Blackwood

This stuff is a nightmare to turn..................don't do it.

The first problem you encounter is the weight.

It is very heavy, which means that you have to make damn sure it is securely attatched to the lathe - or you end up with a chunk of very heavy wood bouncing around the woorkshop.

This brings the second problem..........because it is so dense you have to drill it and use strong screws to mount the faceplate.
If you don't use strong screws the heads shear off and you end up with bits of metal in it there that you will have real problems to gid rid of......or they will wait until the wood is spinning - then shear meaning that you have a very heavy bit of wood bouncing around the workshop.

The third problem is plucking up the courage to actually poke a bit of sharp metal at the spinning chunk.
If you get it just slightly wrong, because the wood is so dense and heavy, then the wood will grab the tool, rip it out of your hands and smack you in the chin with it before thtowing it across the workshop.

If you manage to avoid all this (or have a second go after it has all happened) then the wood will blunt the tool in a second so that you are left standing with a bit of metal that refuses to cut - which in turn makes it easy for the wood to grab the tool, rip it from your hands, smack you in the chin..........................you get the idea.

I tried outfoxing it and used a big, heavy tool.

The wood grabbed the tool, was unable to rip it out of my hands and smack me in the chin............so ----- it bent the bloody tool.

3 Fecken days................that is how long it took me to turn this.






Never again!!!!!!!!!

It is just a Non-Essential stress