“First Cuts”
The Newsletter of the
The monthly
meeting was held on the first Wednesday of the month at
Our business
meeting was very brief this month due to the fact that we had the
World-Renowned Woodturner, Don Derry from the state
of
Don makes some of the most unbelievable, beautiful hollow forms that are in existence. Don only had two hours for his demo so he focused mostly on forms and shapes and how he hollows them.
Don started with a piece of green wood between centers and he proceeded to put a tenon on one end. He explained how you should size the tenon to fit the chuck that you are using so that you get the most surface contact possible. You should also make the tenon short enough so that the face of the jaws are in contact with the piece being turned. This gives a larger area for the chuck to be in contact with the piece, plus it is not only being held by the gripping action of the jaws. You should also tighten each hole in the chuck moderately rather than tightening only one hole very tight (good tip!).
Once the piece is in the chuck, bring the tailstock up for support while you are making your shape. Don explained how to make the cuts necessary to shape your piece and why you should work on only the spots you want removed rather that trying to make a “Hero Cut” over and over again until your piece gets smaller and smaller. (Most of us where nodding our heads in agreement at this statement and now everyone knows how I got started making miniatures:-)
Once the shape is pretty much determined, remembering to leave the bottom area a little bit large for stability while hollowing (at least 1/3 the diameter at the widest point). At this point, Don was ready to drill a hole part way down the middle. He uses a reinforced Spade bit that has been carefully sharpened so that both sides cut evenly. The hole is not drilled all of the way to the bottom because he doesn’t want to commit to where the bottom will be at this point. If it needs to be deeper, he will go back in and drill at a later time.
Don was looking for the hollowing tool that would do everything he wants it to do and was having trouble finding it. He came across an idea that two other woodturners had started with and had decided not to market. He received their permission to start with their idea and do whatever he wanted to do with it. He now markets a trapped system that is small enough that all of it is in front of you where you can see the entire tool. Don likes to hollow his pieces while the lathe is in reverse, so that he can lean against the lathe and cut on the opposite side and be much more comfortable than normal. The tool that he markets has three different pieces that can be used depending on just what you are doing. His tool also incorporates a laser that can be adjusted very easy to point either on the tip of the tool for bulk work, or adjacent to the tip for fine hollowing. Don’s tool is very versatile, and can be used on conventional turning lathes, or reverse turning lathes.
Don took the time to explain what he was doing and why. He also went into detail on how to adjust the laser so that you know just where the tip is cutting and how to adjust for whatever wall thickness that you would like to have. Don makes his pieces about 1/8 inch thick. He didn’t always make them this thin, but needed to have some pieces in a hurry and decided to make them thin, so that they would be dry enough to finish on time. It worked, and he makes them thin all of the time now. He suggests that if you are apprehensive about making them this thin, start around ¼ inch, until you are comfortable with that, then go thinner.
Don’s pieces are died with metal acid dyes, which don’t fade as quickly as aniline dyes. He uses very little sandpaper, preferring to use shear scraping techniques, which take out any tool marks that were left and also fine tunes the final shape. This part of the piece cannot be hurried. Don will spend as much time as is necessary until he is completely satisfied with the piece. There wasn’t time to do all of this or to talk much about how the pieces are dyed. The only thing wrong with this demo was the fact that we were limited to only two hours! But, Don will be in the area again in about a month. The possibility exists for either our club or our sister club, The Del Val Turners, to have Don again for another demo.
Thanks for a great job Don, and I hope to see you again. He is doing a workshop on Thursday and Friday for the Capital Area Woodturners. He is also doing an all day demo on Saturday for the Capital Area Woodturners meeting.
The 50/50 netted $45.00 for the club and a like amount for the lucky winner.
Gerry Meekins and I are still renting out woodturning videos to club members. The price is only $3.00 per month, so help out the club and improve your turning by renting a video.
If anyone still owes dues for this calendar year, please make an effort to see John Bacino, our Treasurer.
The Club Challenge is due next month. We were given a piece of Cedar by Frank Josephs to do with whatever we wanted. Let’s see what we can come up with!
One of the things we are going to do next meeting is to turn tops. Bring some small pieces of wood, and your favorite top-turning tools, and let’s have some fun “Turning Tops”.
The May meeting will be held on the first
Wednesday of the month, which is
Don Hart