Lathe Art, What It Is, and How To Create a Lathe Art of Your Own

Lathe Art is accomplished by starting out with a flat, not too heavy piece of wood that is, or is close to the size you want your art work to be when it is finished. You can begin with a piece of plywood, lauan, or even pegboard. It is always best if the surface is as clean as possible, as the art work is going to be glued fast to it, or sometimes even nailed.

The next thing you will need, is a subject for your painting. If you are not excited about your subject, the piece of art is not going to be exciting, either. The most important thing I can stress on the subject is that if you are just beginning, keep it as simple as possible. Maybe you like lighthouses or barns. Maybe you don't. Possibly a base ball field with bleachers would be more interesting. In any event, keep it simple. Art should make you think and feel, without taxing the brain.

When selecting the wood for your lathe art, the first thing to think about is whether you are going to paint the piece. If the finished piece will not be painted, you may need several types of wood for the project. Many different colors and textures can be found in the different types. If you need perhaps the deepest green possible in a wood color, you can get it by sanding a piece of poplar. Cherry has a pink tint to it, but mahogany and rosewood are where you will find the deep reds. Curly maple and bird's eye maple can be a wonderful little perk too! Something really bland for background? Basswood can be found with no grain to speak of. Now for a deep brown, how about some walnut. Enough said about the colors and textures. Getting back to the lathe art; If you want to paint it, you can rip a 2" x 4" into nice little strips with a halfway decent table saw, and they're oh so very available at the local lumber yard!

One way to start is to cut the lathe strips you have sliced on the table saw to length. They need to be the same length as the width of the flat piece of wood you are working on. Now is the time to sand the lathe strips. There are some very nice little disk sanders to make this job so much easier than it would have been otherwise. Start out with an 80 grit paper on each piece until they are smooth. Now go over them again, this time with a 120 grit paper to get the 80 grit scratches out. Get them all cut to length, and put them in place until the board is covered with a relatively smooth surface. Use your non-predominant hand to hold the strips still, while you do a rough sketch of your subject with a #2 pencil. If this is the part that gives you trouble, take a picture of the subject, put it right there on your workbench, and draw it in with the three basic shapes, (square) rectangular, (three sided) triangular, and (circle) ovular. If there are pencil marks that you do not need to cut on, they will sand out in a jiffy with the 120 grit paper. Don't glue anything yet. All of the pieces need to be cut first!

When you are happy with the sketch, and have all of the lines drawn clearly, take the wood strips one at a time to the scroll saw, and cut on the lines. Each time a lathe strip is cut, it should be placed back into the picture in it's correct place. Continue in this manner, until all of the lathe strips are cut. At this point, it should be easy to see the picture as you drew it.

Now it is time to start painting! If you use entirely latex or acrylic paints you can not go wrong in the mixing department. Use your brightest or most outstanding colors for the main subject. The slightly muted colors are for background. If you need to mix colors to mute them, use a little white paint, mixed with black for a grey, to tone them down. Simple. Now they are background color. Paint each of the lathe strips separately, and only one color at a time. This will help avoid the colors mixing into each other. Clean the brush between each color as you use it. Soapy water is all right to clean the brush, but paint thinner works better.

When all of the pieces to the picture are painted and dry, you can start gluing them into place. Spend a little extra on a good carpenters glue. If you don't, you will be gluing things back in place for as long as you have it. Use a half inch acid brush to glue the individual pieces as well as gluing the board they are being glued onto. Be careful not to allow any of the glue get on to the painted surface of the pieces of lathe. Cover the entire surface with wax paper to insure any leaky glue does not adhere to the next step. When everyone is nicely tucked into place, lay a larger (than the painting) flat board on top of the entire painting. Place some heavy weights on it, evenly distributed. Books work very well. Let it dry for at least a day and a half. Two days would be better.

Remove the weights that are on the lathe art work, and view the masterpiece! Now it is time for a simple frame. Using more lathe strips, sideways to the painting this time, cut to length 2" longer than the painting is tall and wide. The extra 2" will leave room for a 45 degree miter. Cut the first 45 degree miter, and hold it carefully in place while you mark the other end for the next miter. Continue in this manner on the other three sides of the painting. These can be glued in place, and held with pipe clamps, or you can glue them and then nail them in place. How about it? Is that baby beautiful!

Copyrite 2008 by Richard Tagliere

To see pictures of some of the lathe art that I have done, please visit our web site at http://www.reversepaintinglady.com/latheart.html Though I have done about a dozen paintings in this manner, I feel as though I am still beginning. I would not be so excited except that half of my work has already sold at local craft shows. That should inspire just about anyone!

Home Remodeling - How to Remove Plaster and Lathe

There are many tasks involved in home remodeling that I do not look forward to. Removing plaster and lathe is one of them. Unless you enjoy being sweaty and filthy and choked in dust by the end of the day, removing plaster from the walls and ceilings of a home is not very pleasant. So what would make a person want to do such a chore? I can assume from experience that most "gut" jobs are connected to a whole house renovation. The old home has been purchased, but not moved into yet, and the owner wants to start from scratch by removing all of those cracked and uneven walls. Or it is simply a one room remodel job where the same unwanted defects are in need of a remedy and tearing everything out is the logical solution. If you are considering removing plaster and lathe, here are a few tips.

Firstly, remove the trim. If you are not replacing what is already installed then your job just got easier. If you are saving the original trim, chances are you will be dealing with old, square headed nails that are not in the mood for any disturbances. Needless to say you must take your time and slowly pry from one end little by little, and even then, you may find yourself cracking the wood. After this is done you want to consider all areas that will need protection from the falling plaster. Plaster is very hard and even some of the smaller chunks can cause damage. If there is wallpaper attached, be careful of plaster swooping across the room like Tarzan swinging on a vine. Also, remove the plaster first. do not worry about the lathe until the plaster is cleaned out of the room. There is nothing worse than trying to separate the two all mixed together on the floor.

Once you start removing the plaster it is very tempting to yank on the lathe that is behind and tear it all off in one mighty blow. Kill two birds with one stone you might say. That works fine until, inevitably, the plaster and/or lathe give you a pop in the chops! There is quite a bit of spring in some of them old boards. Once they let loose, projectiles are flying everywhere so wearing goggles is a must. I have always been one of those guys that shunned protective gear. I have learned my lesson when it comes to plaster removal. Besides the protective eye-ware, gloves are also a necessity . Your knuckles will take a beating without them and the dust from the plaster will leave your hands dry and irritated. Speaking of dust, wear a mask. This stuff gets and goes everywhere. By the end of the day I am even cleaning it out of my shorts! The dust can be downright choking. I have been dumb enough to not wear a mask and it would get so bad that I would have to leave the room just to breathe. Needless to say you must also take great care in sealing off the room you are gutting. Dust will more than likely still get out but you can cut back considerably with a little plastic and tape.

The removal of the plaster itself can be anywhere from a breeze to a headache. On some walls the stuff just peels off once you get behind it with a crow bar or your hammer claws. Others you need to beat and beat until it cracks off one miserable little piece at a time. You can attack the removal of plaster with whatever works best. On walls, I usually start hitting with a hammer until I expose the lathe and then try to pry from behind. Ceilings are pretty much the same technique other than I use a 2 x 4 at just the right length to hit the ceiling until it starts to fall. Watch your head here.

As I stated earlier, removing plaster and lathe is not a fun job. Approach it with a plan and take precautions, mostly for yourself. Falling plaster can be dangerous. You never know how large of a piece is waiting for it's moment to crown you on the head...did I mention wearing a helmet?

Curt Levans constructs new houses and renovates the old. To view and read more about his projects, visit http://www.renovatehome.blogspot.com

Fishing Flathead Lake

Flathead Lake is the largest natural body of water found west of the continental divide. It is surrounded by gorgeous mountains on both sides and the water within the lake is home to one of the greatest populations of lake trout in the entire United States. Lake Trout fishing is by far the most popular type of fishing on this lake, but there are many other species of fish present within the lake as well. Some of these species would include: Lake Whitefish, Northern Pike, Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Perch. The bottom line is that Lake Trout are, by far, the fish that most anglers choose to fish for.

Flathead Lake is one of the best lake trout fisheries in the country, with 15-20 pound lake trout being a fairly common occurrence. If you?ve never fished on Flathead Lake, there are many guides in the area that can take you out for a wonderful day of trout fishing. If you?ve never fished Flathead Lake, a guide wouldn?t be a bad idea, because with the lakes extreme depths finding schools of fish can become a bit tricky. The lake is over 200 feet deep in places. To Fish Flathead Lake effectively, a boat equipped with downriggers is a great idea.

Flathead Lake is also home to an enormous population of Lake Superior Whitefish. In many parts of the country these 3-5 pound beauties are considered a delicacy, and Flathead Lake has plenty of them. In fact in the fall you can even go river fishing for them. Fall is spawning time and they ?run? up the Flathead River to spawn. There are so many of them that they get stacked up in almost any hole. In the spring, when the perch fry hatch, Whitefish can be caught in the Elmo area. With the limit of whitefish on Flathead Lake being 100 per angler, a persons freezer can be filled on one fishing trip, although cleaning that many fish would be a nightmare!

Flathead Lake not only offers beautiful scenery, but it offers the angler many opportunities as well. As mentioned earlier, a guide is never a bad idea, especially on a lake of this size. Flathead Lake is 15 miles wide and 32 miles long, so that's a lot of water to cover if you're just visiting. A trip to a local tackle shop to pick up a map and ask a few questions will probably suffice as well.

The bottom line is that fishing opportunities abound in Flathead Lake. And if you happen to be in the market for a trophy Lake Trout, you'll have a hard time finding a better place to search for it than Flathead Lake. Fifteen to twenty pound "Lakers" Are a fairly common occurrence, and trophies are fairly common as well.

Trevor Kugler - Co-founder of JRWfishing.com Trevor has more than 15 years of business experience and 25 years of fishing experience. He currently raises his three year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country - Montana.

Get Up To Date Fishing Information For FREE. Become A Better Angler - http://www.jrwfishing.com/signup.html

http://www.jrwfishing.com/starterkit.asp - Start Catching more fish Today!!!!

Start Catching more fish Today!!!! - http://www.jrwfishing.com/gang_hooks.asp

Lathe Tools And Uses

The spindle rotates by means of an electric motor and a system of belts and pulleys and gear trains. Altering the setup of the drive train varies the speed. The part is secured in the rotating spindle by various means including three-jawed chucks, collets and centres. A tailstock fixes the end of the part with a centre. It can also be used to hold tools, which can be used for drilling, threading, reaming or cutting tapers. Different length parts can be accommodated easily by moving the tailstock to different sections of the bed to which it is attached.

A carriage holds and controls the tool used for cutting. It consists of a saddle, which can slide along the bed, an apron from which the tool is fed against the rotating part, a cross slide which regulates the traversing motion of the tool, a tool compound which enables the tool to be set at various angles and a tool post slot that houses the tool post.

The shape of the tool used varies depending upon the type of work required. Facing tools are ground to have sufficient clearance, finishing tools have a rounded nose to provide a fine finish, roughing tools leave more surface area behind for support to enable deeper cuts. There are also left hand cutting tools and tools for cutting aluminum which are angled differently again with the cutting edge above centre to reduce vibration. The tool is secured on the top of the tool post by bolts or alternatively by a quick release lever.

Moving the tool is accomplished by hand rotation of a slide mechanism or sometimes by an automatic or power feed, depending on the model of lathe. Another movement axis is the compound, which enables cuts of varying angles to be made. All these movements can be measured against a micrometer dial indicator to allow for minute adjustments.

The cutting speed of the machine is the rotation of the part against the tool measured in feet per minute. Another measurement is the feed rate, which is the distance of tool travel during one revolution of the part. The variables, applied to the cutting speed and feed, dictate the smoothness of the finished product. Therefore, the type of material to be cut is a deciding factor when determining the correct speed and feed rate. Other factors to be considered are the depth of the cut and condition of the tools and the lathe. Trial and error is sometimes the best way to determine the correct settings to achieve the best result as all of these factors vary greatly among different machines.

During operation the lathe reduces the diameter of a part to the required dimension with a roughing or finishing tool. A flat face can be achieved, which is perfectly perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical section using a facing tool. A parting tool is used for manufacturing narrow grooves and for cutting parts. A parting tool must be positioned so that it will clear the part throughout the horizontal movement and so that the tip of the tool is aligned with the exact centre of the part. Drilling is another operation, which can be conducted on a lathe with the holes accurately aligned with the centre axis of the part. Boring is similar to drilling in that a hole is made through the centre of the part but with boring, the hole is enlarged with the tip of the tool being extended into the hole and wound outwards. A part can have an external thread cut with a die and internal threads can be created using a tap. Another method for creating a thread is to cut the thread on the lathe using a special cutting tool with an angled nose.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Lathe

Lathe Chuck

The lathe chuck has been an important tool more or less as the antique Egyptians used a simple man-powered lathe to cut designs and forms into wood. Working with the ancient lathes requires two-man task. One person has been engaged in cutting tools to carve or shape the revolving piece of wood. The second person twisted the wood by using a bow and piece of cord or rope to work. Lathe chuck parts have become very dedicated to a variety of wood spinning and also metal functioning tasks and stock. At present, lathes are computer proscribed exactitude machines with limited similarity to most of its early forerunner.

The wood revolving lathe is the spirit of most DIY and profitable woodworking workshops. Lathe machines are accessible in a multiplicity of sizes, from small pen lathes that have a greatest capability of 2? stock to much better lathes than can spin stock as large as 10? or 12?. The massive lathes are used to turn items such as bowls and vases. Wood lathe hurls are obtainable throughout a number of woodworking tool outlets, as well as a great number of online distributors. They offer discounted pricing and speed delivery service for wood lathe chucks. Lathe has been utilized as a woodworking tool almost as long as the knife and the sledge hammer. People have an attraction with wood and the products than can be fashioned with a lathe.

Machining centers get the splendor in most shops. They make the complicated cuts whereas CNC lathes frequently do little more than OD clean-up and facing. It makes the lathe more proficient than the machining core for many difficult jobs. Automotive contractor Hillsdale Tool demonstrates an illustration. Its plant is now using a CNC lathe to machine an element that once obligatory a machining center and a chopper. Generally the manufacturing time are saved to about 30 percent.

The part is lodging for a transaxle oil force gathering. Its most important characteristic is an amalgamation of non-concentric ring-shaped surfaces making up the hollow space of the part. If these surfaces were concentric, they would create a spherical ring between them.Lathe chuck is considered for perpendicular whirling centers in which contaminants hamper procedure dependability. The lathe chuck proffers high securing forces and long jaw stoke up, in a small-summary chuck body. Clamping forces ranges from 95 kN to 330 kN, with jaw strokes ranging from 9 mm to 15 mm per jaw.

Sizes ranging from 165 mm to 500 mm are available.It is highly necessary to protect eye and ear when working in a wood working shop. For the requirement of the parts of wood lathe such as a wood lathe chuck, it is best to contact the manufacturer for the specific brand of wood lathe and find out where the parts are available. Especially while replacing the wood lathe chuck it is needed to ensure the part fits perfectly.

Usha Rani is a Copywriter of http://www.atsworkholding.com. She written many articles in various topics.For more information visit: http://www.atsworkholding.com. contact her at usharani.articles@gmail.com

Making a Pen with Your New Wood Lathe

So you just purchased a wood lathe but do not know what kind of project you should start out with. As soon as the right amount of skill is obtained, beautiful pieces of woodwork can be created with a wood lathe. However, before you get too over your head, it is best to start out with a basic woodturning project. My recommendation would be beginning by carving your very own pen.

Pen turning is a common hobby or past time. These homemade pens can make excellent gifts for any event. Pen turning is a fun yet practical project that can help you get a taste of the capabilities of your wood lathe. The following are some tips in preparing your wood for the wood lathe that will help you make your first wood lathe experience successful.

1. Pick an interesting wood blank. One of the great things about pen turning is you can use any sort of wood you want, including scrap pieces from other projects. Pick out a piece of wood with interesting figuring. Be aware that some wood changes appearance with light and air exposure and will begin to look dull with time, such as Paduak or Purple Heart wood. If you are not comfortable using a scrap piece of wood there are numerous wood blanks that can be purchased in all sorts of exotic woods.

2. Examine your wood. It is very important that you examine the wood you are using for your pen project. Make sure that your wood is dry and without faults or cracks. Damp and cracked wood will make for a lousy pen, if you can even make one out of that type of wood at all.

3. It is better to be oversized than undersized. If you have to choose between an oversized wood blank and an undersized blank, always choose the oversized one. This will give you some leeway just in case you make a mistake.

4. Have an idea. As with everything else in life, your pen will turn out better if you have an idea on what you want to create before you start. Decide before using the wood lathe on what type of shape you want your pen to be.

5. Mark the wood blank before you cut. It is nice to put a pencil mark across the grain of the wood before you start. This will make it easier to match up the grain pattern after you cut the wood blank.

6. Make sure your ends are square. If the ends of your wood blank are not perfectly square before using the wood lathe, there will be possibilities of cracking when the pen is assembled.

7. The smaller wood lathe the better. This tip is really just meant to make your life easier. Any wood lathe is suitable for pen turning; however, the smaller the wood lathe the easier your job is.

8. Keep it simple the first couple of times. It is tempting to want to do some fun and intricate pen shapes the first couple of times but stick to the basics until you figure out just exactly what it is you are doing.

A pen is an easy project that can help you with the beginning possibilities of your new wood lathe. After you conquer creating your own pen, there are several other projects to start with such as table and chair legs, wooden bowls, wooden hammers, candle sticks, or even pieces to a chess set. Just remember to begin with a simple project with your wood lathe to get use to your new tool before attempting more difficult projects.

Kaitlin Carruth is a client account specialist with http://www.10xMarketing.com More Visitors. More Buyers. More Revenue. For more information about wood lathes, please visit http://www.toolamerica.net/wood-lathe.html