15 year old grandson has expressed interest in woodturning. Coming over Saturday morning for first lesson. I have glued up some walnut and oak for a mallet. Will do one of Arlin styled birch flower vases next. Have a few cherry logs he can make bowls from if he likes it and wants to continue. Any other ideas for good beginner projects. I am thrilled and hope he likes it.
Turning tops can be a good learning project and you can do multiple on a single spindle and then part them off.
(10-01-2020, 01:00 PM)Turner52 Wrote: [ -> ]15 year old grandson has expressed interest in woodturning. Coming over Saturday morning for first lesson. I have glued up some walnut and oak for a mallet. Will do one of Arlin styled birch flower vases next. Have a few cherry logs he can make bowls from if he likes it and wants to continue. Any other ideas for good beginner projects. I am thrilled and hope he likes it.
How about something like this - but with a flat top?
https://www.thosmoser.com/product/crescent-stool/
Four short tapered spindle legs would be a good way to get a feel for turning and they can be done entirely with a roughing gouge and parting tool, and maybe an open end wrench to size the tenon. You could do the first one to use as a sample.
If he’s new to woodworking altogether, I’d probably make it a 3-legged stool to eliminate the potential frustration of a wobbly 4-legged stool.
Might start him off on some green tree limbs. They cut like butter, are free, and provide great practice.
My grandson showed some interested years ago, even loaned him one of my lathes, but he discovered girls and lost interest in woodturning.
GM
My 14yo son has been turning a little the past year. I started with some cheaper pens and bottle stoppers. As we progressed, he began turning more expensive pen kits and has gifted some of them. He likes the fact that these projects are fast and his stuff has gotten pretty good IMHO. As he continued to gain skill, he started chucking up scrap bowl blanks. He's made 3 or 4 smaller bowls at this point that have turned out decent. He's learned a lot on the lathe but we've begun shifting to some flat work now. HTH
Pen kit and he can use it when done. If you need one I will send a slimline to you.
That's great! I suggest asking him what he'd like to make and go from there.
Thanks for the offer Arlin, but have never done a pen myself, so I would not be very good at teaching that. He liked a lot and is coming back in 2 weeks to do it again. It was a great time for me.