Wednesday's Wisdom For Woodturners May 3, 2023

[lew]

Third day of May here in South Central PA-

 

Sleet on the back deck this afternoon!

 

 

Our Patriot Turners-

@jthornton Is giving us a great tutorial on how he does his his "dizzy bowl". 

 

He has uploaded process shots, with explanations, in his post-

 

 

@Headhunter got us caught up on some of the things he has been making. Make sure you see all his stuff by subscribing to our "Ringmaster Turning sub-forum". His work certainly has some gorgeous patterns!

 

He posted lots mor pix here-

 

 

@Fred W. Hargis Jr posed a question about lathe speed fastest rpm. Several of our members provided their thoughts. Why not hop on over to Fred's post and give him your thoughts-

 

 

@Masonsailor is taking a little break from his laundry room project to make a bowl.

 

Paul explains the materials and the purpose of the turning, in his post-

 

 

We've had several additions to our "What's On Your Lathe"! This is where we left off last week-

 

 

What’s Coming Up-

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For The Newbies-

Richard Raffan explains the shear scraper-

 

 

I think this happens to us all. Sometimes more than once. Whether you're a newbie or experienced turner-

 

 

 

Expand Your Horizons-

Something from Tim Yoder-

 

 

In my own turning, it seems my bowls don't have much variation is shape/design. Ernie Conover shows us examples of different bowl shapes.

 

 

Being the first of the month, Sam Angelo, Mike Peace, Richard Raffan and Tomislav Tomasic  have put together the "4 Ways" videos.

 

 

 

 

 

New Turning Items-

This is not new but a chance to have input on the design of a relatively new product-

 

If you would like to submit input, the email address is-  nilesstopper@gmail.com

 

 

Everything Else-

An interesting read from Ron Brown's newsletter-

 

“Dividing up the budget is a zero-sum game.”

 

Don’t live your life like it is a zero-sum game. When you give encouragement to someone, your optimism bottle won’t run out. When you teach someone about lessons you’ve learned, your box of skills is just as full, and likely even more full.

 

When you gift a nice piece of wood to someone, you can be sure there is another one headed your way, probably even nicer. I have a few special methods in my manufacturing processes, and the more I help others, the more I am helped. That is simply the law of sowing and reaping.

 

If you want better tools, start giving some tools away! If you want to turn better pens, teach someone who wants to learn to turn pens; amazingly, you will begin to make better pens yourself. If you want more friends, be friendly; invite someone to coffee, breakfast, or lunch. Try hosting a small impromptu-turning get-together for 2 or 3 folks at your shop.

 

One of the paradoxes in the life of a turner is how quickly turned items multiply! You make a few bowls, pens, or Christmas Ornaments, and the next thing you know they are everywhere. There is literally not room enough to contain them. You think about selling a few after you’ve given every relative, friend, and neighbor something you’ve turned, and still, the turnings keep multiplying.

 

They are like Tribbles (Star Trek reference) only real. My encouragement today is to not be afraid to give to others. It really doesn’t mean you will have less, in fact, you will get more. Remember that wherever you go, there you are.

 

 

A little lathe time for me. A couple of natural edge bowls from a flowering cherry tree limb. Not quite finished.

 

 

Pulled the elm platters from the soapy water soak today and placed them in the drying box. Pretty ugly looking rite now.

 

Probably take about a week to reach equilibrium. 

 

 

Safe turning

Edited May 4, 2023 by lew

[Gerald]

Thanks for the post Lew. Gotta check Raffin's video as it looks interesting, Oh hollowing.

[HandyDan]

Turning a cube is catching my eye thus week.  Thanks Lew.

[jthornton]

Lew, I'm looking at the last photo of the live edge bowl and that is so cool. I really like the PVC chip collector, what is the hardware cloth for just to keep out big chips?

 

My lathe is on the far wall a pretty good distance from my dust collector which sits in the middle of the circle or machines... so now I'm thinking of running some 4 DWV from the dust collector to my lathe.

 

JT

[lew]

3 hours ago, jthornton said:

Lew, I'm looking at the last photo of the live edge bowl and that is so cool. I really like the PVC chip collector, what is the hardware cloth for just to keep out big chips?

 

My lathe is on the far wall a pretty good distance from my dust collector which sits in the middle of the circle or machines... so now I'm thinking of running some 4 DWV from the dust collector to my lathe.

 

JT

Thanks! I think I posted the build here, somewhere. Any way, the mounting frame can also be moved along the length of the lathe as it is held in place by toggle clamps. This is a pix of the clamps looking up from under the lathe

 

And looking down thru the ways

[HandyDan]

@jthornton  @lew  Here is a link to the thread.  A screen is good to catch the sand paper that slips out of the hand too.

 

 

[lew]

Thanks, Dan! Appreciate you finding this. That screen is there for what you suggested 

[lew]

@Gerald  Thank You!

 

@HandyDan Thanks! Ans thank you for finding that post on the dust collection setup.

 

@jthornton Thank You for the inquiry about the dust collection setup. Just realized I didn't answer your question about the screen. Yes it does catch larger shavings but I put it there after losing several small almost new sanding discs- as Dan pointed out.