Our fellow woodturning member, Dr. John Sowell, found a very crooked stick that he visualized could possibly be a “walking stick”. It was about two inches in diameter and long enough to fit perfectly to his six foot six inch frame (five foot eighteen inches he would always announce when asked his height). He asked me if I could turn the bottom part while he would finish the top part to fit his hand comfortably.
The lower part of the piece presented quite a challenge because it had three separate curves all in different planes to the central axis. Mounting the long piece to align the central axis was trouble enough, but then trying to mount the crooked top handle piece in order to turn the lower section was all another set of problems. In addition, my lathe is not equipped to turn a four foot plus object.
I figured if I could attach my smaller midi-lathe to the larger lathe, tail end to tail end, it might just work. Reversing the direction of the tailstock on the midi-lathe, I now could put the “stick” between “centers”.
Turning between “centers, however, would cause the crooked stick to be whipping around in a very precocious manner. To solve this issue, I cut a triangular piece of wood to attach to the top part of the stick with “hot melt” glue and
two hose clamps.
After several attempts and adjustments of the head stock spur drive position, I was able to turn a smooth straight bottom section safely.
I started turning slow and easy, always working from the bottom of the stick toward the head stock, stopping regularly to make sure that the piece was securely mounted and that it was not overly tight where too much pressure would cause the piece to spring out of the lathe.
I reduced the bottom tip to approximately three-quarter inch in diameter. I gradually ran a taper up to about one & one-fourth inch diameter at the confluence of the handle.
SAFETY NOTE: conjoining lathes in this manner is not recommended. Always use caution and make educated decisions when attempting turnings such as this.