Popular Woodworking 2004-12 № 145, страница 38
At the Lathe control the brush. If your lathe doesn't reverse, you can move to the far side of the lathe so you can work on top. Swing the toolrest around too, so you can steady your hands on it. You also need to slow down the lathe pretty drastically compared with turning speeds. If it's going too fast, the paint will fly off. If it's going too slow, the paint won't go on evenly. If your lathe has infinitely variable speed, 50 to 100 rpm is best. If it doesn't have variable speed, you may find that even the slowest speed is too fast. Because it takes only a few seconds to apply the paint, try painting as the lathe is slowing down just after you turn it off. You'll need to have the brush loaded and ready as you hit the off switch. This will take some coordination and practice, but what doesn't? (And it will effectively illustrate why you're going to want to upgrade to a lathe with reverse and infinitely variable speed.) The paint has to be applied quickly and accurately. You can't really fix it if it slops over onto adjacent areas, or if it doesn't go on relatively evenly. Don't waste time fussing over it; take it off and start over. You'll never get it to look right, and in the time you'll spend trying, you could practice applying it properly in the first place. The key to getting the paint cleanly onto the workpiece is to load and handle the brush properly. Dip the brush in clean water and squeeze out the excess before loading it with the paint. You must have enough paint to coat the entire circumference of the piece, but too much paint and you won't be able to control it as it goes onto the piece. Getting clean edges can be difficult. The trick is to lay down a small bead of paint and then push it to the edge. This will all take practice. When you're happy with the colors you have applied, allow the paint to dry for at least a few minutes. The easiest way to finish the ornament is to apply a soft wax and gently buff it while the piece is still on the lathe. But be careful of the painted parts; the paint is soft for awhile, even when dry to the touch. You may find it works better to take the piece out of the chuck and let it dry overnight, then put it back in to finish it and part it off. Put the prepared blank into the chuck and tighten the jaws. I have modified this live center by knocking out the point; this allows the dowel to slip into the recess so I don't have to find the center of the dowel every time I put a blank in. This also prevents the point from splitting the dowel under pressure. If the configuration of your live center doesn't lend itself to doing this, just be careful not to tighten the tailstock too much. Workpiece Live center Using a large roughing gouge, turn the blank round. Remember to move the tool in the direction the flute is pointing, and to cut on the low side of the tool. Keep the tool firmly on the toolrest. Keep the bevel of the tool rubbing the wood as you cut. 3 Begin shaping the piece. Note I have switched to a fingernail-grind spindle gouge. I can do all the detail work with this tool. 36 100 Popular Woodworking December 2004 |
