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38
How to Use Your RIDGID Wood Lathe (continued)
Cutting Vees
Vee grooves can be cut with either the toe
or heel of the skew. When the toe is used,
the cutting action is exactly the same as in
trimming a shoulder - except that the
skew is tilted to cut at the required bevel.
Light cuts should be taken on first one
side then the other, gradually enlarging
the vee to the required depth and width.
When the heel is used, the skew is
rotated down into the work, using the rest
as a pivot. Otherwise, cutting position and
sequence of cuts is the same. As when
using the toe, it is important that cutting
be done only by extreme end of cutting
edge.
If deep vees are planned, it is quicker to
start them by making a sizing cut at the
center of each vee. Vees can also be
scraped with the spear point chisel or a
three-sided file.
Cutting Beads
This requires considerable practice, First,
make pencil lines to locate the tops (high-
est points) of two or more adjoining
beads. Then make a vee groove at the
exact center between two lines - and
down to the desired depth of the separa-
tion between the beads. Be careful not to
make the groove too wide or you will
remove portions of the desired beads.
The sides of the two adjoining beads are
now cut with the heel of the skew - prefer-
ably 1/2-in. size, unless beads are quite
large. Place skew at right angles with the
work axis, flat against surface and well up
near the top. The extreme heel should be
just inside the pencil line that marks the
top of the bead. Now draw skew straight
back while raising handle slowly - until
edge of the heel at the pencil line starts to
cut.As edge begins to cut, roll skew in the
direction of the vee - so that the exact por-
tion of the edge which started cutting will
travel in a 90° arc down to bottom of the
vee. Upon reaching bottom of the vee, the
skew should be on edge. Reverse the
movements to cut side of the adjacent
bead.
It is important that only the extreme heel
should do the cutting. This means that the
bottom edge of the bevel next to the vee
must at all times be tangent to the arc of
the bead being formed.
Easier beads can be shaped with the
spear point chisel. Use pencil marks and
sizing cuts as before. Push the chisel
straight into each cut and rotate it horizon-
tally to round off the adjacent edges. It
must be moved slightly in the direction of
rotation at the same time, to keep the
point from digging into the adjacent bead.
Start
Second
Position
Finish
Bevel
Tangen
t
To Wor
k
Swing
Tool
Cutting
Beads