Pole Lathe Turning Workshops

New turners getting started on their first bowls

This past weekend I taught a pole lathe turning workshop to three students at our school here in Ashland, WI. The classroom space is small and I only have four lathes so from that point of view the class was nearly full. I’ve taught good turning classes with as many as twelve students, but there are benefits to small classes—time to discuss the many things that need to be covered and plenty of time for students to get direct feedback on their technique.

spike and tenon mandrels used for bowl turning

Giving a demonstration on hook tool techniques

Learning to turn on a pole lathe is difficult. There are many things to pay attention to, but there are two in particular I want to point out—maintaining steady speed and power when pumping and controlling the hook tool to cut at a constant depth and skew with an ever changing surface. Later on shape/design and getting clean cuts can be added. But for starters those two are paramount. Teaching it is tricky too. Like riding a bike, we can talk or read about it all day, but it won’t help us much to ride. We have to get on the bike and with that bit of knowledge try and….fall. (I didn’t have training wheels when I learned on a gravel road. I learned pretty fast). With turning I try to give students a basic understanding of the technique and then set them off turning a mandrel first. This helps get them used to the tool on a simple cylinder. I keep a careful eye and ear (you can hear bad cuts) and give advice or adjust their tools to the proper position when needed.

Learning to make smoothing cuts on the outside of the bowl

When working the rim on the outside you need to drop your hook below center

It’s hard to understand hook turning tools because there aren’t any hard and fast rules. The best way I can explain it is that the edge of the tool needs to be pointing about 20 degrees under the surface of the wood and at about a 20 degree skew from the arc or ledge that is made from the previous cut. And most cutting happens with a pivoting motion with the tool’s shaft locked onto a specific point on the tool rest. As you remove material you are constantly changing the pivot position. When you add a bowl shape to this you could find your hook cutting well below center—something you’d never see with an electric lathe and gouge. And each hook has a slightly different shape which influences where it needs to be used to follow the 20/20 rule. Of course there is more to it, but for starters this seems to be the best approach. Note this is for bowls, the techniques for cups is different again.

Later on I show folks more advanced techniques to cut the core—which is the hardest to learn—and working the rim, keeping a ledge while cutting which most of the time means keeping the hook steady. I’ll also hand out more hooks to use to help understand tool design and how they play into the whole thing.

After rough turning then you can consider shape

It’s intense. But folks have a huge sense of accomplishment after making a few bowls and rightfully so. It’s hard earned!

The new workshop space has a forging and grinding area, so we covered tool making too. I gave a demo and students followed my lead. Unfortunately this is the bottle neck with pole lathe turning. The one off nature of hooks and this style of turning make hook tools hard if not impossible to mass produce. So there are only a handful of makers selling them. And I might add that not all these tools are well designed. It sounds a bit harsh, but it’s the truth. This isn’t a diss to any tool maker, but speaks to the subtleties that make hook turning tools work well. If you aren’t a proficient turner, those subtleties aren’t understood. What looks like a superfluous back bend just below the scrolled tip is actually pretty important. I hope to change this lack of understanding of how hook tools work with my book.

I got a change to turn a a few bowls too. I cut the best one in half to show students how the inside and the outside bowls need to be slightly different

Some of you know that I have a contract with Lost Art Press to write a book on pole lathe turning. It’s been a few years since I began. I’ve written the main manuscript (some 60,000 words) taken all the photos, and drawn most of the diagrams. I’ve sent it over to them and got word I needed to rework a few things. This was right back in February right before we started on the building. So it has sat mostly idle since then. Now that the dust is settled from the remodel project I’m setting time aside to complete the revisions. I’m sure there will be much more back and forth before it’s completed and goes to print. I’m guessing in early to mid 2023. All this to say that included in the book are scale drawings of the main hooks I use for turning bowls, cups, etc…

If you’re interested in pole lathe turning I’m teaching it three more times this year. I teach Pole Lathe Turning in the North Seattle area in October and then at North House Folk School in MN in November. There’s one spot left in the Seattle class and plenty at North House. I’m also teaching a Pole Lathe: Build, Forge, Turn class here in Ashland at the end of September in a few weeks. Better get on it as we’ll close registration soon in order to acquire the materials. Next year I’ll be teaching at North House during Wood Week and a few times at our school. If you live stateside there are plenty of opportunities to choose from. We are considering a trip to England and maybe Sweden too in 2023 where I’ll be teaching pole lathe turning at least once. More on that as our plans solidify.

I’d love to see some past students at one of these classes. Turning nests, cups, or even lidded boxes are all possibilities. I can help you take things to the next level on your turning journey.

Proud students and their hard earned bowls