# Turning, how big is too big?



## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Just because you have the capacity to turn something large does necessarily mean you should attempt it: 



 What's the biggest thing you've ever attempted (and succeeded) to turn? I have a small craftsman lathe that I've probably put too big of a motor on and just so I knew I could do it, I turned a log just under 36" long and started at about 8" in diameter and ended up close to 6" after everything was done. It's interesting to see the end result in the video, especially seeing the guy sand the work with a full sheet of paper instead the smaller detail work I'm used to.


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

16" bowl (green maple) on a PM3520B during a workshop at Arrowmont. The wood was cut the day before and was really out of balance. Had to keep speed down (under 350rpm) until I got it round.

I have a 20" Nova in my home shop, but haven't turned anything over 10" on it.


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## AlanHollar (Oct 8, 2015)

Biggest Diameter: 32" plinths @6" tall for column bases outboard on Woodfast lathe
Largest spindle: 16" diameter by 7' long posts. inboard on Woodfast
Biggest bowl: 23" diameter by 15" tall red oak burl. Vega Bowl lathe


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## Nubsnstubs (Aug 30, 2013)

18 3/4" on a PM 3250 last week. Still in the rough stage as there are a lot of cracks. None that would cause grief. They're just obnoxious sense….. .. Will soon be trying to core some Desert Ironwood at 22+"....O need to make the knife to reach that far…... Anything over 11 3/4" has only been done since December, as my other lathe was only 12" swing. Love that big sh**............. heheheh …........ Jerry (in Tucson)


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Bigger bowls I understand, what worried me initially seeing this video was how out of balance the log was to start with (especially given it's mass) and how little was done ahead of time to get it at least a little closer to being round before starting to turn it. With how much the tool rest was flexing it just looked down right dangerous. A log that large would certainly take a long time to dry before attempting something like that too.


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## OSU55 (Dec 14, 2012)

A drawknife to balance the log would have been much faster and safer. 15" bowls and platters outboard on an HF 34706.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

As out of whack as that thing was a drawknife would certainly be a good idea, I was thinking a chainsaw to speed things up a bit.


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## JollyGreen67 (Nov 1, 2010)

Whatever it takes to get as close as possible to "unbalance" prior to lathe attachment, i.e., hatchet, chainsaw, bandsaw, beavers, etc.


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## hairy (Sep 23, 2008)

I've turned bigger circumference bowls, and longer canes, but this is the heaviest.


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## REO (Sep 20, 2012)

24" in diameter 16' long staved. solid 23" diameter 9 feet long. log wet 22" diameter 7 feet long. just as the log in the vid it checked overnight and badly over the duration of drying. Its what the customer wanted. the lathe weighed about 900 pounds but could be moved easily while the rough blank spun out of balance. we were playing around. usually we turned the work slowly and used a circular saw with a dado blade on it chucked on the cross feed to rough in and switched to a thin kerf blade with a rounded tooth grind for finishing. On the dry material we could start the finish sanding with 80 grit.








these were 8" dameter x 12'









these were 14' long


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## mako1 (Mar 23, 2016)

These coloumns were 12" X 24 ' long as I remember.also built all of the windows and doors to reproduce those built in 1820.


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## REO (Sep 20, 2012)

everything is huge even the risers and treads on the steps in the background!


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## Nubsnstubs (Aug 30, 2013)

Reo, I saw your comment on youtube. You are spot on at what you said…..... Thank you. About those 14 footers, is that the 2 lathes you put together? Or am I delirious?

Folks, this guy probably lives in a third world country where the only rules that apply is earn your living the best way you can. If he gets hurt, no one outside his family or the customer will care. What we perceive to be unsafe isn't unsafe in other parts of the world. They use what they've got, and are probably pretty grateful to have what they have. .... Jerry (in Tucson)


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## REO (Sep 20, 2012)

Thanks Jerry . Recently it was two home made lathes. These pictures are probably at least 20 years old. The big green lathe would take 10 plus feet between centers. for longer turnings as you can see we would use another lathe or mount the tailstock to the floor on a frame. we would turn half and then flip the turning to do the other end. we did some replacement columns with capitols and bases that were about 24' long 16" in diameter staved because they were fluted without much depth. In that case we matched three 3 8' sections. The spindle motor was reversible (bright green drum switch) and to avoid cranking from end to end on roughing cuts I salvaged an old x tale drive of a milling machine and mounted it on the traverse wheel. Dad had a stroke at 86 and dumped most of his equipment. the big lathe and all the tooling went for 700 dollars. I visited the guy who bought it a couple years later and found the lathe out back of the shed outdoors, all rusted up. I asked to buy it back…. he refused.


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

That looked like the handle of the Jolly Green Giant's ice cream scoop to me.


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## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

Today not many turners have access to very large wood & equipment to move it much less a lathe to handle turning mammoth pieces of wood. Knud Oland & Ed Moulthrop (both deceased) early pioneers in large turnings made their own tools, modified or build their own lathes and had equipment to mount mammoth wood on their lathes & turn it. Knud encouraged turners to make his style of tools themselves. Lissi Oland continued to turn large pieces after her husband's death but moved back to Denmark and continued turning not sure if still turning.

Lissi Oland





Olan tools
http://www.olandcraft.com/oslashland-tools.html

Ed Moulthrop
http://www.craftinamerica.org/artists/ed-moulthrop/

If can find that modern masters video where both son & grandson featured think will find it pretty interesting.

http://blog.woodworkingtooltips.com/2011/10/moulthrop-incredible-woodturnings-by-three-generations-of-woodturners/

http://moulthropstudios.com/

Size not a big factor if wood mounted in the lathe securely and you turn at comfortable speed. Size does matter to person ultimately going to use items you turn. Think we all want to challenge ourselves just not sure large always better.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Shop beavers could be very helpful at times, they could, however, be difficult to train and would need a pond nearby but once they understood what you expected of them they'd be invaluable!


> Whatever it takes to get as close as possible to "unbalance" prior to lathe attachment, i.e., hatchet, chainsaw, bandsaw, beavers, etc.
> 
> - Jimbo4


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## HapHazzard (Jan 9, 2016)

Biggest? Well, that'd be this.










Not really. I don't even like salad.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Is that mounted on the axle of a tractor?


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

Largest I have turned is this fireplace bellows. Measures 7" across. Fun to make. I just wish they would sell.


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## HapHazzard (Jan 9, 2016)

> Is that mounted on the axle of a tractor?
> 
> - bigblockyeti


Yes it is. Here's the story, if you're interested: http://wwideas.com/2014/11/the-biggest-wooden-bowl/


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## REO (Sep 20, 2012)

Haphazard I guess there a re a couple divisions for biggest.


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## REO (Sep 20, 2012)

a video of a shipyard lathe didnt post. 7' diameter and up to 130 feet long.


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

> Is that mounted on the axle of a tractor?
> 
> - bigblockyeti


Yes it is.
The finished bowl is a bout 8'-3" diamater as I recall.
Well, upon looking at the link that Haphazard posted, I see this one is over 13 feet.
A different bowl than the one i remember, but looks like the same tractor and process.
Those guys must have made more than one.


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

> A different bowl than the one i remember, but looks like the same tractor and process.
> Those guys must have made more than one.
> - crank49


I'm sure… but I bet they don't crank them out too quickly…
I imagine it takes them as much time to make the blank as it does to turn it 

Cheers,
Brad


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## Leovanderloo (Apr 28, 2016)

You might be thinking about the one that the turners did in Australia, it was big, but smaller than the one in Austria

I made a few larger bowls, but nowhere near that size, and mine are all made from one piece of wood.


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## Cooler (Feb 3, 2016)

The company I used to work for had a 72" throw horizontal lathe (metal working). Mostly for facing flywheels for punch presses.

I saw a video of a guy turning a column pedestal base by bolting the blank onto a truck wheel and then jacking up the rear of the truck so that the wheel would spin. He put the truck in drive and it spun the blank for turning. I could not find that video but this one shows a smaller version using a minivan's front wheel in the same way:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/48599/the-biggest-lathe-weve-ever-seen


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

I saw that video of the crazy Canadian (Paul Moore) turning a bowl using a minivan sometime ago. That's more along the lines of the stories I was hoping to hear about when I posted the original video, the tractor turned bowl is pretty cool too. Sadly Paul past away a few years ago: http://lumberjocks.com/topics/58724


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## HapHazzard (Jan 9, 2016)

> a video of a shipyard lathe didnt post. 7 diameter and up to 130 feet long.
> 
> - REO


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## REO (Sep 20, 2012)

that's the one! thanks haphazzard! Not me and I wasn't involved but that is a big turning!


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## Cooler (Feb 3, 2016)

During WWII my father was a quality control inspector at a shipyard in Brooklyn. They had a lathe that turned propeller shafts for destroyers.

My father said that it took an entire day to make a single pass of the cutter and that the cutter had to be replaced several times a day. Each time they replaced the cutter (not carbide back then) he had to measure the new cut to make sure it was on point.

I could not find any specs on the Fletcher class destroyer's propeller shaft, but it did have to handle 60,000 horse power, so it was probably quite substantial.

Here is a short video showing the longest propeller shaft in the world (100 meters-325 feet). Surely a lathe turned that.






And here is a video showing a smaller ship propeller shaft being turned (but still quite substantial);


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## Cooler (Feb 3, 2016)

Deleted duplicate post


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