Wednesday's Wisdom For Woodturners January 10, 2024

[lew]

Looks like things are picking up, now that the holidays are over. Let's get to this!

 

 

Our Patriot Turners-

@RustyFN is participating in his turning club's annual contest. He has posted a couple of images as he begins to create his entry.

 

Rusty has more in his post at-

 

 

@forty_caliber gave us a look at another one of his Hays County pecan bowls-

 

Monty supplied some additional information about his drying process-

 

 

There have been a couple of new entries on our "What's On Your Lathe" continuing thread. 

@calabrese55 added some process images of this -

 

 

Also posted was a red oak platter-

 

Check out all the comments starting at-

 

 

@Gerald is making a design change on his little spinning tops. I really like the new design and the colors he uses.

 

In his post, Gerald added a picture of his previous design for comparison-

 

 

What’s Coming Up-

Click on the images for more information and registration-

 

Todd Raines continues his presentation on the spindle gouge-

 

 

If you missed Cindy Drozda's live tool talk last week, here's the YouTube video-

 

 

Also from Cindy-

 

 

 

For The Newbies-

The skew chisel is a powerful tool, once you have mastered it. Richard Raffan shows us how that done-

 

 

Mr. Raffan goes further, in this video, demonstrating using the skew to turn finials-

 

 

 

There are several ways to chuck mount a bowl. Two of the more popular ways are the Mortise and Tenon. I typically use the mortise because it allows me to finish the bowl bottom with my preferred method. The mortise, however, is not without pitfalls as Kent Weakley points out-

 

 

 

Jim Rodgers demonstrates how to make a bottle stopper. Unlike the metal stopper kits, Mr. Rodgers uses corks to seal the bottle. Also check out the home made mandrel at the end of the video-

 

 

Tim Yoder offers up a short video on turning a curve

 

 

Although a chuck is a really nice piece of equipment to own, especially when making small items. Lyle Jamieson shows us the chuck is not the only way to to accomplish it.

 

 

Expand Your Horizons-

If you are ready to move up to bowl turning, Craft Supplies USA has a nice video illustrating the process step by step. The bowl blank in this demonstration was partially dried commercially-

 

 

Never too early to start those ornaments for next Christmas! Here Alan Stratton creates an 8 point, 3 axis item!

 

 

@Steve Krumanaker turns items for artisans in his area. Recently he started making "drop spindles" for a craftsperson who works with wool. I thought this might be another thing Steve could use as a money maker 

 

 

From Woodworker's Journal, a Three Winged Jewelry box.

 

The how-to article is at-

https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/project-three-winged-jewelry-box/

 

 

Check out what Tim Yoder does with a small 3 branch crotch piece-

 

 

New Turning Items-

A sale on Woodturners Wonders LED lights

 

https://woodturnerswonders.com/

 

 

Everything Else-

From Ron Brown's newsletter-

 

You Are Called To Be A Mentor

 

You have to know something about your subject. First-hand experience is helpful. If you can explain What, How, and Why so a 5th grader can understand it, you will be a good mentor.

 

It only takes a very small portion of your time (15 minutes to 1 hour) here and there to show individuals or groups of folks what you are talking about. You might need to take an occasional phone call to clear up misunderstandings. In this day and age, you might need to answer a text message or send a YouTube link addressing the issue. 

 

Unless you are a paid demonstrator, you must accept that you most probably will receive nothing material in return from those you help so unselfishly. Some won’t even say thank you and some will argue that you are wrong. A few of the people you help will go on to accomplish even greater things than you did. Some of the students will indeed go on to become the teachers.

 

You need to accept and appreciate that others gave of themselves to help you achieve the things you know. Even if you learned most of what you know by yourself (so-called self-taught), chances are that you watched YouTube videos, attended a trade show demonstration, or a club demonstration. Perhaps you were just a member of the crowd and not in a one-on-one situation. Someone took their time to show you something you didn’t know in a way that helped you be more successful. 

 

Sometimes folks will want to be paid for their advice. They are still exercising mentorship. I was very fortunate during my early turning career to encounter some very talented and generous mentors; Nick Cook was the very first and Don Russell gave of his time and energy unselfishly on numerous occasions. I hosted Chris Stott from England for a full week! That turned out to be a magnificent chapter in my turning career. Kirk Deheer of Craft Supplies in Utah gently guided me over a period of several years and I will be ever grateful for his wisdom. Mike Mahony offered guidance and freely answered my list of 20 questions over dinner many years ago. 

 

Others have given their time and energy and are wonderful examples of mentorship even when they didn’t realize it. Of course, it required me to put their advice into practice to make it my own, but, as they say, the way you get to Carnegie Hall is practice, practice, practice. A mentor simply guides someone willing to learn. It is really that simple and anyone can and should do it when given the opportunity.

 

 

Safe turning

[HandyDan]

Thanks Lew.  The TPW projects posted this week are over the top.

Looking forward to watching this weeks videos too. 

[Gerald]

Thanks for the post and mention Lew. 

[Grandpadave52]

Thanks Lew for all your time, research, organization and energy to put this weekly thread together. Even as a non-turner, I usually glean a nugget or two, besides getting a reminder of all the great projects our own TPW members are working.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

I'm terrible with a skew chisel (and pretty much everything else). Yoder says you really need hands on teaching (IHO) to learn to use it, but that's just not going to happen where I live.....I'll have to watch the Raffen video for some tips.

[Cal]

On 1/10/2024 at 10:34 PM, Grandpadave52 said:

Thanks Lew for all your time, research, organization and energy to put this weekly thread together. Even as a non-turner, I usually glean a nugget or two, besides getting a reminder of all the great projects our own TPW members are working.

 

I'll echo what Dave has said. 

The Ron Brown piece was great, y'all are my mentors on all the forums

[Larry Buskirk]

 Anyone interested in some turning tips from around 90 years ago? 

[lew]

1 hour ago, Larry Buskirk said:

 Anyone interested in some turning tips from around 90 years ago? 

Absolutely!

 

[Grandpadave52]

4 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

 Anyone interested in some turning tips from around 90 years ago? 

Is this where "what goes around, comes around" began?

[Larry Buskirk]

58 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Is this where "what goes around, comes around" began?

 

 Might be where the Mobius Strip came from. 

[lew]

Thanks for all the responses to this weeks "Wednesday's", I really appreciate it!!!

 

@HandyDan Thanks! Not sure I totally agree with Kent Weakley on the mortise problems.

 

@Gerald  Thank You!

 

@Grandpadave52  Thanks!

 

@Fred W. Hargis Jr Thank You! The skew is my archnemesis. 

 

@Cal  Thanks!

 

@Larry Buskirk Thank You for the offer. We will definitely enjoy seeing what's changed and what hasn't!

 

 

[Larry Buskirk]

1 minute ago, lew said:

Thank You for the offer. We will definitely enjoy seeing what's changed and what hasn't!

 

Might take a few days Lew, need to figure out the pdf software. (pdf24)

Need to recover from shoveling first.