Challenge Preconceived Notions Of CAN And CANNOT
Just because it's called a "wood lathe" - maybe to distinguish it from a "metal lathe" - does than mean you can't turn anything but wood on it? As you'll see - THAT assumption isn't true. What other assumptions are you making about what you CAN and CANNOT DO with the lathe and tools you already have?
You might have come up with the beaded, dyed, candle holder. But would YOU have thought to turn a wax candle to match it? John Jordan had the idea - and actually turned the matching candle. Chucked up a white candle, turned the beads, hit it with a heat gun to smooth things out and parted the results off.
This one is one of those "Of Course! The Idea Is So Obvious - Once You've Seen It" things.
Thanks to John for allowing me to include this piece - and his candle turning technique.
To see more of John's pieces please visit his web site www.johnjordanwoodturning.com
Just because it isn't CALLED a metal lathe doesn't mean your lathe CAN'T be used to turn metal - at least soft ones - like copper, bronze, brass, aluminum or silver. We've got glues that can stick anything to anything else and segmented turners have been glueing different woods together to make turning blanks. So why not include some soft metals in the mix? Or maybe if you just drilled some small holes and glued some copper or silver wire in them then turned things smooth . . .
The Femisphere with metal is by Peter Rand,
The piece with the inlayed wire is by Jimmy Clewes