Turning First Goblet

[SteveColes]

As some of you might know, I've set aside a couple of hours at the end of each day to learn turning. Some days all it is sharpening tools. Other days it is just playing with some thing, get some understanding of what I'm doing. I have a fundamentals book and have been some of the stuff in there.

Anyway, I decided to try a small, simple goblet. As suggested, I bored a hole in what would become the cup to the depth I wanted for the depth of the cup. Then using a template, as suggested by the book, I hollowed out the cup. It went reasonably well, using a 3/8" spindle gouge and a round edged scraped. I was very proud of myself:roll:

Now the book said shape the outside and it didn't give any guidelines so I just went ahead. Again it was going well, but suddenly the cup split around the the circumference. What had happened was that I made the wall so thin that I would have been proud to have that out of a handplane as a shaving:lol:

So are there any tricks that might have help me avoid the situation?

 

[cskipper]

I've done the same thing and believe the advice I got was to use a caliper or, handier (sorry for the pun) yet - check the thickness with my fingers as I go. It's easy to do what you did.

 

[sapwood]

So are there any tricks that might have help me avoid the situation?

Steve, just keep on turning :-D
I have every confidence you'll figure it out.

Roger

 

[Travis Porter]

Practice makes perfect. Now you know what to do and what not to do. Congrats on getting to the point that you are trying to do something like a goblet. I wouldn't know how to start.

I have watched chitty chitty bang bang so much that I can tell you

Up from the ashes, up from the ashes, come the roses of success!!

 

[JRD]

Steve,

I use the finger method. When turning and you're getting to where you have a concern over going too thin, I frequently stop and check thickness with my fingers.

Calipers would be more exact, but fingers work pretty well too.

Jim