This was our Holiday celebration meeting where everyone brought in something to eat and we had extra time to hang out and chat. We held a truncated business meeting, short wood auction and show & tell.
Paul Demmert discussed many different options of things you can make from skills gained after making pens. There are many things like coffee scoops, ice cream scoops, pizza cutters, measuring cups and spoons, and seam rippers which go together much like pens by tuning handles. You can find kits for such projects at places like Penn State Industries.
Some tips Paul shared from the classes he’s taught included:
A mandrel saver works best for pen setup, protecting flexing of the mandrel
Barrel trimmers works but can dull quickly, using a drill with a sander can be as effective
CA glue fails due to weak shear strength, use 2 part epoxy to glue in brass tube, put plumbers putty or apple in the tube to keep glue from clogging the tube
For threaded inserts use a bolt and washer to make them sit flat on the end of the blank when glueing
Drill press works better than a chuck on lathe to drill blanks straight
Washer over the hole of blank allows using a cone tailstock will help protect the blank from splitting
It was a show & tell bonanza…everyone brought things they made since the May meeting, so there was a lot to share. So many amazing pieces from the talented turners in our club.
During our first meeting after the summer break, Lee Stover gave his “Using Wood Intelligently” presentation which covered how and why and all the details about wood movement. Lee shared his expertise from his experience kiln drying and manufacturing of innovative hardwood flooring , including how to identify a tree by the microscopic cellular makeup.
Paul Demmert walked through the various ways to attach and secure a wood blank to the lathe to make a bowl using a chuck, faceplate and even the drive spur.
We also had a great turnout for the show & tell at our meeting. Look at all the amazing work our members made recently.
Unfortunately we could not meet in March as planned due to a COVID outbreak at our normal meeting place, but our members had kept busy turning and below are some of the items we likely would have seen at the show & tell time. Enjoy the craftsmanship and hopefully it sparks some new ideas for you as well.
Tony Omeis – Tapered stave vasesTony Omeis – Turnings from solid blocksTony Omeis – An assortment of finials from solid block designBrian Hummel – Spalted Maple BowlsLinda Vance – Holders for the Ukrainian eggs she has made for this season
Richard Garland – Small bowl from Reg’s magnolia tree
Richard Garland – Bottom of small bowl from Reg’s magnolia tree
Richard Garland – 11″ Walnut bowl wet with mineral oilRichard Garland – Spalted Maple vase
Paul Demmert – Small spalted curly maple bowl, once turned, ready for sanding and finish
Paul Demmert – Same small bowl is 6.5H x 9.25D x 0.25 wall thickness
Paul Demmert – Larger spalted curly maple bowl, once turned, ready for sanding and finish
Paul Demmert – Same small bowl is 6.5H x 9.25D x 0.25 wall thickness
Jim Hopkins – Spalted Oak, cracks filled
Jim Hopkins – Spalted Oak, crotch grain is crazy
Jim Hopkins – small spalted oak bowl.
Jim Hopkins – cracks filled with coffee and CA glue
Stephen Tuttle not only sent a picture of what he’s been working on, he also explained how it was done, the plan and tools he used and how to get your own. We nearly got a virtual demonstration for this one.
These two items worked very well to create tight joints in the rings. Rings are glued up using hose clamps that can be gotten at any hardware store.
Once all the rings are made they are glued in a stack. I did this incrementally – the bottom half of bowl section was done first and notched to receive top half. The throat was a little different as the sections are staves and not cut with the sled. This was turned separately and glued to the completed bowl section.
This technique is definitely not for everyone as it is more figurin’, calculatin’, cuttin’ and gluin’ than turning. If I do more of it I think I will keep it simple. I don’t think a 10,000 piece masterwork you see online is in my future. It does have positives in that it can be done with many of the scraps that accumulate in a shop. There are no drying issues. There isn’t any end grain exposed in the circumference of the turning. You can make a large bowl with more manageable pieces of wood.
I know I have seen this shape before, but where?…
Perhaps our next president’s challenge should be making Genie bottles. Now you have all you need to make your own.
When I presented my acrylic bottle stoppers at Wednesday’s meeting, someone asked how I sanded them. I sated that I started sanding with Abranet mesh. One of you said that you had never heard of Abranet, so I thought I’d point you to a source here: https://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKMESHKIT.html. This isn’t the only place to buy Abranet, but I have found PSI’s prices to be fairly reasonable.
I also mentioned that after dry sanding to 600 grit with Abranet, I moved on to wet sanding with abrasive pads. Coincidentally, I received an order of these just a couple of days ago: https://www.pennstateind.com/store/MMESHPADS9.html. That price may seem high, but notice that these pads are 3×4 inches. The ones I currently own are 2×2 inches. When I went to Penn State, 3×4 offered three times more surface area than 2×2. So pay close attention to sizes as well as prices if you should order these. I think they work best wet as a sanding slurry is created when wet that I think helps with sanding and extending the life of the pads. You can also choose to use a polish on the acrylic after sanding to 12,000 grit. It’s hard to get much smoother than that.
If you wish to use acrylic, it’s cheaper to buy this size (https://www.pennstateind.com/store/WXACL03L.html) and cut it into thirds, than to buy this size (https://www.pennstateind.com/store/WXABS04.html). I cut my blanks into three sections with a hacksaw to minimize wear on my bandsaw blades and waste as little acrylic as possible to kerf. As I stated on Wednesday, this stuff is harder than woodpecker lips, so somewhat different technique is needed than for wood. But as with other hard materials, it can be fra-gee-lee, like Ralphie’s old man’s leg lamp, so handle accordingly. Those at the meeting saw what happened when I tried to tap a small hole in my blank to minimize drill bit skating.
Someone Wednesday asked if you can use any lathe chisels to turn acrylic. My answer is yes, but you have to have a gentle hand and a degree of patience. If you get too aggressive, you will likely get catches, chipping, etc. that will diminish your fun. If you use carbide-tipped tools, I recommend negative rake cutters as they are less aggressive than the standard cutters. I bought this set some years back from Rockler (https://www.rockler.com/carbide-mini-turning-tool-3-piece-set). As you can see from the price, manufacturers are VERY proud of their carbide tools. For some time, Rockler stated that they did NOT supply negative rake cutters for these tools, but while visiting a Rockler store in Houston, I complained about that to a store employee who found a negative rake cutter from another manufacturer (I think Easy Wood) and said it would work on my tool. He was right, and I have been pleased with the result. I strongly recommend the negative rake cutters.
We had officer elections, showed off spheres we learned how to make last month, collected wands for Camp Korey, and watched Tony Omeis walk through all the steps needed to design, construct and turn a segmented vessels.
Spheres and wands were everywhereKen brought in a sampling of items from the new club storeDon’s presentation last month inspired many to try their hand at making a sphereThe full selection of wands collected for Camp Korey – Nice work, the kids will love these!The vessels we learned how to make
The recorded meeting including Tony’s presentation
This month’s meeting featured an interactive remote demonstration (IRD) by Don Wilson showing us how to turn a sphere, with the tricks he’s learned from making hundreds over his many years turning.
