making the project
The Baseball Bat was the most unique of the projects to make. This is due to the fact that its the only project, that's round. You will first start out by finding the center of both sides of the blank that they give you. Once you find the center, you hammer a Lathe bit into the center, then hook the blank up on the machine, I failed at this miserably, and the lathe was as wobbly as it could be. So I try again, get it more right, and am onto the process to unwobblify it. This process only took me about 1 hour, mostly due to the fact I had no idea what I was doing. But eventually I got it done, and was onto the first scary part of the Lathe project, My first sizing cut. I managed to figure it out on my own, although I did make it about an eighth of an inch too thick. I would then just repeat that process down the bat, with each specification of course, until I got the entire bat molded out, I would then just get the 100P sand paper, make the bat so it wasn't bumpy, got the 150P sand paper, made it smooth, and then got the 220, and made it extra smooth. I would have to then put wax on the bat, which was extremely easy, and I was done on the Lathe. At that point I just Cut the ends off the bat, sanded the ends down, and put wax on the ends, and then I was done.
What I learned
The Baseball Bat, once again being the most unique in all departments
1: I learned how to find the center of a circle
2: I learned how to make a Baseball Blank
3: I learned how to make a Blank not wobbly
4: I learned how to make a sizing cut
5: I learned how to set up something on the lathe
6: I learned how to turn on a lathe (it's not like the others)
7: I learned how to shape a blank into a Baseball bat
8: I learned how to read lathe plans
9: I learned how to sand something on the lathe
10: I learned how to put finish on a lathe
11: I learned that wax can be a type of finish
12: I learned that a lathe can easily grab onto a rag, and turn said rag, into a weapon
1: I learned how to find the center of a circle
2: I learned how to make a Baseball Blank
3: I learned how to make a Blank not wobbly
4: I learned how to make a sizing cut
5: I learned how to set up something on the lathe
6: I learned how to turn on a lathe (it's not like the others)
7: I learned how to shape a blank into a Baseball bat
8: I learned how to read lathe plans
9: I learned how to sand something on the lathe
10: I learned how to put finish on a lathe
11: I learned that wax can be a type of finish
12: I learned that a lathe can easily grab onto a rag, and turn said rag, into a weapon
Conclusion
The Baseball Bat had a very large amount of significance on myself as a carpenter. After All, Its a whole new form of carpentry that I was dealing with. The only time I used a dangerous machine was when I was cutting the end's off the Bat, but other than that, nothing could really hurt you, unless you weren't wearing safety glasses and a wood chip shot up into your eye, but thankfully, that never happened. The lathe is only used with specific type of objects, but it's still a very useful tool to have when being a carpenter.