“FIRST CUTS”
The Newsletter of the
The monthly meeting was held on the second Wednesday
of the month, rather than the first Wednesday of the month to take advantage of
the opportunity to have Graeme Priddle demonstrate
for us. The all day demo ran from
Our evening meal consisted of every kind of Pizza imaginable, along with all the salad one could eat, cookies, sodas, and water too. Anyone who could not work this demo into their schedule certainly missed a great day of woodturning.
Graeme is from
One of his demo pieces was from his Star Fish Vessel series. Graeme starts out his demo with some woodturning basics. Three things to keep in mind are the wood grain, sharp tools and rubbing the bevel. As far as the wood grain goes, after checking for defects, use the grain to your advantage when laying out your piece. Sharp edges on your tools are always important, no matter what you are turning. Last, but not least, rub the bevel to control the tool and to avoid getting a “catch”.
An unusual approach to turning that Graeme uses when roughing out, is to put the lathe in reverse, and turn with your tool under the tool rest instead of on top. This means that the shavings will drop to the floor rather than fly all over. This technique is not for everyone but shows what can be done. Graeme believes that you should use your whole body rather than just your arms when turning. Tool control is the name of the game and this will give you much more control of your tool. Graeme also believes that you should teach yourself to turn with either hand as the dominant hand. This will help you take cuts that would otherwise be difficult if you used only one hand as the dominant hand.
Graeme covered so many topics and shared so many tips that I won’t try to cover them all. I will try to list some of them, for those who didn’t get a chance to take notes. If your lathe has an indexing head, it is very helpful when laying out accurately on a piece.
Carving is easier and quicker using power tools. The Arbortech tool is the tool of choice for removing wood quickly and safely. Those tools are on sale at Woodcraft. When conditions are dusty, a “Dust B Gone” mask is a good choice. If the carving machine is noisy, use ear protection. When carving by hand, always use two hands. Use one for carving and use one for the brake.
Hollowing is made easier by drilling out the center
with your favorite drill. Since it is
difficult to hollow through a small opening, try hollowing a bowl shape first
for practice. Rolly
Woodburning must be done with plenty of heat if you are doing a lot of it. If not, you must wait for the tool to re-heat after you burn. Woodburning tools are also available for purchase from Woodcraft. Graeme makes his own handle with wires as short as possible. He makes his own patterns from Ni Cad wire and puts them in connectors with set screws to hold them in place. Some of his brands are followed up with matt black flat finish acrylic paint.
The second demo piece was the “Against the tide” series. He usually uses three “rocks” that the tide is flowing around. The rocks are bowl shapes. He orients them using the grain as the direction the water is flowing. He carves a relief so that it looks as if water is actually flowing around the “rocks”
When marking out these pieces for the bowl impressions, he uses a square and draws lines that are transferred to the back of the piece. Use a faceplate with many holes. Mount it on the back, but only put screws in the area that will be turned away later. When the piece is finished, jam chuck the piece to turn away the screw holes and complete the shape. The final cut should be with your fingertips and the flute at 45 degrees. Graeme uses a blunt tool so that he can cut cleanly with the bevel rubbing to the bottom of the three small bowls. If the piece needs to be stippled, he uses an air hammer after first putting on some Waterlox to make it easier to use. When he is finished he adds another coat of Waterlox.
I have tried to give a brief description of what was
a great day of woodturning. I saw Graeme
give one rotation a couple of years ago in
Our raffle prize this month was one of Graeme’s demo pieces. Gerry Meekins was the lucky winner and was quite happy.
Our next meeting is not on the Fourth of July, but will be on
Don Hart