# give me a challenge



## bond3737 (Nov 13, 2009)

My lady read this title and said: You sound like your being cocky. SO- to clarify- Im not being cocky Im not saying- ahhh all this turning business is so easy. I know Im a beginner:yes: Im saying show me something extremely difficult to do so I can expand in my abilities as a turner in trying to accomplish it. Now Im not a rich guy and would like to set a budget of 30 bucks in terms of extras. Here is what I have to work with in terms of tools and such. Your average turning tools and a goose neck sorby hollowing tool, bench grinder, crappy lathe 12" capacity. sanding paper up to 600 grit. and can only use a faceplate-no chuck. So challenge me fellow turners he said in the least cocky way imaginable. I want to get good


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Turn a bowl with continuous curve, no straight sides, both inside and out, down to 1/8" thick. Then take it to the bandsaw and cut it in 1/2 to show us how close you got.


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## ronjboucher (Jun 28, 2010)

*impress your bride*



bond3737 said:


> My lady read this title and said: You sound like your being cocky. SO- to clarify- Im not being cocky Im not saying- ahhh all this turning business is so easy. I know Im a beginner:yes: Im saying show me something extremely difficult to do so I can expand in my abilities as a turner in trying to accomplish it. Now Im not a rich guy and would like to set a budget of 30 bucks in terms of extras. Here is what I have to work with in terms of tools and such. Your average turning tools and a goose neck sorby hollowing tool, bench grinder, crappy lathe 12" capacity. sanding paper up to 600 grit. and can only use a faceplate-no chuck. So challenge me fellow turners he said in the least cocky way imaginable. I want to get good


Try this one= utube (bobham5'channel) a 3part segment on how to make a tall thin stemmed goblet with captured rings. Just in time for xmas. Best of luck Ron Marietta Ga


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

Oh gosh there are so many things that are challenging. Just making the perfect shape is one I've been working on for 30 years. 
Get one of David Springett's books. He has some incredibly challenging pieces. 
Amazon.com: Woodturning Wizardry (9781565232792): David Springett, Bill Jones, Ray Key: Books
I'm getting ready to do a video on a challenging detail. turning undercut rims both inside and outside a bowl. I'm talking about steep undercut. The new Hunter tool is the best tool I've found for this so while I'm doing a video on how to use the tool I though I would do a seperate one on undercutting a lip. Look for it about new years or so.


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## Glidden (Dec 2, 2010)

If you feel up to a nice challenge make a segmented bowl, you can do that with the tools you have plus a table saw, and there is plenty of information around the web on techniques. Otherwise it's Christmas time, make a couple of acorn birdhouse ornaments, you should be able to do that with a faceplate using a piece of scrap for a glue block/jam chuck.


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## Bonanza35 (Jan 20, 2011)

Glidden said:


> If you feel up to a nice challenge make a segmented bowl, you can do that with the tools you have plus a table saw, and there is plenty of information around the web on techniques. Otherwise it's Christmas time, make a couple of acorn birdhouse ornaments, you should be able to do that with a faceplate using a piece of scrap for a glue block/jam chuck.


Got a picture of those? Sounds like a timely project.


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

Turn an oval shaped hammer handle to spec's........and make it repeatable.BW


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## wildwood (Jan 25, 2011)

Here make something like this:


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## Glidden (Dec 2, 2010)

Bonanza:

Here is a tutorial for an acorn birdhouse that I found online:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/content.php?139-Turning-Miniature-Acorn-Birdhouses&


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## bond3737 (Nov 13, 2009)

WOW, so I decided to take the Sawdustfactory challenge and combine it with another personal challenge of turning a 10 inch tall bowl. So for two days I worked on this piece of walnut. I kept on thinking- I can take just a liiiittle more, just a liiiitle more. One nifty thing I noticed is that when it gets really thin the pitch of shaving changes! I stopped the lathe to check it and light was coming through the bowl So I poked it and my whole finger ripped through ARRRRRRGGGG!!! hahaha after an hour Id quit cursing at it and was able to do some thinking about what had gone wrong. Calipers would have been a helpful thing to have but I really enjoyed the difficulty of doing it by eye and ear. Checking it more frequently once I got down to a quarter inch would have helped too. SHARP TOOLS. If you see light DONT POKE IT! The wood was wet which probably didnt help too much. The piece was also probably too big for that lathe. Even when I weighted the thing down with wood there was still a wobble to the bowl which caused inconsistent thicknesses. So failure has helped me a ton. Gonna get back on the lathe today a humbler slightly wiser man and see if I can do better. The day was not a total waste though, got a huge box elder score and since the piece is transparent I cut it off put some chainsaw chain links in it where it cracked and gave it to my lady for a lampshade. She laughed her butt off when I gave it to her... So with no further blather here's my failure and a pretty pic of some yummy box elder. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone KEEP EM COMMIN! Ill go through em one by one, I love the challenges. happy turnin all,
Bond


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## Bill Wyko (Feb 25, 2011)

Allright tough guy:laughing: This is a simple little piece of 8/4 bubinga. Give it your best shot. Kidding aside, let me know if you want to try this and I'll walk you through it.








For something a little easier, here's a piece of Quilted Maple turned 3/32" thin done by ear and calipers. 








And if you just want to boil your brain, try this.








Bottom line is, have fun inventing new curse words......but be sure it's fun. Good luck.


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Very nice try Bond. Very ambitious to try on something that size. It's been said many times but if you want to get good, turn 100 bowls. I stopped counting how many I've done, but I don't think I've hit 100 yet :blink:. I like challenging myself like I challenged you (aside from the cutting it in 1/2 part), but on a smaller scale, usually 2" thick, 4-6" diameter bowls. Can ususally get one of those done in 1-2 hours versus 1-2 days :laughing: 

Keep trying!

Oh, and do yourself a favor and get a chuck. It will be money well spent and you will not regret it!


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