing us what not to do. If that was a metal lathe I would say your chuck or head stock is out by miles as you can see it wondering. This maybe what's causing your vibration issues you mentioned the other week. This wondering may also give you non square edges as well.
Put a piece of white cloth on that window for recording since you get direct sun. It`s gonna diffuse the light and actually make it quite pretty for recording!
This type of project was my first turning experience just last week. I had never watched a video on it. Yours turned out much better than mine. I have to use a “communal” type workshop because I’m in college so I think the tools may have been dull, not experienced enough to tell, and the wood was very dry so a lot of chunks came off. It was nice to see someone doing the same thing though with better results. Keep up the great content as it is always a pleasure to watch.
I'm not a turner, but I've watched a lot of turners online and what I see most when they're parting pieces off of their work, they will part most of the way through it and then stop the lathe and cut through the remaining material with a hand saw. Once removed, they sand off any remaining nub left over from the parting.
I live in The UK and I know nothing about woodworking or wood-turning. I am retiring shortly and I will be emigrating to warmer climes in Central America. I intend to take up woodworking as a hobby when I get to my new home in the sun. I had never considered wood-turning as part of my new hobby but after watching your experiences of learning the craft, I'm in. I never realised that wood-turning could be so exciting and dangerous.
Firstly, that wood is tree wood, some rare stuff :). Best thing to do when parting off the lid is to leave a nub and saw it off. Your method of using a parting tool all the way is fine if the work was held in a chuck. Also when mounting wood in a chuck try to make the tenon the same size as the jaws optimum grip diameter. I.e. when the jaws look most like a circle. I think for your jaws it is about 56mm. You are making great progress, keep it up. How about a pepper grinder? Good challenge.
Simple but well worth lesson i learned from my granddad, if something feels like its really wrong (parting Moment, you have your hand like you knew that it will Blow up), then dont do it. May save your life one day.
We get the turning Tuesday videos here in Australia on a Wednesday. I like to call them whacky Wednesday’s! I think you’re a bit hard on yourself there bud, that box ‘turned out’ nice.
Would be great to see a furniture project next, bringing together many of techniques you've taught + parf + lathe (don't ask for much 😁). Cheers for vids, really good. PS I stole your wedged tennon design for my own workbench, works great.
Matt, your a very good woodworker and not a very good turner, i do not wood turn nor do i have a lathe but i must say your damn entertaining to watch. cheers mate.
May I suggest Steb drives and centres for your spindle work, safer and more useful than the traditional drives and centres. For the next box, turn spigots on both ends before parting. The spigots are the be about 3mm larger than the smallest diameter of the jaws, for maximum holding power. Also, it may be more useful to move the tormek next to the lathe, so you sharpen your tools more. A spindle gouge will hollow out end grain quicker than a scraper. Yes there is a learning curve, but like all things turning, once you master it, everything else becomes easier.
It looks like a hardwood we have in Australia called Jarrah. It’s not our hardest but it’s right up there and i’ve heard it has a high silica content and dulls blades quickly.
Hey Matt, I never used a wood lathe until now, but I did use some for metal working. Never split a workpiece completely if you have the counter screw on it. You saw what happened. I saw some radial supports (I believe on lee valley tools website) to prevent winding of the workpiece while splitting, but if you don’t use them, at least don’t completely separate the pieces (you can do it with a saw), or do it with only one mounting point, like you did in the end of the video, that one went well.
I know you are a proper craftsman, and I am self taught but, I want to pass this on to you. I used to make small products such as jewelry, pots and the usual candle sticks from what ever coloured wood I could get cheap. I used to go to the local supplier and grab all the exotics I could afford. Never had a problem until one day I broke out n a rash that was soooo painful and lasted weeks. That was 20 or 30 years ago, more recently I worked some exotics that looked like rosewood of some sort that had been furniture, making small gifts for Christmas. I had nose bleeds, horrendous painful rashes including around my eyes, and even worse chest pain so bad it put me in bed for 2 days. The effects lasted weeks. The mask had clearly made no difference. Any skin contact was enough and remember that you carry a persistent halo of dust with you that can still get to you after you leave the shop. There are charts of effects of different timbers on the web. I think you can suddenly become intolerant to these things and trust me, once you do, it's a game changer especially if you work wood for a living. Cheers
Hey matt love watching your videos and I'm always looking forward to turning Tuesday! I'm a new turn to but one of my favourite things to make a captive rings they can be a bit mean but they are very satisfying when you succeed pls have a go! And happy turning
Great first attempt at a lidded box. A few hair raising moments but turning is like anything else in woodworking, once you have the fundamentals down then its just a case of figuring out the sequence to make an item.
That's a very interesting box. When you started turning the top I thought you were turning a knob for opening it or a finial. Something like that would have kept it from looking like a sausage. BTW -- You could have used a saw once you parted the top off before it came apart. That would have been much safer. All that said, great start. You're doing well.
Matt wtf why is it so cold in your Workshop??? I think you definitely need a wood stove or heating Still loving your videos And I’m happy to see more of the work bench series Be save watch your fingers Greetings from Hamburg Germany
Couple of brown trouser moments there! Few things as terrifying as a big clunk and jolt when you're working on the lathe! Turning trousers need to be a thing - something waterproof and wipe clean, perhaps?
This wood kind of looks like Cumaru. I found some of it at my local reclaimed wood place recently and that was the first time I had heard of it. It's extremely hard with tight interlocking grain and actually has naturally occurring silica deposits in it that can seriously dull tools.
TheJentaru i thought that too. I bought a solid chunk of it to use and it’s a pain to saw. Mine was a deeper color though. Almost purple in spots and red elsewhere. The grain looks right though
I've been working with a lot of Sirari Rosewood and it looks very similar. Very dense, lots of dust. Looks brilliant when finish (especially Tung oil) is applied. I like it a lot. I also hate it. You know how that goes.
Nice box, turned out quite OK for a first I think. I would put the compressor at a different spot. Right below the lathe is by design always dusty (even with a future dust extraction). A compressor sucks in air and yes it for sure has a filter. At that spot you have a heavy dust load in the air and would expect that the frequency of filter cleaning or replacement will by quite high. Just my 2 cents. As for a project. You built that nice bass guitar. Maybe a case for it? Or another instrument like a tongue drum?
When parting the whole way through you should not have it between centers but in a chuck. You could also part it some of the way and do the last bit using a saw.
6:20 If your tool is causing too much friction and lubrication is not an option you can cut it in multiple passes (cut like 1/4 of it by hand and finish with the tool) or increase/decrease the rotor speed or sharpen the tool. EDIT 6:30 nice! :D
Matt, never use rags with the lathe. Its dangerous when they get cought by wood or chuck. They are much mor durable than paper towel, and in case of bed event could breate your fingers if cought
5:18 Start it on the lathe and finist it on the workbench next time quite dangerous.. That applies to anything that you want to cut through on the lathe -> if loses friction in chuck and takes your head off in process if working with something like metal..
2nd the comment about paper towels for finish. Check out mike walt who is in the UK. Has awesome info on turning. If you want to have some real fun try turning wet wood (fresh) very satisfying 😁. Also a great practice is to make mushrooms as you use all the turning techniques in one project.
Matt, You are way to hard on yourself. It turned our beautifully. But honestly, the girth is great. You might want to go for a bit more length the next time. 😉
Maybe ask a pro woodturner at Axminster to pay a visit for some one on ones, at my local toolshop one of the employees is a master woodworker/woodturner, Axminster probably has someone like that
Looks like Kempas, also has the ribbon grain of Sapele but it appears harder than Sapele. You're a bit hard on yourself. Your turning skills are rapidly improving. There really aren't a lot of turners who are proficient with a skew. Box is great, I'll take it.
I think it may be the compressor Sometimes their is water in the compressor that you have to empty, I wouldn’t think that since your compressor is new but who knows! Ha ha nice video
Yes, looks like BUBINGA hard and heavy with interlocking grain. Might I suggest sticking to less cranky woods to start like Sycamore. I do NOT work with any exotics at all anymore, so many wonderful domestic woods. Pay my way and I'll come over and do woodturning tutorials with you in your shop.
Matt if you haven’t already you should check out Tim Yoder at woodworkingwithtim1! The way he talks you through his projects and his tips are great! The guy is a master!
My guess would be Katalox (Mexican Ebony). Check out a channel called Worth the Effort. Shawn does a lot of turning and is very knowledgeable on the subject.
How bout turning some custom chess pieces. I'm want to build a chess board myself and would love to have a lathe to sculpt my own chess pieces to match
looks a lot like sapele, not making any promises. Might want to turn the speed down when sanding, keeps the heat to a minimum and if the paper catches it wont be at such a speed that it sucks your hand into the lathe.
I wondered if it was that - it's probably more available in the UK than some of the other suggestions. I've got a chunk of utile that I'm trying to flatten with a hand plane. It's hard work.
"[....] please feel free to chuck them in comments below" - I see what you did ;) Btw, stupid question, why would you part on the lathe and not saw it in half off the lathe? Seems extremely dangerous and guaranteed to send parts flying. Maybe to get a square cut, but then couldn't you pencil a line on the lathe and saw to that? Maybe because it's easier than sawing, but then couldn't you use a miter saw or lathe out most of it and then saw the last little bit?
If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to press the *LIKE* button. It really helps me out!
Give yer self credit. Finished product turned out nice.
Not gonna lie I think it looks cool. The wood is real pretty to look at with the finish.
This has to be the best woodworking series on TH-cam at the moment. I think it show great humility that such a highly regarded woodworker is will to take us through his learning curve.
Hi Matt, great first effort mate, i did cringe a couple of times especially when the forcner bit came out LOL, but one thing i did notice that may save your fingers in the future is when applying any kind of finish on a spinning lathe use paper towl, it will rip if it get caught in the chuck, a rag wont,,,, it will just pull your hand in. excellant as usual mate, thanks
Looked good, and the finish is nicer than some pieces I've seen for sale at markets. As Nick Zammeti would say, it's funky!
This is now sat on my shelf at home and very nice it is too :)
I like it. I was seeing the sausage too, but it turned out pretty nice.
You had a really good idea with this turning series. Tips and tutorials from experts are great but being able to follow one of them learning a new skill from the start is something rare and just as usefull.
Being told which mistakes to avoid is always informative and priceless but discovering those mistakes with you as they happen just makes them stick to the mind and it's encouraging. Thank you for sharing your learning experience in this humble way and congrats for the results!
Love this series because I am exactly where you are at turning. I am learning more by watching you than the experts.
Keep it up. Your normal stuff is unbelievable good. This series shows how we all start somewhere and sometimes you are doing good in showing us what not to do.
If that was a metal lathe I would say your chuck or head stock is out by miles as you can see it wondering. This maybe what's causing your vibration issues you mentioned the other week. This wondering may also give you non square edges as well.
Matt, I was going to ask you for a Timber identification video, but…….it looks like I will have to go to Mr Sellers, or maybe Stumpy Nubs! 😉
Once again Matt, you make a difficult task look easier than it is.
As I explore turning also, it’s nice to see I’m not the only one making mistakes. Love the series!
Put a piece of white cloth on that window for recording since you get direct sun. It`s gonna diffuse the light and actually make it quite pretty for recording!
You seem to be worried about this and that. Forget it! I just love your box, it's awesome!!!
I'm guessing the mysterious material is wood.
theirs me thinking it was birch ply!......
Huh huh huh! ...He said "...Wood!"
This type of project was my first turning experience just last week. I had never watched a video on it. Yours turned out much better than mine. I have to use a “communal” type workshop because I’m in college so I think the tools may have been dull, not experienced enough to tell, and the wood was very dry so a lot of chunks came off. It was nice to see someone doing the same thing though with better results. Keep up the great content as it is always a pleasure to watch.
Love your stuff man, Your channel is the only woodworking channel I watch on the regular... so please don't end it in a lathe related incident ;)
I think it came out quite beautiful. Sometimes the simplest design is best.
Thanks Matt - good to see, warts and all! I too reckon you should be wearing a smock. Take care.
Dear Matt, I´m glad you haven´t injured yourself. But you know: Only the one who makes nothing makes no mistakes. :)
I'm not a turner, but I've watched a lot of turners online and what I see most when they're parting pieces off of their work, they will part most of the way through it and then stop the lathe and cut through the remaining material with a hand saw. Once removed, they sand off any remaining nub left over from the parting.
Great work ...keep it up Matt 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I live in The UK and I know nothing about woodworking or wood-turning. I am retiring shortly and I will be emigrating to warmer climes in Central America. I intend to take up woodworking as a hobby when I get to my new home in the sun. I had never considered wood-turning as part of my new hobby but after watching your experiences of learning the craft, I'm in. I never realised that wood-turning could be so exciting and dangerous.
Firstly, that wood is tree wood, some rare stuff :). Best thing to do when parting off the lid is to leave a nub and saw it off. Your method of using a parting tool all the way is fine if the work was held in a chuck. Also when mounting wood in a chuck try to make the tenon the same size as the jaws optimum grip diameter. I.e. when the jaws look most like a circle. I think for your jaws it is about 56mm. You are making great progress, keep it up. How about a pepper grinder? Good challenge.
Simple but well worth lesson i learned from my granddad, if something feels like its really wrong (parting Moment, you have your hand like you knew that it will Blow up), then dont do it. May save your life one day.
We get the turning Tuesday videos here in Australia on a Wednesday. I like to call them whacky Wednesday’s! I think you’re a bit hard on yourself there bud, that box ‘turned out’ nice.
Would be great to see a furniture project next, bringing together many of techniques you've taught + parf + lathe (don't ask for much 😁). Cheers for vids, really good. PS I stole your wedged tennon design for my own workbench, works great.
Matt, your a very good woodworker and not a very good turner, i do not wood turn nor do i have a lathe but i must say your damn entertaining to watch. cheers mate.
May I suggest Steb drives and centres for your spindle work, safer and more useful than the traditional drives and centres. For the next box, turn spigots on both ends before parting. The spigots are the be about 3mm larger than the smallest diameter of the jaws, for maximum holding power. Also, it may be more useful to move the tormek next to the lathe, so you sharpen your tools more. A spindle gouge will hollow out end grain quicker than a scraper. Yes there is a learning curve, but like all things turning, once you master it, everything else becomes easier.
It looks like a hardwood we have in Australia called Jarrah. It’s not our hardest but it’s right up there and i’ve heard it has a high silica content and dulls blades quickly.
Hey Matt, I never used a wood lathe until now, but I did use some for metal working. Never split a workpiece completely if you have the counter screw on it. You saw what happened. I saw some radial supports (I believe on lee valley tools website) to prevent winding of the workpiece while splitting, but if you don’t use them, at least don’t completely separate the pieces (you can do it with a saw), or do it with only one mounting point, like you did in the end of the video, that one went well.
I know you are a proper craftsman, and I am self taught but, I want to pass this on to you. I used to make small products such as jewelry, pots and the usual candle sticks from what ever coloured wood I could get cheap. I used to go to the local supplier and grab all the exotics I could afford. Never had a problem until one day I broke out n a rash that was soooo painful and lasted weeks. That was 20 or 30 years ago, more recently I worked some exotics that looked like rosewood of some sort that had been furniture, making small gifts for Christmas. I had nose bleeds, horrendous painful rashes including around my eyes, and even worse chest pain so bad it put me in bed for 2 days. The effects lasted weeks. The mask had clearly made no difference. Any skin contact was enough and remember that you carry a persistent halo of dust with you that can still get to you after you leave the shop. There are charts of effects of different timbers on the web. I think you can suddenly become intolerant to these things and trust me, once you do, it's a game changer especially if you work wood for a living. Cheers
Hey matt love watching your videos and I'm always looking forward to turning Tuesday! I'm a new turn to but one of my favourite things to make a captive rings they can be a bit mean but they are very satisfying when you succeed pls have a go! And happy turning
I think it’s a cool box
I would buy it off you
Keep up the great work
i think it looked good .
I thought your box in Tuesday#5 looks really Kool. You might try craving a design on it
A laminated mallet from several types of wood of diferent colors ...that would be nice...i like that you applied the finish when turning this time 😉
Thanks for the video.
Great first attempt at a lidded box. A few hair raising moments but turning is like anything else in woodworking, once you have the fundamentals down then its just a case of figuring out the sequence to make an item.
That's a very interesting box. When you started turning the top I thought you were turning a knob for opening it or a finial. Something like that would have kept it from looking like a sausage. BTW -- You could have used a saw once you parted the top off before it came apart. That would have been much safer. All that said, great start. You're doing well.
Matt wtf why is it so cold in your Workshop???
I think you definitely need a wood stove or heating
Still loving your videos
And I’m happy to see more of the work bench series
Be save watch your fingers
Greetings from Hamburg Germany
Couple of brown trouser moments there! Few things as terrifying as a big clunk and jolt when you're working on the lathe! Turning trousers need to be a thing - something waterproof and wipe clean, perhaps?
This wood kind of looks like Cumaru. I found some of it at my local reclaimed wood place recently and that was the first time I had heard of it. It's extremely hard with tight interlocking grain and actually has naturally occurring silica deposits in it that can seriously dull tools.
TheJentaru i thought that too. I bought a solid chunk of it to use and it’s a pain to saw. Mine was a deeper color though. Almost purple in spots and red elsewhere. The grain looks right though
The wood can be Mexican Red Cedar, the color kinda match.
I've been working with a lot of Sirari Rosewood and it looks very similar. Very dense, lots of dust. Looks brilliant when finish (especially Tung oil) is applied. I like it a lot. I also hate it. You know how that goes.
Great start to turning. Could the wood be red Balou? Looks very similar to some I had a few years back.
I am curious as to the wood type. I bought a Buddha about 10 inches tall in Cambodia a few years back that looks very similar
Tommy The Cat by Primus is in the projects playlist, just wanted to bring this to your attention
Still no smock?
Axminister is missing an opportunity.
Are you listening Axminister?
Provide Matt with a proper branded turning smock.
Nice box, turned out quite OK for a first I think.
I would put the compressor at a different spot. Right below the lathe is by design always dusty (even with a future dust extraction). A compressor sucks in air and yes it for sure has a filter. At that spot you have a heavy dust load in the air and would expect that the frequency of filter cleaning or replacement will by quite high. Just my 2 cents.
As for a project. You built that nice bass guitar. Maybe a case for it? Or another instrument like a tongue drum?
When parting the whole way through you should not have it between centers but in a chuck. You could also part it some of the way and do the last bit using a saw.
I believe the wood is Jara from Australia/New Zealand? Gouges instead of scrapers for the insides??
Good call cutting it down. Almost made a pernus shaped box. Also, roller blind as shroud? ;-)
The wood looks a lot like epea. An outdoor wood usually used as deck material. Very dense and heavy.
Is that jarrah wood?
Hi matt, are you planning on doing a quick shop tour just so we can see the layout in the new workshop?
Yes I am!
I'm thinking you need to run a lower RPM for that forstner bit, probably about the same as what your pillar drill would run at...
Drilling slower is usually better, and safer!
6:20 If your tool is causing too much friction and lubrication is not an option you can cut it in multiple passes (cut like 1/4 of it by hand and finish with the tool) or increase/decrease the rotor speed or sharpen the tool.
EDIT 6:30 nice! :D
suggestion for bench name. Cheddar Bench?
Matt, never use rags with the lathe. Its dangerous when they get cought by wood or chuck. They are much mor durable than paper towel, and in case of bed event could breate your fingers if cought
All the lathe items you make could be used for giveaway prizes later in the year
Jarrah Wood from Australia is my guess. I Work with it a lot. A prick of a wood to use, very hard and splintery
I was thinking it was jarrah too
5:18 Start it on the lathe and finist it on the workbench next time quite dangerous.. That applies to anything that you want to cut through on the lathe -> if loses friction in chuck and takes your head off in process if working with something like metal..
2nd the comment about paper towels for finish. Check out mike walt who is in the UK. Has awesome info on turning. If you want to have some real fun try turning wet wood (fresh) very satisfying 😁. Also a great practice is to make mushrooms as you use all the turning techniques in one project.
Could that wood be Angel Heart wood?
Matt, You are way to hard on yourself. It turned our beautifully. But honestly, the girth is great. You might want to go for a bit more length the next time. 😉
Looks like a good place to hide your weed mannnn 👍🏼
Maybe ask a pro woodturner at Axminster to pay a visit for some one on ones, at my local toolshop one of the employees is a master woodworker/woodturner, Axminster probably has someone like that
Looks like Kempas, also has the ribbon grain of Sapele but it appears harder than Sapele.
You're a bit hard on yourself. Your turning skills are rapidly improving. There really aren't a lot of turners who are proficient with a skew. Box is great, I'll take it.
Check out frank howarth for some turning inspiration, the stuff he does if pretty cool
How did you work out the dimensions for the tenon?
Matt, at 8.48 for the next few thousand revolutions, the outer face gets a dark ring moving outside of your cut. Any ideas? Heat, dust or moisture?
It’s weird isn’t it? Got no idea what it was to be honest!
I think it may be the compressor Sometimes their is water in the compressor that you have to empty, I wouldn’t think that since your compressor is new but who knows! Ha ha nice video
Yes, looks like BUBINGA hard and heavy with interlocking grain.
Might I suggest sticking to less cranky woods to start like Sycamore.
I do NOT work with any exotics at all anymore, so many wonderful domestic woods.
Pay my way and I'll come over and do woodturning tutorials with you in your shop.
It does look like diglet.
Matt if you haven’t already you should check out Tim Yoder at woodworkingwithtim1! The way he talks you through his projects and his tips are great! The guy is a master!
I think its Guibourtia (Bubinga) :)
Looks like a salt/pepper shaker. You just need to make another like like it and drill some tiny holes in the top.
Looks like cumaru or angelim
the Kevin Keegan of woodworking...
😂 That’s a new one
My guess would be Katalox (Mexican Ebony). Check out a channel called Worth the Effort. Shawn does a lot of turning and is very knowledgeable on the subject.
Make a mallet. A useful tool. That i want to make so i can learn from your mistake. :D
How bout turning some custom chess pieces. I'm want to build a chess board myself and would love to have a lathe to sculpt my own chess pieces to match
by the way when are you going to get back into the more fine wood working projects.
looks a lot like sapele, not making any promises. Might want to turn the speed down when sanding, keeps the heat to a minimum and if the paper catches it wont be at such a speed that it sucks your hand into the lathe.
Might be a little too red, but is that Utile?
I wondered if it was that - it's probably more available in the UK than some of the other suggestions. I've got a chunk of utile that I'm trying to flatten with a hand plane. It's hard work.
hogthrob yeah I’ve used a lot of utile in college it’s pretty tough stuff, the grain is just a little boring.
Looks like jatoba
For a beginner who doesn’t know what the bloody hell he is doing, I think it came out kind of okay at the end.
Safety third
Big box … little box, big box … little box ! …. #1990's
"[....] please feel free to chuck them in comments below" - I see what you did ;)
Btw, stupid question, why would you part on the lathe and not saw it in half off the lathe? Seems extremely dangerous and guaranteed to send parts flying. Maybe to get a square cut, but then couldn't you pencil a line on the lathe and saw to that? Maybe because it's easier than sawing, but then couldn't you use a miter saw or lathe out most of it and then saw the last little bit?
Couldn't you part off the piece until there's only a small amount left and then turn off the lathe and saw it off
skill, try kumiko
work bench
Body Armour is my suggestion, never turned so any knowledge is good knowledge .
7:20 notice that you are burning the wood.. You might want to tweak the speed a bit..
btw. i think that it's cocobolo.. not 100% sure
Keruing??
It looks like a Russian doll
It's so MESSY!!