North Carolina WOODTURNER Journal of the North Carolina Woodturners Association A Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners Volume 11, Number 3 March, 2001 Ambrosia Hollow Form By Dwight Hartsell, Charlotte, NC
2 March 2001 The President s Message By John Winslett Our February meeting was very informative and revealed the unique ways in which you may produce footed vessels. Allen Hollar excels in this technique and explains the steps very well. See the review later in this issue. Our membership has increased to 98 and we can hope for more if you are out there recruiting. Mary has the roster underway and will have them available at our March meeting. Brad Packard will be giving us useful tips and good refresher training. This will be a good opportunity to bring a guest who might be interested in starting in woodturning. While we start at 1:00 pm, the Board will meet at 10:30. Directors please be there. Our Treasurer reports that we are solvent at this time with close to $4000 in the bank. We can hope to increase this with additional members. We have recurring expenses - the largest being our Journal which is one of the finest I have seen. We owe a large debt to our editor, Bonner Guilford, and to Jack Stewart for his mailing assistance; Craig Summerville for program reviews. Bonner is always looking for material to enhance our publication. If you have an article of general interest on woodturning, please send it to him in time for publication. Classified ads will be accepted for relevant tools and equipment you wish to sell. Be sure to include price and your contact information. The gallery will welcome your work - even if it is not in the "Challenge" category. Bring them on and share with us your skills, ideas and discoveries. See you March 10th, 1:00 pm. John 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 28791 Editor: Bonner Guilford 1371 Perth Road, Troutman, NC 28166 (704) 332-2149 bguil@bellsouth.net Contributing Editor: Craig Summerville (704) 847-2383 craig_summerville@dell.com OFFICERS President: John Winslett, Tryon (828) 859-9863 Vice President: Dwight Hartsell, Charlotte (704) 598-6029 Treasurer: George Wunker, Winston Salem (336) 768-9855 Secretary: Mary Bachand, Hendersonville (828) 890-4451 Programs: Dwight Hartsell, Charlotte (704) 598-6029 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Craig Summerville, Charlotte (Term exp. 2001) (704) 847-2383 J.T. Barker, Hudson (Term exp. 2001) (828) 728-9406 Clyde Hall, High Point (Term exp. 2001) (336) 883-4474 Wayne Hutchins, Charlotte (Term exp. 2002) (704) 373-0406 Scott Ollis, Hickory (Term exp. 2002) (828) 294-4423 Grant McRorie, Trinity (Term exp. 2002) (336) 475-0551 David Kaylor, Davidson (Term exp. 2003) (704) 892-8554 Gary Johnson, Statesville (Term exp. 2003) (704) 873-4280 Ric Erkes, Davidson (Term exp. 2003) (704) 896-3302 PAST PRESIDENT Edgar Ingram, Statesville (704) 876-4576 Member News By Mary Bachand We have several new members for the new year. Please welcome: Clarence Cogdell, Shelby, NC; Michael Ehlen and son, John Michael, Valdese, NC; and, Vicki Spencer, Shelby, NC. As usual, please introduce yourself and share with these new friends. And, we hope to see pieces in the gallery very soon with new names. Our Directories will be available at our March meeting. Each will have a new 2001 membership card attached, so be sure to pick up your own copy and card. If you pick up a copy for anyone else, please let me know. I will print an additional sheet later in the year with new members. Ron Mechling Treasurer's Report Beginning Balance.....$3,045.63 Income.. 1,580.00 Expenses..685.70 Ending Balance (February 8, 2001)....$3,933.09
3 March 2001 Coming Events By Dwight Hartsell The NCWA's March 10 th meeting will start at 1:00 PM with Mr. Brad Packard of The Woodturner's Source as our featured speaker. Brad is going to demonstrate the proper care of woodturning tools, the proper use of tools in order to get the most out of the design of the tools, proper ways of sharpening tools and different types of steel that woodturning tools are made from. We can all learn a lot from this demo. Our demo on Apri1 14th will be at 10:00 AM featuring Mr. Bobby Clemmons from Pikeville, TN. Bobby is going to turn a plate/platter with a roll bead edge, demonstrate turning a natural edge bowl and give a short lesson on sharpening woodturning tools. On May 12, 2001, our demonstrator will be our own Scott Ollis. More news about the demo will be in the next edition of the Journal of the NCWA. Gallery Notes By David Kaylor The February gallery was somewhat smaller in quantity than usual, but the quality remained high. Included were a natural edge walnut bowl with three carved legs by Edgar Ingram; Craig Summerville's first bowl on his new lathe, made from maple collected at the Charlotte Symposium; a tulipwood bowl and a hackberry natural edge bowl by Otto Gotzsche; John French's square dogwood bowl; curly maple and mahogany bowls by Scott Ollis. Ric Erkes explained how he scalloped the edge of his hickory bowl with a drum sander, and how he burnt the edge of his ambrosia maple bowl. David Probst displayed his first offerings: a natural edge ambrosia maple, a small maple and a madrone bowl. David Kaylor showed a small locust burl bowl with a bark edge. Many thanks for the continued efforts. Challenge Project By Scott Ollis February Challenge. The Challenge for this month went unanswered. No one had a turning containing a found object or foreign material. Let s try to put all our efforts into the March project. March Challenge. Beware the Ides of March. This month, we should try to turn something that is not quite what it seems. Something with a bit of mystery or surprise. This will require some thought and imagination, but no doubt, you are up to the challenge. Surprise us. April Challenge. As part of the January demo by Willard Baxter was on thread chasing, I hope you will bring in samples of your own threaded work to share and compare. May the best threader win. Library Notes By Mary Bachand Please return your books and videos prior to checking out new ones so all will have an opportunity to utilize our wonderful resource. I have ordered the book and video, Turning Green Wood by Michael O Donnell. Look for these at our next meeting. Symposium 2001 By Edgar Ingram We have just been informed by Norm Hinman, AAW Board Member, that North Carolina Woodturners and our co-sponsor, Triangle Woodturners have been approved for a $1000 grant from AAW. These monies are to be used to help finance the organization and events of our 2001 Woodturning Symposium in Statesville, NC. This will certainly make all of our efforts and those of Triangle considerably easier, and will offset some of the new expenses associated with our new venue in the Statesville Convention Center. Many thanks to Norm and all of the leaders of AAW who have helped us with our efforts to grow woodturning in North Carolina and the surrounding region. For Sale Powermatic 90 Lathe in excellent condition with standard accessories, plus extra faceplates and screw chuck. $1800.00. Contact Roger Jessup (706-356-8612) or e-mail jessup@hartcom.net. Remember, our meetings are always at 1:00 on the second Saturday of the month at the Woodworking Shop in Hickory unless otherwise noted in the journal.
4 March 2001 February Program Review By Craig Summerville Alan Hollar - He s Got Legs! And Knows How To Use `Em By Craig Summerville (with apologies to ZZ Top) My design principles are really simple. Odds are better than evens, ovals are better than rounds, don t divide anything in half and, if it s spindle work, it s got to get skinny somewhere I like `em to look good; I like `em to look balanced but, for the most part, a whole lot of art babble just gives me gas. Alan Hollar espousing his turning philosophy. Alan began using legs on vessels as a result of not turning a piece of green wood to final shape before leaving the shop for the day. When he returned the wood had cracked around the base. He noticed the three cracks were symmetrically spaced and the light bulb came on. The cracks aren t that deep, he thought, why not cut them away and give it some legs? Thus a signature feature of his work came into being. Legs not only provide lift for a vessel but, in the case of vases, they also provide stability without detracting from the beauty of the piece. Skinny, flared out legs work best for vases. All legged vessels start with the need to find a line from top to bottom that looks good but can transition from the vessel shape to legs. For his bowl work Alan primarily uses a ½ bowl gouge with swept wings and another ½ flatter ground bowl gouge with most of the bevel removed from the tip, but he is not very concerned with tool selection, per se. He believes the right tool for the job is the one that works. The turning/shaping process is merely a means to achieve the desired object. Regarding shop safety, Alan says years of experience have taught him there are no such things as accidents in the woodworking shop. There are cases of either minor or extreme operator malfunction. The point to be made is to take care of your equipment by regularly checking its condition, keep your tools sharp, and listen to the wood you are turning for any danger signals. Regarding the layout of the legs, the critical area is the transition from the vessel body to the legs, approximately one-third above the bottom for a bowl, but typically higher for a vase. There is an ongoing argument as to which is better, three or four legs. Alan say it depends on the vessel. Three legs work best on a piece that is symmetrical and it will always be balanced. For pieces that are more oval (longer than they are wide), four legs become necessary for stability. With four legs you may have to sand two legs in order to prevent rocking. To mark a four-legged vessel space the lines equally around the base using the tool rest and a pencil (flat carpenter s pencils work best) to mark the vertical leg centers. Then go back and draw the valley points on each side of the leg center. Different colored pencils/markers are useful for differentiating the high points from the low ones to establish the carving lines. Once carving lines are established the piece is reverse turned to reduce the carving time. Alan begins the carving process with the Lancelot grinder tool (one of several on the market using chain saw teeth in place of a grinding wheel) for quick removal of waste between the legs. When finished with the Lancelot tool on the bowl he removes it from the lathe to a workbench and positions it in a Veritas carver s vise. The bowl is mounted on a form attached to a rod that locks into the Veritas vise and held in place with bungee cords. If necessary a firmer grip can be obtained by inserting a piece of carpet padding between the bowl and the form before tying it down with the bungee cords. More refined shaping is done with the Arbortech Mini Grinder attachment, a smaller version of the Lancelot but with only 2 carbide teeth. Alan stressed the need to dedicate a grinder to the attachment, as setup can be difficult. Arbortech maintains a list of compatible angle grinders on their website (http://www.arbortech.com.au/grinders.html) including additional fitting notes. You can also purchase a complete Mini Grinder Power Tool (just pick it up and turn it on) if you don t already have an angle grinder. The kit comes with 2 stamped steel cutting blades but Alan recommends upgrading to the professional grade 2 tungsten carbide blade. The Arbortech is used to remove the tailstock support as well as shape the valleys between the legs. Alan likens the carving process to sanding in that as you progress to finer cutting tools/burrs, the speed at which you carve slows down.
5 March 2001 Final shaping is done with a Foredom flex shaft grinder (or a ¾ hp pneumatic die grinder if Alan is in his shop) using progressively finer burrs. He was quick to point out that all of these tools aren t necessary; indeed, you could do all of the carving with the Foredom. The preceding tools simply reduce the carving time. When sanding to final shape Alan recommends working from the top of the leg ridge down into the valley. He finds it easier to blend the transitions this way. Moving from a bowl to a vase requires a change in leg design. Whereas the bowl legs will have more of a U-shape between them, the vase legs transition closer to a 90 angle. This is because vase legs typically begin higher on the piece, just below the major diameter. Thus there is more depth from the outside edge of the leg to the vessel wall in order to retain the slender shape of the vase. Because the inside shape is completed before the outside shape, you need to be careful to taper the inside to the bottom. You will need to recheck your wall thickness as you carve away sections to reveal the legs. The more you practice this the less measuring you will have to do over time so be patient with yourself. The same carving tools are used in the same order as described in the previous section on bowl feet but after the Foredom grinder Alan uses an R² Microplane to get his final shape. Since the curves are longer and less steep on a vase the Microplane allows you to smooth out these longer curves. The R² model is an offset extruded aluminum handle with a padded grip that uses replaceable, reversible blades in three shapes: flat, rounded and right angle. Find more information at http://www.microplane.com. When he first started incorporating legs on platters Alan began with simple rays, 3 lines straight out from center. He has progressed to legs that take on more of a vortex or whirlpool shape (see figure at left, not drawn to scale). He begins by using the indexing feature on the lathe to draw 6 spokes out from the center of the bottom. He then draws several concentric circles that intersect the spokes. The platter is removed from the lathe and a compass is used to draw the legs on the circular grid. He sets the compass to the approximate radius of the outermost circle. Starting with the pencil point at the outer point of a leg spoke, he places the sharp point of the compass at an arbitrary point along one of the inner circles and draws an arc, being careful to stop at the innermost circle. The piece is then rotated and the arc is repeated twice more using the same relative reference points but starting at a different leg point. Again, the same carving tools are used but Alan substitutes 80-grit sandpaper for the Microplane at the end for the final shaping. The Microplane doesn t fit well in the area that needs stock removal. He prefers to use a 3 foam-backed disc on a rightangle drill, trimming the foam disc if necessary to allow his sandpaper to overlap the edge. This prevents digging and burn marks in the wood. Instead of using the Veritas carving clamp the platter is clamped directly to the workbench with a quickrelease clamp. Note: you may wish to erase your gridlines before carving to eliminate confusion. It is important to note that these legs need to taper up to a point (much like a mountain ridge) to provide mass at the base. If these legs are created on cross-grain wood the mass at the base adds the necessary strength to prevent the wood from breaking off at the tip. We extend our sincere thanks to Alan for an extensive demonstration. I highly recommend checking out the two-tape video available from the NCW club library. It will expand on the concepts I have tried to outline in this review. Alan also demonstrates some of the newer hollowing tools on the market.
6 March 2001 Legs and Feet By Alan Hollar
7 March 2001 NCW GALLERY GALLERY Clockwise from top left David Propst Ric Erkes John French Otto Gotzsche Edgar Ingram Photos by George Wunker
8 March 2001 NCW GALLERY Gallery Clockwise from top left David Kaylor Scott Ollis Craig Summerville J.T. Barker Harold Lineberger Photos by George Wunker