Shavings-Newsletter of the Quad Cities Woodturners Association

Transcription

1 Shavings-Newsletter of the Quad Cities Woodturners Association Quad City Wood Turners Volume 5, Issue 4 May 2010 Band Saw Safety Steve Sinner gave a presentation on band saw safety at the April meeting. The safe use of equipment protects not only the user, but also any one in the area as well as the equipment itself. All members are expected to follow these rules at all times when using club equipment. Inside this issue: Band Saw Safety 1 Shop Tours 2-3 Critique Table 4-5 Demo Pen Making 6 Skew Class 7 Band Saw Safety Rules 1. Wear eye protection. Keep all guards in place and adjust them to correct height- 1/8 to ¼ of the stock to be cut. 2. Maintain the stock flat on the table. 3. Be careful when cutting any stock that is irregular in size or that does not have at least one flat side. 4. Use a miter sled placed in front of any round stock or logs when cutting them and hold them very tightly to the upright piece of the sled. Keep fingers well out of the way of the blade. 5. Concentrate your attention to what you are doing at all times. Don t distract or interrupt anyone using power equipment. 6. Don t touch or move cutoffs until the power is turned off and you are sure the blade has stopped moving. Use the foot brake to stop the blade. 7. Keep the work area and inside of the saw clean and dust free. Do this only when the power is turned off. 8. If the blade breaks or comes out of the guides, stop the machine immediately by turning off the power and move to a safe distance from the machine until everything stops moving, turning, and flying through the air. 9. Do not reach across the saw line or place your fingers, hands or arms in the saw line. 10. Never back material out of a cut until the power has been stopped and the blade has stopped moving. 11. Use a push stick when sawing small stock or if your fingers are or will be within 3 of the blade before the cut is completed. 12. Use relief cuts on tight curves to avoid breaking the blade. President s Letter 8 Contact Us/ Upcoming Events Feature: Shop Tours Pages Calendar of Events May 18 June 15 July 20 August 17 Sept 21 Oct 19 9 Monthly Meeting Monthly Meeting Monthly Meeting Picnic Monthly Meeting Monthly Meeting

2 Page 2 May Shop Tours Ray and Irene Myers hosted the first stop on the April shop tour on the last Saturday in April. Ray and Irene live just west of DeWitt and their rural setting provided for a larger area for their shared garage and shop space. Visitors were greeted warmly with fresh coffee, juice, and breakfast items, lots of conversation, and a very interesting shop. Ray had converted a rotisserie motor with a spare chuck to serve as a place to apply finish to some of his turned pieces. And of course everyone wanted to see his lathe room. He had it in the middle of the large building so it would be warm enough to use during the cold winter months. After leaving his shop, the group of 30 or so members traveled to Ray Hamilton s home to view his work areas. He had both space in his basement as well as some outbuildings for his shops.

3 Volume 5, Issue 4 Page 3 Ray s home is located just outside of Maquoketa and he had several large drying racks in some unused bedrooms. Most of Ray s work are large bowls, many natural edged, and vessels as pictured in the display on the left. After walking through these rooms, the visitors came into Ray s main work area. Here was his main lathe, grinders, and tools setup to do rough out work or final finishing. The tour wouldn t have been complete without a look at Mustang Sally, a lathe Ray created from a Ford Mustang differential. After lunch, the group journeyed to Dave Johnson s home and shop in the north part of Clinton. There we saw his shop and also his inventory for the upcoming shows he attends every year. Dave had already made several large jewelry boxes, large turned boxes, and a couple of dozen of the smaller boxes. Dave also had a large bowl on display which he turned from a very large tree salvaged from a home only a few blocks away. All of the members had a very good time and on behalf of them, we would like to thank everyone who helped set up this tour and provide hospitality to our members and guests. Look for more shop tours in the future!!

4 Page 4 April Critique Table It doesn t get any better than this said Rick Reeves as he and Joe Meirhaeghe offered opinions and comments on some of the many pieces placed on the critique table in April. Jim Dayton -Wagon Replica Walnut Stain/Varnish Clayton Litchfield Walnut, Cherry Hut Crystal Carl Smith Branford Pear Wipe on Poly Lloyd Beckman Cherry Deft Leo Othmer Oak, Cocobola, Rambuten, Zebra Deft Warren Hadley Spalted Ginko Tung Oil, Carnuba Wax Jim Bodin Maple, Poplar, Mahogany Deft

5 Page 5 Critique Table Cont d Ray Hamilton American Elm Watco Jerry Sargeant Walnut Spar Varnish Roger Viager Cherry Root Dale Gramling Cherry, Brazilian Cherry Poly Teresa Allen Vacuum dye, Cherry Varnish Tom Duncan White Oak Wax Linda Meirhaeghe Red Cedar Antique Oil Jon Curtis Unknown Root Wipe on Poly

6 Page 6 Making Pens Dave Vandenboom To make a pen, it is pretty easy. All you need are a pen kit and a pen blank of your choice from one of the suppliers such as Hut or Penn State, or Woodcrafters. The pen Dave made needed only one turned piece. In addition to the kit, you will need a gouge and perhaps a skew if you like. A pen turning mandrel is the other requirement and Dave suggests purchasing an adjustable one. This is easier to use and can be used not only for pens, but also other items such as magnifying glasses, pencils, and letter openers. The first step is to drill the hole for the pen tube and this is usually 7 mm, though it can vary by the specific pen you will be turning. After drilling the hole in a drill press, coat the outside of the tube with CA glue and insert it in the pen blank. After the glue dries for a few hours, square each end of the blank with a barrel trimming bit. This ensures that each end of the blank will match up perfectly with the pen kit. The next step is to mount it on the mandrel with the bushings at either end. Turn the blank to the desired shape and then sand with progressively finer grits of paper, usually going from 220 to 8 or 12 thousand grit. To apply a finish to the pen, put a drop of CA glue or other finish of your choice on the now turned blank with a paper towel. Resand again going up through the grits to the finest you have. Once this is completed, remove the blank from the mandrel and insert it in the pen itself. A special jig may be used to press fit it together or a vise may also be used. Now you are done!! If you would like to make pens with Dave and some other woodturners, please contact him for times and dates he will be at the club

7 Page 7 Skew Class with Randy Nagle Randy Nagle s class on using and sharpening the skew chisel was very popular as 5 members from the Cedar Rapids group attended as well as 15 people from our club. For people who missed the class or want a refresher here are some tips from the class. The skew may be sharpened a couple of different ways, and one of the most common is a grind where the cutting edge is straight and at a 45 degree angle to the shaft of the tool. This has an equal bevel on both sides of the steel. The second is similar except the cutting edge is ground with an edge at a right angle to the body for about one-fourth of the length of the edge and the rest is ground in a gentle arc to the heel of the tool. At the right is a picture of this last grind and the tip or long point is at the top and the heel or short point is at the bottom. It is vitally important that the tool be kept sharp either with frequent grinding and/or honing. The skew is no different than any other lathe tool in that it should be used with the ABC acronym in mind. A stands for anchor. The tool should always be firmly anchored first on the tool rest before coming into contact with the turning wood. Then, B, the bevel should be rubbed on the wood. This gives a point of contact to control the tool as next comes C, where the cut actually begins. Use of a safety drive such as is sold by OneWay or also known as a Stebcenter is helpful when first learning spindle work as the drive will slip if you get a bad catch or misuse the tool. The first cut practiced in the class was a roughing cut where only about ¼ inch of the tool was used to cut the edges off of the square stock. Begin usually at the tailstock end and after anchoring the tool, rub the bevel and then start the cut. Slowly feed the tool into and down at the same time after contact is made. The cut can be rough, but very fast if done correctly. This is also called a peeling cut. The next cut is a V cut with the long point down. The roughed out cylinder is marked about every inch or so with a pencil and the long point is used at only one or two degrees off of 90 degrees (vertical) to make a slight cut in the wood. The skew is then tipped the same amount the other direction and another small cut is made. Alternating right and left, a V cut of about 1/8 wide and about that deep is repeated across the cylinder. The third cut demonstrated was how to make a bead. A strong pencil mark is made centered between each of the V cuts on the cylinder and a lighter mark about one third of the way and again about 2/3 of the way between the cuts. To cut a bead, use the short point or heel. After anchoring the tool, rub the bevel with the tool almost flat on the cylinder and the heel just touching the wood very close the edge of the V cut. Take several small cuts each time getting closer to the center line, but never actually touching it. Catches are not uncommon to the beginner (or even experienced turner), but practice certainly pays off when using a skew. Another cut that Randy demonstrated was the shoulder cut. This is very useful when cleaning up an end of a spindle after the peeling cut has set the correct diameter. This cut is started with the long point down and the tool at 90 degrees to the spindle.

8 Page 8 From the QCWT President May 2010 It must be spring! The snow birds are back. I miss their happy faces at the winter meetings. April had some nice events to look back on. The shop tour was interesting and fun. Thank you, Ray Meyers, Ray Hamilton, and Dave Johnson, for inviting the QCW to your shops and homes. We had 45 members participate in this event. You get a lot of tips on setting up your own shop. Each shop we visited matched the personality of the owner. The treats we had on the tour were not bad either! Randy Nagle s skew class went over big again. Randy is really doing a good job at giving back. He is passing on information that he has acquired from being with the club. I hope to get a class on the bowl gouge going in the future. We have tentatively scheduled it for Saturday May 22 and it will be aimed primarily at intermediate turners who have some experience with turning bowls. More details will be at the May meeting, so ask me about it if you need more information. Gallery Hop had the usual bad weather. We were a little disappointed with the public turnout, but all who were there had a good time. There was just too much going on that weekend. QCW made a few dollars for the club and we had fun doing it so it turned out OK. We have a lot of new members so I would like to say one more time that the Executive Meeting, the Monday before the regular third Tuesday meeting, is open to everyone, not just board members and officers. We sit around a table and discuss the direction of the club. This is an all-voluntary club so please volunteer and get involved. You will be happy you did. It s a good feeling to give back. Until next time, keep the bevel rubbing! Jerry Sargent, President, QCWT

9 Quad City Wood Turners DeSoto Arts Building 2324 Third Ave. Rock Island IL Phone: (309) Officers Chairperson: Vice Chair/ Prog. Director: Secretary: Treasurer: Directors Past Chair: Website: Auction: Library At Large Jerry Sergeant Art Jackson Anne Sinner Lloyd Beckman Jim Loula Teresa Allen Dave Johnson Ron Curtis Mike Moseley Joe Meirhaeghe Jim Dayton We re on the Web at Upcoming Events Work Group Leaders Critiques: Newsletter: Presentations: Fundraising Photography Club Demos Youth Mentoring Steve Sinner Denny Hurd/ Bob Mattison Jerry Johanson Dave Vandenboom Tom Paulsen Art Jackson/Robin Fraser Joe Meirhaeghe/Denny Hurd Bowl Turning Class Saturday, May 22 DeSoto Club Hours are from 9 AM to 3 PM. Listen for more details at the May meeting!! Youth Classes Youth classes are being scheduled for this June, tentatively on Monday and Thursday nights. Talk to Joe Meirhaeghe for more details as we need volunteers to help setup and teach the 4-H youth.

10 Quad cities Woodturners DeSoto Arts Building 2324 Third Ave. Rock Island IL 61201