Turning tools come in many shapes. Here’s how to keep those shapes sharp. Many years ago, I was cooking with a friend who was home visiting his parents during a…

Adding a bit of texture and colour to a square platter is a great way to dress up a simple design. Project #2419 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 1…

Being a first-time lathe buyer is a daunting task. How big of lathe do you really need? How powerful should it be? What features should you be looking at? Thankfully…

From the Archives: Dale Nish, one of the principal architects of the turning revival, shares some turning techniques. Birdhouse Christmas ornaments have become very popular the last few years, and…

The reciprocating motion of a pole lathe makes it possible. My mind reels when trying to imagine what it would be like to be a woodworker in the era when…

Turning a live edge bowl is the perfect way to showcase a special piece of wood, such as this Burr Elm. Project #2414 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 1…

Tool: Turbo T-60S Lathe Shop Now Manufacturer: Harvey MSRP: $4999.99 The first time I heard of Harvey International was in 2018, when it was announced they acquired Bridge City Toolworks….

Once you’ve chosen the type of lathe you want, the next big question is figuring out what sort of turning tools you need. Logan walks you through the different tools…

My lathe tool rack is based on a fishing rod rack that I made some time ago. Made from 3/4-in.-thick walnut, it measures 3-1/8-in. by 10-in. by 30- in. I…

Turning a bowl from green wood has unique considerations versus a dried bowl blank. Logan walks you through the process, including the trick to drying a wet-turned bowl quickly when…

These simple shop storage solutions are quick to build, but will make a big impact in your shop. Project #2408 • Skill Level: Beginner • Time: 1 Day • Cost:…

Here’s an easy way to cut bowl blanks from half log sections. Cut a round guide disc from 1/4″ thick material the size you want your blank to be, and…

Combine spindle turning skills with a special chucking method to make this utilitarian scoop. Project #2304 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 3 Hours • Cost: $20 One of the…

A comfortable seat can make a big difference in your work. For a SketchUp model of the Windsor Shop Stool as illustrated in the article, click here. I designed this…

Bringing a router to the lathe is a great way to add a unique look to your turning projects.  Project #2401 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 1 Day • Cost:…

Turn spindle and hollow-globe ornaments using a waste block mount. For woodturners, the nip of autumn in the air usually triggers thoughts of holiday projects. Here are two ornaments you…

Even an ordinary kitchen tool can be beautiful. If you’re looking for an easy-to-make gift for someone who loves to cook, here it is: a custom-made rolling pin. There’s something…

For a considerable stretch of time, I’ve championed carbide-turning tools as an accessible and straightforward system, especially for those venturing into woodturning. These tools demand minimal training and yet yield…

Dress Up Your Custom Furniture With Custom Knobs Why would you ever make your own when you can buy them for less than a buck? I can think of many…

Friend of PW Char Miller-King (@woodenmaven on Instagram) set a goal for herself to turn every place she travels, and was recently in town to film an episode of the…

Protect your “cheaters” in style. Sooner or later everyone’s eyes need a little help—especially for reading or close work. One popular solution is to buy a pair of “cheaters,” those…

While turning wooden pens, students in my woodshop classes kept wearing out the points on the live centers of our mini lathes. The points fit into the hollowed end of…

An essential part of your turning tool arsenal. There’s a theory in woodturning—popularized by some British turners—that wood “prefers” to be cut rather than scraped. While I agree with this…

Turned drops and legs, arches, and serpentine stretchers typify this ornate 17th-century style. When someone uses the term “period furniture,” we think most often of the Queen Anne, Chippendale and…

Sometimes, unique is exactly what you want to avoid when turning. If you turn, sooner or later you are going to find yourself facing  some project that requires several (or…

Create a beautiful showpiece by power carving on the lathe and adding a splash (or a wave) of colour. Project #2309 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 1 Day • Cost:…

Trade dangers revealed in 17th-century journals. I thought of Nehemiah Wallington (1598-1658) when I set up my lathe in my nearly finished workshop. A few times a year he pops…

Taking the time to learn a few basic cuts and moves will help you succeed. Bowl turning was my first love in woodturning. There is something special about a bowl:…

Woodworking is full of smaller subcultures and disciplines that utilize a wide range of tools and techniques. This week we’re looking at one of the most popular: turning. We’ll be…

Turn trash into treasure. I love hard cheeses and hard-crust bread. Although my cheese-making skills are limited and my baking talent is only admired in our household and among close…

My lathe came with a lamp, but the lathe’s manual has this weird warning: “Position the work lamp so that wood chips do not accumulate inside the lamp shade and…

Regular attention to a few simple procedures will keep you turning smoothly. A lathe, like any other piece of woodworking equipment, is exposed to wood shavings, dust and other substances…

If you spend any time in the turning community, you’ve probably seen this style of ornament before. The hollow urchin shells are available online (and in various species—the smoother ones…

A little bit of carving and gilding on the rim of this bowl transforms it from a nice piece to an extraordinary one.  A step away from your ordinary bowl,…

Learn how to turn a classic wooden baseball bat. This timeless project is a great opportunity to practice your turning skills.

Get clean cuts and a nice finish from a challenging piece of material. A live edge (or natural-edge) bowl is one of the iconic forms of modern woodturning, and it…

I can’t stand throwing away good wood. When I’m turning a goblet or any other object, I don’t leave the waste areas blank. I pick up a gouge or a…

For turning spindles, there’s nothing like having a  really long tool rest. You never have to move it! I made my own with parts from the hardware store. This rest…

Create a Soda-Shop Classic  In simpler days, soda jerks quickly and efficiently dished perfect servings of ice cream with sturdy wooden-handled scoops. Once you’ve collected the metal parts (see Sources),…

I’m happy to announce a new, online woodturning symposium that’s going to be taking place March 19th & 20th. Tickets for Meet the Woodturner Live are available here. Here’s a…

The price of good turning tools can be pretty steep. Since most of the better lathe tools can be purchased without a handle, put your money where it counts—in the…

An Exercise in Mastering the Skew Do you like a challenge? Want to develop your woodturning skills? Can you learn from mistakes? If your answer is “yes”, you’re ready to…

Master this most basic turning tool. When I introduce someone to woodturning, I choose the spindle roughing gouge. When I work with kids, it’s the first tool I place in…

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in American Woodwork #142, June/July 2009. I stumbled onto pen making seven years ago, as I was scouring through my husband Jerry’s woodworking magazines…

Develop a delicate touch by creating graceful shapes. As an alternative to mass-produced items, Christmas ornaments rank high on the list. They easily become treasured keepsakes and the delicate spindle…

Hone Your Skills Making Functional Storage PROJECT #2102 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 1 day • Cost: $50 It’s rare that I afford myself the opportunity to spend time…

Customize their fit for comfort and performance. Decades ago, woodturning tools came without handles, and turners would simply fashion their own. This makes perfect sense, because a handle that fits…

This jig helps you easily reverse your work for base turning. Properly finished bowls never reveal how the turner mounted them. However, traditional methods for reversing a bowl to turn…

I like to use purpleheart pen blanks because they’re less expensive than other exotic hardwoods. Recently, I stumbled on a cool trick. I discovered that I could cause the wood…

Heirloom Awl Metal and wood are the basic ingredients in most woodworking tools. As woodworkers, we’re familiar with working wood, but what about metal? Actually, the level of metalworking required…

Tool: Beginner Set of Tools Shop Now  Manufacturer: Jimmy Clewes MSRP: $743 A recent weekend of turning with Jimmy Clewes in Las Vegas led me to a new, favorite set of turning…

Turning the body is half the fun. When I picked up Silvio Calabi’s book Antique Fishing Tackle, my interests in fishing, antiques, and wood turning met head on: Now I’m…

Period woodworking trades in London were strictly regulated. I’ve temporarily put down my 5⁄16” joiner’s mortising chisel in favor of a 2″ chisel for chopping carpenter’s mortises. I’m timber framing…

Tool: PRO-Tek Chuck Buy Now Manufacturer: Nova MSRP: $140-$220 Nova’s new PRO-TEK line of chucks build on the company’s long history with the lathe. This new series of chucks feature rust-resistant…

Tool: Axe Carbide Lathe Tools Buy Now Manufacturer: Carter MSRP: $119.95 If you feel like wasting an entire afternoon, just type “carbide vs. high speed steel turning tools” into your favorite…

Modify a skew chisel to bend a curl; then leave the shavings attached. These trees come all the way from the Erzgebirge (‘erts-gə-bir-gə). Actually, I made them in Wisconsin, but…

I’ve made over 600 screwdrivers. Does that get me into the Tool Nut club? It all started with a handle I turned for a file. I enjoyed this work so…

The holiday season is upon us, and there’s no better time to tap into your creative side and make some decorations. Here are 7 different styles of ornaments for any…

Sharpen your end-grain hollowing skills. Drinking from a wooden Goblet is a unique experience, because its weight and feel is distinct from goblets made of other materials. But is it…

Sponsored by Rikon Tools When buying a lathe, you’ll never regret getting more swing and length capacity, but what if you don’t have space in the shop for a long…

A good lathe stand is just as important as a good lathe. Build a professional-quality lathe stand that’s stable, strong and heavy.

Add sparkle outside and protect what’s inside. Whether your wine bottle is half-empty or half-full, here’s an elegant way to preserve the contents until you answer that age-old question. You…

The past few months have made me thankful for a lot of things. A partner who loves to cook and bake and keep me fed, even when I’m not always…

Chairmaking requires its own unique tools and skillset. It may be daunting, but building a Windsor chair opens up a whole new world within woodworking. Here’s how to do it.

Can a portable, foot-powered lathe make a believer out of you? Wood turning on a spring pole lathe is all about reciprocation, all about back and forth. For example: Q:…

Tool: 1/8″ Easy Parting Tool Manufacturer: Easy Wood Tools MSRP: $119.99 Since my first experience with Easy Wood tools in 2011, I’ve been a fan. Thanks to the tools’ long-lasting carbide…

For many woodturning operations, a chuck performs the essential job of holding the work securely and safely. These operations often present unique requirements, so a dizzying array of manufactured and…

Shop scraps and a few simple techniques will get you spinning along Large turning projects can be daunting. A large bowl, for example, requires gluing up a blank or sourcing…

Custom-fit your tools to your hand. One of the best uses for a lathe is making tool handles. Most production tool handles leave something to be desired. The good news…

At 6 am, the bathroom is yours, because everyone else is asleep. So rather than rushing, why not pamper yourself with a great shave? Forget cold foam from a can….

Mark Sfirri isn’t just a wood turner—he’s a turning teacher, turning researcher, turning author, turning lecturer and turning exhibit curator and judge. What’s odd about this well-rounded turner is that…

Although most bowls are turned from green material, working with kiln-dried lumber has its advantages. You don’t have to deal with checks and cracks or significant distortion. Sanding is far…

A true American folk object, the game call gained enormous popularity in the late 19th century, when it became part and parcel of hunting, especially in the Mississippi flyway. (According…

Perhaps woodturners should sell naming rights. The field has never standardized the names of woodturning tools (or measurements of their widths or how to describe their angles), so they often…

Whether shaped as a vase, a column or even an egg, there’s plenty of room for expression in a turned lamp. The flowing contours of the lamp shown here do…

In bowl turning, good craftsmanship requires that the bottom show no evidence of how the bowl was mounted. It’s also important to learn how to keep the chuck from dictating…

Bowl turning is a blast! Thanks to advances in lathes and tooling, lots of woodworkers have now discovered how fun it is to turn a hunk of green wood into…

Here’s a simple turning project that makes a thoughtful gift. The process is similar to pen turning—you drill holes through a pair of blanks, turn them using a mandrel and…

Turning Tool Tamer by Richard Tendick I was turning a vase recently, and as I got deeper into the turning, the vase’s rotation pulled the tool’s tip down, making it…

You need to think a little differently. A rotary Indexing Head allows a CNC machine to create 3-dimensional shapes in the round. It’s an accessory that can be added to…

French polish adds extraordinary depth to gorgeous wood. This finish is perfect for bowls, vessels, lamps and other turnings that aren’t handled often or are exposed to moisture, alcohol or heat.

Capture the fleeting beauty of melting icicles by turning a hollow ball and two small spindles into a beautiful Christmas tree ornament. This project requires a fair amount of turning…

by Judy Ditmer from the December 2005 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine Turn spindle and hollow-globe ornaments using a waste block mount. For woodturners, the nip of autumn in the…

Award-winning inspiration from the 2017 competition. Read the article in its entirety. Article: To see all of this year’s entries, go to the entry page here. From the November 2017 issue,…

Most of my income comes from weekend art/farmers markets where I sell mainly turned work (bowls). I’ve learned that you need to have a bell curve of prices from cheap…

My turning ability is bound by my lathe – it has a maximum diameter capacity of 16”. That means all my accessory tools, such as my hollowing system and 50cc…

I’m not really a turner (only when I have to), and I’m not a big fan of math (words are my thing), so when Alf Sharp starts to talk about…

In today’s woodturning world, the project can be much more than just about wood, and there are three episodes here that go beyond basics to let you customize your pieces.

After splitting my mallet log into quarters (see part one of this project by clicking here) I turned to the lathe work. I produced four different mallets, each one with…

I came to the Popular Woodworking team with an interest in woodworking, but since working here, I seem to have been drawn specifically to woodturning. I find it fascinating, and…

Alan Lacer has been involved in the field of woodturning for almost four decades. He’s done almost anything and everything you can think involving the craft from turning to teaching to…

I’ll admit right here, I haven’t done a lot of turning in my many years of woodworking. Not that it wasn’t appealing, but it wasn’t what was required at the…

Hello, I’m the new editor for Popular Woodworking Books. It’s a New Year and I have a new job and you have a new person to reach out to with…

Next week on Woodturning with Tim Yoder, you’ll learn to make a salt cellar that features clever hidden hinges and a catch made from rare earth magnets. The project is…

As we continue to explore customized storage solutions from the workshop, a fun way to make an interesting container is to turn one. If you have (or have access to)…

I caught up last week with Jim Sannerud, a bowl turner and traditional furniture maker in Minnesota. Here’s our conversation, the 3rd installment in my “Woodworking Daily” series of questions…

Maxed Out Midi Lathe. General International’s New Variable Speed Maxi-Lathe VS has all the great features that made its predecessor, the General 25-100 so popular. Both machines are made of…

Reshaping the Skew Chisel An alternate shape minimizes dig-ins. By Alan Lacer Years ago, an old professional spindle turner showed me a different way to sharpen a skew. When I…

Bowl Gouge Sharpening Do it by hand, just like you turn. By Alan Lacer How do you make a velvety smooth bowl with evenly thick walls and crisp details? Well,…

Turning Bocce Balls By Alan Lacer Freehand turning of a near perfect wooden sphere without flat spots or bumps is a wonderful challenge for a turner.Whether it’s for croquet, furniture…

Turning Table Legs By Alan Lacer Turning four table legs that match may sound impossible, but it’s not. With these tried and true tips, and a little practice, you can…

Whenever we include a project that has turned legs, bun feet or some other turned component, we inevitably get calls and e-mails from readers who don’t have a lathe or…

To wrap up my new product coverage of AWFS, I’d like to talk about two new takes on technology that’s been around for years. The first is an instant glue…

That’s me in the above photo, practicing my woodturning basics with the help of a friend and his lathe. It’s amazing how much you can learn about turning in just…

Shown above is “Sunset,” an intricate segmented bowl by Hal Metlitzky. When I learned woodturning in the mid-1990s, my goal was simply to make bowls and platters with fair curves,…

Dale Nish, one of the world’s most influential woodturners, teachers and writers, died yesterday in Provo, Utah. Nish taught woodworking at Brigham Young University for 28 years, until his retirement…

I learned to turn a number of years before Easy Wood Tools introduced its line of turning tools in 2010. These tools were different from more traditional turning tools –…

Over the weekend I managed to finish turning a new 24″-diameter walnut tabletop. Although I’ve been turning for a number of years now, I’d never undertaken a large-diameter disc like…

I’ve been turning for about seven years now and have completed hundreds of objects ranging from table legs to large bowls to tiny bottle stoppers. Yet I’d never undertaken a…

Good lighting is essential for lathe work. I really don’t think you can have too much. But general overhead lighting doesn’t cut it because you constantly need to train full,…

Compact Turning Center Put all your tools and accessories at your fingertips by building this storage rack. By Jim Williar I made turning on my lathe much more enjoyable by…

I’ve been a woodworker for over 30 years. I’ve built commercial and residential furniture and cabinetry. But I’m not a turner. Turners are different folk, and I mean that in…

CNC "Woodturning" By Randy Johnson A rotary indexing head allows a CNC machine to create 3-dimensional shapes in the round. It’s an accessory that can be added to most CNC…

Readers in the New York area shouldn’t miss the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibit “Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker in New York,” which is slated to run through May 6, 2012….

Turn a Green Wood Bowl By Alan Lacer Purchase the complete version of this woodworking technique story from AWBookstore.com. Making a functional object directly from raw material in its natural…

Rockler Bottle Opener Turning Kit Rockler pops the top on new bottle opener kit. Chrome-plated hardware fits any size or style turned handle. Rockler Woodworking and Hardware has introduced a…

  Turned Lidded Box A Precision Fit Lid that Snaps Shut By Alan Lacer Of all the different forms of woodturning, I find the most delight in creating lidded boxes….

Turning Table Legs By Alan Lacer Turning four table legs that match may sound impossible, but it’s not. With these tried and true tips, and a little practice, you can…

General International 25-010 M1 Pen Turning Lathe Designed and built specifically for turning pens and other smaller hobby type projects. Quick lock control levers easily position tool rest. Extruded aluminum…

I’ve always admired the graceful beauty of a willow tree with its long thin branches dancing in the slightest breeze. Maybe it’s because I lived in Los Angeles for a…

Years ago, I turned a series of tall bottle/vases on the lathe. The idea behind the pieces was to use them as tools to help me slow down and keep…

Ornamental turning is one of the fascinating corners of the woodworking craft. Once it was a craft reserved for kings, dukes and the obscenely wealthy. I’ve seen photos of turnings…

        Oneway’s new 1224 lathe costs $1,850. That’s a lot of dough,but for the money, you get the stability and slow-speed power that’s necessary to turn large, heavy bowls. The 1224…

Without a doubt, one of the best ways to pick up new turning skills, find inspiration and supercharge your creative battery is to attend the American Association of Woodturners (AAW)…

An alternate shape minimizes dig-ins. by Alan Lacer Years ago, an old professional spindle turner showed me a different way to sharpen a skew. When I tried it, I was sold….

Long-time subscribers are familiar with Steve Shanesy’s work. While he was editor of Popular Woodworking, Steve built everything from a George Nakashima-inspired table to a steel-stringed guitar, not to mention…

Turning Plates Got an offcut from a beautifully figured board? Turn it into a plate! Standard 3⁄4-in. wood and a shop-made chuck are all you need. By Steve Blenk The…

Turned Lidded Box A Precision Fit Lid that Snaps Shut By Alan Lacer Of all the different forms of woodturning, I find the most delight in creating lidded boxes. The…

Shaker Stand By Tim Johnson Though it looks modern, the original version of this three-legged stand was built almost two hundred years ago in a Shaker community. Simple, purposeful and…