Oregonin puunsorvaaja Harvey Bower antaa neuvoja aloittelijoille

Just as an artist brings a canvas to life with bold colors, Harvey Bower brings blocks of wood to life, turning them into decorative forms and shapes on a lathe.

At the time of this 2015 article, Bower was a professional woodturner in the historic gold rush town of Jacksonville, Oregon, in a valley beneath the Siskiyou Mountains. He works in a small converted garage that was once a dentist’s office.

He coaxes beauty out of wood and often gives his creations to the community, from burial urns to spindles for stair railings to commemorative gavels. He uses his skill to help restore the town’s antique homes, provides elegant pieces for the town’s fundraising auctions, and donates ornamental vessels to college galleries.

The magic begins in Bower’s shop, a model of efficiency. Every bit of space is used. Tools line the walls. Wood chunks, finishing supplies, waxes, and oils fill the cabinets. A lathe and other equipment take up the floor. Even the rafters hold stacks of wood.

“Think of a single-car garage, something that would fit a Model T. Then cut the length in half. That’s the size of my woodturning shop. The other half is used for storing wood,” Bower says.

”Koska alue on niin pieni, kaikki tarvitsemani on käden ulottuvilla. Voin kääntyä ympäri ja poimia työkalut suoraan seinältä. Joten minun ei tarvitse kävellä suuren huoneen poikki vaihtaakseni työkaluja.”

”Kun käännät, vaihdat jatkuvasti työkaluja. Sinulla voi olla 10 sekuntia aikaa tämän kanssa ennen kuin vaihdat toiseen, joka toimii paremmin. Vaihdan työkaluja jatkuvasti edestakaisin. Jos työkalu on liian kaukana etkä tartu siihen, alat pärjätä. Ja se ei ole hyvä asia”, hän selittää.

Bower’s work grows out of his fascination with wood: the way it feels, its sweet aroma when freshly cut, and the warmth and wild beauty of its colors. He once worked as a wood carver but switched to woodturning because he found the turning process immediate and deeply satisfying.

"Mikään ei voita hyvää työkalua."

Bower will be the first to tell you that to succeed at woodturning, you first need a passion for wood. Next, you need to master basic woodturning skills, which takes practice and patience. And finally, you need the right tools.

“Nothing beats a good tool,” he says.

So Bower buys tools made from high-grade steel. Most come from English companies like Crown, Hamlet, and Robert Sorby. Others he buys from Thompson Lathe Tools in the United States.

“I’m an old metallurgist. When I see a diamond checker on the end of the tool to see what the hardness is, I know it’s a quality tool. If you want something that’s going to do the best job, it has to be the right steel,” he says.

It takes a variety of tools to shape wood on a lathe. A beginner may be tempted to buy a basic starter kit. Bower’s answer: “No! Because it’s somebody else’s concept of what your ability is. You’ll likely end up with tools you’ll never use and so waste your money.”

He says beginners can start with a few basic lathe tools. He recommends:

• Spindle roughing gouge, ¾ inch
• Spindle gouge with fingernail profile, 3/8 inch
• Curved scraper, ¾ inch
• Round nose scraper, ¾ inch or 1 inch
• Parting tool, 1/8 inch
• Bowl gouge, ¾ inch (if you’re going to turn bowls)

All these tools come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, so beginners can buy more as their skills and needs grow. Another tool to add later is the skew chisel. It’s the hardest tool to learn to use and sharpen, but it has many virtues once mastered.

Minisorvi, mikrometrit ja paljon muuta

All of these tools are used with a lathe. Because his shop is small, Bower uses a mini-lathe with an 18-inch bed instead of a larger lathe. The mini-lathe, ideal for smaller objects, turns spindles up to 18 inches long and 12 inches in diameter.

Even though his lathe is small, he insists on the most powerful motor available for that size. He also recommends a speed control, so you don’t have to move the belt to a different pulley every time you need a different speed.

”Edullisen sorvin nopeuden muuttamiseksi sinun on siirrettävä hihna oikean kokoiseen hihnapyörään, jotta saat vain yhden nopeusasetuksen. Siksi elektroninen nopeudensäätö, joka antaa sinulle lähes loputtoman määrän nopeusvaihtoehtoja ilman vaivaa, on melko tärkeä”, hän sanoo.

”Sen on myös voitava kääntyä molempiin suuntiin. Näin voin leikata yhteen suuntaan ja hioa toiseen. Puu kannattaa hioa vastakkaiseen suuntaan, koska et halua roskien suihkuavan kasvoillesi. Haluat sen menevän imujärjestelmään, joka on paljon turvallisempi”, Bower huomauttaa.

Although he owns a drill press, he says 90 percent of his drilling is done on the lathe. A woodturner also needs a band saw, a small gentleman’s saw for final cutoffs, and a chainsaw for cutting logs and larger pieces of wood.

Koska mittaaminen on ratkaisevan tärkeää puunsorvauksessa, Bower käyttää mikrometrejä ja työntömittaa. Esimerkiksi jos hän haluaa kannen sopivan täydellisesti puiseen astiaan, hän käyttää mikrometriä. Mikrometrejä käytetään halkaisijoiden mittaamiseen, kun taas työntömitat mittaavat sisä- ja ulkohalkaisijoita sekä syvyyttä.

Bower sharpens his tools every five minutes or so to keep them from grabbing or gouging the wood. “If the wood is turning about 2,000 rpm, that’s like sticking your foot out a car door while going down the road at 60 mph. Think of the abrasive action; it doesn’t take long for the tool to get dull,” he says.

For sharpening, he uses an 8-inch slow-speed bench grinder with sharpening jigs that help him get the correct angle on each tool. “Because the jigs are very precise, I don’t have to guess about the angle. I can sharpen my tools at the same angle every time,” he adds.

Kosteuden tarkistaminen on kriittistä

Kosteusmittari on toinen tärkeä työkalu, jota Bower pitää kätevästi saatavilla. "Kosteusmittaria todellakin täytyy käyttää", hän sanoo.

“Some of the wood I use is very expensive, anywhere from $100 for a small piece and up. I have one piece that’s $900. When you spend that kind of money on wood, you don’t want to turn it with the wrong moisture content in it. It can crack or shrink. That’s why I use a moisture meter, to prevent that from happening,” he says.

“When I cut a top to fit perfectly on a vessel, if I don’t check the moisture content, either it won’t fit next week or it will bind up so tight that it will never work. Or, if I use poplar wood for staircase spindles, it has to be checked for moisture… It also has to stabilize in your environment. You can’t store it somewhere else and then bring it in and think you’re going to work on it because it will swell or crack. That’s why it’s critical to check for moisture,” he says.

Bower works with many different woods, including black cherry, maple, figured maple, fruitwoods, pecan, tulipwood from Brazil, and jet-black ebony from Africa. Species differ in density and structure, so a moisture meter needs the right species setting to give an accurate moisture content (MC) reading for each wood you turn.

Bower uses Wagner Meters’ neulattomat kosteusmittarit. The Orion^® line has species settings for common hardwoods and softwoods as well as many exotic species, so you can measure the MC of each wood you work with.

Another thing he likes about Wagner meters is that they’re pinless, so they don’t leave holes in the wood surface. “If you’re testing a board that you just finished planing, you don’t want to stick pins into it. You want a pinless meter. They’re probably the best meters for any operation because they cover the spectrum,” Bower says.

"Jos investoit työhösi aikaa, vaivaa ja rahaa, kosteusmittarin käyttö on yksinkertaisesti taloudellista", hän lisää.

Ole turvassa ja mukavasti

Safety and comfort are also important in a woodturning shop, and Bower takes both seriously.

For one, he’s installed plenty of lighting, including a high-intensity LED light. “When I throw the lights on, it looks like the landing craft of ET’s spaceship. But you need to see what you’re doing to prevent costly mistakes and prevent accidents,” he says.

Since his shop is on concrete, he built a thick platform from industrial plywood so he doesn’t stand on the hard concrete floor and is less likely to slip. It also gives him a height advantage at the lathe.

Talvella hän käyttää suurta parabolista sähkölämmitintä ja hänellä on infrapunalämpölamput asennettuna kattoon suoraan sorvin yläpuolelle. Infrapunalamput auttavat pitämään hänen kätensä lämpiminä ja joustavina.

To manage dust, Bower uses a vacuum system with two different types of filters that sits beside the lathe. He also wears a face mask for dust and for woods that may cause an allergic reaction.

”Jotkut ihmiset eivät ymmärrä, että tietyt puulajit ovat erittäin myrkyllisiä. Se voi olla kuin kääntelisi myrkkymuratin oksaa. Joten myrkyllisen puun hengittäminen ei ole hyvästä. Kerran työskentelin Indonesiasta tai Intiasta peräisin olevan ruusupuun parissa. Seuraavana aamuna heräsin päästä varpaisiin ihottuman kanssa”, hän sanoo.

Now Bower checks woods online for toxicity and has learned which woods are harmful. He also uses Mark Baker’s book Puuta puunsorvaajille viitteenä.

He wears a face shield when he works with wood that could break apart on the lathe. And to cut down on shop noise, he has insulation in the ceiling and walls and wears earplugs when using loud equipment.

Parhaat työkalut ovat investoinnin arvoisia

A good woodturner values wood, so it makes sense to use the best tools, whether they cut, measure, or monitor moisture levels, to create beautifully crafted work.

”Parhaiden työkalujen omistaminen tekee kaiken eron laadukkaan työn tuottamisessa. Niitä on ilo käyttää, ja ne ovat ehdottomasti lisärahan arvoisia. Niitä on helpompi käyttää ja vaikeampi käsitellä kuin halvempia, huonompia työkaluja. Ne maksavat investointisi takaisin hetkessä”, Bower sanoo.

Osta Orionin kosteusmittareita

Päivitetty viimeksi 12. lokakuuta 2026