“FIRST CUTS”
The Newsletter of the
The monthly meeting was held,
Our topic for the evening was “Sanding”, and anything that can be done to make it easier, and produce better results in finishing.
“Show and Tell”. As usual, we had some outstanding pieces on our Show and Tell table.
Bert Steffers brought two very nice
hollow pieces which were hollowed much differently than we are used to
seeing. (Hollow vessel, and Christmas
ornament with finial). The pieces were
shaped, then parted in half. Each half was then hollowed, and the two halves
were put back together again. The pieces
felt light, and hollowed, but there were no clues to how it had been
accomplished since several burnished lines were used to mask the gap. Nelson Brown also had a hollow vessel. Nelson’s piece was a vase with a long
neck. This would obviously have been
very difficult to hollow through the small neck opening. Nelson’s method was to remove a plug from the
bottom of the vase, hollow the vessel from this opening, and then to replace
the plug, again, leaving no hint as to how the hollowing had been
accomplished. Both Bert, and Nelson were
kind enough to explain their hollowing process, giving us a new way to hollow
vessels. Jim Dandy brought a dish that
had concentric rings on the face that were produced by using a multi-axis technique. The base on the underside of the dish was
aligned with the concentric rings. This
technique produces some unusual results.
Jim also had a nice Buckeye bowl.
Tom Sloan brought a very nice pen that was made from a piece of Juniper
bush from his yard. Tom has shown again,
that turning material can be found almost anywhere. Ross Kendall brought a 10” diameter Claro
Walnut bowl made from a burl. This
produced the most unusual grain imaginable. This will make a great centerpiece
bowl. Gerry Meekins brought in an eight
inch high Cherry bottle that had many texturing techniques. Gerry went to the trouble of sanding it all
to a very smooth finish. After getting a
great finish, Gerry proceeded to test an aggressive wood removing tool, which
left a somewhat fuzzy finish. Gerry was
not daunted by this finish, he just hit it with a flame, that quickly removed
the fuzz. The bottle is now textured
everywhere, except the top and bottom, which still have their smooth
finish. This piece shows a nice contrast
between texture and smoothness. Keith
Holt brought in four nice pieces that I found exceptional. A large 14” natural edge Black Walnut bowl
that showed both sap wood, and heart wood.
This is a fine example of when to sand off the lathe to keep from
contaminating the two colors. Keith also
brought a 6” pouring vessel from Maple.
A Maple bowl 7” X 5”, with dark feet that were added later, but looked
as if they were always a part of the bowl.
Last, but not least, Keith had a “mask” of a cat, multi-axis turned, and
hand carved and sanded. This cat’s face
was 6” across, and made from a Black Walnut crotch with the feather showing in
the top of the cat’s face. I had a hard
time putting this one down. It looked
real, and felt good to the touch. Nice
work everyone. You truly inspire the
rest of us to get busy and bring in some of our own pieces.
We were given a special treat this month by one of our club members, Steve Childers. Steve very generously brought in his handmade treadle lathe. Steve picked up ideas from a couple of different sources, but basically built this lathe from the ground up. The frame was built from Douglas Fir left over from a job for James Garner’s home. The tool rest was made from oak with a planer blade insert. This was adjustable with the use of a wrench. The tail stock was made adjustable with a “wingnut” and threaded rod from a “C” clamp, and a wedge that was driven in underneath the Ways. We all wanted to know just how many RPM’s it would turn. The answer is: It starts out pretty fast, but quickly slows down. After trying the lathe, I can agree. This lathe will certainly draw a crowd, and give kids of all ages a chance to “pump” the treadle while wood is being turned. Steve remarked that he usually only makes a few tops while demonstrating this lathe. He could probably make more, if he could get some of us to take turns “pumping” the treadle. Thanks from all of us for this great treat, Steve.
SANDING. I can’t think of anyone who likes to sand. Which brings us to the question: What can we do to have our turned pieces to the point where the least amount of sanding is necessary? There are many answers that will help us on this quest.
Nelson Brown’s method is to use “cabinet scrapers”. These are generally used on “flat work”, but Nelson showed us how he uses them to get his pieces to the point where he can start with fine sandpaper, rather than using the dreaded coarse paper. Nelson also had a jig that he uses to true up the scraper. After it is trued, he uses a “burnisher”, or “ticketer” to roll an edge, or hook that will cut cleanly and remove tool marks. Nelson even comes back to the piece after sanding and removes sanding marks that show up. The scraper is handheld without the use of a tool rest. This has proven to be a very effective tool for Nelson and will probably be tried by some of the rest of us in the near future.
Mike Adams has a method of working wood that most of us would not even try to use. Mike likes the spalting lines that are only found in very punky wood. The wood is beautiful but is prone to a tremendous amount of “tearout”. When this wood is cut with a gouge, the gouge must be kept very, very sharp at all times. A scraper will pull chunks out of the wood that are sometimes ¼ inch deep or more. Mike has tried treating the wood with different additives, including CA glue. It is expensive and time consuming, as you must treat the wood, and only remove a little bit, and the wood needs treating again. What Mike is using now is a grinder with a rotary ball. This seems to work better than anything else once he gets close to the final shape. Mike also makes his own wooden “pads” to put his sandpaper on. These are cut to the shape that he needs to sand only the high spots off when sanding. Mike also advocates using a diagonal motion while sanding off the lathe (with wooden pads) to keep your intended profile. While most of us will never use wood as punky as Mike, his ideas will certainly help the rest of us sand better.
Tom Jackson’s answer to the question is to do as many things correctly while cutting with our tools. Obviously the best way to avoid sanding is to increase our skills with our turning tools. The better surface we leave with our tools means less sanding. Once we get to the sanding, Tom points out that we need to take our time and be PATIENT. Heat is our enemy. When we are finished with one grade of sandpaper we need to clean up very, very good before we start with the next one. Wiping with a “tack cloth”, using compressed air, even using a paint brush, is better than just starting with the next grade of paper. If the piece is not cleaned well, the chunks of grit will still be there during the next sanding session and will contaminate the finer grit with the coarser one. When we are finished with one of the grits, we must examine our piece with the utmost care. Adequate lighting is a must when we examine a piece for scratches. Once the final finish is applied the scratches fairly jump in to view. Wiping the piece down with water or alcohol will not only raise the grain, but will show some of what we will see when the finish is applied. The more scratches we find before we put the finish on the more we can get rid of. To sum up, do your best to cut with your tools, so that we can sand less. When sanding, spend the same amount of time as we used to, even though we sand with less grits. Sand slower, avoiding heat, clean up between grits, add water to see if the scratches are gone, and use adequate lighting to help see the scratches. Tom has a presentation that he is saving for a later date, entitled: Physics on the edge—How tools cut. We are looking forward to seeing this presentation, Tom.
When I first started turning, I attended a demo by John Jordan. John was using moderately priced skews to shear scrape his classic hollow vessels. John had one ground as a left and one ground as a right shear scraper. These were used on pieces with the grain running parallel with the bed ways. He used these scrapers to remove tool marks and to adjust the final shape of his piece. They were used before he started sanding, allowing him to start with a much finer grit. I have also “borrowed” an idea from Don Riggs from VA. Don uses planer blades that are ground much like a round skew. They are ground from both sides, but a little blunter than a skew. They can be used with the tool held flat on the rest. The burr will cut the high spots, if used with a light touch. When the burr is no longer effective, go to the grinder and turn the tool over and grind, and come back and continue scraping. I do this on small to medium sized bowls, either on the inside or the outside. These scrapers can also be used to shear scrape, if a light touch is used. I feel that using these planer blades have helped me to do less sanding.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to our program this evening, and made it such a success.
Our next meeting will be at
Don’t forget our Craft Fair,
Don Hart