Message from the President

Transcription

1 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 1 Regular Monthly Meeting ( first Tuesday ) 7:00 p.m. Hello Fellow Woodturners, Message from the President February, 2011 So, how many times have you written 2010 instead of 2011 so far. For me, I am still waiting for my first time to get it right! Oh well, when can I start to blame age? I may have to start soon! Well, I am excited for all of the opportunities a New Year will bring. We have already had our first meeting on January 4th and I think it was a great success. We began our Education Outreach Program with a bang and held our meeting at Brighton High school. Mike Mahoney did our demonstration, and as always he did a fantastic job. He focused his demo on the high school students present, and tried to speak to them at their level. Based on the questions asked and the enthusiasm of the students and their teacher, Mr. McNeill, I know he had a great positive impact. We had several club members volunteer to help the shop teachers in any way that they ask. We hope we get the chance to teach some of our skills to young people. Our goal is to promote woodturning among the youth, especially in the schools, and I think me made a great start. Look for more from this initiative as the year progresses. This also was the big night where we were to chose our finalists for the club entry in the AAW symposium exhibit. We had several really nice items to choose from, and we took advantage of the judging panel to whittle the choices down to three finalists. We then held a secret ballot to pick our entry, based on workmanship, quality, innovation, creativity and materials. It was a tough choice, but the entry from Dave Best of segmented bat house ornaments was selected as the winner and will represent our club well in the traveling display. Tim McNeill and Brighton High School proved to be a gracious host. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome and to re-arrange their shop! Thanks again. We held our quarterly training meeting at Woodcraft on January 20 th. There was a Panel Discussion on hollowing, as well as discussing chucks and jaw options. Joe Wagner gave us a demo on the Hunter tools and Mike Hyer gave us a little demo on hollowing a form. Our February meeting will be held on Feb. 1 st at Timberline. I know this is a change from what I announced at the last meeting. Our friends at High Mountain were unable to host us in February, so I swapped the Con t on page 5 Feb 1st - Timberline 1402 West Center Street, Orem Mar 1st - High Mountain Forrest Products 1422 South Redwood Road, SLC April 5th - MacBeath Hardwood 1576 South 300 West, SLC Mike Mahoney was our demonstrator in January NOW AVAILABLE: The 2010 Utah Woodturners Symposium DVD 2009 Utah Woodturners Symposium DVD is still available We also have CD s back to 1999 The CD is compatible with PC and Mac Cost $35.00 each and includes shipping If you would like to buy a DVD or CD at the club meeting, they are available for $30.00 by saving shipping costs

2 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 2 Mike explaining a point to the shop teacher, Mr. McNeill Utah Woodchips the official newsletter of the Utah Association of Woodturners 2010 to 2011 Club Officers President Jay Brown Cherry Tree Lane Salt Lake City, UT woodturnerjay@comcast.net Vice President Lauren Gibbs 6025 S. Roanoke Drive Murray, UT Good crowd at Brighton High School sudwngu@gmail.com Sec/Treasurer Joe Wagner 3000 South 1000 East SLC, UT wagner50@comcast.net DVD Specialist Dave Best davidbest2176@msn.com CD Rom Bob Carter blcarter@comcast.net Ring on finished bowl Blank to be mounted Editors Photographer Jay & Vernita Brown vermama@comcast.net Dennis Brown denloclan@comcast.net Mounting the blank Webmaster Russell Bateman russ@windofkeltia.com Hospitality North End - Larry Banz Hospitality Salt Lake - Wayne Johns Hospitality South End - Eldon DeHaan eldondehaan@gmail.com Entire contents copyright 2010 by Utah Association of Woodturners

3 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 3 Mike Mahoney Bowl, Plate, Hollow Form and Tips For our meeting on January 4 th we had the privilege of being the guests of Tim McNeill at his wood shop at Brighton High School. We were also joined by several of Tim s students. This was the first step in the school outreach program designed to help get students interested in woodturning. The outreach program could not have started out better than with a demo from Mike Mahoney. As we all know, Mike is a world-renowned turner with an emphasis on salad bowl production turning. Mike did a fantastic job imparting of his knowledge and talents by demonstrating a natural-edged bowl, a plate, and a hollow form. We thank Mike for his willingness to help us become better turners and appreciate all he does for the club. We wish him the best as he prepares to retire from production turning in 11 months. For the benefit of the new turners and students, Mike explained how he takes the wood from a tree to a turning blank by cutting the log down the center. He then roughly cuts it into the shape of a bowl on a band saw. We then have our turning blank. The center of the log is not generally used because it is prone to cracking. Mike used a 10 diameter pepper tree blank that came from family property in California for his first demo, a natural-edged bowl. Natural-edged bowl Mike likes to use a two-pronged spur because it gives him more latitude in balancing the natural edge of the bowl. He used a 5/8 bowl gouge with a fingernail grind to rough the bowl out, keeping the speed low until he got it round. After getting a shape he liked, Mike used a spindle gouge to make a tenon and rechucked the bowl in a 4-jaw chuck. He then used a ½ gouge swept back into a long cutting surface to shear scrape, getting the wood as smooth as possible to minimize sanding. Mike hollowed out the center, getting it close to the finished thickness. When it was close to a ¼, Mike worked in thirds, finishing the top 1/3, the second 1/3, then finishing the bottom. This wood was very unstable so Mike wanted it thin and very even to minimize cracking. When the tool rest is a long way from where the wood is, Mike uses a heavier gouge for more stability. He finished up and sanded. Then he reversed it and used a jam chuck and the tail stock to put a small concave base on the bottom of the bowl. Mike explained that when finished, he would remove the center nub by hand and sign his name and the type of wood. He said a good finish on this would be a lacquer. Other finishes don t work well with green wood. Dinner plate Mike started with a quarter sawn, sycamore blank. He likes using quarter sawn blanks for plates because they are more stable. Mike makes the diameter of the base 80-90% of the total diameter of the plate because you will be cutting, scooping eating off it and you don t want it to rock or tip. He mounted the blank using a screw chuck, shaped the bottom and the rim of the plate, and put a small tenon on the base. Mike made sure the base was concave so it would sit flat. He then power sanded starting with 150 grit, 240 grit, then 320 grit. He then used a piece of scrap wood and made a jam chuck to turn the front of the plate. He remounted the plate in the jam chuck, using the tail stock for support. Mike finished the face using a flowing curve then removed his tail stock to finish the very center. Mike said that every wood turner should have wooden plates in their house. Hollow Form Mike then turned a hollow form out of boxelder. After turning a tenon, Mike mounted it and turned the outside to a nice soft curve. He then hollowed out the center using Kelton hollowing tools. Mike likes his thickness to be about 3/16 to 1/8 throughout. He made certain to get all of the shavings out before tapping the wood to gauge the thickness. He pointed out that shavings will change the sound and make it difficult to gauge the thickness. After hollowing out the inside, Mike made a small jam chuck and reverse mounted the piece to take off the bottom tenon. This piece is just for looks, so he put a small base on the bottom with a spindle gauge and power sands. He then removes the small nub by hand. In his shop, he would soak the hollow form in a vat of Danish oil, let it dry about a week, then spray it with lacquer. This gives him an oil look with the membrane finish of lacquer. Some of Mike s tips for the night Kiln-dried wood is totally different than air-dried wood. Kiln-dried is more difficult to turn and heats up your tools. If you hear vibration, what you hear translates right onto the wood and will give you a chatter mark on your turning. City wood yards are good places to get free wood. Con t on page 5

4 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 4 Rounding the blank Taking shape Tennon is formed Turned around, to have chuck grip the tennon Shaping the outside Now to hollow the inside of the bowl Beginning the hollowing process The chips are flying

5 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 5 Con t from age 1 February and March meetings. That means that, barring and further changes, we will meet at High mountain Forest Products on March 1 st. Dave Bowhuis has agreed to do a demo for us before he leaves us again, so don t miss it. He is a great turner, and he and Phylis will soon be gone again for a while, so see his demo and wish them good luck in their travels. Remember to bring your turners challenge and show and tell items entry items to the February meeting. Our thanks again go out to Craft Supplies, who provides the Gift Certificates we award for the turners challenge. Let me know how we can better serve you! You can still reach me the old way, but I now have woodturnerjay@comcast.net. Remember, this is supposed to be fun, so now that the holidays are behind you and the pressure of gift making is over, find a way to spend some time just having fun at the lathe this month! Jay Brown Con t from page 3 If you are using wood that will warp considerably when it dries, you may want to make a natural edge bowl. Other bowls can be roughed out and dried before turning. After they are roughed out, use a green wood sealer because of our dry climate. Utah is like living in a kiln. Green wood in plastic has a tendency to mildew, the severity depending on the type of wood. Boxelder in plastic will rot, Oaks and Ash will let mold grow on them but won t ruin the wood. Keep in mind that the sap wood is softer, has more moisture and tends to not be as structural as the heart woods. Sap wood will warp more than the heartwood. When turning the lathe on, never stand directly behind it. Anything that comes off will hit you. He can tell the wood is being cut clean because the wood chips coming off the tool are really clean. Sycamore, Maple and Walnut are also good for plates as they don t shrink. Oak would not be good because it has very open grain. Be careful when power sanding the center of plates and other items. It is easy to create a dip. With the lathe off, power sand the center to level it off. Then with the lathe running, lightly touch the outer edge with the sander, move towards the center and pull off. Use a hard-steel, large tool for rough cuts; smaller, softer metal for finish work. The hard steel won t get as sharp but will stay sharp longer. The softer steel will dull more quickly but you can get it sharper for the finishing cuts. My craft is my life, so I want my work to last longer than me. Do it right by making the object out of something pretty, design it well, and make it useful. Then your grandkids and their grandkids will talk about your craft. If you don t sign it, isn t worth much....laruen Gibbs

6 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 6 Getting the thickness right Thickness is just right! Shaping the friction drive Finishing the outside with the bowl on the friction drive Finished bowl Plate blank mounted Shaping the bottom of the plate The bottom shaped

7 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 7 Yes, Mike does sand Finished plate bottom Making a friction drive for the plate to finish the inside Plate turned around and mounted in friction drive Cleaning out the inside Almost done Power sanding Inside finished

8 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 8 Finished Plate Form mounted to make a hollowform Shaping the outside Making a dimple for the drill Mike s plan to hollow the piece Hold drilled for hollowing Making some finished cuts on the outside

9 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 9 Beginning the hollowing Using the steps to hollow Power sanding the outside Making a friction drive to turn the form around Finishing the outside Sanding the outside Finished piece

10 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 10 Some of Mike s work Show n Tell

11 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 11 Winner of the AAA Symposium Entry Segmented Bat House Ornaments By Dave Best Upcoming Turner s Challenges Jan (for Feb meeting) One of Gordon s projects or a pen Feb (for Mar meeting) Wooden plate Mar (for Apr meeting) TBA Thank you to all who brought pieces for this contest.

12 Club DVD s for sale Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 12

13 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 13 For Sale or T rade Rough turned bowls, platters, etc. Call Kirk DeHeer If you have something to sell, trade, or give away, you can advertize right here. Please get your information to the editor at vermama@comcast.net Check these websites out Attention artists, teachers and demonstrators If you are participating in a craft show, have a gallery exhibition, will be teaching or demonstrating your craft, or know of an event of interest to woodturerns, please contact the Editor at vermama@comcast.net to add the event to the newsletter. A little self-promotion is a good thing. Your fellow woodturners want to know about your events. Calendar of Events Utah Association of Woodturners The Utah Association of Woodturners was formed in 1988 and is a local chapter of the American Association of Woodturners Feb 1st 7:00pm - Regular Meeting of UAW at Timberline in Orem Meetings - first Tuesday of each month at various shops or wood stores that support our club Refreshments 6:30 Meeting 7:00 8:45 pm You are invited to attend and become a part of the group. For more information contact any club officer. Dues begin July 1 st of each year: $25.00 full year $20.00 three quarters $15.00 half year $10.00 last quarter Spouse $10.00 Mar 1st 7:00pm - Regular Meeting of UAW at High Mountain in Salt Lake The calendar is open start working on an entry for the Utah Symposium in May

14 Number 110 Utah Woodchips Newsletter Feb 2011, page 14 The Utah Association of Woodturners would like to thank our Premier sponsors... Premier supplier of woodturning supplies 1287 East 1120 South, Provo, UT Premier supplier of hardwoods 1576 South 300 West, SLC, UT (801) (800) Premier supplier of tools and machinery Supplier of hardwoods and sheet goods 1402 West Center Orem, UT (801) S. Redwood Rd. Salt Lake City, UT (801) 974-WOOD (9663)