Pipe stem turning

Dial Indicator

Yesterday i was talking to my son Lachlan
about turning.
And said that to centre work  perfectly a Dial Indicator was needed.

Today Lachlan and i went to a garage sale and there it was $10 nice.
In the box unused sealed in a plastic bag spanking new.
The inspection certificate was dated 1984.  
Hobo mounted in my tool rest. 

I had centered my chuck by eye turned out it had a run out of .15 mm.
Now using my Dial Indicator i have it down to .03 mm run out .
Plenty close enough for what i do.

4 Jaw metal lathe chuck

Today i bought a chuck at long last.
I wanted a  4 jaw independent lathe chuck for many reasons.
From what i can work out wood lathe chucks are really for bowl turning.
They have a limited use and need extra jaws to hold small and large items and are expensive.
you also need to turn dovetails in the wood as most of the jaws are tapered for dovetails to
make bowls and lamps and stuff.
I don't intend to fill our house with bowls lamps salt and pepper shakers bottle stoppers
candle sticks goblets and the stupidest of all pens.
It boils down to what i want to make on my lathe.
This chuck will hold 7mm to 150mm with the jaws reversed.
Mounted it to the lathe face plate runs amazingly true but now i need another face plate.
Among other things i intend to make some smoking pipes.
The chuck will be perfect as pipe blanks are best held in 2 jaw chucks
I mounted a pipe blank in the chuck with 2 jaws removed nice.
In the near future i will get a compound slide so i can turn soft metals.
 

I mounted a Lucite pen blank hahaha
but the thing is they are the perfect material and a great size for pipe stems. 

Ahhhhh pipe smoking and turning go sooooo well together.

Polishing

I used 1/2" threaded bar nuts and washers .
Drilled a center hole in 1 end the other end goes in my 1/2" chuck.
Nice and simple and works so well variable speed as well

Turned a new tail stock wheel

The plastic handle broke it was glued by the previous owner.
A replacement is easy to get and cheap but i wanted to make my own.
I have just started wood turning when i made this had my lathe a week.
But i am a fitter and turner by trade.
3 weeks on its working well and still nice and tight on the shaft.

Silky Oak.
Why didn't the old guy i bought the lathe from use a
drop sheet when he painted.

Pyramid or 3 Point Tool

The steel is a 13mm high speed drill bit.

Tap fitted and epoxied in to the handle  

Nice and sharp and cuts well.

I use a mix of  bee's wax , carnauba wax and gum turpentine oil
as a friction polish.