Shavings-Newsletter of the Quad Cities Woodturners Association Band Saw Safety Quad City Wood Turners Volume 5, Issue 2 Feb 2010 Inside this issue: Chri 1 2-3 Critique Table 4-5 Demo Candlesticks 6 Demo Cont d 7 Steve Sinner gave us a short presentation on the safe use of our new ly acquired band saw. Saturday Demo Small lidded boxes by Dave Johnson President s Corner 8 Contact Us/ Upcoming Events Feature: Making Candlesticks P6 9 2010 Calendar of Events Feb 16 Monthly Meeting Feb 13 Adult Beginners Class Feb 20 Souper Saturday Mar 6 Youth Turners Mar 16 Monthly Meeting April 20 Monthly Meeting
Page 2 Making Small Lidded Boxes Dave Johnson spent one of his Saturday s at the club in January showing how he makes small turned boxes. He said they sell well at craft fairs and shows in the $15-20 price range. About 25 club members watched attentively as he started by listing the parts he uses. Dave usually starts with 3 pieces each about 7/8 thick and glues 2 of them together alternating the grain so each piece will be at a 90 degree angle to the adjacent piece. To the glued up blank, attach the third piece with double stick tape. The third piece will be the top of the box. This results in a blank about 4-5 in diameter and 2 7/8 high. If a veneer inlay is desired to be installed, place one or more pieces of veneer between two pieces of wood. Put one piece of wood in a chuck, then the veneer, then a second piece and end with the tailstock. True up the pieces of veneer to the desired diameter, usually about 3 1/2. Remove from the lathe. The box blank can then be taped to a faceplate with the top facing the tailstock. The blank can also be CA glued to an existing blank in a chuck. Bring up the tailstock with the tailstock tip touching the center of the top. Round off the blank with a roughing gouge and do a final shear cut with a freshly sharpened edge on a ½ or 3/8 fingernail gouge. Clean up the face of the top with the tailstock moved out of the way. Now you are ready to do the inlay. With dividers, mark the diameter of the inlay in the top. Hollow out the lid, leaving a small lip for the inlay to set on. Glue the inlay in place using CA or yellow glue. Finish shaping the outside of the box and sand through 320 grit. With a parting tool, start to part off the top. The parting tool must leave a mark on the top and the body of the box and only go into the box approximately 3/16..
Volume 5, Issue 2 Page 3 The diameter made by the parting tool on the box will match the diameter made on the lid. Remove the lid from the box carefully with a chisel between the two pieces. Use a drill bit mounted in either the tailstock or a pair of vise grips to drill the box to the desired depth. This helps in the hollowing process. With a gouge, hollow the inside of the box to the desired depth and finish the corners with a ½ scraper with a small radius on its corners. This will give a very subtle corner to the bottom and if done carefully, it will not catch or tear out the wood. Remove the box from the mounting block. Remount the box in a jam chuck or Cole jaws and slightly recess the bottom of the box. Use varnish or lacquer to finish and rub out with Wax- Gel lubricant from pianophile.com. Place the top in the same holder and hollow out the lid and fit it to the box using the diameters made by the parting tool. Finish it as the bottom and you are now the owner of a finely made lidded box! List of sources: Constantine.com Hutproducts.com Bereahardwoods.com Hill Hardwoods- Iowa City, IA Pianophile.com Johnson Creek Hardwoods
Page 4 Lance Zook and Dave VandeBoom offered their opinions and ideas during the January critique. Just a few of the highlights were the beautiful example of segmented turning on the right and Robin s platter/table with turned legs. January Critique Table Lyndal Anthony Walnut, Maple, Cherry Behlens Dave VandeBoom Maple CA Glue Jim Dayton Cherry Walnut Varnish Jerry Sargeant Maple, Paduck, Walnut Varnish Lloyd Beckman Maple, Cherry (R) Deft Robin Fraser Walnut Wipe on Poly Ray Hamilton Maple Poly Lance Zook Walnut Sanding Sealer Mike Moseley LUL Poly
Page 5 Critique Table Cont d Carl Smith Cherry Wipe on Poly Warren Hadley Crab Apple Tung Oil / wax Randy Nagle Cherry burl Oil Leo Othmer Cedar (above) Cocobolo (below) Hut John Myers Coffee (above) Cherry (below) Poly Art Jackson Cherry Oil Robin Fraser Walnut
Page 6 Making a Candlestick By Jerry Sargeant The January demo featured simple candle sticks, inspired by the work of Rude Osolink. Jerry Sergeant finds that it is productive for turners to review the works of well know artist. Once the idea is there, minor modifications can be made to make the work your own. Jerry started at his woodpile in the back yard. The stock was split, and the pieces with straight grain were retrieved to the house. Drying was achieved by the use of his microwave. Once the stock was at 6%, it was ready for turning. Jerry spent an additional few minutes to know off the corners of the stock with his saw to prevent splintering during the initial rough out. The large blank is 12 tall, and at least 3 square. If you prefer to make a set of three candlesticks, the second one would be about 9 and the third about 6 high, but the same diameter. Jerry started the turning by placing the stock between centers and roughing to a cylinder. He then turned a tenon on the tailstock end of the blank. The future candle stick was then removed from the lathe, the spur drive replaced with a chuck, and the tenon secured in the jaws. A 1 drill bit was placed in the tailstock. Jerry drilled a hole deep enough to insert a 1 ¼ long piece of steel used as a weight to make the bottom more stable.
Page 7 The stock was then reversed again and re-chucked to allow drilling of a hole at the opposite end for placement of a brass insert to hold the candle. The drill was replaced with a taper at the tailstock to allow final shaping of the candle stick. A slight tenon was created at the chuck end / candle stick base to allow the placement of a cap to hide the weight. A gouge or skew may be used to give the candlestick the shape shown below. Finishing was also done on the lathe using a friction polish. Once dry, the tailstock was removed and the finished product was removed from the lathe using a parting tool. The brass insert for the base of the candle is recommended if actual candles are to be burned in it. Inserts may be purchased at Craft Supply company. It is amazing that a piece of art can be found at the bottom of a wood pile The bead is placed about 2 1/2 from the top and its diameter is about 1. The top diameter of the candlestick is 2 and the base is slightly larger, about 2 1/4.
Page 8 President s Message February 2010 We are one month into a new year. This is the time of year we get a lot of new members. Old club members get al lot of questions about lathers and tools and setting up a shop for turning wood. Setting up a shop takes a little money. A room full of tools doesn t make a shop. What you buy will make your woodturning more enjoyable. The journey of setting up a shop is part of the fun. No use getting in a hurry. Buying tools is only part of becoming a woodturner. Skill is the other part you have to accomplish. You acquire skill by determination and repetition. For each tool you acquire there will be a learning curve. You have to stand in front of your lathe and practice till you get that eye to hand coordination down. The QC Woodturners will help you with this journey of both buying tools and acquiring skills to make these tools work. The $25 you pay for dues is a real bargain for the money you save by not buying all those trick tools that may cost a lot of money, but not be worth it in the end. Dave Johnson s demo was excellent. He was well prepared. He put a lot of time into this demo of box making. His enthusiasm for woodturning really go the juices flowing into the members who were there. Thanks for to the people who brought food for the lunch. It was another great day at the DeSoto building. Sarge Jerry Sergeant, President PS. Be sure to join us Saturday, February 20 th for the Souper Soup Bowl Day. The fun will start about 9am and keep going through a hearty soup lunch and end about 3pm or whenever we all get tired of turning and talking.
Quad City Wood Turners DeSoto Arts Building 2324 Third Ave. Rock Island IL 61201 Phone: (309) 234-5625 E-mail: sarge02@mchsi.com 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 www.qcwoodturners.org 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 Souper Saturday Feb 20 at the DeSoto Bldg 9-3. Bring your soup, appetite and something to turn or learn. De Soto Bldg Feb. Meeting Tuesday, Feb16, 6:30-9 pm DeSoto Building, Mentoring from 5-6 pm Raffle, demo, regular meeting March Meeting Tuesday, Mar 16, 6:30-9 pm DeSoto Building, Mentoring from 5-6 pm Raffle, demo, regular meeting
Quad cities Woodturners DeSoto Arts Building 2324 Third Ave. Rock Island IL 61201