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Been one of those computer days from He$$ Our Patriot Turners- @AndrewB converted some logs into turning stock the old fashioned way- hammer and wedge!!! A lot of work! New member @DeVere posted some images of the musical instruments he builds. These are some fantastic items!! Please check these out and give him some feedback. @windward woodturning added additional information to his post on deep pour epoxy. Great observations and reviews of several brands- Our turners are keeping the "ON/OFF" posts alive with gorgeous pieces! From ON- @RustyFN and @kreisdorph both posted More images and details start here- And from OFF- @DeVere posted some of his beautiful pieces- Check out more of his turnings here- What’s Coming Up- Click on the images for links to registration and more information. For The Newbies- Scroll chucks are not the only way to hold a turning. Kent Weakley shows us how versatile the Jam Chuck can be- Sam Angelo explains how to mill a bowl blank from half a log- Expand Your Horizons- The Woodworker's Journal published this month's edition of Woodturning Monthly Some neat turning ideas. The entire newsletter is at: https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/woodturning-monthly/?utm_medium=email New Turning Items- Not exactly a new item but Sam Angelo discusses some of the features of the Trent Bosch Laser Bar. Everything Else- The smaller cherry bowl came out of the drying box today. Larger sycamore still needs a couple of days. Maybe I'll finally be able to get back to the lathe!! Safe turning
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Where did the summer go?!?!?!?!? Our Patriot Turners- We've had more activity on our "What's On/Off Your Late..." From "ON"- @Gerald posted several of the things he is currently completing! Some amazing looking pieces. Check out the post to see how Gerald created those amazing colors on the vase- And from "OFF"- @kreisdorph completed a couple of gorgeous bowls. I just cannot get over how beautiful the spalted one came out! Catchup from last week starting here- @AndrewB continues to grow his tool inventory. Check out what he has done this week- What’s Coming Up- If you missed Cindy Drozda's live tool talk last week, she posted it on YouTube- Click on the following images for links to more information and registration- For The Newbies- Kent Weakley, from Turn A Wood Bowl, has a nice video demonstrating the body positions during the turning process. Mike Peace turns a great little item that may just be something the Mrs. would like- Expand Your Horizons- Another installment of the "4-Ways" collaboration. I must be a cheap skate- I keep mine in an old scuba diving net bag Seems lately that baby rattles have been the current flavor of turning. Carl Jacobson has a special reason for this one- he's will be a grandpa soon! New Turning Items- Sorry, couldn't find anything this week... Everything Else- I've been working on a cane for my brother. First time trying one of these. There is a lot of lathe use but much of it is just a way to hold the cane while working on shaping it. I did turn the tapered shaft. I can't take credit for the design as I liberated much of it from "mmh's" blog I found when doing research. I am at the point where the sanding is finished and I need to laser engrave his name and put on a finish. Have to set up the laser and play a little with test pieces to get a nice engraving. The Derby handle is tiger maple- the stripes show better when I wiped it down with mineral spirits. The collar is cherry and walnut. The shaft is hard maple. The black dots are dowels that go through the cane to pin an internal oak dowel that runs from the handle to the shaft. The pins are ebony turned from old piano keys. Safe turning
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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
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August is coming to an end. Our local schools start back tomorrow. Our Patriot Turners- We have a new member at the Patriot site. @Gordon joined this week and posted some of his turnings. He does some beautiful work! If you haven't already welcomed him, please take a minute to stop by his post and check it out! @AndrewB continues to rehab his shop and posted some more images of what he is doing. Pick up here from last week- What’s Coming Up- If you missed Cindy Drozda's most recent live tool talk, she uploaded it for replay- For The Newbies- Mike Peace demonstrates turning a clamshell. During the turning process, Mike encountered some grain tear out. He has a pretty neat way of handling the problem. His solution is at about 9 minutes into the video. Captain Eddie posted a short video on the importance of keeping the lathe's Morris tapers clean- John Lucas discusses techniques for sanding the inside of hollow vessels Expand Your Horizons- Lyle Jamieson provides tips on matching grain between the bottom and top of a turned lidded box and why grain orientation is important. When I learned to turn bowls I used a mortice to hold the blank to the chuck. It just seemed that it wasted less material on the bottom of the blank. I could easily convert the mortice into a foot for the bowl. Alan Stratton uses a similar technique to turn a Sapele bowl- How about embellishing your turning with clouds! Tim Yoder shows us how- New Turning Items- Last week we posted a link to the Niles Bottle Stoppers tenderizing kit. Since then, Carl Jacobson produced a video on turning handles for those items- Everything Else- From Ron Brown's Newsletter= The Difference Between Perfect And Good Enough Perfect Definition: “Having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.” In life, things are seldom perfect. When turning wooden objects, things are rarely perfect. I recommend that you strive to be better this time than last time. Three main areas within your control always make a huge difference in the final product and require surprisingly little extra effort. Shape Learning what shapes are pleasing is a lifelong quest for most of us. When you are making something for someone other than yourself, you have to consider the shape. It must be visually pleasing with the proper proportions. The curves must be fair and the separations must be sharp. A great way to develop an understanding of pleasing shapes is to study ceramics and glass vessels similar to the projects you undertake. There are tons of resources on classic shapes that have been around for centuries. There are good reasons for certain shapes to remain popular over the centuries. If you try to swim upstream for too long, you will soon tire and fail. Sanding This is an area most easily and quickly improved. 1) Half a Grit: if you start with 100 grit sandpaper, don’t go finer than 150 grit next. Then don’t go finer than 220 grit and so on. 2) Take time to visually inspect that all of the 100 grit scratches are removed before you finish with the 150 grit. If you don’t remove all of the scratches at each step, they will show through in the final finish. 3) I recommend using compressed air to blow off all of the sanding dust along with a strong raking light to inspect your work before moving to the next grit. If you are working with very hard wood i.e. ebony, cocobolo, African blackwood, padauk, acrylic, or epoxy, this is especially important. Take extra time to get it right now or you will have to do it over. 4) NOTE: I stop sanding wood at 320 grit. When using finer grits, friction can overheat the lignin in the wood and make it resistant to film finishes adhering to the surface causing the finish to fail much sooner. Finish 1) If you rush the finishing process, you will have ruined all your hard work. 2) Film finishes (lacquer, varnish, shellac, epoxy, friction finish-shellac) are more durable than wax finishes. But they take more time and effort. 3) Wax is a quick finish that will dull over time and need to be renewed either by reapplication or more buffing. Wax finishes are quick to apply and look shiny and sparkly in the short term. Wax is perfect for projects where saving time is important and the durability of the finish is of no significance. Wax or oil is mandatory for utility vessels such as salad bowls or kitchen utensils. 4) Multiple coats of lacquer (10 to 30) applied over several days and when allowed to cure for 30 or more days, can be polished to a brilliant mirror-like finish. This is the finish of choice for art and display-only pieces bringing top dollars such as in a gallery. Try to do better each time than the time before and you will quickly reach Master Status Skill Sets. Consider the end use for what you are making and decide how much time you can devote to making something perfect or just good enough. Safe turning
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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
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Our Summer fund raiser is still happening! Remember, this is to provide funds for the site operation and unexpected expenses. Our Patriot Turners- @AndrewB posted a couple of new items he is working on, check out his posts! And- We had a post on our "What's Off Your Lathe And Finished" by @kreisdorph. That Black walnut sure is lovely! What’s Coming Up- Cindy Drozda posted the video of her live tool talk event from last week. Always some great tips! Cindy and Todd Raines will be hosting a Woodturning Sharing event on August 2, 2024 https://community.woodturner.org/events/event-description?CalendarEventKey=22337b94-ff08-4811-a511-019074232f14&Home=%2fevents%2fird-demonstrations&_zs=ceDib&_zl=EQRA4 https://community.woodturner.org/events/event-description?CalendarEventKey=48fd6950-9604-44ed-b3d9-0190c7ad94e2&Home=%2fevents%2fird-demonstrations&_zs=ceDib&_zl=AQRA4 https://mawts.com/ For The Newbies- @AndrewB posted about learning to turn bowls. Member @Gerald was kind enough to locate a video from Stuart Batty on the subject. Reposting Gerald's link here- Also, here's a video from Kent Weakley on the correct use of the bowl gouge- Some great tips from Tim Yoder! Check out the one on turning speed. Expand Your Horizons- Do you do craft shows or just looking for some new ideas for turnings? Mike Peace has two neat turned "animals" that might interest you. New Turning Items- A couple of weeks ago, we posted a video from Todd Raines demonstrating the Robust "Tru-Arc" tool. Sam Angelo gives us his impression of the tool in this video- Everything Else- I did an Easy Wood Tools demonstration for The Catoctin Area Turners' club last Thursday in Leesburg, VA. I thought @Gerald would be interested in their Beads of Courage boxes shown during the show and tell portion of their meeting Well the rolling pin blanks are finally finished- yesterday! The demo/workshop is this Saturday. 24 blanks here and 2 more at the workshop location. I make my blanks 22" long and 2 x 2" square. The lathes available for the workshop max out at 15" and 17" so angles had to be adjusted for a pleasing look when turned. Also some of the supplied blanks were smaller that 2 x 2 all that required different cutting angles. Some blanks were larger (almost 3 x 3) and my jig for cutting the angles wouldn't let the saw blade reach a high enough point to cut the proper insert slots. Had to design another jig for those blanks. Now on to Mimi's honey-do list that has been expanding exponentially! Safe turning
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We have a little over a month left in our summer fund raiser drive! Some great prizes from our very generous sponsors. Get your raffle tickets here- Our Patriot Turners- Please welcome back a forum member who checked in this week. Great to have @AndrewB posting again and getting all of us caught up with what he has been doing! @John Morris posted about a turning artisan he follows, Jarrod Dahl. Mr. Dahl's video created a question that got lots of responses from our group. Jump over to John's post and see if you can add more to the conversation- Another great week for our "On/Off Your Lathe" running post! From "On"- @Gerald's spalted maple plate. Beautiful wood and lovely shape! And from "Off"- Gerald showed us his finished sculpted lidded vessel. Talk about a beautiful work of art!! I can't imagine how much sandpaper he must have gone through!! Our gang gave him a huge thumbs up on this one! What’s Coming Up- Click on the images for links to more information and registration. Cindy Drozda's Tool Talk this Friday Cindy and Todd Raines Zoom Sharing Meeting- For The Newbies- When it comes to bowl turning, the grinds on a bowl gouge can be confusing. Which one is best? Which one should I use and where? Sam Angelo has some information that may help you answer these questions- Turning a bowl, box or any hollow type form requires the turner to know just how deep into the wood they can go before making the inside larger than the outside. Richard Raffan shows us how to make a simple tool to help with judging the depth. When hollowing out turnings with straight sides (i.g. boxes), the box scraper can help to make more precise cuts. Mike Peace takes a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of some of the tools- Expand Your Horizons- Don't have a nice piece of wood to turn a larger project? Alan Stratton has the answer- New Turning Items- Woodturners Wonders has a sale on lighting. https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/lamps?_kx=gV5SF2As_3IwtBi5TrpHVQM0F3UvGVbQKzhWGippDlk.VJvU8R Everything Else- Still working on those rolling pin blanks for a demonstration. Received the last of the wood an hour ago. Going to be in Leesburg VA at the Catoctin Area Turners club tomorrow evening for an Easy Wood Tools product demonstration ( @Jordan Martindale ) Safe turning
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Please don't forget our summer fund raiser is in progress! Check here for more information and the raffle tickets- Our Patriot Turners- Again, THANKS to everyone who takes the time to show us all what you have been working on. We've had several additions to our "What's On Your Lathe" post. @User74, @Gerald and @kreisdorph posted this week! The new items start here- What’s Coming Up- If you missed Cindy Drozda's tool talk last Friday, she has it loaded up on her YouTube channel. This discussion was on Box Hollowing Tools- Todd Raines, from the Woodturning Tool Store will be demonstrating the Robust Tru-Arc tool- Registration and more information can be found here- https://woodturningtoolstore.com/live-stream-woodturning-with-tod-raines/?receiptful=668c77471ee11bbc67cec8e6&utm_source=CM Commerce&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter-363&utm_term=newsletter&utm_content=other&receiptfultype=newsletter Cindy and Todd will be doing a Zoom Sharing event on August 2, 2024- Registration for the sharing event- https://community.woodturner.org/events/event-description?CalendarEventKey=22337b94-ff08-4811-a511-019074232f14&Home=%2fevents%2fird-demonstrations&_zs=ceDib&_zl=5jU94 For The Newbies- Lyle Jamieson's Tuesday Tip is about removing that little nub from the inside of a bowl- Anxious to turn that first bowl. It doesn't have to be a monster! In fact small bowls are very useful as Kent Weakley demonstrated- Another nice little hollowing project from Mike Peace that doesn't require a large hollowing system. Couple of neat tips included! Expand Your Horizons- Now that you have that laser, how can you use it with your turning projects? Carl Jacobson has some ideas- New Turning Items- Not any new products but Woodturners Wonders has revamped their website. https://woodturnerswonders.com/ Everything Else- I know it seems like I don't do any turning but I have a valid excuse. A month ago, I committed to creating rolling pin blanks for the local woodturning club. They've been a little slow in getting me the remainder of the materials. My shop is a "one man" shop- literally!! Only one person can fit at a time! Now I have everything waiting for more materials as time is critically short. Also, a little over a week ago I did an Easy Wood Tools demo and will be doing another in about a week and a half. All my stuff is packed for transport and not easily accessible. In the middle of all that, I'm trying to work on a new jig (ala Alan Stratton) for the bandsaw. Safe turning
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The summer community fund raiser has begun! Our very generous sponsors have donated some awesome gifts for the raffle winners. Here's where you can participate- Our Patriot Turners- @RustyFN gave us a look at some cedar he scored. Looks like some awesome turnings and lovely fragrance filling his shop- @Fred W. Hargis Jr finished up his "learning experience" and posted images of what he had done. Our turners had good things to say about Fred's experience. His new information picks up here- Fred also posted the images of his finished, turned box. The update is here- Our What's On Your lathe had some activity this past week. There were some comments on past activity and @teesquare and @Geraldposted images of urns they have turned. These urns are incredibly beautiful and have such interesting stories about their creation. Catch up on all of the activity and see more images at- What’s Coming Up- If you missed Cindy Drozda's live Tool Talk, last Friday, it is available on YouTube- Then, this Friday, June 28, Cindy and Todd Raines are doing a live sharing event. Sign up for this free zoom at- https://www.cindydrozda.com/html/Signup.html For The Newbies- From Mike Peace, some information about turning catches, fails and some humorous bloopers. Mike explains why things went wrong. Expand Your Horizons- Lyle Jamieson's Tuesday Tip gives us his thoughts on the bandsaw for making round turning blanks. Alan Stratton demonstrates turning a Trembleur- Jim Rodgers turns a square platter. The corners droop down to become feet. Keep the band aids close at hand! New Turning Items- Couldn't find anything this week. Everything Else- I've been preparing French rolling pin blanks for the local turning club. About 20 blanks are needed of several different lengths and diameters. Ran out of stock. Started gluing what I could cobble together. Safe turning
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Lots happened this past week! Our Patriot Turners- @Gerald posted more images of his "Frig Magnets". His Jaho jig really creates some spectacular designs! Here's where the new entry starts- @John Hechel made a couple of posts in our sub-forum for Ringmaster Turning. He showed us some of his glue ups and some absolutely gorgeous bowl! Check out his posts here- @RustyFN posted an update on his new McNaughton Bowl Coring System. He created some measuring devices to help setup the system for different sized cores. Thanks, Rusty for the update! I love all your posts on our "On/Off Your Lathe". It is so enjoyable to see the development and finishing of the projects. From "ON"- From @kreisdorph and @Gerald Catch up from last week starting here- From OFF- @kreisdorph and @User74 The latest entries start here- What’s Coming Up- If you missed Cindy Drozda's Tool Talk last week, she posted the video on her YouTube channel- Click on the following images for links to registration and more information- For The Newbies- The bowl gouge can be confusing for the new turner, especially when it comes to the type of "grind" on the tip. Professional turners seem to have individual preferences and provide that grind style on the tools they recommend/sell. Lyle Jamieson discusses his preference in this video. Jim Rodgers creates another custom pen. Check out some of the jigs he uses to create the pieces. Expand Your Horizons- Alan Stratton turns a bowl as a keepsake for a tree that needed to be removed. Most of us do this when we are gifted wood. What I found interesting was Alan's use of UV epoxy instead of the typical epoxy/acrylic. Here's the entire video- the UV information is at about 4:30. The "4 Ways Collaboration" continues. This month they turn multi-sided plates Mike- Tomislav- Sam- Richard- New Turning Items- From Ron Brown- Glue Press for Bowl From Board or Segmented Rings https://longworthchuck.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=536 Everything Else- My experiment with the turned blank from last week was a miserable failure. That turning became this- The prototype for a passive amplifier. There was a barely noticeable increase in volume but it looks neat. Biggest mistakes- don't use a spade bit for long holes, cutting an angle and rotating is not produce as nice as cutting 2 angles. As in Alan Stratton's video, I did turn a little bowl from our Crab Apple tree that is dying by inches. Planted it in 1969. Safe turning
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Relatives gone but the remainder of the week already scheduled with appointments. Our Patriot Turners- Our turners have been busy with projects and new journeys @Gerald is learning the ins-and-outs of his new JaHo jig. He posted a couple of cool bowl images and asked our opinion on the painting scheme- His post received lots of comments. Our turners are not shy offering their opinions! Check out his post and give him your input! @keithlong asked us for some leads on mechanical pencil kits. He has been asked to turn a special type of pencil. If you have any ideas for sources for these kits, Keith would appreciate any input- @Fred W. Hargis Jr has started down the slippery slope of wood turning ! He asked our group for some ideas on turning knobs. Specifically, how is the best way to hold the knob during the urning process. A lot of us chimed in with various suggestions and information sources. Fred's setup looks like this- Check his post/questions and our responses and give him some of your ideas- Our continuing post of "What's On Your Lathe" got a couple of hits this week! @kreisdorph posted images of a beautiful cedar bowl. New entries begin here- What’s Coming Up- Cindy Drozda has a free, live tool talk on Friday April 26. Registration link is- https://streamyard.com/watch/MJdeXdGa5fNC For The Newbies- Mike Peace gives us a refresher course on the various live centers available. If you are thinking of upgrading your center, he offers some good information. Sam Angelo gives talks about how to safely use the spindle roughing gouge- Lyle Jamieson has some tips on tips on wet wood storage and wet wood turning- Expand Your Horizons- Richard Raffan turns a lovely little jewelry box from "Sheaok". I had to look that up on the web. Interesting species. Also, watch how Mr. Raffan takes setbacks in stride! Alan Stratton turns a rose bush root ball. Someone said life is too short to turn crappy wood. I'd say the results were well worth the effort. New Turning Items- Found this in the Niles Bottle Stoppers newsletter- Here's the link- https://nilesbottlestoppers.com/product/bottle-stoppers-blanks/ Everything Else- Safe turning
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The old Dogwood tree, outside my window, should be in full bloom tomorrow. Hard to believe when I transplanted it, from my parents mountain property, it was a single, spindly stick. That was 56 years ago! Our Patriot Turners- @RustyFN showed us a beautiful new turned lidded box he made. He said this one is made from Maple. He certainly has perfected the flocking technique, too! Our turners gave him lots of compliments in his post- @Gerald has been creating amazing designs with his JaHo jig. His most recent refrigerator magnet is a beauty! Check out this addition to his post- More activity on our two continuing posts of "What's On/Off the Lathe" From ON: @Gerald provide a closeup look at his JaHo jig in action- You can see how this jig can create some fantastic designs. Check out Gerald's post for additional images. From OFF: @kreisdorph turned a gnarly piece of mulberry into a beautiful bowl- Kent also finished these beauties. This spalted piece caught my eye because of the shape. Years ago, an artist friend sent me a picture from a magazine. He fell in love with the shape. I think it was a hint for me to turn one. Alas, I have not done it. New projects start here- @lew was looking for some input on design and proportions for turnings. He used miniature hollow turnings to get an idea of what had pleasing shapes and asked our turners their opinions. As always, our members provided some excellent advice and suggestions. What’s Coming Up- Click on the images for links to more information and registration- This is a replay of the most resent Tool Talk from Cindy Drozda For The Newbies- Thinking of design and proportions, Lyly Jamieson's turning tip discusses the design for bowls, Pen turning is a great way to get into turning. Kits can be inexpensive and provide amazing results. Tim Yoder shows us how it's done!! Now for a little more of a challenge, Jim Rodgers turns a segmented pen- Expand Your Horizons- Last week we posted a shop tour hosted by Mike Peace. The craftspeople were making Beads Of Courage boxes. Mike takes a segmented glue up and turns his own version of a Beads of Courage box- Sometimes the most beautiful turning is not the most perfect piece. Alan Stratton explains- https://youtu.be/hx1qGGVvU-g?si=mSuL1RJNLd0YDMOu EDIT: Cannot get this video to show in published post. Link seems to work. A short video from Richard Raffan demonstrating how he utilizes as much of a turning blank as possible. Check out the unique parting tool! New Turning Items- Been really difficult to find anything new on the market. Maybe by the time the income tax return is ready there will be some new toys to spend it on. Everything Else- An excerpt from Ron Brown's newsletter on advice for the new turner My advice for a new turner or a student would include the following: Find a turning club in your area and attend some meetings. These people are a tremendous resource and are always eager to help. Start with pens. Start by watching some YouTube videos for instructions. Get setup for basic pen turning, a 7mm mandrel, some slimline pen kits, proper sanding grits, CA glue, friction finish, etc. Pens are quick to make, easy to turn, and provide an immediate sense of accomplishment. If someone wanted to sell a few pens to pay for more turning stuff, many folks earn turning money this way. Then make some spinning tops for fun and give them away. Turn a few bottle stoppers and give them as gifts to friends and relatives. As soon as you can afford it, buy an inexpensive 4 jaw scroll chuck. Add more jaws down the road or buy a chuck with a few jaws included. Quality chucks with multiple jaw sets can be very expensive. Save that for later. For now, just get a serviceable chuck for around $100. Turn small plates from a 3/4" thick piece of wood using a recessed tenon in expansion mode for practice. A family member might even wish to add decorations or paint your masterpiece. Now that you have a scroll chuck, practice making turned lidded boxes, goblets, and soup ladles for the kitchen. Try turning a few small bowls from green wood. Turn the walls to 1/4" and watch them go oval. Turn a few 1/2" thick to let them dry in a paper bag for a few months, then re-turn them to 1/4" wall thickness once they’ve dried if they didn’t crack or explode. Once you've done all that, evaluate your interest in turning and if you love it, like most of us do, prepare to spend some money (easily $500) on High-Speed Steel lathe tools, a specialty grinder, and a sharpening jig. Next, set about learning to cut with traditional turning tools and learn to keep them sharp. Note: You only need a few HSS tools. In the beginning, don't buy more than 10 total, and never buy turning tools in a set. Always purchase the tool you need for the job at hand. After that, plan to take some full-day turning classes and plan to attend some turning symposiums in your area. From there, the sky is the limit. Turning can be as much or as little as you want. You can learn to make shavings in a couple of hours. It takes a lifetime to become a “Turner”. Did play a little at the lathe this week. The largest usable piece of that wind shake cherry was dry so I put it on the lathe. The more I turned, the more defects were uncovered. Filled the cracks with CA and sanding dust. The colors are nice but I don't like the tiny splits throughout the piece. Sanded to 600 and beeswax/mineral oil finish. Safe turning
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Stonemasons finished the chimney today. Mimi says it looks really nice. Our Patriot Turners- Member @keithlong asked a question about carbide, negative rake bead cutters. He was curious if anyone had experience with them. Please check out his post and maybe give him your opinion. The "What's OFF Your lathe..." and "What's On Your Lathe..." topics had activity this week by @kreisdorph. He showed us some really nice bowls and one that didn't quite make it. From Off the lathe- New stuff and comments start here- And, What's On the lathe The new stuff starts here- Some good discussions in both posts. What’s Coming Up- This is the video from last Friday's Tool Talk from Cindy Drozda. It was a little different as she talked about the new "gadgets" she has in her shop. Click on the following images for links to registration and more information- For The Newbies- A couple of turning tips from Lyle Jamieson- Sam Angelo has created a new YouTube channel to help the new turner get started. It's called "Learn 2 Turn With Sam" The introduction to the channel And one of the first lessons- For a woodturner, one of the most useful machines, besides the lathe, is a bandsaw. In this video, Kent Weakley discusses Bandsaw Basics. The latest issue of Woodcraft Magazine (April/May 2024) has a great article for someone thinking about getting started in woodturning. It covers just about everything you need to consider. There's also a how-to article on turned fishing lures. Check it out at your local newsstand or in the magazine section at the local Borg. Expand Your Horizons- A couple of weeks ago, we included a video from Alan Stratton on multi-axis star ornaments. Alan has refined his process and posted this video- One of our member from a long time ago, @Charles Nicholls, used to turn light pulls. It's a great way to use up scraps and Charles sold many of his turnings. Mike Waldt shows us how he does it. New Turning Items- Even though I turn almost exclusively with carbide tools, I do have and can use traditional HSS tools. For sharpening the HSS tools, I use a Tormek slow, wet grinder. Tormek has an extensive lineup of sharpening jigs to aid in getting those razor sharp edges. Now, those styles of jigs are available from Woodturners Wonders, for other types of grinders and they are on sale! Click on the above image for the link to the sale page. Everything Else- I had some sycamore bowls roughed out and dried. Spent an hour or so this afternoon working on the closed bowl shape. The wood itself is pretty unexciting grain wise so I added some extra details to make it more interesting. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to reverse it and finish out the bottom. Used Yorkshire grit and beeswax/mineral oil for finishing. Burned rings. Beads made with EWT beading cutters. Safe turning
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A little early with Wednesday's post. 71° outside and I've just been informed I'll be cooking supper on the grill tonight Our Patriot Turners- @John Hechel posted in our Ringmaster Sub-Forum showing us an awesome bowl he fabricated from a neat glue-up. Check out his post for more information- We had activity on both our continuing posts about projects on and off the lathe! From "On" the lathe- From @calabrese55, @RustyFN, @Pauley and @kreisdorph showed us these beautiful pieces! Catch up on all the action and comments beginning here- From "Off" the lathe- Both @RustyFN and @Gerald shared their fantastic projects- More here with comments from our group- What’s Coming Up- Click on the images for links to more information and registration- For The Newbies- I always struggle with the concept of "Form vs. Function". Lyle Jamieson gives us his thoughts in this short video- Richard Raffan adds another chucking idea for hard to hold pieces- We sometimes post links to the Woodturners Wonders site for their products/sales. I found this link with videos about many of their products. (Full Disclosure- I am not affiliated with Woodturners Wonders. I do purchase some sanding supplies from them from time to time). https://woodturnerswonders.com/pages/videos?_kx=gV5SF2As_3IwtBi5TrpHVQGZ2p91Dzyb6Hq8u86HRP26F2J3AVp8xSSqd_hTF8cT.VJvU8R Expand Your Horizons- If you do the Craft Show circuit, Carl Jacobson shows us a project that might be an addition to your product line. This project from Mike Peace would make an awesome gift and could also be a craft show article. It lends itself to design customization- When I saw this from Alan Stratton, I thought of some of the embellishments done by @Gerald. New Turning Items- Couldn't find anything this week Everything Else- Something I need to learn more about, from Rom Brown's Newsletter- Technical Skills or Wisdom and Discernment? When you see a finished piece that is visually stunning, do you ever wonder what made it that way? Perhaps the end result was because the maker has superior technical skills with lathe chisels. It is much more likely they got the proportions just right, presented a balanced form, and knew when to stop and call it done. A great form can make even a bland piece of wood appear pleasing. If the material is ordinary, that is an opportunity to add embellishment such as painting, carving, or texturing to the great shape. Out of balance shapes, non-fair curves, sloppy transitions, deep sanding scratches, tool marks, and torn grain all contribute to a less pleasing finished piece. While technical skills go a long way toward reducing the time and energy needed to complete a project, I’ve seen many beautiful pieces completed by much less skilled turners who developed an eye for forms, paid attention to details and worked on the finish until they got it right. That means having the wisdom to know what shapes go together to make a pleasing finished item. A prime example where discernment is key might be a lidded hollow form, lidded small box, or Christmas ornament. Getting the finial in balance relative to the piece, or a lid and knob combination that compliments the box can be challenging. Discernment is knowing when to stop and move on to the next step. Those of us who have a loving partner will benefit mightily by asking their opinion on how a project can be improved. Ask for their honest observations and tell them you can only learn by seeing through someone else’s eyes. They won’t want to hurt your feelings, but this is a time for brutal honesty if you really want to improve. “Technical skills are important, but a discerning eye is importanter.” I would encourage you to develop your understanding for the things that result in a pleasing form along with your technical expertise. I studied shapes in other media including pottery and ancient vessels that survived the ages and it really helped. Don’t forget how important the Fibonacci formula is throughout nature. Safe turning
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If you haven't gotten that Valentines present, maybe you should dig out a pillow and a couple of blankets for the couch! Our Patriot Turners- @RustyFN posted a beautiful walnut bowl in our continuing thread "OFF The Lathe And Just Finished"- Rusty has another image and a little about the finish in his post. Rusty also posted that he is looking to purchase a McNaughton Center Saver. Check out his post here- @StaticLV2 is tinkering with segmented turning. He created a really nice cutting jig for the angles. The results are gorgeous! You can see the jig and his process images starting in this post- We have a new member to our forum! @kreisdorph, from Tennessee, posted some of his awesome work. You really need to check out his post to see more of his turnings- One of our members, Brian Longshore, "Big B", is battling the dreaded "C". He's a Navy vet. Here's the link to his Patriot profile- https://thepatriotwoodworker.com/profile/4825-big-b/ If you do Facebook, you can follow his progress at- https://www.facebook.com/brian.longshore.9. What’s Coming Up- Click on the image for the link to registration- From Cindy Drozda- For The Newbies- From Richard Raffan, a tip on making/using a "tail center disc" Last week we posted a safety tip when using the Jacob's Chuck with the tail stock. Lyle Jamieson has an idea that secures the chuck in the tail stock- Expand Your Horizons- Richard Raffan continues to work on his stash of green elm. The warping really creates interesting designs. New Turning Items- Sorry couldn't find anything interesting. Everything Else- I had gotten some cherry a while back only to discover most of it had "windshake" damage. One of the pieces destined to be a bowl became pretty much fodder for the garbage man. I salvaged one small piece for a little bowl only to have it explode while sanding. So as not to have the efforts be a total loss, I cut what was left to see the profile and how I was doing with wall thickness consistency. I was using only my fingers as a gauge, except for the bottom, where I use a gauge/jig from Sam Angelo to determine the thickness. I'm pretty happy. The wall thickness could have been a little better at the transition from side to bottom. And maybe a little thinner overall. Safe turning
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This month is quickly coming to an end! Our Patriot Turners- @Gerald posted a beautiful bowl he finished. This one has some gorgeous embellishments on the bottom and the rim. Gerald received lots of positive comments on this one! Please keep Gerald and his family in your prayers. He had a knee replacement done recently. @calabrese55 is working on a staved bowl. He built a really nice steady rest to do part of the turning. This was posted in our "What's On Your Lathe" continuing thread- Check his comments about the wheels he used and see more images! We've had an additional post in the "What's Off Lathe And Just Finished" What’s Coming Up- This is the video of the recent Tool Talk from Cindy Drozda, in case you missed it live. She demonstrates Hook and Cygnet mini hollowers. Cindy and Todd Raines will be hosting free Q&A session. Click on the image for the link. From the Keystone Woodturners via their Facebook page. Click the image for the link to more information. For The Newbies- Some things about making turning more safe. Over the years, I've heard and read about something called "shake" or "wind shake". However, I had never had a piece of wood that displayed the characteristic split. Recently, the tree man called and said they were taking down a cherry tree and was saving me a couple of pieces. As I was making blanks from the logs, one of them plainly showed the results of wind shake. The beginning of this video, from Tim Yoder, address the potential dangers of turning wood affected by this and other types of defects. This short video illustrates why it is a good idea to grasp the Jacob's Chuck when using it for drilling, on the lathe. I usually hold it when advancing the quill. Now I'll hold it for movement in both directions. Expand Your Horizons- Some weeks back we posted a video, from Carl Jacobson/Niles Bottle Stoppers, demonstrating the use of the Joyner Offset Jig. Mike Peace decided too build a similar device to do offset embellishments. Alan Stratton is still making goblets. These are done in three pieces. New Turning Items- Woodturners Wonders continues with their weekly sales. https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/weekly-sale?_kx=gV5SF2As_3IwtBi5TrpHVQM0F3UvGVbQKzhWGippDlk%3D.VJvU8R Everything Else- Safe turning
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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
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Chilly, damp, rainy day. Hope everyone had enjoyable Christmas. Our Patriot Turners- @Fred W. Hargis Jr Asked our turners a question about tear out. More specifically, Fred wanted to know what tools and techniques could be used to prevent/repair it. Please see Fred's post and check out what our members had to offer and provide some input. New member @Barbara asked about getting a lathe as a gift for a novice. If you live in the Chicago area, maybe you could offer some leads. @RustyFN Showed us the shavings left from a bowl turn and mused about perhaps purchasing a coring system. Of course our gang had lots of other suggestions and some good natured ribbing- What’s Coming Up- Click on the images for more information and registration If you missed Cindy Drozda's presentation on her recess tool, she has it posted on her YouTube channel- For The Newbies- Lyle Jamieson has a short video on preventing vibrations while turning- An article from Kent Weakley help reduce/eliminate tool marks when turning a bowl- https://turnawoodbowl.com/10-tool-marks-tricks-wood-bowl-understand-fix-remove/?ck_subscriber_id=1577117793 Nice video from Craft Supplies USA on bowl turning- Expand Your Horizons- A couple of ideas to add more excitement to your turnings Ebonizing- https://turnawoodbowl.com/5-magical-ebonizing-wood-tricks-how-to-techniques-recipes/?ck_subscriber_id=1577117793 Make your own spalted wood- https://turnawoodbowl.com/spalting-and-spalted-wood-bowls/?ck_subscriber_id=1577117793 Mike Waldt demonstrates turning a goblet in real time- New Turning Items- Woodturners Wonders has made a change in their available sharpening systems- Click on the above image for more information. Everything Else- Sometime back, we included information on the Christmas Ornament Challenge hosted by Alan Stratton of "As Wood Turns". He has posted a video of the winners. Check out these beautiful and imaginative works of art! Safe turning
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October is almost in the books! Our Patriot Turners- @Gerald was busy turning out some really neat projects- He posted these in "Friday's Weekend" thread. See his post for some other colorful items- He even managed to score some beautiful cherry over the weekend- There are more pictures at- And he managed to get at least one piece underway- Our resident Christmas ornament professional, @Ron Altier, posted some beautiful maple items. I think he used his patented epoxy finish on them. Check out his post for more about where he got the wood- What’s Coming Up- Click on the images for links to more information and registration- For The Newbies- New turners typically have difficulty getting proficient with the skew. I still haven't mastered it! Watch Richard Raffan make it look easy- Mike Peace demonstrated how to do some tool "makeovers" Woodturning Monthly was published by the Woodworker's Journal. Some nice projects and articles- https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/woodturning-monthly/?utm_medium=email Expand Your Horizons- Alan Stratton is always coming up with unusual turning ideas and this one is no exception- Wish you had a Genie? Well Carl Jacobson has turned a Genie Bottle in case you ever find one New Turning Items- Niles Bottle Stoppers has added a couple of new items- https://nilesbottlestoppers.com/product/artisan-coffee-scoop-kit/ https://nilesbottlestoppers.com/product/artisan-rasp-grater-kit/ Woodturners Wonders is having a sale on their lathe "Track System". Check their website at- https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/lathe-track?_kx=gV5SF2As_3IwtBi5TrpHVQM0F3UvGVbQKzhWGippDlk%3D.VJvU8R Everything Else- From Ron Brown's newsletter- Side Gig – Sage Advice I had a long visit with a friend who will be retiring in 5-6 years and is thinking about starting a woodworking business to keep busy and generate some extra income. I have been hearing from more folks than usual about generating a little cash from a side hustle in view of the current economic situation with a dollar buying less every day. I’ve made extra income from my side hustle for the last 55 years. Even when I was in the corporate world, I still made and sold wooden items on the side. Sometimes for pocket change, sometimes as a second income when the first one wasn’t enough. I’ve picked up a few things along the way that you might be interested in or passing along to a friend. 1) Demand – don’t just make and try to sell what you love, make and sell what they want to buy (even if you don’t particularly like it). I tell my family that I would sell dried cow patties if that was what the demand called for. a. In general woodworking the good sellers might be cutting boards, stove top covers, 2x4 basic bunk beds, etc. b. For woodturners it could be pens, tops, pepper mills, salad bowls, etc. I’ve learned from experience that just because I’m wild about something, doesn’t mean it will sell. 2) If an item is in high demand and everyone else is doing it, don’t be afraid to make them also. a. A prime example of this is metal tumblers like the Yeti. In the laser engraving world, there are thousands of people making laser engraved tumblers, wrapped tumblers, or personalized tumblers. I know, my kids have given me several every Christmas for the past bunch of years. My church even gave me a pair. b. Hamburgers are another great example. If people were afraid of making something someone else made, there would only be one place to get a hamburger instead of a hamburger joint on every corner. 3) Don’t be the cheapest guy on the block. Find out what the market price is and be somewhere around there. You might have to be creative to make a profit. 4) If no one is doing it, there is probably a good reason. No demand, impossible to make a decent profit due to the material cost or excessive labor. Before you bring something totally new to the market, get half a dozen regular items well established and selling consistently before you attempt to blaze a totally new trail. 5) You might be a perfectionist, but your customers won’t pay for perfection. They will pay for great or even good, but perfect is in the eye of the beholder. You can be perfect if you don’t mind making $2/hr. But that is not how you make a profit in the real world. 6) Listen to your wife. She loves you and wants you to succeed. She will tell you things your friends won’t. There are many more tidbits of advice, based on years of experience, but these are some of the important ones. Safe turning
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Missed last weeks post so this one will be have a little extra. Our Patriot Turners- @nevinc posted a couple of projects he has been working on. First, a neat little table item that would be useful in any kitchen- Nevin combined woodworking and turning to complete the project- He also posted a question and his method of storing sawdust from various species of wood he uses as fillers. He was wondering what storage method the rest of us use for storage. Check out his post and let him know your method- And, Nevin showed us some beautiful walnut bowls he had finished- He received lots of positive comments in his post- @Steve Krumanaker has been busy fulfilling orders to some of the artisans in his area. He has been working with one who sells "Bee Products" for whom he make honey dipper lids. Steve posted a couple of short videos on how he has upgraded his manufacturing process. Steve is also making drop spindles for another craftsperson. These are used in the process of turning wool into yarn. He developed a neat jig to create shop made dowels for part of the pieces. In this post, he explains why he made the parts instead of buying them- @Gerald added a project to our "Off The Lathe And Finished" thread. These beautiful ornaments got lots of great comments and a couple of questions as well. Head on over to the thread and check out more on these- Gerald was also kind enough to provide links to videos on sharpening. I must apologize for not recording who asked the question on sharpening. Gerald had entered the AAW August Turning Challenge and provided us with the link to the voting and winners- https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/august-2023-turning-challenge-final-results.21511/ @KevTN Asked for help identifying a specific pattern for the rim of a platter. Our turners had several suggestions. If you can identify this patter, please help out Kevin- @RustyFN has a gorgeous spalted bowl on his lathe! What’s Coming Up- Cindy Drozda is live tomorrow- Thursday, October 12 at 2pm EDT. She will be discussing how do you protect your eyes, ears, and lungs in the workshop. For registration, follow this link- https://streamyard.com/watch/PsF54zh7XSVb For The Newbies- Kent Weakly's video on what tools are not suitable for bowl turning- Carl Jacobson makes an oak lidded box. Notice that Carl uses both traditional and carbide tools to complete the project- A simple bowl turning to use as a succulent planter from Craft Supplies USA From Tim Yoder on choosing your sandpaper Richard Raffan demonstrates how to make your turned bowls look really top notch by refining the bottom. Expand Your Horizons- Several articles from Kent Weakley on bowl finishes. https://turnawoodbowl.com/my-favorite-food-safe-wood-finish-waterproof-almost/?ck_subscriber_id=1577117793 https://turnawoodbowl.com/make-shellac-wood-bowl-finish/?ck_subscriber_id=1577117793 https://turnawoodbowl.com/spray-lacquer-illustrated-guide-equipment-system-set-up-technique/?ck_subscriber_id=1577117793 Jim Rodgers continues his series on hollowing- Alan Stratton posted this video on YouTube. It reminded me of a similar project that @Gerald had shown us sometime back- The Four Ways videos from the first of the month- Mike Peace- Richard Raffan- Sam Angelo- Tomislav Tomasic- New Turning Items- From Niles Bottle Stoppers- https://nilesbottlestoppers.com/product/cocktail-muddler-set/ From Woodturners Wonders- Diamond wheels for both bench grinders and Tormek grinders- https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/diamond-wheels?_kx=gV5SF2As_3IwtBi5TrpHVQM0F3UvGVbQKzhWGippDlk%3D.VJvU8R Everything Else- From Ron Brown's Newsletter- When you share the joys of your craft with someone who has never seen shavings fly off a fresh bowl blank or get to watch a spinning top appear in just a few minutes, you might change their world. A small pebble can create a world of ripples. Members of our woodworking club have attended county fairs, woodworking shows, and symposiums which always included live demonstrations. Why? Most people can’t visualize what we do. I’ve seen people become fascinated with turning after they made a simple maple or oak pen at one of these events. I’ve seen their entire family get interested and turning became their family hobby. They’ve planned family trips around turning shows and symposiums along with week-long hands-on learning at folk schools. I’ve witnessed folks buying their first mini lathe and accessories then go on to develop a lifelong passion for the smell of freshly milled lumber and the shavings from another bowl blank. The benefit to you of doing something like that is they bring their non-turning skill sets from their regular jobs, i.e. management, leadership, and organizational skills. Many have become club officers including President. One such fellow served three terms and on a personal note, became my dentist until he retired. We’ve seen lawyers, engineers, business executives, moms, teenagers, pastors, and doctors get the turning bug all because they saw a turning demonstration at a craft fair or other public event. I’ve told the story many times of how I attended a two-hour club demonstration in a cold dark basement one Saturday between Christmas and the New Year. Nick Cook made a top, a garden dibble, a honey dipper, a toothpick holder, and a mahogany plate plus some other things I don’t remember. One couple thought that was terrific and booked a day's instruction with Nick. Then they started a turning club, then I attended, then I got hooked. Now I make a great living inventing and offering turning accessories to the turning community worldwide. During the thirteen years I was on the Woodworking Show Circuit, I was able to demonstrate turning in front of over a million people. That’s a pretty good ripple! Thank you, Nick Cook. In order to cause the ripple, you have to toss the stone in the first place. I would encourage you to invite someone to a club meeting or over to your shop for an hour or two for coffee and to make some shavings. You never know how big that ripple might become Safe turning
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ONE DAY LEEFT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our Patriot Turners- @Gerald started a new topic for our turners! I hope we can make this one as popular as the one @RustyFN started for showing what's on our lathes! So far we've had two members add items. Let's make this topic sail to the "Most Posts" list! Our other continuing topic of "What's On Your Lathe" also had activity! @RustyFN and @forty_caliber both added some of what they are working on! Check out this post for more images! @forty_caliber also posted a nice little "catch-all" bowl. I think these bowls are so useful. Not too large to take up a lot of space but large enough to hold most small items. Great for pocket dumps! See more images here- What’s Coming Up- Click on the images for links to more information and registration Well, it happened last week, but if you missed it, Cindy has posted the video- For The Newbies- How fast should I turn is a question we often hear. There really isn't a hard and fast rule. Ron Brown has some thoughts in this video "short"- Mortice or tenon to attach the bowl to the lathe. Ask 10 woodturners and you'll probably get at least 15 different answers. My personal choice in a recess and use it to incorporate the foot. Here's what Kent Weakley thinks about it- Of course, if you don't have a chuck, there are other ways to attach a bowl blank to the lathe. Sam Angelo shares his thoughts on some methods of securing that blank- Expand Your Horizons- It's just past the first of the month and the videos from "4 Ways" is available. This month Richard Raffan, Tomislav Tomasic, Sam Angelo and Mike peace each turn their version of a natural edge bowl. Tim Yoder turns a beautiful Flame Elder platter. He eve uses some of his Easy Wood Tools in the process! It is not too soon to start thinking about making Christmas ornaments. Alan Stratton creates one that is out of this world! Craft Supplies USA has an idea for something that the ladies in your life might enjoy- New Turning Items- Ron Brown has a new Ladle Chuck System- Safe turning
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If you haven't seen the post, we are beginning our summer fundraiser to help support the operations here at the Patriot. Please consider donating to this worthy cause and maybe be lucky enough to walk away with some cool prizes- Our Patriot Turners- @nevinc posted a couple of beautiful bowls- Head on over to his post and check out additional images. @calabrese55 finished up that gorgeous segmented bowl. What a beauty! Check out his post to see what his plans are for this turning- @Gerald posted a vessel he is doing on the "What's On Your Lathe" forum. His image shows the business end of his hollowing rig and the laser attachment- @forty_caliber turned some more bowls fresh from the blanks in his drying kiln. I really like how he does the feet on these- There are more images in his post- What’s Coming Up- Click on the images for links to more information and registration- These first two might be a bit of a drive- If you missed Cindy Drozda's live presentation with Carl Jacobson. She has it posted on YouTube- For The Newbies- Drilling on the lathe may not require a Jacob's chuck, especially for smaller diameter bits. Tim Yoder demonstrates- Tim also shows a quick and easy way to round over the ends of handles- Pretty neat explanation about lathe speed- Kent Weakley on the importance of good lighting. Mike Peace demonstrates how to make a soft touch cone for the live center- Expand Your Horizons- What do you do when the bowl becomes a funnel- fix it or toss it? Mike Peace has some pretty strong feelings about it- Couple of turnings from Richard Raffan- Alan Stratton modified his Celtic Knot idea to create swirls and added it to his goblets. I had done this on some bottle stoppers- New Turning Items- Robert Sorby has a new multi-tip hollowing tool- Sorby tools are now available from Woodturners Wonders https://woodturnerswonders.com/collections/sorby?_kx=gV5SF2As_3IwtBi5TrpHVQM0F3UvGVbQKzhWGippDlk%3D.VJvU8R From Spiracraft, a new drilling device for those who make salt/pepper grinders https://spiracraft.com/product/woodcut-tools-mill-drill/?inf_contact_key=48786b7cec548ebb0bc98929c43bd777 Everything Else- Safe turning
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Just about the time of the year when I start having dreams of beginning another school year- and all the things that can go wrong! Our Patriot Turners- @calabrese55 posted one of his segmented bowls in the "What's On Your Weekend Agenda". I love the combination of colors! His post has more images. Check it out here- @Headhunter posted a really neat setup for assisting in making square cuts across a log. He posted it in our "General Woodworking" forum but said it was OK to share it here Looks like it can be helpful for us turners- @Gerald finished up the turnings and dice boards he was commissioned to make I never hear of either of these items. Thankfully, Gerald explained their uses. Gerald also started a discussion about project ideas. He wondered how/if we saved pictures/drawings to be inspirations for our own turnings. He received lots of great comments and examples. Please check out his post and add your thoughts to the others- We are still getting entries on out "What's On Your Lathe" forum. This one from @forty_caliber @John Hechel is passing on his turning skills to a younger generation. What a wonderful way to keep turning alive! Read more about this young man's journey- What’s Coming Up- Cindy Drozda's Woodturning Tool Talk will be live Thursday August 3. Her guest will be Carl Jacobson. Click on the image for the link to registration For The Newbies- Tim Yoder has added a couple more video shorts on sharpening- Richard Raffan added another video illustrating how a turner's body movement is an integral part of turning skills- Some additional Richard Raffan turning projects- Carl Jacobson takes some Thrift Store glasses and turns them into lovely vases- Expand Your Horizons- Another set of "4 Ways" videos. This time the turners make their own interpretation of a cherry burl hollow form- Several of our turners use paint as a way to embellish their turnings. Mike Peace has ventured into air brushing as a way to enhance his turnings. This video is his introduction- Fractal Burning was all the rage for a while. It can be dangerous if all safety precautions are not strictly followed. Well, Tim Yoder has found a safe way to create the patterns- Spoiler Alert- Heads up laser owners! New Turning Items- Not a new tool but a new site for Stuart Batty tools- https://stuartbattytools.com/ From Niles Bottle Stoppers https://nilesbottlestoppers.com/product/whiskey-sample-kit/ Craft Supplies USA provides information on the new Easy Wood Tools ( @Jordan Martindale ) beading cutters- Everything Else- I was asked to make a bowl, to be used as a table centerpiece, for a friend. The only requirements were 10" to 12" in diameter and his favorite wood is walnut. Really hope he likes it. Safe turning
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Unbelievable, planted tomatoes last week supposed to be in the low 30's tonight! I hate this global warming! Our Patriot Turners- @Ron Altier brought us up-to-date on his epoxy finish for ornaments. Looks like he has pretty much perfected the process. Ron provides lots of tips on how he gets this mirror like finish- Several members posted in our "What's On Your Lathe" this past week. You can catchup with the new posts here- @forty_caliber added a couple and @teesquare added this beauty (and a couple of other pieces as well)- Do yourself a favor and check out all the new turning in the past week! What’s Coming Up- Click on the images for links to more information and registration For The Newbies- Thinking about turning that first bowl or maybe just need some more pointers? Kent Weakley's video could be what you are looking for. I thought this one was particularly helpful with the dialog and tips throughout the presentation. Richard Raffan puts his spin in the natural edge bowl project- Something to think about from Ron Brown's newsletter- This Is Just The Beginning It is easy to forget how much you have learned along the way. New turners also have to learn the same things we did. Or, if you are a new turner, there is much to learn. You can learn to sail in an hour – It takes a lifetime to become a sailor It is the same with learning about a wood lathe. Just like any other craft, getting the machine is only the beginning. Let’s start with the Four Pillars of Woodturning: #1-The Wood Lathe Itself There is a multitude of quality wood lathes available to fit most budgets. The most common starter lathe nowadays is a 12 to 12.5-inch swing lathe with a 1 hp variable speed motor. Many folks will keep this lathe when they upsize to a larger lathe with swings of 16 to 25” and motors up to 3 hp. #2-The turning chisels Beginning turners will see much faster results if they begin with carbide-tipped tools. A sharpening station is not required for carbide tools. High-Speed Steel tools require frequent re-sharpening and require a suitable sharpening station (more in #4) The turner must learn a whole new skill set for sharpening in addition to learning woodturning. #3-The means of holding your work Most lathes come with a spur drive center for the headstock and a live center for the tailstock. Great for beginning spindle projects like baseball bats, lamps, etc. Most lathes also come with a faceplate mainly used for turning bowls. I consider a 4-jaw scroll chuck a basic necessity. I recommend extra jaws also Pin jaws for very small spindle projects #3 or 100 mm jaws for larger spindle work and for many larger bowls. #4-A sharpening station Slow-speed grinders (1750 rpm or similar) with 8” grinding wheels made to work with High-Speed Steel are recommended A sharpening jig specially designed for sharpening lathe tools is virtually a necessity when using HSS lathe tools. Note: Using only carbide-tipped wood lathe tools eliminates the need for any kind of sharpening station and eliminates 25% of the learning curve and initial expense. Folks trying their hand at any new craft are much more likely to stick with it if they can experience early success. Easy projects to learn on are pens, small bowls, spinning tops, and small lidded boxes. Someone can successfully make all of them with simple carbide tools. Some folks only turn bowls while others only turn pens. As long at they turn something, I’m happy for them. Most folks who begin using carbide tools eventually add HSS tools and a sharpening station down the road. I recommend that route to see if they are going to enjoy turning wood and if they are going to stick with it long term. It seems like you never have every widget you want, but over time you can accumulate most of them. Remember that you can turn small items on a big lathe, but it is much harder to turn something big on a small lathe. So get ready to see that huge smile on that kid’s face from ages 8 to 88 when you show them how to make their first slimline pen or maple bowl. There is nothing like it! Expand Your Horizons- In last week's post, one of the "What's Coming Up" events were classes on turning kitchen utensils. The classes were at Highland Woodworking in Atlanta, GA. Not everyone can travel that far to learn to turn a spoon, so I found a bunch of videos, if you'd like to give it a try. If kitchen ware isn't your thing, Mike Peace demonstrates how to add an insert to a turned box New Turning Items- Sorry, couldn't find anything this week Everything Else- Started working on one of the elm rough blanks. I have enough meat on the bottom to remove some of the thickness around the mortice. It will make the thing set a little lower on a surface and lighten up the piece a bit. Safe turning
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More nice weather! Garden rototilled and fertilized. On to replanting grass over the dog's bathroom. Our Patriot Turners- @Steve Krumanaker posted a cedar bowl he finished up. Beautiful colors and grain patterns! Check out the comments from our turners at- @forty_caliber is still cranking out bowls from his dryer stash. This one has some gorgeous spalting- In his post, he tells us about the shape- @Gerald mentioned he did a presentation for the Magnolia Woodturners club. He demonstrated some of the tools and methods for embellishing a turning. This video picks up at his part of the presentation- Thanks, everyone for continuing to post in our thread on "What's On Your Lathe"! I think this is about where we left off last week- What’s Coming Up- Click on the images for links to more information and registration- Note: The Bowl turning class will also be on June17, 2023 For The Newbies- Put your spindle skills to work and turn a mixed media wine glass. Very informative video from Craft Supplies USA Mike peace demonstrates turning small square bowls. These can be made from scraps of even several boards glued together. Expand Your Horizons- Carl Jacobson turns, carves and adds color to a vase- I've seen this turning show up on several social media sites. Carl Jacobson explains how it is done- We pretty much know about scroll chucks and jam chucks but do you know about a "cup chuck"? Richard Raffan demonstrates- I'm not sure which I enjoy more- watching Alan Stratton turn objects or looking at the shop made jigs he uses. For a "jig junky" like me, it's a real treat. In this video, Alan adds Celtic Knots to Easter eggs- New Turning Items- Not new but on sale from Niles Bottle Stoppers- https://nilesbottlestoppers.com/product/tenderizer-set/ Everything Else- From Ron Brown's Newsletter- Difficult Things Why Is It Always So Hard The First Time You Try Something New? Do you remember the first time you tried to ride that bicycle? How about roller skates, ice skates, or a skateboard? And I hope trying that hoverboard didn’t send you to the emergency room. What about parallel parking or hooking up that trailer? Then there was your first time using a skew chisel, WOW! I’ll bet you didn’t even know catches that big were even possible. How about the first time you tried to get started hollowing the inside of a bowl? Did the gouge skate clear off the edge like mine did? The reason is that you don’t know what you don’t know. As we summon enough courage to try something new, we imagine how it is supposed to go and how we are supposed to react. It seldom goes as well or as badly as we imagined. We try again, but the second time around, we adjust from what we learned the first time. The third time it gets better and so on. When I demonstrated turning on the Woodworking Show Circuit, I would often hear the phrase “He’s done that before!”, or “I’ll bet that isn’t his first time!” I promise you, it gets better. If you have the courage and persistence to try and try again, you eventually figure it out. The secret is taking the time to understand what went wrong so you can make the small changes necessary for success. I deal with this scenario almost daily. I find it really helps if I limit my changes to only one or two things so I can narrow down the culprit and focus on those areas. As an example, if torn grain is my issue, I might change from a gouge to a scraper or a gouge with a different grind. If that doesn’t work, I might try shear scraping (holding the scraper at a 45-degree angle). You can shear scrape with both the scraper and the gouge. You just have to turn the gouge over. If that fails, I might cut from the inside out or the outside in using lighter cuts over the problem area. I’ll change up one thing before moving on to something else. Imagine trying to juggle the effects of speed, feed, tool geometry, cutting angles, grain orientation, and wood hardness all at once. My advice is to control what you can and understand that some things are out of your control. Make small changes slowly until it works like you want it to. Be careful not to tweak it so much that something that used to work, doesn’t work anymore. That is something I also have to guard against. It happens all too frequently when running complicated machinery like CNCs and Lasers. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you will be money ahead when you learn to make changes little by little. One day soon you will have figured it out and folks will marvel at your expertise. Zig Zigler often said, “Yard by yard it’s hard, but inch by inch it’s a cinch!” Remember that wherever you go, there you are. Safe turning
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