North Carolina WOODTURNER Journal of the North Carolina Woodturners Association

A Chapter of the American Association of Woodturners

Volume 10, Number 9 September, 2000

Big Leaf Maple Mushroom By Dean Amos, Sandy Ridge, NC

2 September 2000

The President’s Message By Edgar Ingram

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: Mark Sakatos

(828)464-6999 msakatos@twave.net

OFFICERS

President: Edgar Ingram, Statesville (704) 876-4576 Vice President: Dean Amos, Sandy Ridge (336) 871-2916 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 Bill Young, Asheville (Term exp. 2000) (828) 254-0283 Jesse Wilkinson, Conover (Term exp. 2000) (828) 464-8519 Gary Johnson, Statesville (Term exp. 2000) (704) 873-4280 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 John Winslett, Tryon (Term exp. 2002) (828) 859-9863 Scott Ollis, Hickory (Term exp. 2002) (828) 294-4423 Grant McRorie, Trinity (Term exp. 2002) (336) 475-0551

PAST PRESIDENT Jack Stewart, Charlotte (704) 553-1819

Summer activities are beginning to wind down and attendance was up in August, even with some members away on vacation or business. We had a number of visitors, and I hope that we were able to stir their interest in woodturning, enough for them to come back and become a part of NCWA. It will be a little difficult for Gordon Paritchard, a guest of Sam Pate. Gordon is a turner and builder of lathes from New Zealand. It was great to have him and invite him to come back anytime he is in the U.S. I want to extend a welcome to David Kaylor who was elected to fill an unexpired term on our board. David has been a member of NCWA for some time and has recently retired from Davidson College. We look forward to working with David and his contributions as the board plans the direction and activities of our club. It is not all that long until November, 2001 and our bi-annual symposium. We discussed some ideas at the August board meeting. In the past, Mitchell Community College has been gracious to let us use their facilities at no charge. However, if you will remember, with more than 170 people in atten-dance, the demonstration rooms were crowded. Statesville has a brand new civic center that would provide us with ample space to grow. This facility is as nice as we found in Charlotte for the AAW, but there is the matter of the rental fee. The board is looking into ways to cover the rent and we believe it can be done and still keep the registration fee within reason, perhaps similar to last year. As plans develop we will keep you posted. Speaking of symposiums, the Tennessee symposium has come and gone and the one in Geor-gia is coming up in Helen, Georgia on September 15-17. If you have never been to Helen, it is a great place to visit. If you are interested, you may contact Peg Schmid at 678-947-4562. We will be planning the programs and dem-onstrations for 2001 in the near future. It is the desire of the board to schedule what interests you, the mem-bers. Our goal is to have a blend of our own talent and outside nationally known turners. If you have a particular topic or turner you would like on the pro-gram, please contact Dwight Hartsell, program chair-man, or any board member. It did my heart good to see the gallery in August. The pieces kept coming until we had to add

an extra table to display it all. The demonstrations give us an opportunity to learn different ideas about design, tools and tool use, but the pay off comes in how we put this infor-mation to use. The gallery provides the format for us to show what we can do. You may be tired of hearing me say-ing it, but I will say it again. Be proud of your work at whatever level and bring it and show it off. Every member of the club was a beginner at some time. See you in Hickory on September 9 for Clyde Helms’ demonstration, and don’t forget to bring something for the gallery. Edgar

We have no new members this month. Visitors from New Zealand and Germany joined us for our demonstration, adding a real inter-national flavor to our meeting.

Kathy Summerville will be in the library for me this month. The new Craft Magazine is now available.

Member News By Mary Bachand

Library Notes By Mary Bachand

3 September 2000

The meeting of North Carolina Woodturners Association in Septem-ber will again feature one of our more experienced turners. Clyde Hall will demonstrate his method for turning a “Jumping Jack”. This is a good Christmas project for turners of all levels and allows your own design and painting style to show through. Join us in Hickory for

another informative and entertaining program to advance your woodturning skills. I am sure that Clyde will provide a most interesting and thorough teaching session for us all. September 9, 2000 1:00pm Clyde Hall Hickory, NC October 14, 2000 1:00pm Roy Fisher Hickory, NC

We had a large, wonderful gallery for the month of August with over 40 pieces. Thanks to all who had items. They were Harold Lineberger, Roy Fisher, Scott Ollis, Lawrence Kanipe, Otto Gotzsche, Dean Amos, Tom Fitz, Don Olsen, Grant McRorie, Edgar Ingram, J. D. Reinhardt, Craig Summerville, and J. T. Barker.

August Challenge. The August spinning top chal-lenge was a big success. We had lots of participation for this challenge. We didn't get to have the "spin off", but the judges were convinced that Roy Fisher's monstrous top was the winner. Congratulations to

Roy! September Challenge. The challenge for September will be to turn a platter of 12" or larger. It can be in any crea-tive style you choose. October Challenge. The challenge for October will be to turn a strictly sculptural piece. It needn't have any func-tional qualities, only sculptural and artistic.

Wonders Of Wood

The Cleveland County Arts Council has announced a competition and show at its' facility in Shelby. This is a juried exhibition of wood art which will run from October 19-November 16, 2000. The general rules are as fol-lows (in part): All work must be original and at least 80% wood. Artists may submit up to three entries. Work should have been created in the last three years. The first part of the jury process is to submit up to two slides or photos of each piece with an entry fee of $25.00. The final judging will be based on good design, craftsmanship, originality, finishing and suitability for the intended purpose. The juror for this show will be Bob Trotman. Mr. Trotman is a professional wood sculptor who is col-lected and exhibited throughout America. The winning artists will be eligible for prize money ranging from $50 to $300. Sales are allowed as well, with the Arts Council keeping 25% commission. Please contact the Cleveland County Arts Council for entry forms and complete rules and information at 704-484-2787. Slides or photos are due by September 15 to be eligible.

Conover lathe with many accessories. Original cost over $3000. Will sell for $1500. Call Dick Nielsen for details. 704-814-1742.

Coming Events By Dwight Hartsell

Gallery Notes By Scott Ollis

Challenge Project By Scott Ollis

For Sale

It’s Showtime

4 September 2000

Double Feature: Dick Nielsen Turns Christmas Ornaments While J.T. Barker Goes Fishing

Dick Nielsen creates 2 types of

Christmas ornaments. One he calls a “stick” ornament, the other is a “globe” ornament (largely based on the principles of Robert Rosand). His preferred weapons are a small spindle gouge and a skew chisel. When Dick first began turning the stick ornaments he would cut off sections of broomstick handles to use as turning blanks. Later he dis-covered Nifongs, a factory in Jonesboro, TN, that would sell him maple cutoffs and remnants. He now uses these for not only the stick orna-ments but for the icicles and finials of his globe ornaments as well. Dick admits he has no set dimensions for either of his ornament styles, choosing instead to let his muse dictate the final shape. (For those of you who require precision, dimensions for the globe ornament are pro-vided in Robert Rosand’s Beautiful Baubles article from a 1993 issue of American Woodworker magazine. This is contained in the Collected Articles by Robert Rosand, available for checkout from the NCW li-brary.) Decoration of the stick ornaments is achieved by spraying on a white base coat, then using art markers obtained from the local Michaels craft store to place colored bands around the body of the orna-ment while still on the lathe.

The globe ornament uses the color of the wood itself to provide the decorative effect. Dick is particularly partial to burls due to their diverse and unusual grain patterns. He begins by forming a basic globe shape then power sands it to a finish grit, being careful to leave enough mass at the headstock end to support the hollowing that will follow. He then pro-ceeds to drill a ⅝” hole completely through the globe using a Forstner bit in a Jacobs chuck mounted in the tailstock. This is enlarged to ¾” after the hollowing is complete in order to provide some “fudge factor” in case of a catch while drawing the hollowing tool through the opening. Once this is done he uses a 3/16” HSS bit mounted at an angle in a piece of square metal stock to hollow out the globe. (Although he did not specify the wall thickness other than to say he likes it thin, inspection of Dick’s demo piece revealed a thickness of approximately ⅛”.) While it is not necessary to hollow out the globe, it does greatly reduce the weight borne by the bough of the Christmas tree. To aid in finishing off the globe Dick uses a press-fit chuck composed of a tenon the same size as the hole in the globe with a rubber O-ring attached for a sure grip. For hanging the ornament Dick loops a 2” section of copper wire around a small brad that is then inserted into a hole in the finial with glue to hold it fast. The finial and icicle are turned using the same techniques as for the stick orna-ment and glued in place.

J.T. Barker has recently begun creating decorative fish using the lathe and a variety of carving tools. He begins by turning a basic hollow vessel with no lip or rim, but leaves enough “meat” at the headstock to allow for a tail to be carved. He typically works with an opening of about ¾” when hollowing a vessel of about 4-5” in diameter. Once the basic form is completed it is removed from the lathe and mounted on a jig composed of scrap plywood and 4 triangular blocks. The plywood is sized to be a rectangle just slightly larger than the vessel. The triangular blocks have hot-melt glue applied to 2 sides; these are each pressed onto both the plywood base and the vessel so as to cen-ter the piece and secure it to the plywood. This assemblage is taken to the bandsaw where a fence is positioned so that the vessel is ripped lengthwise, then flipped and ripped again. The fence is set so that each rip cut will be at the outer diameter of the hole used for hollowing. The object is to remove the center section that incorporates this hole through the length of the vessel. The two remaining outer pieces are then glued together to create the body of the fish. J.T. noted that depending on the accuracy of your bandsaw it may be necessary to sand the cut edges flat before

January Program Review By Craig Summerville

5 September 2000

gluing in order to achieve an accurate glue joint. While the 2 halves can be removed from the jig before gluing, J.T. has discovered that since the halves are still joined to their respective parts of the jig after ripping, it is easier to use the jig to align and clamp them. Once the basic fish form has been made the shaping can commence. J.T. uses a variety of air-powered tools to give the fish its looks and per-sonality. These include a Dynabrade, a die grinder, and a dental drill. Being a dentist by profession, J.T. has many bits that can be used on teeth only once but still have plenty of life remaining for carving wood. These are used to great effect when forming the mouth and the tail fins. The ventral and dorsal fins are created by turning a vessel rim and then the individual fins are cut out. These are glued to the sides and back using a simple butt joint. While the tailfin can be carved with a curve to indicate tail flip and action in the water, sometimes there isn’t much wood remaining after cutting away the center section to show this effec-tively. J.T. solves this dilemma by making a vertical, slightly angled cut through the tail section using the bandsaw, then reversing and gluing the cut section to angle the tail away from the center. The grinding tools are used to smooth out the contours. The decision to make this cut is best decided after the fish halves are glued together but before they are re-moved from the jig. This will allow you to make a very stable cut with the bandsaw. For color J.T. employs a double-action airbrush to apply dyes and lacquers as the base color of the fish. T-shirt paints (obtained from Michaels) are used to add dots and other accents that also give texture to the fish. A wood-burning pen with a fixed tip is also employed. The eyes are turned from acrylic pen blanks. J.T. uses a flexible ruler across the top of the fish to make certain the eyes are properly aligned with each other. For variety in a demonstration you can’t get much different than Christmas ornaments and decorative fish! NCW thanks Dick and J.T. for an entertaining and enlightening afternoon. The membership certainly appreciates your willingness to share your expertise.

David Ellsworth on the Hollow Vessel The log is mounted between centers into end-grain with as much of the bark removed as possible. David centers the log regardless of the pith location. He does not how-ever, advance the tine across the tool rest as you would when forming a profile. Rather, he pivots the tool slowly into the side of the log. This removes the high spots

on the log easily. Once he reaches the solid wood he pivots the handle further to the left, towards the headstock (HS). The tip cuts vibration free to the right and off the end of the log. Once the log runs true, it can be repositioned between centers to orient the pith as desired. He continues roughing the log until a cylinder is formed. The ends of the cylinder are rounded off, leaving a giant ball with tenons at the center. David uses two cuts: the first, cutting just off the right tip of the gouge with the tool pointed in the direction of the cut; and the second, using a large quantity of the right bevel with the handle swept right almost leading the tool. The former is easier to control and takes a clean cut. The latter removes stock quickly but leaves an inferior surface. When he nears the desired profile, he changes to a shearing cut, which he uses in either direction (i.e.: large to small or small to large diameter). Before removing the work piece from the lathe he makes a pencil mark at its’ axis. This mark will be used to reposition the piece be-tween centers when rotated 90-degrees.

With the work piece (WP) removed from the lathe, he must determine the two points on the sphere where the spur drive and live center will be located. He positions himself directly over the pith and sights down 180-degrees to each side. With a pencil, he marks the point where this line of sight crosses the earlier recorded circle. He repeats this procedure on the opposing tenon. Where the marks line up, he positions one center. If they do not, he splits the difference and locates the other center thereat. This should locate the sphere’s true axis. To check the accu-racy he positions the tool rest adjacent one of the tenons and rotates the piece 180-degrees. If the tenon doesn’t

June Program Review By Mark Sakatos Part 2

6 September 2000

match-up, the WP is moved off that “center” ½ the distance of the variance. The WP is now mounted to turn alter-nating side and end-grain. To remove the tenons he uses his “pull cut”, moving from small to large diameter on both sides of the tenon, stopping at the midpoint on the tenon. This is the same technique you might use to profile a bowl. When working off the left side of the WP David turns “left-handed”. He recommends to students that they use fire-wood to practice turning opposite to their usual hand orientation.

Next, David mounts the WP on a face plate (FP). He wants the mating wood surface to be flat, not re-cessed. This enables the screws to grip better. Whenever possible David uses a FP rather than a mechanical chuck. Especially when turning green wood, he finds that a four-jaw chuck crushes the wood fibers and can alter the axis of the WP. He advises using your largest diameter jaws to minimize this result. He also feels that gluing a WP to wood waste blocks also works quite well. He uses quality woods (birch & maple) for the waste block and is certain to allow his adhesive to cure before turning on the lathe. An additional benefit that David believes FPs have over mechanical chucks is that they keep the WP closer to the HS, lessening vibration. To increase the gripping strength of his FPs, he sands the paint off and rubs wet red oak shavings to intentionally rust the surface. The added strength permits the use of shorter screws. He advises using the same technique to avoid slippage between your lathe bed and tool rest. (Don’t I feel foolish? After roughing out a couple of 22” red oak bowls this month, I wasted an hour re-moving the rust from the bed of my One Way.)

With the WP mounted on the FP he forms a tenon to match the diameter of the FP. The tenon should ex-tend slightly longer than the length of the screws. Now the WP can be shaped with the gouge to the final design, shearing in both directions. He advises those that elect to power sand to turn down the lathe speed to diminish heat checks. David does not power sand the exterior of bowls and vessels. He opts to turn the WP by hand while sanding with high quality self-adhesive automotive sandpaper. The paper is backed with hard rubber sanding disks and qual-ity carpet padding. He obtains the paper from an auto body paint supplier. He finds that “The soft malleable surfaces of the paper/padding contours to the woods irregularities and removes the wood slowly where it is needed most (i.e.: the end-grain). Power sanding is far too aggressive for this purpose”. David then removes the TS to begin hollowing the vessel. His round-nosed hollowing bit is sharpened on a grinding wheel that has had its’ sides rounded over. The left side of the bit is sharpened on the right side of the wheel, and the right side on the left side of the wheel. The tool is rolled slightly to form a slight relief on both sides. Both contours are blended at the tip to form a roundnosed profile. Do not however, grind at the center of the wheel to create this profile. David’s right hand and arm are held in tight to his body at the bottom of the tool’s handle. This puts his arm in a vertical position creating a triangle among both arms and the tool. Creating triangles through-out your body (arms to tool, legs to floor) improves your stability and balance. Many turners have difficulty ascer-taining the location of the tool once it is inserted in the vessel. David has guide marks on the top of the tool handle to denote proper orientation. He checks the accuracy of this mark periodically, as it can change due to handle, tine and feral slippage. The hole is initially formed and widened with a straight tipped tool. He continues to open the hole and refine the inner profile with a bent (offset) tip. When it engages the wall at too aggressive an angle it merely rolls to the left and a catch is avoided. The offset tool would be ineffective and shouldn’t be used on the cen-ter of the bottom. Similarly, the straight tool is never used on the wall profile. It can easily go through the vessel wall. To remove shavings from the vessel he uses a combination of compressed air and a bent wooden scoop.

Before completing the inner profile, David removes the nub at the center of the bottom using a simple pro-cedure. With the straight tool held level he fishes around in a circular pattern until he finds the center of the nub. He then raises the handle, bringing the tool tip directly under the nub. Then he lowers the handle until level again. This may snap off part of the nub and that’s O.K. He then swings the handle right, shearing off a bit more, and finally to the left. This last movement repositions the tip at center again and might even remove additional material. This is a delicate maneuver since you’re about 8”+ off the tool rest. David “breathes into the cut”, as he phrases it. He con-tinued, “As you become comfortable, close your eyes while you’re doing this maneuver. You can’t see inside the vessel anyway so why not enhance your other senses by eliminating sight. Learn to feel the surface.” If necessary, this procedure is repeated until he leaves a 1” diameter flat section. The side profile can then be blended into the bot-tom. David asserts that “the quality of the tooled surface inside a hollow vessel is his fingerprint, belying the status of his craftsmanship at one particular phase of its’ development.” His goal is to produce finishing toolmarks that are of equal quality to his initial ones. Once satisfied with the interior he reverses the WP in the recess of a jam chuck and completes the base.

Note: To obtain information about his videos and woodturning school write to David Ellsworth, Fox Creek, 1378 Cobbler Road, Quakertown, PA, 18951, or call (215) 536-5298.

7 September 2000

NCW GALLERY

GALLERY Clockwise from top left

C.A. Pritchard Grady Butler Grant McRorie J.T. Barker Otto Gotzsche

Photos by George Wunker

8 September 2000

NCW GALLERY

Gallery Clockwise from top left

Harold Lineberger Lawrence Kanipe J.D. Reinhardt Craig Summerville Scott Ollis

Photos by George Wunker