Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'spheres'.
Found 7 results
-
Summer ain't over yet- 94° and heat index a little over 100! Our Patriot Turners- New member @Gordon posted a scary image of a bowl he was turning. Fortunately, the bowl was the only casualty. Check out Gordon's post for more about what happened- @kreisdorph and @User74 added to our "What's Off Your Lathe..." You can catch up on all the images and comments starting here- @AndrewB continues to revamp his shop. He is currently working on his sharpening station. Read more here- @Masonsailor was back at his lathe to finish up his door project. Checkout his post to see what he has made! What’s Coming Up- @Gerald was lucky enough to be able to attend SWAT last week. For those of us stuck at home, Cindy Drozda gave us a video walk about- Cindy is also hosting a Live Tool Talk on Friday August 30- Registration is here- https://streamyard.com/watch/3Ajs9A8vghKr For The Newbies- Considering getting into bowl turning? A very informative video from Craft Supplies USA- Expand Your Horizons- Mike Peace shows us how to turn a Hair Stick- Alan Stratton is still turning out spheres- New Turning Items- There were some new items presented at SWAT. In Cindy's video tour, she gives us a glimpse of some of the items. Everything Else- I hardly every remove my chuck from the lathe. The EWT chuck jaw changes are so fast and no screws to drop. But when I needed to use a sanding pad, the Jacobs chuck require the EWT chuck removal. Enter Rube Goldberg- I wore out one of those angle drill/sanders from Woodturners Wonders. Removed the small chuck from it and made tis jig.- Sanding while the chuck is still in place! I mentioned my brother had back surgery. I've started making a cane. I found a "how-to" by "mmh". Some of you may remember her from "that other" woodworking site where she posted her custom canes. Her how- gave lots of tips and much needed assembly techniques. I got the shaft turned and rough sanded today- The taper is 5/8" over 32" length I discovered my LED, ala Alan Stratton steady rest wouldn't adjust small enough for the small end of the shaft. Had to fall back on my original steady. The old steady had inline skate wheels and the rubber has dried and fallen off, but it worked. Next up will be to form the handle. Finally, from Ron Brown's newsletter- The Argument For Carbide-Tipped Tools I met Craig Jackson around 2008 in Gainesville Georgia at a turning symposium. He was in the very early stages of introducing Easy Wood Tools with their carbide-tipped cutters. Craig is the founder and original owner, he is the “Father” of this category of turning tools. Others made similar tools but they never really caught on. Craig was finally able to make carbide-tipped tools a mainstream product. I got to know Craig over those 4 days and I let him know in no uncertain terms that I thought he was ruining woodturning by promoting scraping tools over traditional high-speed-steel tools that cut wood fibers rather than tear them savagely. We agreed to disagree. Over the next few years, I made a discovery and went from a strong detractor to a strong supporter of carbide-tipped turning tools. There is a fundamental truth that applies to everything in life. If something seems easy people will try it. If it looks difficult, they are less likely to begin at all. Using carbide-tipped scraping tools is easy. Just grab one and go. You don’t have to own a low-speed grinder and an expensive sharpening jig, or take the time to learn how to use it all. You don’t have to know different grinds or the difference between a bowl gouge and a spindle gouge. You don’t have to know about sharpening at all. Craig’s success ultimately led to many more folks being willing to get started in wood-turning because it was so easy. What if it took longer and didn’t give as good a surface finish? They could still turn beautiful pens, pepper mills, bottle stoppers, turned-lidded boxes, bowls, and anything else one can make on a lathe. They were tuners just like everyone else. Many of the folks who started with carbide-tipped tools later went on to acquire High-Speed-Steel tools and the associated sharpening station after all. But if they had not first begun the easy way with carbide-tipped tools and got hooked on turning, they would never have made it to this level. Rather than ruin a whole generation of woodturners, Craig Jackson’s Easy Wood Tools actually increased the number of turners adopting woodturning as a hobby. I saw Craig a few years after our first meeting and apologized for my lack of vision. I thanked him for expanding our membership in the woodturning fraternity. Craig eventually sold Easy Wood Tools and went back to being an expert machinist. Thanks, Craig! My advice is don’t hesitate to start someone out with an inexpensive set of carbide-tipped turning tools. HSS tools can come later. Make it as easy and affordable as possible for them to get started in turning wood. It may well lead to a lifetime of joy in the workshop. I see turning clubs offer free pen turning at public events and they almost universally offer a radiused square carbide-tipped tool to each total novice. And they get excellent results indeed! Safe turning
-
Some nice mid-August weather. Mid-August can you believe it??? Our Patriot Turners- @kreisdorph added a new item to our "What's Off Your lathe...". A really nice piece of elm. In his post, Kent explains the function and added some really neat photos! @AndrewB has been keeping us up-to-date on the progress of his shop make over. Getting everything into just the right place can be challenging. Check out his most recent post on what all he has done- What’s Coming Up- Bunch of stuff coming up as the summer winds down. Click on the images for links to more information and registration. For The Newbies- Looking for a nice project? Richard Raffan turns a plate from some beautiful piece of wood. Plates/platters are fun to make and can be decorative or useful. The blank doesn't have to be several inches thick and hollowing is much shallower. Make a bunch from inexpensive wood and use them to support those flimsy picnic paper plates. Check out the oil finish at the end! For something (and someone) a little smaller, Mike peace turns a baby rattle- Expand Your Horizons- Alan Stratton turns and hollows some spheres. His method of laying out/turning the blank into a ball is really interesting. Mike Peace turns a mystery, no holes salt shaker. Check out the secret! New Turning Items- Niles Bottle Stoppers has their meat tenderizer set on sale. https://nilesbottlestoppers.com/product/tenderizer-set/ Everything Else- Safe turning
-
Just days left in our fund raising raffle. If you haven't picked up your tickets for some really special prizes, check out- Every little bit helps keep our site alive! Our Patriot Turners- @calabrese55 is getting rid of his extensive stash of pen making supplies. If you are looking for kits or pieces, see his post- @Gerald and @kreisdorph added some gorgeous items to our "What Finished" post. Gerald's project is for an AAW swap he participate in- And, Kent's are a couple of turned Chalices made from elm. This is where the new entries begin- What’s Coming Up- Cindy Drozda and Todd Raines will host a free Sharing Session this Friday, August 2nd, at 2:00pm Eastern (18:00 UTC). It's FREE, live, and interactive on Zoom! https://www.cindydrozda.com/html/Signup.html https://woodturningtoolstore.com/ For The Newbies- Woodworker's Journal published their monthly issue of the Woodturning Monthly. Lots of neat ideas and projects. Here's the link- https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/woodturning-monthly/?utm_medium=email Expand Your Horizons- Richard Raffan turns some "twig pots"- New Turning Items- OK, I know this is a stretch, but hey, I'm trying Sketchup is not generally thought of as software used by turners. This video demonstrates that the software is versatile enough to create elaborate shapes for the turner. For a smaller learning curve, this free software is available. Lathe Magic can create visual, 3D renderings of turning shapes. Free download is available here- https://www.shapemagic.com/lm/index.htm Everything Else- The rolling pin workshop is done. They made about 21 Celtic knot rolling pins of various shapes and designs. We started with this- This was one of the finished pins- Safe turning
-
Our member @Gerald is recovering from knee surgery and some complications. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Our Patriot Turners- @Steve Krumanaker decided to get a head start on next years Christmas ornaments! Steve does awesome turnings and embellishments. Check out our member's comments- @RustyFN asked a question concerning a specific bowl saver system. If you can give him some information, I'm sure he would appreciate it. @knockonit posted some of his recently turned rolling pins in the "What's On Your Workbench" forum. You can see his post at- @Grandpadave52 gave us a heads up on a video from Tom Silva (This Old House). Tom makes a segmented bowl. Dave's post is here- We've had entries in both our continuing threads of lathe projects. From "What's On Your Lathe" an almost finished platter And from the "Off The Lathe And Just Finished" thread- @RustyFN showed us his sweet pyrography work on his latest bowl- Also posted was a little, odd shaped walnut bowl- You can catchup on this thread at- What’s Coming Up- Just after the first of the month and the "4-Ways" video series continues. From Sam Angelo From Tomislav Tomasic From Richard Raffan- From Mike Peace- Free web presentation from All Things Woodturning- Registration link- https://streamyard.com/watch/gGs2fUP3i5Fq?receiptful=65c254ccf68490003ed627d1&utm_source=CM Commerce&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter-314&utm_term=newsletter&utm_content=other&receiptfultype=newsletter For The Newbies- A turning tip for finishing, from Lyle Jamieson- Expand Your Horizons- I saw this finished item on a couple of social media sites and was intrigued by how it was made. Then this popped up! Tim Yoder turned a "bowl from a board" In the video he used a device from Ron Brown's Best. https://longworthchuck.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=64 Kind of a neat idea from Alan Stratton. I'm always amazed at how easily he make it look to turn spheres. New Turning Items- From Ron Brown's Best- And a sale on sanding supplies from Woodturners Wonders- https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/ultimate-sanding-system?_kx=gV5SF2As_3IwtBi5TrpHVQM0F3UvGVbQKzhWGippDlk%3D.VJvU8R Everything Else- Today was laser day in my shop. Had several turnings and other stuff that needed signed/dated. The little scissor lift works really well for focus adjustments. I usually wait until I have several items as it requires a little space to set up everything. Safe turning
- 4 replies
-
- 4
-
-
-
- mike peace
- richard raffan
- (and 29 more)
-
Don't forget, Valentine's Day is on the horizon. Time to start dropping hints for that woodturning item you have been eyeing! Our Patriot Turners- @Gerald turned a replacement bed finial for a friend. He challenged us to see if we can tell his turning from the original- You can provide your guess here- What’s Coming Up- Lots happening as the weather warms and fear of the virus diminishes. Click on the images for links to more information and registration. Cindy Drozda is hosting an on-line event- Lyle Jamieson's latest IRD will be on turning a goblet- Lyle also posted this to his Facebook page concerning in-person symposiums during 2022- The AAW associated "Women In Turning" is presenting Tania Radda- Another AAW associated presentation is- From Craft Supplies USA- For The Newbies- Lyle Jamieson posted this tip on Facebook. Hope you can see the video without a Facebook account- https://fb.watch/b2Ksz13F-V/ If you are just starting out, Jim Rodgers creates some great tool use videos. This one covers the parting tool and fluted spindle gouge. Interested in bowl turning? Ashley Harwood helps understand the tools need. Keep in mind, Ms. Harwood sells tools. If you have been turning for a little while, this shop made sanding station can really be an asset to your shop- Expand Your Horizons- Alan Stratton continues his series on eccentric turning with more ideas using his shop made jig/chuck- Alan also, demonstrates how to turn the perfect sphere without the aid of jigs- Mike Peace added a video on the topic of toxic wood. I know many of our members have had allergic reactions to various species. Along those same lines, I came across this video of a turner, garage engineering an HEPA filtration system. Passing it along for your enjoyment This one is for @Steve Krumanaker and his honey dippers. A really cool turned and beaded "honey box" by Carl Jacobson. New Turning Items- From the folks at Woodturners Wonders- https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/kodiak-sharpening-system Daryl Johns (Dread Knot Workshop) posted a review/demonstration of the new Robert Sorby Steady Pro for hollowing- Everything Else- Rick Turns list of YouTube woodturning videos from last week- Woodturning seems to run in fads. Everyone does bowls, then hollowing, then acrylics. Lately I noticed a lot of surface colors. I have to say, although they are amazing, I still prefer to see the natural color of the species. I found a couple of pieces of white oak left over from a gun rack I made for a friend. The pieces were cutoffs and about 12" wide and 1"+ thick. Thinking about making something- maybe a platter. Turning the years of storage dirt away, the wood was true to its name- white. The grain was nondescript. Played around a little with some coloring ideas. I thought maybe black toner cartridge dust might fill the pores- not so much- but it did make an almighty mess on the lathe. Then tried brown paste shoe polish- not bad. Then black opaque resin dye- about the same. Last was amber transparent resin dye- better. Keep in mind I was only trying to accentuate the grain pattern- not color the entire surface. Applied the color and then skimmed the surface. Brown shoe polish- Black opaque resin dye- Amber transparent resin dye- I might just use oil based poly to give the piece a nice mellow glow. Who says you can't get curlies from carbide cutters- Safe turning and stay well
-
Another week in the books. We've had a beautiful stretch of nice weather here in South Central PA. Unfortunately it has been so dry that the forest service is predicting very muted colors on the trees as the the leaves change. Our Patriot Turners- @Masonsailor reminded us that Christmas isn't that far away! He has started in on his gifts already He received lots of positive comments on this ice cream scoop- Of course, @Ron Altier is always prepared for Christmas! He gave us a look at a couple of new ornaments he turned. As always, Ron's pieces brought lots of comments- See his post for the process and finish he used- @AndrewB has been busy with bowls. The first is a pair made of Bhilwara wood. Check out this post for his description of what he did and some of his techniques. He also posted a Canary wood bowl. With this one, Andrew wasn't sure about the shape. Please see his post and give him your thoughts on it Andrew also worked on a couple of birch glue-ups to turn into bowls- In his posts he shows us how he did the glue-ups and also included a video on the turning process- What’s Coming Up- I couldn't find any new events. I suspect the folks who organized the Virtual Craft Festival on YouTube will have another event but I cannot find any definitive information on this. For The Newbies- A several informative videos this week. First, Mike Peace helps us sort out the various parting tools and their uses- Gouges! What's the difference? Here's a video that explains the differences between spindle gouges and bowl gouges @AndrewB said he was having trouble using his new inertia sander. I found this video, from M. Saban Smith, explaining how to use these sanders. This starts at about the 5 minute mark- Expand Your Horizons- @HandyDan was kind enough to send me the link to this video. The author demonstrates how to turn a multi axis "square bowl". Really Cool and you get 2 bowls from one glue-up! As noted earlier, @Ron Altier and @Masonsailor have been working on Christmas ideas. Here's one from our generous sponsor, Woodcraft, on making a keepsake ornament- I found this interesting. I'm a jig junky and will spend days building jigs that I would probably would not even need. Here is an example of what can be done with knowledge from the right person- New Turning Items- Sorry, save up your lunch money. Maybe next week! Everything Else- Rick Turn's list of YouTube videos from last week- The rocking horse is nearing completion. Mimi has the mane finished and the tail is almost ready to install. Safe turning and stay well
- 9 replies
-
- 3
-
-
-
- bowls
- parting tool
- (and 9 more)
-
We had our monthly meeting today. Dick Gerard did attend and he did a short demo. He is really into turning and embellishing spheres, from golf ball size to nearly 20" diameter. He demonstrated a few different jigs and techniques as well a few different methods of embellishing them. It was interesting and our meeting was very well attended. Steve
- 13 replies
-
- 4
-
-
- dick gerard
- spheres
- (and 4 more)
-Mess.png.904bc4ee8231787ddcec6434fe6db887.png)
.png.1afcbc48315f6b025b3ae878ca21023d.png)
.png.79d85ee5133a61818272be8129688327.png)
