October 2013 Demo
“Thin DIsk Christmas Ornaments”
By Johnny Tolly
Johnny & Marcia will be doing a dual demonstration.
Johnny will be demonstrating how he turns thin Maple disks for Christmas Ornaments. The disk when finished will be about 1/8 inch thin or thick depending on how you call it. Johnny will demonstrate the use of the Hunter micro tool and the shaping of the disk. He will discuss how he prepares the maple wood to save time and wood. He will then go through the process of turning one side, sanding that too very smooth finish. The sanding will be by the power sanding method, hand sanding could be used if one wishes. Johnny will then use his alternate method to turn the other side and sand it smooth also. He will discuss the use of a vacuum system, but as some do not have a vacuum system he will only talk of that procedure. Questions are encouraged throughout the demonstrations.
Johnny will then turn the demonstration over to Marcia where she will explain how she decorates the disks with pyrography. Marcia will cover patterns, burning tips, finishing and other secrets that you will not want to miss out on. At the end of the dup demonstration, there will be hands on time period for those that want to try the Hunter tool and or to ask Marcia any questions.
November 2013 Demo
“Piercing on the Cheap Part II”
By Glynn Cox
I have shown my bowls and vessels with tiny holes cut in them to many people, and without exception their first comment was... how in the world did you do that? And my reply was, very carefully.
The process is called piercing and is accomplished with an air powered super high speed handpiece.
I am talking 350,000 to 400,000 RPM and no, I did not add an extra zero. You could spend as much on a professional piercing system as you would on a very nice middi lathe. What I will show you is how to get the same results for less than $100.
I gave this demonstration 4 years ago and there have been several improvements in the handpieces and associated components.
I will discuss pros and cons of air versus electric and handpiece options. I will assemble and demonstrate an air powered system that is easy to build and easy on the pocket book. I will also provide information on some relatively inexpensive upgrades that can be added any time.
Aug 2013 Demo
“Classic Curves in Bowl Design”
By John Beasley
The literature on bowl design discusses the classic curves – sphere, catenary, and ellipse, proportion based on the Golden Mean, and considerations for proper foot design leading to the conclusion that if you turn to these parameters it will be an appealing bowl. Then, ironically, you don’t find pictures showing the results. Therefore I decided to find out for myself.
The demonstration will cover how to draw each of the curves and make templates for turning including the foot to proportion. We will look at 21 bowls where the height is held constant and the diameter varied over a range to compare the curves and introduce the concept of an aspect ratio to identify differences and similarities of each curve over the range of diameters. Then we will look at another dozen or so bowls where we increase both the height and diameter.
Let’s have some fun and a lot of interaction to see what we can conclude from this work that they don’t tell us in the design literature.
July 2013 Demo
“Shop Made Sanding Tools”
By David Hoehns
My demonstration will focus on two types of homemade sanding devices, a foam ball sander that may be used for power sanding concave surfaces such as inside bowls and hollow forms and simple home made substitutes for over-price sanding platforms. The foam ball is the brainstorm of David Reed Smith after seeing the Guinevere® system marketed by King Arther's Tools. The Guinevere is a miniature pneumatic sanding tool. Smith, who had used glued and shaped craft foam for another project reasoned that the foam could replace the pneumatic pieces for interior sanding.
These sanders may be constructed with velcro® to use the hook loop sanding discs, or regular sand-paper may be mounted on the mechanical ball. In the image at right is a sanding ball with the velcro attached.
Please note the attached article from Woodturning Design written by David Reed Smith, but the images are my own. This is also available on Mr. Smith's website, http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Articles/FoamBallSander/FoamBallSander.htm
June 2013 Demo
“Back to the Grind”
By Chas Thornhill
I have been turning for a few years now, and though I have tackled the obligatory pens, bowls, and goblets, I left the peppermills and salt grinders to the folks with more experience and talent for machining wood. I imagined the precision required and thought the mills and grinders did not lend themselves to my freeform, un-planned turning style. After all, I very rarely know how my pieces will turn out and that, it seemed to me, would rule out projects that require such tight tolerances.
Little did I know, there were options within the realm of grinders and mills that did not require such a high level ofprecision. This is due mainly to the one piece form factor, but also because of the smaller size of these kits. One of the kits I will demonstrate is actually turned on a mandrel using bushings like an oversized pen barrel.
Two of the kits I will demo use crank handles to drive the grinding mechanism and I personally think they have a great retro look. But as several of my customers have mentioned, they can also be easier to operate for folks with less strength or hand issues.
These kits can be turned with smaller pieces of wood and can take virtually any shape. Part of the attraction these kits hold is the virtually unlimited shapes that possible. I developed a signature shape I call the “Handfull” grinder which is larger than a normal grinder but fits even small hands comfortably. I think sometimes people are hesitant to turn traditional grinders and peppermills because they think it needs to have a traditional look. But grinders can take any shape, and the single piece designs can lend themselves to experimentation.
If I am speedy enough and get through the first two designs with some time to spare, I will demo a third peppermill. This one is more of a traditional style grinder, but with a slight “twist” (pun intended). The top of the mill, the piece you turn to grind the pepper, is also a salt shaker complete with a perforated chrome top. This kit is a bit more complex to turn, but well worth the extra effort.
I hope you can be at the WNT meeting on June 27th. I look forward to seeing you and getting “Back to the Grind”.