When spread on an image in a magazine or newspaper the image can (usually) be transferred to another surface.

Ingredients 
* 2 tablespoons (10ml) soap powder or scrapings (not a detergent) 
* 1/4 cup (60ml) hot water 
* 1 tablespoon (5ml) turpentine 

In a bowl dissolve the soap powder in hot water. Add the turpentine then pour into a small screw top jar.

Brush over a picture like from those from a comic book or magazine (use more for those slick magazine pictures) or from a laser printer or photocopier. Wait about 10 seconds and place a sheet of paper over it. Rub the back with a spoon. The picture can be transferred to t-shirts, paper, wood etc. and can usually be transferred more than once.

I have problems with the bed, spindle etc of my Woodfast rusting.

I’ve tried Liberon Lubo, WD40/Plusgas, but cannot keep the bare metal clean. I am aware that I have to take care not to get WD40 anywhere near the bearings. Any suggestions so that I can turn instead of cleaning the lathe?

---

First of all, any kind of lubricant on the ways is not usually desireable, since the tailstock and toolpost will not have as great a grip as on a dry surface.

In fact, a slightly rusted bed would be better than a slick, oiled or waxed bed. To minimize the rust, try to keep the environment dry. If the lathe is in a shop, garage orbasement that gets cool and danp, you’ll fight rust until the cows come home.

If this is the case, find a source of heat with a thermostat control, and use it full time.

One other source of rust can be you. Some folks tend to have differing pH level in the moisture their body release through the skin pores and sweat glands. In some cases, just handling bare metal will cause slowly evolving rust to appear wherever it was touched. If this is the case, you can tell because it would be in places you handle it, not in a more uniform way that moist air would cause. If it is you, don’t touch! Short of wearing gloves, I’m not sure how to neutralize one’s body chemistry 

If it is the climate, dry out the room, especially if you live near either coast where the moisture contains salt, and keep it that way, else learn to live with rust.

---

I don’t know any better but I use WD40 most of the time.

I find that when I turn fresh wet sappy maple, oak and the like I really gum up my ways and if I am not so smart to clean up right away, and I leave the residue from turning on the bed, I get RUST…. I just call myself some names and go to work.

I will spray the bed wet with wd40, then I let it sit a bit and wipe it up with a paper towel. Then I spray a 2nd coat and let it dry a bit, then I take out 150 grit sanding disk and have a go with my power sander. I didn’t know I was supposed to keep WD40 away from my bearings but I don’t think I am close to getting it on them.

If the surface of my bed is clean and the banjo or tail stock are a little bit grabby I put silicone spray on the bed and let it dry. I am unaware of any damage this is doing.

---

Go to an automotive paint supply store and ask for a quart of a conversion coating (not phosphoric acid) – it will react with the iron and turn it grey – it won’t rust unless you wear the coating off – then just recoat.

---

I’ve used atomobile paint wax (Turtlewax) on the bed before and it really helped a lot. Any paste wax will work, even the tub of Briwax you’ve got on the shelf.

The key will be to make sure you wipe it off thoroughly, just like using it on the wood. The wax stays where it needs to be, removed where it isn’t needed.

I’ve experienced that same strong-arming needed on the Oneway on a friend’s machine. If it didn’t knock the alignment out a whack from headstock to tailstock, I’d be tempted to try the teflon tape on the bottom of the tailstock, then that 1/2 ton of cast iron, I mean tailstock, would slide really nice. I suppose the headstock could always be shimmed the same amount, but you would probably notice some goofiness in the performance, somehow.

---

Just a quick caution on automotive waxes.

Some of them (I don’t know specific brands) contain silicone, which will cause problems with finishing if it gets onto wood. Waxes that are made for furniture, like Butcher’s, Minwax, and Johnson’s, are silicone free. (Some furniture polishes, including Pledge, are loaded with the stuff).

---

During World War II, replacement airplane motors were soaked in tung oil before being shipped to Europe in order to help protect them from the salt water.

I have had good luck in coating various tools, motorcycle parts, etc. with tung oil over the years to help protect them from rust.

---

If it takes more than one hand to move the tailstock, I wax, then buff it with a rag.

My tail stock weighs over 50 lbs, but I move it one-handed, because the ways are slick. Wax, WD-40, any kind of lubricant actually prevents the ways from being worn, which is why metal lathe bed ways are oiled at least on a daily basis.

---

What I use in hot humid Hawaii with great success is a cold blue used on gun barrels and actions, available at sporting goods and gun shops, in either a paste or liqiud form.

I apply it to the bare metal surfaces as per instructions on the package, then I’ll give it a couple coats of paste wax to top it off.

---

The issue of making a financial return from hobby woodturning is a subject often raised on the newsgroup.
There is always an enthusiastic response.

---

There are people out there making money. I’m still on the trying end. Not that I don’t enjoy it but it can be difficult with a full time job. 

I get up at 6am and turn a few wine corks or I work on some parts for a commission. After dinner I usually work on some mirrors or shelves or other production items. On the weekend I try to work on one-off pieces. It takes dedication. 

Finding places to sell has been harder because I can’t afford to travel so I make inquiries and send photos. I’m starting to get into some small galleries and that small cheque each month from a couple of places helps. 

I find it difficult to get the time to produce serious one-off pieces that might sell for more money because I have to have the continuous income from my production work. 

One thing that has helped is continuously trying to get my name out there however I can. Self promotion is something I find difficult to do but has led to some nice commissions that really make life easier. 

I show my work anywhere I can. I sold three mirrors at a hardware store this week because I was willing to show them to anyone.

I’ve been in photography for 30 years and I’ve seen some really good photographers fail because they don’t promote themselves. So get out there and hustle if you want to sell.

---

There are a few of us who sell the stuff. I had to, the shelves were filling up and all my relatives had homes with round stuff everywhere. Any one could have any gift they wanted as long as it was round. 

At present we sell at the local farmer’s market and at craft shows.
If I was trying to sell one of a kind bowls and vases we would never pay for the table. If you want to do this you have to be the person who enjoys turning 25 pens at a run followed by 25 kitchen scoops followed by about 25 mushrooms and so on. Production turning of small items at a hurry.
There are two pros within ten minutes of me who make a living at it. We are as rural as you could get. The one who makes a living at it also teaches and sells some tools and sanding things. His market is almost all non-local through galleries and such.

Just as a thought, I consider that the majority of people who turn for a hobby do it for the love of turning and for the fun of turning a variety of items. Getting four or five together to do a Christmas craft show is a real hoot and pays for some of the year’s tools. If you do this remember that some people are trying to make a living at it and DO NOT UNDER PRICE! It is fair neither to your work, to their work nor to turning in general. Also with that in mind, only sell the quality stuff.

---

I am a full time turner in Nova Scotia.

I make money, but not enough to get rich. We would be in trouble without my wifes income. I wouldn’t say there is a demand for turned objects, but some people do buy them if they see them and like them. Some people just love wood and quality craftsmanship, others can be persuaded to, and some just don’t get it at all. 

I sell from my own shop, and through consignment and wholesale outlets throughout Nova Scotia and a few elsewhere in Canada. Internet sales are sporadic but growing, and mainly to customers in the USA. Most of my sales are smaller items, rather than bowls or hollow vessels. When I sell something more expensive that is the icing on the cake, but weedpots, spurtles, letter openers and bottle stoppers are my bread and butter.

A large part of my market is tourist related, and unfortunately the tourist season here is very short and not very intensive. At best it runs from May – October, and is only really good for a few weeks in July and August.

My advice would be to try out the market on a part time basis first. What products do your potential customers want, and what prices will they pay. Try to do this as professionally as possible, pricing for profit and taking in to account all your expenses and time. Running a business is much more than spending 8 hours a day in the shop making shavings.

---

I am fortunate enough to live in the Washington DC metropolitan area where there are many craft shows, so I can do a ‘decent’ part-time business. 

I started doing small stuff, with lots of pens & bottle stoppers, etc., but the bigger show are full of people doing nothing but this, so now I make a few pens of woods the others don’t have and am trying to make a niche for myself doing turning that is a bit different and some other woodworking things that I invented myself…(night-light lamps with agate windows and pendant necklaces with agate insets)..this is table saw and router work, so I just stop turning a few times a year and spend a week or two with my tiny shop converted to flat boards.

I hope to continue making stuff to supplement my income in my retirement years, but my feeling is that I must have a variety and must have some things that are different. There are just too many “generic bowls” out there. I read about guys who turn a dozen or two a day, assembly line fashion, and maybe they have managed to create a market by keeping the price down and refining their techniques, but it just ain’t ‘me’. 

I have worked the last couple of years on doing tough stuff….vase forms out of spalted and distorted wood..(roots and crotches, etc.), natural edge bowls with unusual line patterns. It is tricky to do and hard to visualize the result, but when it works, I have something ‘different’ to add to my table at a show. I will also do lidded boxes with inlaid lids, something that experienced turners tell me takes too much time for what you can see them for but I have a few tricks. 

I guess that as long as I can make a few $$$$ and still have fun and not feel I am just a mechanical turning machine, I will keep trying.

---

I still make “stuff” for family and friends, gifts and such. 

Everyones says “why don’t you do this for a living, your good at it”. Reading the posts so far pretty well sums up why I don’t do it for a living, marketting is tough. There are lots of folks out there who are good at it and probably better than I will ever hope to be. I will be retireing in a few years and would like nothing better than to make stuff for a living.

The problem is, marketing. Where does a free lance crafter market their stuff for a reasonable price. Most everyone who buys is looking for a bargain and always wants to “haggle” on the price. So you price your work so you can haggle with the few who want to haggle, but others do not even ask due to the price.

One of the posters made the coment about making stuff that no one else was doing to make money. That is were the sucess is. If you can find someway to make something that no one else has or does, then you can promote yourself.

So, you have to be unique. My uniqueness is lamps. I make lamps out of just about anything. You should see some of the things people want made into lamps! Sometimes all I have to do is make an attractive base, and mount the “thing” on the base. Other times, the “thing” is the lamp and requires some ingenuity.

The bottom line is, unless you have an established market for your line, you are spitting in the wind hoping to hit your mark or dodging your spit.

---

If you make something that sells well in a retail store, before you can turn around there are 2 or 3 more turners or crafters doing the same thing, and most of the time selling at a lower price.

If you find the right market and enjoy it you can make a moderate living. Slightly above poor college student level in my case. I could make more but I would lose the enjoyment and feel tied to a job that I have to do.

After years of making harps and hammered dulcimers I thought I would enjoy making some spinning wheels. I found my niche and I get to spend a few evenings a week in the shop. I make wheels to be used rather than the higher priced, ornate wheels that are going to be put next to a fireplace and dusted occasionally. 

My original spinning wheel research crawling though the backrooms of antique shops taught me there is no standard spinning wheel. Many times a smith made the metal parts back east, they were packed up and the wheel was built from local trees when the family got out of the covered wagon after moving west. So I make my wheels fit the lumber I scrounge.

There are all kinds of medievil faires and pioneer festivals around the country. It is better in most cases if you do a demonstration with your wares. I demonstrate spinning, play harp, hammered dulcimer and do a bit of contact juggling. If you made a treadle powered lathe you could work while selling. The faires love it. 

There is a steady market for goblets, wooden spoons, yo yos, tops, toys that have always covered my meals, travelling and merchant fees. I sometimes sell the big ticket items that pay my rent and let me buy more books, wood and tools. The festivals are seasonal. At the same time I have a couple of friends who also do faires who have offered to take my wheels with them. I could make the same living and never leave home.

---

I sell a little through club exhibitions and at craft fairs, but I have no pretence, its purely hobby stuff, enough to cover the consumables and thats about that, but then it is a hobby for me and any hobby that is self supporting can’t be that bad.

There are a range of “professional turners” around down here, but a large percentage have bread and butter lines that they do, whether its production turning for cabinetmakers and the furniture industry, or those that have their own galleries and outlets usually have one high volume, low margin article that keeps the pantry full. (tops, nut bowls, eggs and egg cups, bottle stoppers etc)

As for life styles, there are degrees, those near the city tend to have a better chance of sale, higher tourist numbers and therfore a better chance of turning over (excuse the pun) high priced items. The more rural turners either have small outlets locally with the related reduced proces, or they pay the freight to get their goods to the city anyway.

Anyway, enough rambling, I make enough to cover my costs, and thats the way I like it. Compared to the hobby I gave up to start turning (which was motor racing) this is magic

---

I have paid $150 to enter a craft show, and made maybe $300-400, and I have paid $25-80 and made $1000-$2000…it depends on the number and mind-set of the customers. I have finally learned to how to ask the organizer of a show politely..”does this show feature ‘country crafts’?”.. That is, painted windmills, quilted oven-mitts, and yarn wrapped around styrofoam for Xmas ornaments..if they do, I don’t!..No offense to those ‘crafts’, but the people who came looking for those things simply do not buy what I make. No one ‘needs’ a finely crafted wooden bowl-like thing for $150 like they need carpets or furniture, but there are some out there who can’t resist if they see the right thing! There’s no way to overstate the need to find the shows/venues/galleries that suit your product..(though having some assortment can really help). 

I have only been in one small gallery, and it was just not right, though I might try again where the set-up was different. Finally..doing shows requires stock. You have to bring enough stuff to fill the display for a day or two, so you gotta produce.

---

When I retired seven years ago, I set out to supplement my retirement income with woodturning sales. I worked hard and sold at local craft shows. I made a little money, but the hourly rate was not great enough to do much supporting of the household, but it did help bolster that not-enough retirement income. I tried craft fairs, shop in town, and galleries. The galleries took 45 to 50 percent off the top and so did the shops. Mostly what would sell well was the small, simple stuff that could sell for around $5.00 to $20.00 maximum. One year a local store sold 90 spinning tops for me at $3.00 each, I got 60% of that, but the tops were almost the only things that sold in the shop of my stuff.

If you want to go into woodturning full time, you have to be a production turner and turn out large quantities of stuff that can be sold wholesale. Big sale customers are at wholesale shows, not the flea markets.

---

You can’t get art prices for craft work. I remember buying a piece from a very well known turner who was deeply discounting because he needed cash.

Higher prices come from risk of work, not cutting and sanding. Unique ideas and directions are slower to sell but sell for more, it appears.

My most successful venture was when a 140 year old Ash tree outside a courthouse had to come down due to disease (borers). People were distressed about the loss because some of them had been married under the tree. I got 300-400 pounds of the wood and turned 50 pieces from it. I held all the pieces until the wood was used up or I couldn’t stand it any more, then I contacted the Historical Society and arranged to meet with the volunteer who OK’s things into their store (buyer). I also emailed the newspaper and a reporter called and arranged to attend the meeting with the buyer. When I got there, they were very excited with the wood and the reporter bought the largest natural edge bowl and the buyer bought the two largest salad bowls. They arranged a show and announcements, etc. When the sale started, 29 of the 50 pieces went in 3 days. 

The most ‘artistic’ piece is home with me. The cheapest pieces sold first. But I did get a satisfying amount of money overall because I held them all until I had enough for a show.

I spoke with someone about selling via the Internet. He pointed out that when you post a picture of a turning, you need to have the turning reserved, that is, you shouldn’t take it to a gallery. Some of you will take exception to that, but I liken it to not being able to put the same turning in two galleries at the same time. I just mention it for the concept.

---

My success with craft shows and local shops,has not been very good.

Though my biggest selling items have been,tops and mushrooms. I had 22 bowls and lidded boxes in a gallery for two years,I also had 75 mushrooms,and 20 tops ,the tops and mushrooms sold within six months,I sold one 10″ Cherry Bowl in the same time period. 

Now for the good part,I have been making a good living for the past four years as a turner for a High End cabinet company. Though their are down sides to every job,I wouldn’t give this one up. I work 8 to 10 hours a day,and sometimes six days a week. In 1999 I did well over 750 custom turnings,some as small as a 2″ dia. ball,to architectural columns 12″ x 9

---

I do sell my work but it is stricly a hobby. 

I sell at what is called a craft boutique. This is where someone will fill up their house with crafts from different artisans and crafts people. Then they open up their house to the public for a week or two selling everything that isn’t nailed down. All I have to do is drop off my stuff and then pick up whatever is left over. They charge 25% of the price which is set by me. I usually sell a few hundred dollars worth of stuff at each of these. That’ s not a lot of money considering they usually gross around $100,000 in that two week period, but it’s enough for me. I tend to make the stuff I like to make (bowls hollow vessels etc.) rather than craft show type items (pens, bottle stoppers etc.). I turn for fun not to make money. What I here from more experienced turners is “if you can sell it in eastern Pennsylvania you can sell it anywhere”. So I’m happy just to make enough money to keep my hobby going.

I know one professional turner. He makes most of his money doing one of a kind and small production runs for a local furniture company. He does do several craft shows a year but none of them are very close to where we live. Most of his craft show items (hollow vessels, lamps, caot trees) he enhances with an ornamental turning machine (uses a router) so they are very unique. From what he tells me he does well at these but in no way could he make a living doing just the shows.

By Alan Faulds
Sydney Woodturners Guild

---

Materials

1. Candlestick metal insert.
2. Timber, 90mmx90mmx 250mm long.

Turning

1. Mark-off one end of timber as per diagram 1. It is better to use a two-pronged centre at the headstock. This allows better off-centre holding.
2. Between centres, turn to approximately 75 diameter.
3. Turn headstock end to receive a female cup chuck or scroll chuck. This is needed to hold the turned item securely when drilling the end to fit the metal insert.
4. Still between centres, part in about 12mm depth, 20mm from the headstock end. This will be where the finished article is parted off.
5. 32mm further in from step 4, cut in to 65mm diameter with a parting-off tool. This will be the top of the base of the candle stick holder.
6. At tailstock end, place centre into No1 position as marked.
7. With lathe speed at about 1,000rpm, commence to turn a cove, say 50mm wide. Stop the lathe often and observe the shape that is forming. Before starting the next cove, sand finish the section just turned.
8. Move the tailstock revolving centre to positions No2, No 3 and No4 and respectively turn and sand each section.
9. It is best if the edge of each turned section ends up with a sharp edge, refer to diagram.
10. The candle end is now turned off the “true centre”. This of course, will be the same as the base.
11. After shaping this end, a hole is drilled to take the metal insert. To do this, hold the previously turned end, Item 3, in the female cup chuck or scroll chuck, line up the true centre and drill the hole to take the metal insert.
12. The finish is a matter of choice. High gloss lacquer, followed by a soft wax applied with 0000 steel wool produces a satin finish.
13. To keep the candlestick rigid while finishing, place a tennis ball at the end of the drilled hole and tailstock centre. This can also be used when parting off.
14. Part off and finish the base.

Do not worry about making a matching pair. If two candlesticks are placed far enough apart, nobody will notice any difference.

Diagram 1

Distance from centre to positions No 1,2,3 and 4 is 8mm. The greater this measurement, the greater the off-centre swing. When turning, the number of the off-centres can vary, as can the distance and the position.

Diagram 2

I normally power sand all the way thru 320. But I do not turn the lathe on. 

My normal grits are 120, 220, 320, then power buff with a cotton buffing wheel and white diamond compound (which doesn’t contain diamond!). 

Think about it…..when you are sanding with the lathe on, you are sanding 100% of the circumference of the bowl, when mostly you really only need to sand the end grain. If you leave the lathe off, you only sand each area as much as it needs to be sanded, then move on to the next area. If one area is a little rough, sand it more. But you don’t have to sand the whole thing just to smooth one little spot.

The vast majority of power sanding discs are much too firm. If you wind up with sanding swirls, you need to make some new discs. A disc of 1/2″ plywood with a tee nut and a 1/4″ bolt with the head cut off, forms the base. For 4-5″ discs, a piece of foam 1″ thick glued to the face of the plywood makes the cushion. 

Cut this foam out of 4 lb. ester foam, which you get at a foam supplier.. Glue with contact cement.

After attaching the foam, chuck up the device and sand the edge of the foam to a 45 degree angle by sticking down a coarse piece of sand paper and using it to round and form the foam. It will make huge clouds of rubber dust, so wear a mask. 

Lastly, cut a piece of leather 3/4″ larger in diameter than the largest diameter of the floam. Contact cement this disc in place with the flesh side to the foam. You can use hook & loop tape to hold commercially available sanding discs, or you can attach the sandpaper with double-sided carpet tape stuck to the leather. Just whack it off and fold the excess back over itself until none of the tape sticks out past the leather, then plop it down on a sheet of sandpaper and trim to the leather with a utility knife.

The purpose of having the leather stick out past the foam is to keep from pressing the edge of the sandpaper (which is where the swirls comes from) against the wood. Rather, it just ‘floats’ over the wood. Also, the soft foam prevents sanding gouges and burns, plus it is flexible enough to sand pretty concave contours, such as the inside of a bowl. 

Do not substitute canvas or other materials for the leather, as they will not work as well. 2-3oz tooling leather is just right and you can get it at any leather supply store.

A sanding pad constructed as above and using 320 grit paper will produce a surface that is comparable to 600 grit hand sanding. Then power buffing with a cotton buffing wheel/white diamond will make the wood gleam!!! 

Incidentally, the wax bonding agent in the buffing compound will not affect any finish I have ever used. You apply so little compound that the wax cannot be more than a few molecules thick, and if you are concerned, just buff it again with a clean buffing whee