Wednesday's Wisdom For Woodturners August 19, 2020

[lew]

50 years ago, I started teaching at the local Vocational School. After retiring, I continued to substitute for another 17 years. This year I finally decided to officially retire. We'll see how it goes.

 

 

Our Patriot Turners-

Last week, @Artie posted about his new toys he won in our raffle and asked about any additional equipment he needed to get started. Tha post generated a lot of great ideas. But @Cliff added something very important about lathe speed and safety-

 

From Cliff's post, I found this article-

Yamaguchi_SafetyMatters.pdf

 

 

@Ron Altier reworked his "canary in a cage". 

 

Ron describes what changes he made in this post-

 

 

@PostalTom got a beautiful new bowl gouge!

 

Tom reviews his purchase in his post along with a minor problem. Our turners really jumped in to help him out!

 

Both @Gerald and @HandyDan provided links to instructional videos on bowl gouge use-

 

 

 

 

 

@FlGatorwood has authored an fantastic blog that every Shopsmith owner should checkout. Each part of the blog is linked to the next. It all starts here!

 

 

@FrederickH asked the group for their experiences with African Blackwood. If you've turned this, maybe you can provide him with your suggestions-

 

 

@AndrewB Showed us a purple heart bowl he finished

 

Andrew tells us about this turning-

 

We continue to have conversation on the thread about casting without a pressure pot-

 

 

What’s Coming Up-

About a month ago, a group of turners held a free YouTube event. Each turner presented a demonstration highlighting their talents. It's happening again! This time they have more presenters and the entire program is spread out over 16 hours on Saturday August 22. Check this website for complete details and schedule of presenters.

 

https://www.virtuallycrafty.com/?fbclid=IwAR328neTuOcNMHGc_9bz_DL_FPXmwc1zDEKsaHS4v2TmhQdTmMRDaBnGSMo

 

 

For The Newbies-

The Woodworker's Journal has a nice tutorial by Mike Peace on making a Birdcage Awl-

 

The entire tutorial is at-

https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/project-turn-a-birdcage-awl/

 

 

@PostalTom's bowl gouge entry reminded me of how poorly I sharpen my own gouges. This is a very informative video on how to "fix" improperly ground bowl gouges. I think it might be just what I need-

 

 

Expand Your Horizons-

A lot of us are getting to the age where we need to take medications on a regular basis. Mike Peace turns a nice little pill holder. I think it will also work for hearing aid batteries-

 

 

 

Stabilizing soft/punky wood has typically called for a vacuum chamber/pressure pot and a stabilizing liquid. I have relied on StarBond CA glue to harden/stabilize turnings due to the lack of that equipment . It has always worked pretty good although it can be expensive if the piece is large. Here is another method of stabilizing without the aid of vacuum/pressure.

The author uses a 2 part acrylic and acetone to make a solution that soaks into the wood. The mixing instructions start at about 3:15 in the video-

 

I sent a message to the folks at Alumilite to ask their opinion. Their response was that they had never tried it. 

 

 

New Turning Items-

The folks at Woodturners Wonders have a couple of new items-

First, their sanding bundle-

Second is a new lubricant. This one is suited for use on their CBN wheels-

 

Click on the images for the links to these products.

 

 

Everything Else-

Rick Turns video list from last week-

 

 

 

Haven't been to the lathe this week- making rolling pin blanks. Lots of stock milled and the glue-ups started. Each pin requires 4 individual glue-ups and trims before they go to the lathe.

 

Second step in glue-up waiting for trimming

 

Trimmed pins dadoed and waiting on third glue-up

 

One in the clamps; one hour wait.

 

 

 

Safe turning and stay well

[Gunny]

Great post, will be busy getting through all that later tomorrow

 

[FlGatorwood]

Thank you, Lew, for the honorable mention on the Shopsmith setup for lathe use.  Very kind words and I deeply appreciate it.  A lot more information and tomorrow, it is supposed to rain, so I get to watch all these.  As always, I will learn things and will get very many ideas.  

 

This has been a very busy week for turners.  The bird cage is a great piece of art.  

 

Ok, Artie, we are waiting.  

[Gerald]

Great post Lew . Always love to see the week repeat itself here.

 

Hey @Artie another week has passed. we getting impatient well maybe incontinent .

[HandyDan]

Great recap of the week Lew.  Very happy to hear you decided to stay away from the school this year. 

I enjoyed the awl video.  I am making a bunch of them for Christmas gifts this year.  I have the metal work done and just have to get to the wood turning part.

Those rolling pins are, as always, beautiful works.

Thank You for your time.

[Jim L]

Big week - great job Lew.  I've always loved the beautiful rolling pins you do.  Is there a full tutorial posted anywhere out there?

[AndrewB]

Another good post @lew was just playing catch up on this one..

[FlGatorwood]

No pressure, Artie.  LOL  Take your time and don't rush.  We don't want you to get hurt.  

 

Lew, I have watched all but one video.  I really enjoyed Daniel Valireno (the Italian) showing how to grind and what to watch for.  He answered many questions I have had for a long time.  

 

Mike Peace video making pill boxes and such always raises my concerns getting that close to the spinning chuck.  But, I did really like making awls.  I have to try to remember that when I get caught up some.  

 

The sanding supplies is very tempting.  That would be very nice to have in our tool chest.  

 

You see, I get all these ambitions and ideas from your videos.  Thanks so much for your weekly posts.  

[lew]

@Gunny Thank You!

 

@FlGatorwood Thanks! That Mike Peace inspired me to start something I've been putting off. I wear hearing aids but never use a drying system. Going to build one from old stuff I have lying around.

 

@Gerald Thank You!

 

@Jim from Easy Wood Tools Thanks! Yes there is a blog here. Part 1- 

 

@AndrewB Thank You!

 

@Artie Looking forward to how you are coming along with the new tools!

[Artie]

These arrived here today! Thank you to everyone here at TPW, and all the sponsors. I have no idea what I’m going to try to do first (Suggestions anyone?) Since nothing actually happened unless there is pictures.....