Volume 1 October, 2017 Dave Rife
Next regular meeting, Saturday November 11, 2017 at the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District at 880 Parsons Road, Traverse City, MI. Rolls Chuck Vernon Coffee Chuck Vernon Bring Back Tom Lufkin. Demonstration Chuck Vernon NW Michigan Woodturner Meeting October 14, 2017 The business meeting was convened at 09:00 by President Lyle Jamieson at the TBA Career-Tech Center. 29 members and guests were in attendance. Our guests today were: Mitch Rock Traverse City Ken Hunter Suttons Bay Jeff Sanborn Lake Leelanau Announcements: New construction at the TBA Career-Tech Center is underway, and for the forseeable future, we will not be able to use our normal parking area and entry door. We will need to park in the west parking lot and enter the building at door 2. Door 2 is located as you normally turn left after coming in the tech center driveway. Enter door 2 and walk straight down the hallway and turn left at the first hallway. Dan Buron of Goodwill, Northern Michigan, was at our meeting to tell us a bit more about the Empty Bowls Program and Food Rescue. This is an important program, as it helps fund Food Rescue, which provides needed food resources to food pantries in our 5-county area. Dan was here to pick up bowls we are donating to the Empty Bowls event on November 5th. The program has been so impressed by the number and quality of the bowls we have donated that Dan has extended a complimentary invitation to this year's event at the Hagerty Center in Traverse City. If you would like to attend, please contact Dan Buron at Goodwill immediately at 231-995-7710, or on his cell at 616-291-7283. If you still have bowls to donate to the program, please contact Chuck Vernon, our Empty Bowls Coordinator at 231-258-0992 (email hockeyref542@hotmail.com), or take the bowl(s) to the Goodwill business office (adjacent to the store) on South Airport Road, Traverse City. Old Business: We discussed the September demonstration and handson learning opportunity with Mark Gardner. The demonstration was well attended, and comments indicated that it was very well received. The handson opportunities at Lyle's studio, while necessarily limited in number,
were also well commented on, and attendees both enjoyed the experience and learned new techniques. The cost of the three-day event was $2,709, and participant registrations covered $1,520. The club treasury covered the rest. Library display: 22 of our members arrived at the Traverse City Public Library on October 2nd to fill two display cabinets with over 110 fantastic examples of local wood turning. Thank you to all who contributed. There have been many wonderful comments about the display to date. Thank you Owen and Gail for coordinating this for the club. Our work will remain on display through the end of October. We need to take the display down ON October 31. We 22 members will meet there again at 9:30 am on that Tuesday to retrieve our work. Please, if you cannot be there for the retrieval, contact Owen Toomey at 231-322- 3181(home), 231-676-2617 (Gail's cell phone), or Kris Roberts at 701-400-9160(cell), 231-676-9007(house). One way or another, we will get your pieces back to you. New Business: Christmas in October Party: As this newsletter is coming out after the fact, I will have to say that the Christmas in October Party on Sunday, October 22, was a great success. Nearly 50 turners, spouses, family and friends attended. Owen and Gail Toomey again hosted a fantastic party with food, drink, and desserts. The gift exchange to our other halves brought many oos and aahs. Like our Library dsiplay, the gifts showed just how talented our members are. Unfortunately, your secretary forgot to bring a camera, and Owen's camera battery was nearly exhausted, so there aren't any pictures of the gifts. TBA Career-Tech Center turning education opportunity: The Career- Tech Center has, in exchange for rent, asked our club to provide the opportunity for interested students to learn about turning by hands-on experience. Chuck Vernon volunteered to coordinate and arrange member teachers, and be the liaison between the club and the school. Members interested are requested to Contact Chuck (see his contact info above) to schedule times and dates to work with students one on one. This will continue through the school year, so we need members to volunteer their time as able to pass our craft on to a new generation. Members who have done this in the past say it is a very rewarding experience. You don't need to be a master turner to do this. Students just need the basics and guidance for a first project. 2018 September Demonstrator: The club was asked it we want to bring in a demonstrator/teacher again in 2018. By show of hands, a high majority present said we want to do it again.
Kris Roberts and Robin Fraser volunteered to research and suggest names of outside demonstrators to the Board for consideration. If you know of someone who would be a good demonstrator, or if you have a particular desire for a demonstration topic, please let Kris or Robin know. We know from experience that we need to act swiftly to get someone scheduled for next year, as demonstrators schedules fill up very early. Christmas Ornament Challenge: Gary Perkins suggested, and is organizing a club Christmas Ornament Challenge. He suggests a $5.00 entry, which will result in cash prizes for top judged entries by club vote. He will have more information and entry forms ready for the November meeting. 10 Turners 10 Bowls Challenge: At the Christmas in October party, Owen issued the following challenge: 10 members to turn 10 bowls in the next 12 months to be donated to the Empty Bowls 2018 event. Owen will talk about this further and get commitments in the November meeting. Please think about it guys. This is a great way to benefit our community with our passion for woodturning. Tech Talk: One of our members asked how to best mount up a blank on a glue block so that it is best centered for turning. Lyle and others offered this advice: 1) Initially mount the blank between center with the best balance possible. 2) True up the blank and adjust so it gives the best presentation of grain and features while it is still between centers. 3) Begin forming the outside profile, but only enough so you can see that you have the orientation you want. 4) Mount the blank on the glue block, approximately centered. It is impossible to get it exact, and have your blank running perfectly true. This is why you only turn the approximate profile before bringing in the glue block. 5) Now true up the blank and refine your profile, and continue. Future Meetings: For November, John Sheets will chair, as Lyle will be away. Chuck Vernon will demonstrate an inside-out turning project December Lyle Jamieson will demonstrate the turning of a thinwalled goblet January Chuck Vernon will demonstrate turning and attaching a stem and base to a wine glass February Robin Fraser will demonstrate Simple Things for Giveaway
Show and Share: Dave Rife Lidded boxes from scraps, and a chestnut burl bowl
John Sheets His maple hollow vase form finished from the Mark Gardner hands-on class Tevin Miles Magic wands of mahogany and copper and ipe Bob Menz Cherry bowl with undercut rim
Norm Dill Lidded box of Ash with gilders wax, hollow form urn of ash, and maple hollow form with paint embellishment
Chuck McLaughlin His maple hollow form vase with handles from the Mark Gardner hands-on class, and a maple burl bowl with danish oil finish Bill Schlink Large big leaf maple bowl with crack filling of West System epoxy, walnut dust and metal shavings (The Bring Back Raffle Prize)
Bring Back Raffle: These are sought after by a local gallery, so Dave is trying to develop a technique for making boxes in a time efficient process. His goal is to be able to turn 3 lidded boxes in an hour, using a concentric chuck mounting. Bill Schlink's large bowl, won by Tom Lufkin Club Demonstration: Dave Rife Production turning of lidded boxes Dave likes to turn small lidded boxes of collected wood scraps from turning projects and other sources he finds. He begins, after mounting his blank in a chuck, by setting his tool rest height so that the cutting edge of his gouge is at the axis of rotation. After roughing the square block to a cylinder, Dave uses planing cuts with the bowl gouge to refine the shape of the body. He anchors the tool with his body, and uses his body to move the tool, not his hands. This gives a smoother, more consistent line of cut.
After the body diameter is set and the outside profile is finished, Dave chooses two sizes of forstner bit to hollow. This first, largest size is used to cut the mortice, as Dave s design has the lid sitting down into this mortice. Hence the forstner bit size is the same diameter as the box lid he will use. This diameter has already been set by turning a cylinder of wood for the lid, which will be then parted off as a thin disc. The second forstner bit size is the smaller diameter, chosen to give the desired wall thickness of the box. This is the major hollowing process for the box. When the box depth is achieved, Dave uses a square end scraper to remove the center negative dimple left by the forstner bit, and sands. The lid disc is then parted and sawed off from the lid cylinder and fitted tight into the mortice (the body is used now as a jam chuck) so the lid can be finished and a finial or knob attached. It is then sanded and waxed for a looser fit in the box.
Thank You The body is then reversed onto a jam chuck and the bottom of the box cleaned and finished. Those who furnished turned items for the display table I say thank you, the items are beautiful You are a true group of craftsmen Thank You Kris Roberts for a great job of taking photos and notes for the Northwestern Michigan Woodturners news letter. As Dave, and others have found out, the goal he set out for the demo didn't get as far as he thought. Only one box was finished in the demonstration period, but it was finished well. With practice and less explaining of steps to club members, the number of boxes he will turn in a given time will increase. As in anything, developing the technique takes time. With repetition, speed increases. Good luck Dave. A very good demonstration. Respectfully submitted, Kris Roberts, Secretary Remember Empty Bowls November 5 th at the Hagerty Center Traverse City, MI Reminder Please be at the Traverse District Library on October 31 st at 9:30 A.M. to pick up your displayed items