I tried

If at first you don’t succeed ….

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, http://www.heirloomwoodshop.com/

practice makes perfect. A wise old turner told me you have to turn at least 50 of a piece to get the feel for it.

-- Those that say it can't be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

I just ruined three pieces tonight but I will be back out there tomorrow trying again until I figure it out.

If you didn’t have failures you wouldn’t appreciate the good ones!

-- Woodisit

Where you glued the halves back together, was it end grain? That could be the problem with them not holding.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

I would suggest you try solid wood first, it’s a lot easier and you will become more quickly acquainted with your turning tools and also get an idea about how to cut the various grain directions. It could be that your laminations came apart while sanding due to the glue being reactivated by heat being generated by the sanding. This might be due to what type of glue was used or sanding with too much pressure. You can relieve the heat a lot by backing your sandpaper up with a piece of leather or rawhide. It also helps to sand lightly through each grit.

Lastly, I would like to say that knowledge will make all the difference to your turning abilities. When I bought my lathe I got a video showing basic turning and sharpening techniques. This made all the difference for me, and I’m sure it will for you too. I sure hope you will not give up too easy on turning. It’s a very pleasurable pastime and easy to learn and do with the right training. Good luck.

-- Mike, American in Norway - Do it the fun way

woodman71,
TY for telling the truth about your experience. Just reading about it and the comments from others has helped me already. stefang, I appreciate the advice as to using a leather or rawhide backing. I will be incorporating this method in the future. woodman71, you keep trying, I need the learning experiences as well.

Sincerely,
Ken McGinnis

-- woodbutcher north carolina

Thanks to all I will not give up I think that when I wrote this blog I was more up set at the fact that I sent about 100.00 in wood and it was only good for the fireplace Like I said I will look in to a class at woodcraft I seen they have class for wood turning thanks Stefang I will try the leather the next time.Topamax yes it was were the end grain was I would like to know if you use a diffident glue for wood turning . thanks again

I have a lathe I recently bought, but haven’t set it up or turned yet. Normally, end grain gluing doesn’t hold very well. If you halved it on a rip cut, the glue should hold a lot better.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.