THE CHIP FLYER. 150th Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners May 2018

Transcription

1 THE CHIP FLYER From the President s Notebook What is that smell? fresh cut grass.. it means a bit less shop time as yard work time has started. You should be a few coats of finish from having your competition piece ready to go, so I am sure the yard work should not be an issue at this point. I am looking forward to seeing just how creative all you folks are, and I know I will not be disappointed. It is also the evening where as President I get to award a special trophy to the most promising novice woodturner. This award was set-up to honour the memory of Doug Newlove, an early and very active member of the club. We are getting ready to send in a bulk order for some items from Glenn Lucas after his excellent demonstration. I am sure that everyone who attended had an interesting day, and those that were not there missed a great presentation. These demonstrations are more than just a few hours of your time sitting and watching. The info and comments that come out during the events are very helpful in helping us develop as Woodturners. Lloyd Butler Our next professional tour is developing and it looks like late October will see Michael Hosaluk back in the area. If you have not seen Mike s work, you have missed one of the most inspirational turners ever. The fact that he is Canadian is an added bonus. He has been amongst the group of whose who of woodturning for more than 30 years. It is a demo that you are not going to want to miss this fall. As we come down to the last few months of my presidency, I would like to once again thank all those who have helped out over the years. Without your involvement, the guild would not be the same. I would also like to thank the past club presidents: Mike Brazeau, George Jacquemain and Andy Ditomaso, who I have worked with over the past several years and learned so much. There are just over 4 months for you to build up a number of turnings to sell off in the guilds Show and Sale. Derek Dix should have more info in the coming weeks as we pull together a small committee to help finalize the plan. We want to get as much info out before the end of June as we can, so that we can have a record participation this year. The Show is continuing to grow year over year and this is a great opportunity to join in as it really starts to take off. I will now let you get back to the shop and put those final touches on your competition piece. We are lucky that Exotic-Woods has agreed to once again host the evening on May 17th. They have been fantastic partners in this over the past few years and I am not sure who looks forward to the evening more, us or them. Coming up May 10th Hands-On /Woodturning 101 May 17th Spring Competition at Exotic Woods, Burlington

2 Here is a list of the demonstrators for the next few months: May: Spring Competition June: Annual General Meeting and Elections, demo by Ruby Cler ( September: Joe Ruminshi ( Monthly Tip This Month s tip comes from: Shop Tips to Share from AAW 2

3 By Maurice Solar Demonstrator Report Glenn Lucas Plates - Salad Bowls - Viking Bowls He started his presentation with a slide show on how he prepares his bowl blanks. He slabs the logs with professional chainsaws equipped with standard chains since he does very little crossgrain cutting. He did emphasize that the teeth must be even on both sides of the chain otherwise the saw will drift. He then rounds the blanks on the band saw. He uses silicone on both the table and the blade to reduce friction. When in production mode, he rounds about 60 blanks per hour and changes the blade twice each day. The use of silicone is a heresy for many turners but he has never found it a problem. Where to start? For one of our Thursday s demos, I typically take five to six pages of notes in a small pocket book. I ve got eighteen such pages for Glenn s demonstration and I had to absent myself from noon to 3 pm to attend a service for one of my wife s cousins. So the simplest thing is to refer you to Glenn s website and ask you to click on About Us ; it will tell you a lot about him, if you didn t already know. What I did not know was that Glenn was tracing his ancestry for several generations in County Carlow, about halfway between Dublin and Waterford, a bit east of the M9 motorway. His father and brother farm in the area and he borrows their heavy equipment to move the massive flame beech trees that he is lucky to have access to. He also works with walnut and horse chestnut. The beech blanks tend to crack very quickly so he covers them with a plastic sheet before putting them on the lathe, but not for very long as beech spalts very quickly. The blanks are first mounted between centers using a large spur drive and a cup live center on the tailstock. The spur drive consists of a 1 (25mm) stub in the center for which he bores a hole in the top of the blanks, and three spurs some 1½ - 2 away. This way he can shape the outside of the bowls and turn the tenons. He then flips them around 3

4 and fits them in one of his extensive (!) collection of chucks, some 50 of them since he runs a turning school on the premises. He prefers dovetail jaws, but would prefer them machined at rather than the conventional 80. He also leaves enough of a gap between the jaws to be able to insert his callipers to measure the thickness of the bottom. That way the jaws are close to a perfect circle, giving maximum contact with the wood. For coring, he uses the Oneway system, the same one Malcolm Cumming demonstrated two days earlier at our Thursday meeting. (Malcolm was very proud that, I quote, Glenn Lucas attended my demonstration.) Glenn leaves only about ¾ at the bottom of the bowls so as to reduce the amount of finish turning required. The photo to the right below shows how efficient Glenn is when in production mode: that s one day worth of coring! However he didn t say how long such a day is... The blanks are sealed on the outside end-grain only using Evo-Bond PVA which is a universal adhesive, sealer and primer (unless there are a lot of bowls in the dryer in which case sealing is not required). The blanks are stacked in the kiln with the grain always in the same direction (to avoid toppling due to shrinkage in different directions) and separated by three short 1 square sticks. Drying takes some eight weeks. For more information on the next steps, please go to the AAW s American Woodturner magazine, February 2018, pages 16 to 21. But one of the pictures in this article by Glenn is worth reproducing here as he often referred to the angle of his bowl gouges during the demo. 4

5 Plates The overall diameter of the foot is about 80% of the diameter of the plate, compared to maybe only 30-35% for a bowl. (On my plate it is only 60%). The profile outside the foot is a very flat ogee. The finishing cuts are all made with the ½ Irish-grind bowl gouge with a 45 angle (see above). The tool rest is set below center so that the tool cuts on center. Higher rpms make it easier. Glenn differentiated between a shear scrape with the gouge held horizontally and only the wing touching the tool, a shear cut with the gouge held at 45, and a push cut. He currently prefers the push cut, as seen in the photo on the right, but will resort to the shear cut if necessary and even to the shear scrape for very difficult grain. Glenn trained as a cabinet maker and often referred to planing techniques when describing these cuts: cabinet makers will often hold their planes at 45 or will resort to scrapers when finishing difficult grain. Well, if Malcolm can do it, so can I. Glenn did use a plate I bought when my wife and I met his wife Cornelia at their house in Ireland (he was away on one of his many trips) as an example of how he turns plates. I had brought it to the demo so that he could autograph it. His plates are typically in diameter and 1 to 1¼ overall 2 height. He first turns the bottom using a faceplate with short screws. Contrary to usual wisdom, be turns a recess some 4¼ (105mm) in diameter and a little more than 1 /8 deep (4mm) to hold the plate in expansion. The bottom of the recess is slightly domed out. At one time he used tenons and then removed them using a vacuum chuck, but since this approach required more time and the price ended up being the same, he returned to the recess design. He wet sands with mineral oil (also called liquid paraffin in Ireland) at 150 then 220 grit, unless he s in production mode when he dry sands. The mineral oil contains no amino-acids and thus does not go rancid. If wet sanding with mineral oil, then mineral oil is used as the finish. He uses good quality cloth-backed sandpaper but mentioned that Abranet works very well but is expensive. 5

6 Spring Competition. Once again the Spring Competition will be hosted at Exotic Woods in Burlington, 5229 Harvester Rd, Burlington, ON L7L 5L4. The rules for the competion and the entry form to accompany your entry are both accessible from the home page of the website ( It should be a very interesting evening and normally, Exotic Woods are kind enough to offer a discount on purchases made that evening. MarketPlace Wanted: looking for a Oneway lathe size 1640 to 2436 or a powermatic 3520B - Please contact Hugh Widdup hugh@yknotwoodturning.com For Sale: Delta for sale $800. Firm. Excellent condition. Please contact Wayne at joyway@wightman.ca 6

7 Free lathe I was in the Burlington Lee Valley store recently in search of a home for a Busy Bee copy lathe that came to me through family channels, and told that you just might have a few contacts through your wood turners. It appears to be fully functional ( I have made a few stakes). I am looking for someone who could put it to good use, and only ask for help in getting it up from my basement. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please have him (or her) drop me a line at marcmarsh@mac.com Lathe for Sale Rockwell Model no ; Serial no Made in Guelph, ON. I bought it at Leger in Ottawa when I lived in Deep River, ON, during the '80s. I now live in Dundas, ON. I'm upgrading and don't have room or need for two. Dimensions are: 60" L x 42"H x 15" deep. It weighs 300 lb without the motor (but it does have a very fine motor). Material: Cast iron headstock, tailstock and ways. Sheet steel stand, legs and motor housing. Spindles: headstock has #2 Morse taper and 1" x 8 tpi on inboard side and same size reverse thread outboard. Headstock has a through hole for ejecting spur centre and retaining Jacobs chuck, tightening collets etc. It also has an excellent indexing system. Tail stock is #2 Morse taper and has 2" marked on the quill for drilling to precise depths. Capacity: 37 " spindle, 12" throw (16" over gap bed) Speed: 340 to 3500 rpm. Speed change is by a Reeves drive providing variable speed over the entire range. 7

8 150th Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners May 2013 Electrical: 0.75 hp motor, 120 V plugs into regular wall outlet. Has a reversing switch for better, faster sanding of bowls. Includes: 1 single post banjo 1 x 12", tool rest 1 spur centre 1 knockout bar 1 screw centre Faceplates: o 1 x 6 faceplate that can be used inboard or outboard o 2 x 3 faceplates 1 left hand arbor (for use outboard) for buffing wheel, etc. 1 right hand arbor (for use inboard on headstock) 1 Oneway tailstock live centre with: o Cup centre o large reversible cone o small cone point, and o knockout / tip-change bar. 1 device that replaces the tailstock quill to allow a 5/16 lamp post auger to be used for long axial holes. 1 wrench Manual and parts list. Typically used two or three times per week, finish is in good shape. Price for all $ Contact: Ozzie Tatone otatone@hotmail.com 8

9 150th Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners May 2018 Chip Flyer Sponsors Sixteen Road, Smithville (905) Once you get yourself to Smithville, ON, along the beautiful Niagara escarpment, head south out of town along Port Davidson Road. Take a right at Sixteen Road (west) and we're about 300m down on the left. Looking for quality lumber or specialty wood you just can t find at the big box stores? Domestic & Exotic woods, kiln dried lumber and turning blanks. We recently recieved hundreds of exotic rounds & squares for turning from Mexico & South America 9

10 Visit us: Co ntact us to order: Innovative Woodworking Tools & Supplies w.stoc ckrooms upply..co m Executive Committee: President Lloyd Butler......pres@ghwg.ca First VP Brian Ashton.....fvp@ghwg.ca Second VP......Peter Morrill......svp@ghwg.ca Communications.Tony Osman......communications@ghwg.ca Membership.....Sandy Zimmerman.members@ghwg.ca Hands-On Kevin Ellis hands-on@ghwg.ca Treasurer Tom Last treasurer@ghwg.ca Secretary Scott Millard.....secretary@ghwg.ca Photographer....Larry Arsenault...photos@ghwg.ca Members at Large Derek Dix memberatlarge1@ghwg.ca Charles Jordan....memberatlarge4@ghwg.ca Hugh Widdup.....memberatlarge2@ghwg.ca Norm Deneault...memberatlarge3@ghwg.ca If you think you have a way with words, we could use your skills and talents. You may have a number of interesting techniques and tips you could turn into an article for the Chip Flyer. If you are interested, contact Tony at communications@ghwg.ca