How to Use Turning Chisels
- 1). Find the center of the side of your wood stock that is perpendicular to the turning axis, using a ruler. Mark this center with a pencil. Repeat this process for the opposite side.
- 2). Press the attaching surface of the wood stock to the two- or four-pronged drive shaft of a lathe. Line up the tail end of the wood stock to the tail assembly. Lock it in place with a locking lever or wheel, whichever your lathe uses.
- 3). Swing the resting arm around to one side of the wood stock. Move the resting arm as close to the wood stock as possible. Manually spin the wood stock to check that no part of it touches the resting arm. If it does, move the resting arm back a bit. Raise or lower the height of the resting arm to be at the horizontal center line of the wood stock.
- 4). Put on safety goggles. Turn on the lathe to a slow speed. Round the wood stock with a gouge. Rest the gouge on the resting arm. Move the gouge across the resting arm as the stock turns on the lathe to remove wood. Keep the edge of the gouge at about a 45-degree angle while chiseling.
- 5). Use a ruler and pencil to mark off spots on the wood stock where you want to start corners, bends, or indentations. Turn the lathe on. Hold the pencil against the resting arm. Let the wood turn against the pencil point to stretch the original mark you made around the circumference of the stock.
- 6). Set the parting tool against the wood stock to chisel out wood to the depth you want. Hold the parting tool so that the diamond-shaped tip digs into the wood. Turn the lathe off. Check the depth you've made with calipers. Turn the lathe back on and continue chiseling with the parting tool until you've reached the depth you want.
- 7). Raise the speed of the lathe. Hold the skew, flat side down, against the resting arm. Clean up the cuts you've already made with your skew by gently pressing the skew into the stock and sliding the skew across the resting arm.
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