Wednesday's Wisdom For Woodturners March 29, 2023

[lew]

Remembering all my Brothers and Sisters on this 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, Welcome Home.

 

 

Our Patriot Turners-

@Headhunter posted some of his Ringmaster turnings in our sub-forum. Thought it would be nice to share them with the entire group.

 

 

He also posted an awesome open segment turning. 

 

Headhunter was kind enough to add a photo of how he created the blank to create this beauty.

 

 

@forty_caliber  Has bee working with some spalted pecan. I really like the way he embellished the rim of this bowl-

 

Check out his post to see what our turners had to say-

 

Forty also posted an inquiry asking if any of our members had any experience with a specific type of knot/gap filler. Please check out this post and offer any additional help-

 

 

Can't  express how happy I am to see everyone adding to our continuing thread of "What's On Your Lathe"!  Some of the recent additions include-

 

 

 

This is about where we left off last week-

 

 

What’s Coming Up-

Click on the images for links to more information and registration-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For The Newbies-

Found this article that compares these tools. 

 

https://turnawoodbowl.com/carbide-vs-traditional-hss-wood-turning-tools-high-speed-steel/

 

 

Alan Stratton's video on turning a box from tree to display. To add interest to the turning, Alan burns some detail lines. Check out his wire burning tool at 9 minutes-

 

 

Expand Your Horizons-

Carl Jacobson turned a small lidded box, and used the urn threaded rings. This was a live demonstration so it's a little long-

 

 

Mike Waldt turns a hollow Mulberry hollow form-

 

 

 

New Turning Items-

Couldn't find anything new but checkout this week's Vendor Showcase (link above). Not sure what they will be doing.

 

 

Everything Else-

From Ron Brown's newsletter-

 

Driving A Stake In The Ground

 

Sometimes progress seems so slow that you have to drive a stake in the ground to see if you are moving. I first heard this phrase when I worked on the railroad as a long-haul trainman. The first half of our route took us from near sea level over a 4,000 foot high mountain range. Sometimes I could run alongside the train faster than it was moving!

 

Developing our skills can be a lot like that. You want to be able to use a skew chisel like they do on YouTube and roll perfect beads, disks, and wonderfully symmetrical coves. But you get catch after catch and it seems like you are never going to figure it out. Or the grain tears on the outside of your bowl blank even with freshly sharpened tools. You wonder if you will ever be able to start sanding with 120 grit or higher rather than 60 or 80 grit. You look forward to the day you don’t have to spend so much time sanding.

 

Practice makes perfect because each time you try, you get a little bit better. You develop muscle memory whether you know it or not. Suddenly, or so it would seem, you can roll a beautiful bead with that skew and not get a catch. Where is the stake now?

 

I used spinning tops as my demonstration canvas on the Woodworking Show Circuit for 13 seasons. I glued up 1,200 top blanks at the beginning of each season and more when those ran out. All day long I would load a blank into the lathe’s collet chuck for my next demo. I used a skew to turn the disk to round in less than 3 seconds. Then I shaped the disk in preparation for texturing. That took another 10-15 seconds, one pass on the front, and one pass on the back. In one continuous motion, I shaped the stem using the same spindle gouge I had shaped the front and back of the disk. Then I made 3 cuts with the texturing tools and finished with various color combinations. I had developed so much muscle memory that I could carry on a lucid conversation and make the top at the same time. Elapsed time, less than 5 minutes including all of the decoration and coloring.

 

It didn’t start out like that, but after the first thousand tops, it got easier. I’ve told you before that you don’t really know how to make something until you made 50 or 100 of the same thing. Then you begin to understand but still have much to learn. So, drive that stake in the ground, metaphorically, and watch as you get better each time you try again. Remember that wherever you go, there you are.

 

 

Safe turning

[Headhunter]

Thanx for including me in this lineup, Lew. I don't normally peruse this forum since I haven't done any serious 'normal' turning for several years. Guess that's gonna have to change. 

 

Might even have to dust off my turning tools.

[HandyDan]

Thanks Lew.  Interested in Alan Stratton's end grain box.  Been turning some small end grain bowls and liking the grain patterns that emerge.  I found scrapers seem to work best for end grain.  A good place for Easy Wood tools to shine especially for final turns.  They leave a nice surface.

[Gerald]

Thanks for the post Lew. I am finally getting back to turning after the long pause and now have what for me is probably 2 years supply of wood in shop floor 

[lew]

@Headhunter  Thank You!

 

@HandyDan  Thanks! So true about the EWT tools on end grain.

 

@Gerald Thank You! At least in the shop, it won't rot!