Can't square a blank to save my life?!?!?!

[Michael @ RK Custom Calls]

I need some help from you wise gentlemen.  I found a couple chunks of Black Walnut at my late grandfather's that I thought would be cool to turn some calls out of with the lathe he gave me (warning: I'm sentimental when it comes to stuff like that).  One of the chunks was a crotch so I thought I'd get some good figure out of those pieces.

I had a local guy cut it down to rough blanks on his saws.  They are not square in any shape or form, but I figured that was alright.  I set my table saw to 1.5" and started pushing the blanks through, making sure all 4 sides came in contact with the saw blade.  Technically speaking I shouldn't have had to, but wanted to be safe.  At this point, I should have the longs sides all square, right?

I then put it on my chop saw to cut to length and square the ends.

I put the blank in my 4 jaw in order to drill the bore on the lathe.  Much to my dismay, the blank does not spin true, making it a laughable attempt to drill the bore...  I'm confident my 4 jaw does not have any runout as it is threaded onto the headstock.

My guess is that somehow when I'm ripping them to 1.5" "square" on my table saw I'm not actually getting them square???

Has anyone run across this or know what my thick-skulled self is doing wrong?  I'm new to turning and know that making firewood is part of the process, but my turning is sufficient enough to turn a decent barrel.  It's eating at me that my general woodworking skills are not producing acceptable blanks to even turn!!!

Thanks in advance fells!

Michael

[B Hoover]

Michael, is the blade in your table saw set 90 degrees from the table?  Don't rely on the metal gauge.  Each time I go to the table saw I grab a scrap piece of lumber and check.  Moving a saw around the shop can throw it off or you may have bumped the wheel without knowing.  Better to find out with a chunk of pine than a nice piece of wood.  The second thing I would question is do you use a push stick while cutting?  You can make them pretty easily and while keeping your fingers safe from the blade it also aids to hold the piece down on the table.  Remember to always push down and let the fence guide your cut.

[Michael @ RK Custom Calls]

B Hoover, thanks for chiming in.  I know I checked the blade for square at some point (I was ripping down a few blanks).  I'll have to double check that and run them through again if needed.  Regarding push sticks, yes I am using them.  I'm down to 9 fingers as it is and I intend to keep it that way! 

[B.Meuchel]

One thing I do, because my fence is not accurate, is run my blade all the way up and measure to the fence both front and back. Make sure you measure off the teeth that are canted towards your fence. That way I know my fence is square to my blade. Maybe something to check out.

[FDR]

Are you using your live center, in the lathe tailstock, to align and support the blank as you tighten the chuck? On one of the ends, I mark the center of the blank, center punch it, and use the live center to support the blank as I tighten the chuck. Then I remove the live center and use a machinist  "center drill" to start the hole.

Fred

[ben]

If you cannot get it square turn it round between center then chuck it up and use the center point already established for the tail stock live center to center to center it up in the chuck and then drill it and it should come out correct and not worry about perfect squared blocks,

ben

[birddog1]

I run my table saw blade all the way up and use a solid square  to square the blade with the table

[Michael @ RK Custom Calls]

Thanks fellas.  I do measure from the blade to my fence because I know they don't always run true, especially once you tighten the fence down.  I'm thinking I can eliminate bad tools and blame it on operator error...

I think I'll try turning it round between centers on my next one.  Assuming my ends are square to the length of the blank and I get my center marked accurately, that should work.  I agreed to date night with the wife tonight, so it may have to wait until this weekend 

Thanks,

Michael

[tkopperl]

I would recommend drilling your barrels on a drill press and it doesn't matter how square your blanks are!

[Michael @ RK Custom Calls]

I would recommend drilling your barrels on a drill press and it doesn't matter how square your blanks are!

Haha that would be the logical answer...  But a lack of funds and bench space make that difficult.  Or maybe it's the wife in the house that makes it difficult?!?!