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Glossary
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- AAW
- The American Association of Woodturners is an international, nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of woodturning. Our mission is to provide education, information, and organization to those interested in turning wood.
- Arbor
- A special shaft or mandrel used for holding drill chucks or grinding wheels etc. Morse taper arbors are used to fit drill chucks etc into the morse taper sockets in the lathe head or tailstock.
- Auger
- A lamp auger is a special long drill made to drill flex holes in lamps. It is passed through the hollow tailstock into the revolving wood through a special guide bush.
- Banjo
- This clamps the toolrest to the bed. It can slide along or across the bed. It is usually a casting with a slot in it plus a hole for the T rest stalk.
- Barrel
- The part inside the tailstock which slides back and forth to clamp the wood between the centres.
- Bead
- A decorative convex feature or moulding often seen on chair legs etc.
- Bedan
- A turning chisel with a special wedge-like section. Handy for cutting beads and for hollowing boxes and for use with the sizing tool.
- Between Centers
- A method of holding a workpiece by mounting it between a center in the headstock spindle and a center in the tailstock spindle.
- Bobbin Drive
- Lace bobbin drive. Uses a square tapered hole to grip lace bobbin blanks at the drive end.
- Bodger
- A chair maker using primitive equipment to turn chair spindles - a pole lathe turner.
- Bowl Rest
- Special rest which reaches into the bowl to reduce tool overhang.
- Burl
- A mass of tiny knots in the wood which gives an attractive and highly prized blank.
- Chuck
- A device used to hold a piece of wood firmly to the end of the spindle. If a piece of wood cannot be held between centres it is held in a chuck.
- CICAAW
- Central Indiana Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners
- Collet
- A type of chuck jaw. A collet set is closed by the action of a tapered chuck ring.
- Crotch Figure
- A lovely grain pattern found where two limbs of the tree divide.
- Cup Center
- Now denotes the hollow center used to guide the lamp auger. A ring center is similar - the center point is surrounded by a small sharp edged ring which penetrates a little into the end of the wood and acts as an efficient bearing. It is essential to lubricate with wax or oil.
- Danish Oil
- A mixture of Tung oil - possibly other oils plus solvents and drying agents.
- Dead Center
- This fits in the tailstock barrel. It supports the wood and acts as a bearing. It does not rotate with the wood as a "live" center does. As it is fixed and does not rotate, lubrication is required to prevent burning. They are given away free with most lathes.
- Dig-in
- Caused by instability in the cut with the tool getting out of control. Generally spoils the work during the final cut!
- Dovetail Jaws
- Most chucks for woodturning use these. They lock onto the wood (which has to be shaped to fit the jaws) in a similar fashion to a dovetail joint.
- Drive Center
- Drive spur, 2-prong center, 4 prong centere, etc. This supports the wood at the spindle end. It has a point to center the work and blades which drive the work around.
- Faceplate
- A metal plate with a flat face that is mounted on the lathe spindle to hold irregularly shaped work.
- Faceplate Turning
- Used to describe the turning of bowls or plates where the grain is usually at right angles to the axis of the lathe and there is no tailstock support.
- Gouge
- A cutting tool with a curved section as in spindle gouge, bowl gouge, roughing gouge, etc.
- Headstock
- The main casting mounted on the left end of the bed, in which the spindle is mounted.
- High Speed Steel
- HSS. Steel containing carbides of tungsten, vanadium, molybdenum, and/or cobalt which has a high hardness and wear resistance. It will remain hard at very high temperatures. It is not to be confused with "carbide" as in carbide tipped tools or "tungsten carbide" etc. Most HSS turning tools are made in Sheffield, England from M2 high speed steel which contains (by percentage) 0.85 carbon, 4.0 chromium, 6.3 tungsten, 5.0 molybdenum, 1.9 vanadium, and the rest iron.
- Hollow Vessel
- Vase shaped hollow pieces or very deep bowls. Requires special hollowing tools.
- Hook Tool
- A traditional turning tool which looks like a hook with a sharp edge. Works like a ring tool.
- Horsepower
- 746 watts of power equal 1 horsepower. Motors are always less than 100% efficient but the output power is usually quoted on the plate. 370 watt = 1/3 horsepower 550 watt = 3/4 horsepower 750 watt = 1 horsepower
- Indexing Plate
- Used to divide the circle of rotation into equal divisions. Say you wanted to make a fluted column with 24 flutes. You would use an indexing plate with 24 holes in its periphery to hold the column while you routed each flute.
- Lathe
- A machine for turning, that is, for shaping articles of wood, metal, or other material, by causing them to revolve while acted upon by a cutting tool.
- Live Center
- Revolving tailstock center. Contains bearings so that the point rotates with the wood. A dead center has a fixed point.
- Mandrel
- This word is mostly used for holding device which grips the workpiece internally - such as the special mandrels for pen making. In the old days the mandrel was the lathe spindle - the rotating shaft in the headstock.
- Morse Taper
- A taper of specific dimensions used to mate matching male and female parts such that they lock together tightly and concentrically. Tapers are of various sizes such as #0, #1, #2, #3, etc. with larger numbers representing larger sizes.
- Pin Chuck
- A kind of chuck which grips into a drilled hole. Handy for initial hold of irregular bowl blanks.
- Pink Wheel
- A grinding wheel made from refined aluminium oxide with an additive which toughens the grit and makes it pink or red in colour. Pink wheels hold their shape better and cut cooler than white. They are the best available for sharpening woodturning tools. Sometimes hyped as "manmade ruby" because they have similar chemical composition.
- Pole Lathe
- A lathe operated by foot pedal. The springy "pole" connected to a rope wound round the workpiece down to the foot pedal provides the power transmission.
- Reverse Chucking
- Turning the work (e.g. bowl) around and re-gripping it to get access to the reverse side.
- Ring Tool
- A sharpened ring attached to a steel shank. Used like a hook tool for hollowing into end grain.
- Rough Turning
- Shaping of green wood to thicker than finished section with a view to more rapid seasoning or stabilising of the shape.
- Sap Wood
- The living layer of wood just under the bark. Generally lighter in color.
- Screw Chuck
- A faceplate with a single central screw used for quick mounting of simple projects where a central screw hole is acceptable.
- Scroll Chuck
- A kind of chuck with jaws that are opened or closed by the action of a spiral "scroll" inside it.
- Segmented Turning
- Where the blank is made up out of many little blocks of wood around its periphery.
- Shear Scraping
- The scraper is twisted so it is at about 45 degrees to the vertical. This gives a cleaner finish. Special shear scrapers are made with the 45 degree angle built in.
- Shearing Cut
- A cut which involves holding the cutting tool at an angle to the direction of cut which results in the blade slicing sideways as it cuts, cutting cleanly through the fibers of the wood.
- Sizing Tool
- Fits onto a parting tool or beading tool or bedan and cuts to a precise diameter.
- Spalted
- Spalted wood is from a tree that's suffering from a fungal disease, causing a web of dark lines to spread through the timber. Between the dark lines, the colour of the wood varies from segment to segment. This can turn a bland wood like beech into something quite spectacular.
- Spindle
- Main rotating shaft on which the chuck or other work holding device is mounted. It is mounted in precision bearings and passes through the headstock.
- Steady
- A device used to stop vibration of slender workpieces.
- Swing
- Refers to the height of the lathe centres over the bed and governs the maximum diameter that can be "swung". Swing = twice center height.
- Tailstock
- This housing slides along the lathe bed and contains a barrel which supports the non driven end of the revolving wood.
- Toolrest
- That part of the lathe which supports the turning tools and the hand.
- Ways
- Precision ground surfaces along the top of the bed on which the saddle rides. The ways are precisely aligned with the centerline of the lathe.
- Weed Pot
- A small delicate vase shape with a small hole in the top to accept dried flowers etc.
- White Wheel
- A grinding wheel made from refined aluminium oxide grit. Cuts cooler than grey wheels but wears quicker than a pink wheel.
