Wednesday's Wisdom For Woodturners February 11, 2016

Man! it is cold out- at least by Pennsylvania standards- low 20's and wind chills near 0 in the middle of the afternoon and they say it is going to get even colder over the weekend.

For you thousands of loyal reader, sorry I am a little late. Time got away from me yesterday. Actual turning, for me, has been nonexistent. I have been working on a blank glue up in between the kitchen table/island top. Using up a bunch of scraps to make a simple salt shaker.

Some time back, Cliff fabricated a monster hollowing system. This reminded me of his work-

The tool/system is manufactured by Crown Tools. You can see the complete description here- http://www.crownhandtools.ltd.uk/page120.html

There is also a video on YouTube demonstrating its' use-

This month's Woodturning On Line newsletter came and has several neat projects and tutorials.

First is a short video on making a turned dead blow mallet. What's neat is the piece used for the head of the mallet-

also included- If you are considering turning a "bowl from a board", here a PDF tutorial on one method. This tutorial was written by Tom Lohman

https://artistgalleryonline.com/segmentedturning/my_files/files/Handout_For_Bowl_From_A_Board_2014.pdf

Finally, from the same issue, is a cool modification to an inexpensive LED lamp. 

The authors add magnets to the base to allow placing the lamp just about any place in the shop. Read the article here-

http://www.zenreich.com/ZenWeb/shop/led_lamps.htm

Here's a link for a great price on the lamp- http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20169658/

I have one of these lamps and modified it some time ago (before reading this article). Instead of purchasing rare earth magnets, I have a large stache of old computer hard drives- some of those whopping 250 MegaByte wonders. There are several super powerful magnets in the old platter type hard drives. I just removed the magnets and super glued them to the bottom of the light.

Don't forget- Sunday is Valentine's Day!

Safe Turning