charlese
05-11-2007, 08:16 PM
Have any of you folks seen "Japanese wood turning" on "The Woodworking channel"? Yesterday I saw this for the second time. Don't know how often this 15 minute show is repeated, but it is worth a look. The fellow (form Japan was making little dolls. His methods are quite different from ours!
First he had to apprentice for 10 years to become a wood turner. He had to learn lathe work - blacksmithing - painting and tool making. His family has been into wood turning for 500 years, So this is not a new method. He makes his own tools - shaped quite differently from ours, He has made his own tool rest (a semi-square board, about 3 feet long). This tool rest is placed about 10" away from his work and his left hand holds both the tool rest and the tool. His right hand guides the sharp part of the tool. The handle of the tool is on his chest. He slices from the lower part of the turning rather than the top. Sometimes he used a hooked scraper held in his hands while placing his elbows on the tool rest, while scraping from the bottom of the turning. Amazing - but fast and fascinating! He uses rice straw to "sand" down the work.
His wooden tool rest is very valuable to him - he brought it with him on the plane. Reportedly it is customized to fit his hands for different operations. During turning it looks like the tool rest is not clamped down anywhere. It sits on two wooden towers and is movable as he works. He places the rest at an angle, across the center of work. Looks like the important thing is where he locates his left hand on the rest. His right hand is on the tool, between the tool rest and the work.
Oh yeah - forgot to mention - he uses no tail stock and his "chuck" is a round piece of steel sharpened with the taper in the inside. He just hammers the workpiece onto this tube and goes to town turning. Gotta see it!
"The Woodworking Channel" has been mentioned before on this Forum - maybe some of you have seen this segment
First he had to apprentice for 10 years to become a wood turner. He had to learn lathe work - blacksmithing - painting and tool making. His family has been into wood turning for 500 years, So this is not a new method. He makes his own tools - shaped quite differently from ours, He has made his own tool rest (a semi-square board, about 3 feet long). This tool rest is placed about 10" away from his work and his left hand holds both the tool rest and the tool. His right hand guides the sharp part of the tool. The handle of the tool is on his chest. He slices from the lower part of the turning rather than the top. Sometimes he used a hooked scraper held in his hands while placing his elbows on the tool rest, while scraping from the bottom of the turning. Amazing - but fast and fascinating! He uses rice straw to "sand" down the work.
His wooden tool rest is very valuable to him - he brought it with him on the plane. Reportedly it is customized to fit his hands for different operations. During turning it looks like the tool rest is not clamped down anywhere. It sits on two wooden towers and is movable as he works. He places the rest at an angle, across the center of work. Looks like the important thing is where he locates his left hand on the rest. His right hand is on the tool, between the tool rest and the work.
Oh yeah - forgot to mention - he uses no tail stock and his "chuck" is a round piece of steel sharpened with the taper in the inside. He just hammers the workpiece onto this tube and goes to town turning. Gotta see it!
"The Woodworking Channel" has been mentioned before on this Forum - maybe some of you have seen this segment