As most of you know we do have some video equipment to view the demonstrations, but have no one to operate it for the meeting. I am looking for a volunteer to take the job. The responsibilities consist arriving earlier than the members, staging the monitor, hooking up the cameras and operating when they our needed. The video makes seeing the demonstration more clearly and allows the viewers close-ups of the action in front of them and keeps the members interested. Our purpose for the meetings is to teach others how to improve their skills at the lathe. The TV is used to keep you better informed. Please help improve our club and volunteer.
You would think this was a church service, notice the vacant chairs in the front. I did notice several visitors and one member who just returned from Germany after a long absence, welcome back! and he did pay his dues, so you see he is still interested in learning to turn. He bought a new Stubby lathe, way to go Mark Molaire.
Bo made a nice snowman good job.
Darnell shows off a nice vase, looks like natural edge cherry. Nice looking.
Looks like Darnell has been busy, An oil lamp, bowl and a platter. All very nice.
Bill shows off his first attempt making a natural edge bowl, here he shows two made from some wood he got at our auction. His second turning is a lidded genie Vase.
Durk holds his latest creation, keep the lathe turning is the only way you learn.
Here Jennifer show off a very nice natural edged piece of Red Cedar, good job.
Leland has his display setup for Show and Tell along with Cheryl Ross. They are collaborating on a project, she makes the clay and Leland turns the pens. A very colorful display. Cheryl has some beautiful jewelry cases setting on Leland's tables.
Leland's S&T peppermills and a mushroom farm made from Manzanita Root.
Here he holds up one of the Polymer Clay pens, notice the ones in the rack, very colorful.
Here he holds up the farm, says the roots are loaded with stones and ruin your tools if you try to turn them. His solution sandblast and finish with Lacquer and use them for display.
Cheryl holds up a piece of polymer clay and explains its properties and some of its uses. Looks like this would be good for embellishing bowls that have inclusions you want to improve. She just became a member this month and already has added something to our meeting. Thank you.
Ralph holds up a huge walnut lidded bowl very different in size.
Here he has a beautiful vase made from an Arborvitae bush he said that it would be the last time he turned something like that. Ralph said he used tape and glue to keep it together while turning. It worked, kept it from flying apart.
Two more turnings by Ralph. Thank you for giving us something to look forward to each month.
James prepares his turning for the embellishment he will put on the bowl with a wire wheel of a wire brush.
Here he applies a coat of milk paint. After the paint dries he will turn the strip that he wants to highlight. Thanks James for the lesson.
Ralph had a discussion on how he dyes his turnings. He Passed out a handout sheet with details where to buy the stain or paint that he used. Thanks for the info.
Al did a short presentation on fluting a bowl. I felt like there was something missing that could not be seen or understand, so while I was finishing the bowls I photographed the equipment and steps necessary to flute a bowl. The above photo shows a few things you will need. A die grinder mounted on a block wood, a drum for the size of flute you will be cutting, Replacement sanding sleeves are a must, I buy mine from Klingspor they are very durable. Blackwater tools sells a drum sanding kit with 25 pieces 5 of them are drums all different sizes and the rest are sanding sleeves 4 of each size and grits, and the kit sells for $20. You will need a table that fits on your banjo to hold the grinder at the proper level.
Make sure the table is parallel with the top of the bed of the lathe. You can if you want cut the contour of the bowl out of the table so you can get closer to the bowl with the table. Here I show the block of wood with the pencil lined up with the center of the drum. This is necessary to make sure the flutes are cut perpendicular to the bottom of the bowl.
Adjust the table height till the pencil aligns with the center line of the lathe, I use the tail stock for this alignment.
As you can tell this isn't the block from the previous photo, I didn't want to take another photo. This one illustrates the technique. You repeat this process the amount of flutes you want. I made 24 flutes so 24 lines. If you have an indexer on your lathe use it, if not you can make your own, that is a different lesson. Another point you can see the table has a cut out to match the contour of the bowl
On the bowl I lined and this is what it looked like before making an adjustment.
This is how the drum lines up with the bowl after you make a slight adjustment to the bowl prior to starting your flute. NOTE: The way you get to this point is loosen the grip of your chuck jaws on the tenon and turn the bowl till it lines up in the center of the flute. D0 NOT forget to tighten the jaws. I start the grinder and cut a mark on the bowl to check the centering of the drum before I continue. I check the next flute the same way to make sure it is centered. If this is correct I cut all the rest of the flutes.
This is the smaller of the two fluted bowls I made. Here you can see what I was referring to in the previous picture. As you can see there is a difference, so just make the adjustment and check again. Another thing to look at here, are the lines and how they are closer together, and taper more towards the bottom of the bowl. The Diameter of this bowl is smaller and has a steeper taper. You cut the flute the same as before, but do not grind the lines away, because this is how you keep the flutes uniform.
Here the flutes are cut and ready for the finer grit sleeves, notice the line around the bottom of bowl, this helps keep the flutes the same length.
This is the smaller of the two bowls, you can see the pencil lines better on this one after they have been cut. After the finer drum sanding, comes the hand sanding, and the finish. The finish is up to the individual. I finished my bowls with Deft sanding sealer, using 0000 steel wool between coats, then a couple of coats of Lacquer on top of that and finished with Brewax. If you have any questions call me at 434-1687