Woodturning Blog

Last year I made several Christmas tree ornaments for family and friends. Not pictured here are three angel tree-toppers that I turned after Nick Cook’s visit to CCW last November. He has a great write-up on how to turn them.

The globe style ornaments are the most complex of the ones shown because they are turned in 3 parts, and the globe itself needs to be hollowed a bit in order to make the ornament light enough to hang on a tree.  The top and bottom need to be undercut a little for a snug fit, as well. 

The snowmen use some puff-paint for the nose, buttons, and eyes, and using a 2nd type of wood for the hat gives them some character.  They are fairly easy to turn, but you need to remember to flatten the top of the head so that the hat will sit correctly.

The Christmas trees are simple projects that only require a parting tool, roughing gouge, and spindle gouge in order to turn.  Your smallest drill bit can be used to get a hole started for the eye screw used to hang the ornaments.

This past Father’s Day, my wife asked me to make a fishing pole stand for her stepdad.  She thought it was a 20-minute deal, but I of course made it more complicated. Read the rest of this entry »

    The camera I had been using was a Canon Powershot S30… a PHD (Push Here, Dummy).  It had a few problems… Read the rest of this entry »

David

    Last night I received the sad new that David Luthi has passed away yesterday.  As one of the Classic City Woodturners  members and treasurer — and an all-around nice guy, he will be sorely missed.  Please keep his wife in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

This weekend I worked on a couple of pens made from a material called ‘tru-stone’.  It is pulverized stone mixed with resin.  It is much harder than wood, and resulted in 2 pens becoming 1 pen when the 2nd blank blew apart while turning.   Here are a couple of pics.

Last night at the monthly CCW meeting, Hal Simmons came to demonstrate turning Christmas tree ornaments.  He was the 1st or 2nd demonstrator that I saw when I first joined CCW, and his attention to detail is amazing. 

He turned for us a 1-piece ornament, as well as a 3-piece globe-style ornament.  He also brought 3 ornaments that he had previously turned.  When asked how fast he turned, he replied…

Two things determine how fast:

1st, if the lathe walks, that’s too fast

2nd… your fear factor.

(He also pointed out that he does mostly splindle work.)  MY fear factor is pretty low on out-of-round bowl blanks!

October 23-25th marks the bi-annual symposium hosted by turners in NC.  Full information can be found on their website.  I believe that I already have something booked for that weekend, myself, and will not be able to attend.  However, there will be some top-notch demonstrators.  I have seen Stuart Batty, Nick Cook, and Ray Key before and would like to watch each of them demo again.

Last night I finished turning a lamp. I had seen the kits at Craft Supplies, and wondered how they would work out. A month or so ago I ordered a couple of the kits and 2 nights ago was the first chance I had to try one. You’ll need a lamp auger to do one, as well as the matching hollow center. I also picked up some dye, so I gave that a shot as well. This is red maple, dyed blue.

Fold-up tables don’t work as lathe stands for anything larger than a pen. Out of round wood of a decent size would actually cause the table to walk across the floor, sway back and forth, or both. At one point I had to clamp a piece of wood across the table to keep the lathe itself from walking off and crashing onto the floor. None of these problems were evident with pens, bottle stoppers, and smaller pieces….
Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll replace the default WordPress theme as soon as I find a woodworking related one that I like. Until then, enjoy the blue.