Well tomorrow is the first day of meteorological summer. Sometimes I feel like Rod Taylor in H.G.Wells' time machine!! 

 

We have had some wonderful turning projects posted by our turners this week!

 

From "down under" member Jari added to his gallery. This one is a Camphor Laurel 220 mm by 140mm Bowl

 

And this one a Camphor Laurel 450 mm by 160 mm bowl

 

 

You can see Jari's pictures in his gallery at- http://thepatriotwoodworker.com/gallery/album/241-back-in-shed/

 

 

Steve posted his gorgeous platter. I can't imagine having this ability!

 

Steve's post is here- 

 

 

 

Gerald turned a natural edge platter. It is a beauty!

 

Gerald's post can be seen here-

 

 

Gerald is also working on a "Beads of Courage" bowl

 

If you are not familiar with this most worthy cause, check out this website-

http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/woodturners.html

 

 

Member Ron must never sleep! His pieces are always amazing. This week he illustrates that sometimes things that glitter ARE gold!

 

Ron describes his process here-

 

 

Gerald also turns ornaments. While Ron typically hangs his around the house, Gerald created this nifty little hanger.

 

His description of the turning is here-

 

 

 

Steve gave us a glimpse of his Delta Midi lathe and the neat method he created to make it more portable.

 

 

As for me, I've been messing around with an idea a friend asked about- a vase. I was able to get a chunk of recently cut tree so I thought I'd give it a go. When you are a self taught turner, you don't know what you don't know. When I turn  smaller wet pieces, I turn them thin and that has prevented most cracking. I thought I was doing pretty good.

 

But then-

 

This set me to thinking about drying turned/partially turned pieces. I've always used the paper bag/shavings method for large "twice turned" bowls. In hindsight that's probably what I should have done here. I have tried drying in a microwave- when Mimi wasn't home- the results weren't that great. I read about using Denatured Alcohol but that's kind of expensive and could be a fire hazard. Anyway, I stumbled across a video from  Reed Gray (AKA RoboHippy). Apparently, this method of "drying/condition" of the turnings works for him and appears to solve the cost/hazards of other methods. Liquid Dishwashing Detergent. Through some more Internet cruising, I found that this method has been around for years.

 

Reed credits Ron Kent with this process of using detergent. Here is a link to Mr. Kent's description. The actual information starts about halfway down the page-

http://www.ronkent.com/techniques.php.. Gonna try this next time!

 

 

Safe Turning

Great Episode Lew!

To all the turners Lew showcased (including Lew) - Great Job!

Great edition this week Lew, thanks for the nod. It's important to know, cracks happen. It seems you can 20 pieces all the same, 19 will be fine, one will crack. Go figure. To add, Robo has some very good videos and I purchased his "robo rest" it's a great addition to a sharpening set up.

 

Steve

Great post Lew. I think it was the knot that did you in . Any pith in area on the side of a bowl is particularly hard to control and once the crack starts CA to stabilize and then hope it stops, or drill the center out and glue in dowel.

 

Lew, thanks for this weeks post.  Drying is a well discussed issue.  Seems getting something to dry slow is best no matter the method used.  I have heard of the dish soap method before but haven't tried it yet.  Food for thought.