Woodturning is a specialized craft of using a lathe and some other woodturning tools such as a spindle gouge, a bowl gouge, a skew chisel, a parting tool, and such to craft a wide variety of items ranging from knitting needles and rolling pins to wooden musical instruments and sculptures. Depending on what you want to craft, you would need to pick a suitable quality wood, correct tools and use an appropriate woodturning technique to go along with it.
Some techniques also require some special equipment such as the bowl gouge for bowl turning but generally, most of the turners use the following techniques to produce a plethora of workpieces:
- Spindle Turning
For the spindle turning, the wood is mounted between the head and the tailstock at first. Then, a roughing gouge is used to give the wooden blank a rough shape, followed by the use of a spindle gouge to work on the finer details. Spindle turning is simultaneously the most common and popular turning technique, though the type of spindle used is dependent on its application.
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Bowl Turning
Bowl turning, as the name indicates, needs a bowl gouge and usually requires a skilled turner. Through this technique, a wood blank is refined into a shapely bowl through the use of a gouge bevel followed by the help of scraping tools.
Faceplate Turning
Faceplate turning allows for secure turning as a circular metal plate is attached to the end of the lathe to provide stability. This technique provides relatively more freedom and flexibility compared to spindle turning therefore, saves time for the turner.
- Decorated Spindle Turning
This is basically a more complex and intricate form of spindle turning and includes a more elaborate technique used for roughing, smoothing, and sizing stocks of wood.
- Segmented Turning
In this method, several wooden pieces are glued together before the turning process to form a wooden blank. It allows for different shapes and designs to come into form from different pieces of wood. With the segmented turning, you can carve various creative patterns and formations.
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Other Turning Techniques
Some other turning techniques used for a more detailed or specialized carving of items include therming, green turning, ornamental, and eccentric turning.
Choosing the right technique might seem to be a mounting task at first but with the basic know-how of the tools used for turning and a clear idea of what you want to craft, you can choose any of these techniques to get the desired results.
