North Carolina WOODTURNER

Transcription

1 North Carolina WOODTURNER Journal of the North Carolina Woodturners Association A Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners Volume 10, Number 4 April, 2000 Hollow Burl By Charles Farrar, South Hill, VA

2 2 April 2000 The President s Message By Edgar Ingram With spring breaking out all over and the grass growing, I hope you are still finding time to spend at the lathe expanding your creativity and technique. Frank Sudol's admonition keeps coming to mind - "copy other peoples work for practice, then throw it away and create your own design". If we follow his philosophy, there is no end to the variety of pieces that will show up in our gallery. The club now owns a mini-lathe that is available for members to use for demonstrations at schools, clubs, galleries, etc. Visiting these types of organizations is an excellent way to create interest in the art and craft of woodturning, not to mention expanding the market for turned objects. The clock is ticking to the countdown of the AAW symposium in Charlotte June 30-July 2, Everyone is encouraged to contribute turned components for our entry in the Chapter Collaborative Challenge. We are looking for a variety of styles and colors that will be put together in an arrangement. If you have questions, contact Craig Summerville, as he has agreed to coordinate the project. In addition, to our entry in the challenge, there is a number of ways for you to be of assistance at the symposium, such as demonstrations at schools in the Charlotte area prior to June 30, working the registration desk, room assistants for the demonstrators, setting up and manning the instant gallery just to name a few. I think you get the picture; the more that step forward to help, the less will be the burden on any one person. The highlight of our meetings, along with the program, is our gallery. For whatever reason, attendance was off a little at our March meeting, therefore, our gallery was off as well. I know there are many demands on everyone's time and it may not be possible to attend every meeting, but I look forward to seeing you and your work in the gallery as often as possible. Bill Johnston is scheduled to demonstrate in April and then in May, we are to be treated to one of the top turners in the country, David Ellsworth. You will want to mark your calendar for both these dates. Good turning and I hope to see you in Hickory April 8, at 1:00 PM. And don't forget to bring something for the gallery. Edgar NORTH CAROLINA WOODTURNER Journal of the North Carolina Woodturners Association Published Monthly by the NORTH CAROLINA WOODTURNERS ASSOCIATION, INC Route 7, Box 137, Hendersonville, NC Editor: Bonner Guilford 1371 Perth Road, Troutman, NC (704) bguil@bellsouth.net Contributing Editor: Mark Sakatos OFFICERS President: Edgar Ingram, Statesville (704) Vice President: Dean Amos, Sandy Ridge (336) Treasurer: George Wunker, Winston Salem (336) Secretary: Mary Bachand, Hendersonville (828) Programs: Dwight Hartsell, Charlotte (704) BOARD OF DIRECTORS Bill Young, Asheville (Term exp. 2000) (828) Jesse Wilkinson, Conover (Term exp. 2000) (828) Gary Johnson, Statesville (Term exp. 2000) (704) Craig Summerville, Charlotte (Term exp. 2001) (704) J.T. Barker, Hudson (Term exp. 2001) (828) Clyde Hall, High Point (Term exp. 2001) (336) John Winslett, Tryon (Term exp. 2002) (828) Scott Ollis, Hickory (Term exp. 2002) (704) Grant McRorie, Trinity (Term exp. 2002) (336) PAST PRESIDENT Jack Stewart, Charlotte (704) Member News By Mary Bachand We have a new member of NCWA. Lewis Barlow of North Wilkesboro, NC has joined us to participate and hopefully benefit from our association. Please make him feel welcome and do bring something for the gallery. Library Notes By Mary Bachand I have ordered the second in the AAW Woodturning Masters Series which will feature Ed Moulthrop. I have also ordered the AAW catalog, East Meets West. These should soon be in the library for your educational pleasure. Treasurer's Report Beginning Balance......$3, Income Expenses Ending Balance (March, 1999)..$4, George Wunker, Treasurer

3 3 April 2000 Coming Events By Dwight Hartsell Bill Johnston, who is a current member of TWNC and NCW, on April 8th will demonstrate how to prepare a turning for inlace and actually incorporate it into a turned piece of wood. If time permits, Bill will also show how he reads a log to get the most turning blanks from the log. He has several overheads he will discuss to illustrate his methods. Most of us know Bill Johnston and are somewhat familiar with his works. He is a retired educator who now turns out wonderful pieces of art selling throughout North Carolina and nationally at craft galleries and shows. Bill Johnston April 8, :00pm Bill Johnston on Inlace Hickory, NC May 13, :00am Nick Cook Hickory, NC $10 June 10, :00am David Ellsworth Hickory, NC $10 Raffle Report By John Winslett We once again thank all of the NCW participants for their support of our raffle and to all of our donators of material. This support helps bring in our great selection of demonstrators for your enjoyment. The Board of Directors voted to levy a $10 fee for each person attending our all day demonstrations. This will help offset the expense of having these gifted turners appear at our meetings. We will also begin to include one special raffle ticket with your admission, making you eligible for an additional prize in our drawing. Your comments on this policy are appreciated. Gallery Notes By Scott Ollis We had a beautiful assortment of turnings at the March meeting. 22 pieces of turned wood were on display created by 11 members listed as follows: Don Jafvert, Don Olsen, Anatoly Tsiris, Dwight Hartsell, Dick Nielsen, Edgar Ingram, Howard Lineberger, Michael Collingwood, J. T. Barker, Scott Ollis and one person whose name I missed. Thanks to all and happy turning. Challenge Project By Scott Ollis keep up the good work. March Winner. The March Challenge was to turn a small hollow form and Dwight Hartsell won with his beautiful ambrosia maple vase. Thanks for your participation and April Challenge. The challenge for April will be to turn the thinnest possible turning. Be as imaginative as possible and remember: "Thin is in and thin will win!" May Challenge. Remember the delayed challenge from March? The challenge for May is to turn something from a tree crotch. We should all have some Dwight Hartsell inspired ideas after Don Olsen's excellent demo on turning a tree crotch into an artistic form. We should all embrace the challenge of turning a new and exciting form such as this. So have fun and try it! June Challenge. The challenge for June will be to turn a lidded vessel of any size, shape or style. The lid should be a good fit to the vessel. Be creative and have fun turning.

4 4 April 2000 March Program Review By Mark Sakatos Photos by Lee Holt/George Wunker Charles Farrar Thin Stemmed Goblets and African Carved Vessels The dedication of our members astonishes. There are some members that drive as many as three hours to attend our meetings and until March I believed that would never be outdone. Enter Charles Farrar, veteran member of N.C. Woodturners and the March demonstrator whom, since his relocation to South Hill, Va. last spring has missed fewer meetings than when he lived in Charlotte. He last demonstrated for us in July 1998 when he presented his method for turning Grecian Urns. We are always pleased to see Charles and are fortunate that he remains committed to the North Carolina Woodturners. After receiving his undergraduate degree in business he worked 25 years with and retired from Bell South. He has been turning professionally for 11 years. Some of his work is currently on display at The Noel Gallery, in Charlotte, N.C. and The Paige Art Gallery, in South Hill, Va. Last October the Paige hosted a solo exhibition of twenty-nine pieces of his work where his hometown crowd warmly received him. While he always presents a variety of pieces for display in galleries, his true passion continues to be hollow vessels. The second project that Charles presented for us was his rendition of a gift that he and his wife Shirley had received from one of her colleagues on the latter s return from Africa. It was a wide mouthed vessel that bore hand carvings of African wildlife and landscapes. Charles was immediately inspired and has been playing with his own version of this authentic artifact. I immediately fell in love with the carvings and the simple almost rustic design of the vessel. I have been searching for a project that would depart from my more typical carefully crafted designs with high quality finishes. These Vessels and their whimsical carvings convey an immediate sense of simple workmanship and authenticity. With the right finish you could easily mistake them for thrown pottery. (Paraphrasing) Long Stemmed Goblets The challenge in turning this type of goblet is devising a method of supporting the cup or bowl section while you remove stock surrounding the stem. Any excessive pressure against the bowl from the tailstock (hereinafter T.S. ), will cause the workpiece (hereinafter W.P. ) to bow or twist just as any spindle work would. However, even the use of a sound and tested method is no guarantee of success. Charles shared that He has a dozen or more of these half completed projects that consist of only the bowl and half of the stem. Perseverance and experience will win out when you develop a feel for the correct amount of pressure and support to apply to the piece. Regardless, a catch that occurs while forming the stem is simply disastrous. Charles testified to this fact several times before beginning the stem, then one final time when the bowl came off in his hand. We heard Charles utter One last pass just before he attempted the fatal cut. A series of muffled colorful colloquials followed. But, professional that he is, when he looked up to the audience Charles wore a smile that betrayed no embarrassment or disappointment. For every 7-10 successful goblets completed, you re going to break at least one, sometimes two. As long as you re having fun, these small setbacks should be viewed as necessary practice to attain the requisite skills for successful completion. (Paraphrasing) For this project Charles usually selects Cocobolo because its straight grain helps keep the stem from warping. He encourages the use of

5 5 April 2000 a dust mask, as well as eye protection, especially when working with walnut or any woods that are known cause skin and lung irritation. He usually mounts the blank in a worm screw that comes with chuck. It keeps the work centered and seats the blank square. The four-jaw chuck tends to leave gaps between the chuck and the wood that can cause the wood to slip and require re-centering. Re-centering can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, at the final stages of a project such as this. Between centers he turned the blank to a cylinder with a one inch roughing gouge. The bowl must be fully shaped, hollowed, sanded and finished before moving on to the neck or foot. Charles explained that once part of the stem has been formed to its final diameter it would not support the pressure of any turning tool. Initial hollowing of the bowl is done with the T.S. still in place. Charles uses a custom right angle scraper he acquired from an old friend, Rhodes Batson. He sprays the wood frequently with water from a bottle he keeps handy. The water softens the wood fibers to ease the cut. It also cuts down the quantity of air-born dust. Occasionally he releases the T.S. tension to take pressure off the stem inside the bowl, then he delicately resets the tension. When he has removed as much as he can reach with the T.S. in place, he removes the T.S. and switches to a small hooked hollowing tool. When he supports the tool on the curved section he takes extra care to avoid a catch because this is not how the designers intended that the tool be used. However, this method permits an optimal approach angle of the tip in a shear-scraping mode and should be attempted with caution by the inexperienced turner. Wet sanding is done by hand with 220-grit Velcro backed sanding disks. Once the bowl is completed, he replaces the T.S. and packs the base with toilet paper to avoid contact between the cone center and the workpiece. A shopmade padded jam chuck would work equally as well. Using a spindle gouge with a long grind form a small bead at the base of the cup. Charles keeps the details simple when using exotic or highly figured stock. The stem is then roughed out in three or four separate sections. A catch during this stage will result in disaster. The first 1/3 of the stem under the bowl is the most crucial phase because it is the least supported by the headstock (hereinafter H.S. ). The finishing cuts are made before you move down the stem to the next section. Once a stem diameter between 1/8th and 3/16ths is attained, sand with the paper and stem held delicately between your fingers. Aggressive sanding can cause a weak point in the stem and ruin your project. Be gentle and keep moving. The bottom of the base should be concave to avoid a wobble. When parting support the stem with your hand and check the T.S. tension frequently. The narrow stem will dry within 12 hours if the stock selected has straight grain and is free of knots. Hollow Vessel w/ African Landscape Carvings Charles selects dry walnut for these pieces because it finishes beautifully, even in the recesses of the carvings. Charles carves with a basic Dremel tool using a variety of stones and burred carving bits. Due to the pressure he exerts on the bit when cutting and the lengthy periods in which he runs the machine, he has gone through three of them already. He stays with the Dremel because it s easy to use, and since the relatively low cost permits him to use several machines, each mounted with dedicated bits, thereby saving time. Charles glues plywood faceplates to much of his work but cautions that this practice can be dangerous. The laminates can separate under the stress so it s imperative that you maximize the penetration of your screws into the plywood as much as possible, leaving sufficient room to part the waste faceplate from the W.P. Mounted between centers he trues the faceplate and forms a tenon thereon. He then mounts the tenon in a four-jaw chuck and brings up the T.S. for added support. He trues then roughs the wood with a 3/8 side ground gouge. The side profile is bulbous (not quite flat, but almost so with no high point). The finer profiling is done with a ½ spindle gouge with a long bevel. Little advance planning or design work is done. Charles prefers to work the piece as it presents itself to him. A 3-inch opening and simple rim is formed. He hollows as much as he can safely

6 6 April 2000 remove in between the rim and live center. At this early stage he frequently inspects the wood for cracks to allow for design changes if necessary. He removes the T.S. and switches to a custom winged hollowing bar with an aggressive 45 degree beveled round scraper. This tool gives him the ability to rest and pivot on the wing over the tool rest. It permits a nearly effortless and controlled cut. Again, he sprays the wood with water to soften the wood and improve the cut. He leaves as much as ¼ inch thickness in the wall where the carving will be done. To avoid accidentally separating the W.P. from the waste block, the final profile near the base is formed with shear cuts on a side ground gouge. He makes a simple base to match the rim and the overall feel of the piece. The rustic appearance avoids distracting the observer from the featured carvings. He undercuts the foot to provide room to work when parting. A final chamfer on the base helps lift the piece from its resting-place. Using a turntable-type jig mounted between the live center and the rim to support the W.P., he parts the vessel from the waste faceplate. He solicits a helping hand to quickly turn off the lathe while he supports the piece with one hand and parts with the other. It s now time to do some power carving. The Dremel is used to make upper and lower grooves that will define the borders for the carving. These grooves could also be turned prior to parting, then power carved to give them the handmade look he desires. The tool is held with the tip of the bit or cutter leading the tool. The bit is pushed into the wood. Charles finds that use of the tool in this manner keeps the cutter in the wood and gives him greater control. His experience has indicated that pull cuts tend to lift the bit off the wood and make it ride on the surface out of control. Cylinder-shaped grinding bits are used for many of the initial cuts (borders, trees, grass and elephants). A burred bit is used to form the apples and other fine details. A coned-shaped stone bit is used to enlarge and smooth the initial cuts. It is also used to intentionally burn the overhead vegetation details for accent, but not the apples in the tree. The details include grass, two to three elephants, fruit trees and overhead vegetation. The elephants skin is textured using teeth from the head of a barber s electric hair clipper. He s careful to stay in the lines and follow the animal s contour. Then he crisscrosses these lines to convey a tough-skinned appearance. Little sanding is done since the finished surface would detract from the simple rustic feel of the piece. Finally, some Danish oil brings out the figure of the walnut and the carving details. The completed piece conveys that the work was handcrafted. We wish to thank Charles for this entertaining and insightful presentation. There s no doubt that the wisdom and experience he imparted would enhance any effort to tackle either of these beautiful and creative projects. Give them a try! It was great to see Charles again and we all look forward to seeing him this summer at the AAW Symposium in Charlotte. Look for him when you turn in 2-3 examples of your work for display at the instant gallery. He ll be the man in charge. For Sale Walnut logs, 11"-18" diameter and 24"-30" in length. Contact Edgar Ingram at the meeting or at J.T. Barker

7 7 April 2000 NCW GALLERY GALLERY Clockwise from top left Dean Amos John Hill Don Jafvert Ric Erkes Don Olsen Photos by George Wunker

8 8 April 2000 NCW GALLERY Gallery Clockwise from top left Edgar Ingram Harold Lineburger Dick Nielsen Grant McRorie Scott Ollis Photos by George Wunker