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Well, June is over half way done and summer begins on Saturday! It was almost a "4 For" Mimi and me. When we were married it was the first day of summer (and the longest day of my life the year). This year the first day of summer falls on June 20. Had it been one day later we could have had Fathers Day, first day of summer, longest day of the year and our anniversary all at once! Please remember that our annual fundraiser/raffle is being held. We still have a ways to go to meet our goal. Check out the details at- Our Patriot Turners- I think the last 2 weeks must have maxed out the Patriot's bandwidth with all of the discussions here on the Turner's Forum. If you missed it last week, @AndrewB was working with his new lathe. We all pitched in to offer advice and the discussion continued well past Wednesday. This picks up the discussion from late Wednesday- @AndrewB showed us some more of his turnings and shared some of his frustrations- Andrew also was wondering about food safe finishes and showed us a new toy he purchased- Please head over to Andrews posts and see if you can offer any suggestions or ideas. Member @Skippack posted a picture of a beautiful maple bowl in our gallery- Please give him a big thumbs up for this awesome piece! @Gerald turned a thin end grain bowl. Gerald explains some of the process and what happens next- @Gunny gave us a look at his gorgeous, finished Lazy Susan- You can read the entire thread here- What’s Coming Up- @Gerald gave me a heads-up for another virtual turning demonstration. Please check this from last Week's "Wednesday's..." Don't forget Cindy Drozda has scheduled additional demonstrations- You can find all of the details at http://cindydrozda.com/ For The Newbies- Last week we mentioned how the different carbide cutter rakes work on a turning I was making. @Jim from Easy Wood Tools was kind enough to provide this PDF file from Easy Wood Tools that illustrates their cutting characteristics- Why is rake important in woodturning Final rev 6.11.2020.pdf The Woodturning Monthly newsletter arrived. There's a really great article discussing how to cut bowl blanks from trees. Great illustrations! The entire newsletter can be viewed at- https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/woodturning-monthly/?utm_medium=email Expand Your Horizons- Rick Turns just uploaded a video on turning a bowl from a piece of Mulberry. He then embellished to finished bowl using aan unusual idea- New Turning Items- Our new turning item last week was a heavy duty drive spur. @Gerald provided a link to another one This one has removable/replaceable blades- Click on the image for the link to more information. Woodturners Wonders has a new light available- Click on the above image for the link to more information Everything Else- Rick Turns uploaded his weekly list of YouTube turning videos- I have been following along with @AndrewB's post and his progress with his turnings. Andrew's projects are mostly face glued blanks then mounted with a face plate- perfectly acceptable. But I got to thinking (I know that's dangerous for me!) that instead of flat face glued pieces, longer strips glued-up in a blank can make for some interesting turned patterns when "spindle" turned. Here's an example of what I was thinking- That elm bowl got finished up and Mimi has already given it away- Just mineral oil and beeswax Safe turning and stay healthy

Are you near Sin-City this week?

A lot to cover this week so we'll jump right in! Our Patriot Turners- @Jim from Easy Wood Tools not only sells the best turning tools available, he knows how to use them, too! Gorgeous walnut bowl!!! Check out Jim's post and the wonderful comments he received on this beauty! @Bob Hodge showed us a fantastic cherry bowl he turned and embellished with some of the gems his wife collected. Please see Bob's post for an explanation of how he added the gems and all of the great comments and tips our members provided. @Gerald is our big winner this week for new posts! He continues his collection plate progress. He showed us a surprise he found inside one of the pieces of pecan he is using- You can check his progress in this post- Gerald was also kind enough to give us a link to a video about "What You Need to Know to Get Started on the Lathe". Check his post for the link and comments from some of our turners- He even turned a neat pill box! He received some good natured kidding about the size of the pill that might be contained therein- Gerald had a visitor, in his shop, this week. His grandson came by and they turned a platter together. I have fond memories of being in my grandfather's workshop. @Ron Altier is in full swing making ornaments. Ron creates some spectacular art using the "Spectraply". Check Ron's post for more details about this piece and the great comments he received. @HandyDan gave us a heads up on lathe chucks for sale at Grizzly. The prices looked pretty good. What’s Coming Up- Click on the above image for the link to more information. For The Newbies- When we first start turning, we seem to concentrate on what lathe tools we should purchase. When actually one of the first things we need to concentrate on is safety. Craft Supplies USA has a sale on Trend Airshield equipment. https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/t/89/Safety-Supplies?b=Trend&utm_source=csusa&utm_medium=email&utm_content=sale&utm_campaign=19-june-trend Expand Your Horizons- Lyle Jamieson has a short video covering some tips on sanding turnings with voids and natural edges. New Turning Items- @Jim from Easy Wood Tools showed us a new set of Easy Wood Mini Hollowing Tools. If you turn smaller items, this is the perfect size set of tools! They have excellent stability and control. The negative rake cutters reduce the chances of catches. Easy Wood Tools has done it again!!!!! Everything Else- "We are a woodworking community with an emphasis on sharing and learning the skilled craft of woodworking and all of its related disciplines. Our community is open to everyone who wishes to join us. We support our American veterans and active duty, being a veteran is not a prerequisite to join." With that in mind, I am throwing out this idea. Here's a video from Capt. Eddie. Please watch it and consider if maybe the Patriot Turners could get involved. Let me know what you think. Safe turning

Moving along with the demo prep. Have two sticks completed and my demo routine pretty will figured out. I have to make one more stick to leave in component form and then probably a few components in different stages of completion in case of a severe catch or other catastrophe. I'd forgotten what a nice project this stick is. These two will eventually be gifted to a soon to be retired neighbor and his wife. Bruce is a good friend, and more importantly, a licensed electrician . He and I have helped each other back and forth for 30 years or more. It's always a good thing for him to owe me a favor! once a few more coats of oil are applied, the sticks get a 3/4" rubber cane tip on the bottom.

Well, all my pen blank sets have their CA finish and are ready for assembly. To prove I actually do work on the lathe, I made a little video of the process. It is edited to shorten the boredom and the audio is natural. The video shows the process I used to apply the CA and boiled linseed oil finish. A couple of things about the operation. We had considered using a wax finish on these blanks. We found the wood is so soft that just the pressure of applying the Hut PPP wax dented the blank. Even when applying the CA finish, a fingernail touching the surface would dent it. I ended up wearing gloves to help prevent the problem. So, without further ado and very little fanfare- Cecil B. DeKauffman presents..... Next time the assembled pens. EDIT: I forgot to add the link I used for information about this method- http://www.penmakersguild.com/articles/cafinish.pdf Safe Turning.