Brazos Valley Wood Turners
January 2011
Monthly meeting at TSTC in Waco on 8 January
JANUARY DEMONSTRATION
I appreciate the opportunity to serve the club and
especially appreciate receiving the “Bill Meador Award”
and will strive to live up to the hight standard set by
previous recipients.
Thanks, Tom
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
The January Demonstrator is our founding member Bill
Meador who will be instructing members in how to turn oil
candle holders. Remember there are only 350 days until
Christmas 2011.
NOTES FROM THE PRESIDENT
I would like to thank Janice Levi for her service as
President for the last 2 years. I hope to be able to measure
up to her performance as well as all the great past
Presidents of BVWT. My goal as President is to continue
to make BVWT a rewarding experience for the members
and anyone who attends our meetings. Obviously we will
continue events such as the Bring Back Drawings, Door
Prizes, and I plan to have several President's challenges
during the year. I also want to hear from our members any
new ideas they have have for addition to our activities. For
example, I think adding a “Tool Time” to our meetings
could be interesting and provide knowledge of different
turning tools. A member would select his favorite turning
tool and show how it is used. This could be expanded to
include various woods, their characteristics and suitability
for turning as well as jigs that make turing projects easier
etc. I also think we meed to re-emphasize our “Mentor”
program. We have some fantastic turners in our club and
can help any turner of any experience become a better
turner. I really got a lot out of Bill's, Roger's and James'
turning and sharpening class.
Our “Shop Crawls” have always been a lot of fun and I
want to continue them as well as the “Turning Retreat”. I
look forward to working with our new slate of officer.
Keeley is working on an exciting menu of Demonstrators.
Bill Meador leads off the year at the January Meeting
demonstrating his oil candle holder. I look forward to
interfacing with SWT and the AAW. SWAT's annual
convention is being held in Waco for the foreseeable future
which means BVWT will be involved in some way with
the convention.
Expect some changes to the newsletter over the next few
months as I learn new software and how to use it. I
welcome any comments and suggestions for additions to
the newsletter.
Starting next month, members work will be showcased in
the newsletter as well as in the gallery section.
In addition I welcome any members contributions whether
it is a suggestion or an article. Please e-mail me at
[email protected]. If you don't think your writing is up
to “snuff”, don't worry I can edit and help you out. It is
always interesting to out what another club is doing, or
locate a new source for wood or tools.
CLUB DUES
Club dues of $20 are due. Please make your check payable
to Brazos Valley Wood Turners. If you want to donate a
little more, please feel free to do so.
In addition, it is suggested that you also join the American
Association of Woodturners. You have the option of
receiving their magazine in hard copy or on line. The on
line membership is cheaper. With your membership you
are able to find turners and chapters to visit while you
travel. In addition as a club we can also benefit for the
AAW insurance for demonstrations and demonstrators.
Membership also brings a reduced registration fee for the
national symposium. Membership also opens the sight for
forums and galleries of member's work.
the birds!
January 2011 page 2
MAKING SHAVINGS
When I first became interested in woodturning, I found a
mentor. Not knowing exactly what I was doing, I started
out with a modified watchmaker's lathe (without all the
neat bits and pieces) and an assortment of mismatched
odds and ends that my machinist brother-in-law assured me
were “turning tools”. My mentor took one look at that
funky assortment and pulled out a skew. He showed me
how to sharpen it and sent me home to figure out how to
use it. He kept all the others for “later”.
A month passed as well as about an inch loss on the skew
due to aggressive grinding on a 40 grit grinding wheel. I
did learn how to use a skew to round squarish stock
between centers, how to make lumpy beads and bumpy
coves and some other interesting details (some intentional
and others were design modifications). When I started, I
made a lot of sawdust, then rough shavings and finally fine
curls. The beads and coves magically smoothed out
without undue sanding. The next tool I was allowed to use
was a parting tool as well as how to make a parting tool
from an old jigsaw blade for “finer” work. I discovered all
sorts of other cuts which could be made with the parting
tool in addition to cutting off stock. The most important
lesson I learned was not to stop at the obvious use but to
explore other possibilities. I learned to play and explore.
When I find the time to actually do some turning, I always
start out with some basic “messing” around. I check out
my stance, insure the lathe has no problems (such as not
being plugged in), tools are sharp and then I spend a few
minutes in practice. It is basically warming up like a
marathon runner. After a while I realized that this warm up
could be transformed into actual practice by limiting
myself to a parting tool and one other tool just to see what
I could do. I saw a club demo on making eggs and decided
that was quite a perfect thing to do. If hens don't care if
they lay weird eggs, my slightly irregular ones would be
fine. So I made a bunch of eggs and they became practice
pieces for finishing, painting, burning, being poked and
punched. I gained experience in finishing using scrap
practice pieces. Now when I see something new, I have
something to try it on. I believe in wasting scrap rather
and losing a piece.
Last year I saw Eli Avisera at SWAT and saw a new form I
could use as a practice piece. He made a bird out of two
tear shapes and some dowel. I could give up the eggs for
Please note there are no measurements, nor any particular
tool used except the parting tool. It is up to the turner to
play and practice the following skills: rounding between
centers, cutting a smooth surface, judging shape by eye.
The simple steps are as follows:
1.
Mount a fairly square piece of wood in a scroll
chuck or use a glue block. Use the tail stock to
support and turn the piece round. I usually use the
cutting tool to cut a groove between an eighth and
a quarter inch from the chuck jaws. This is to help
prevent the tool from jamming into the jaws (not
that I've EVER done that!)
2.
Using the “Golden Rule” divide the piece into 2
sections. The larger should be be 1 ½ to 2 times
the length of the smaller one. The small one
becomes the bird head and the larger will be the
body. Use the parting tool to cut a groove
between these two pieces. You determine the
order of these pieces. I tend to turn the bird head
first and then the body.
3.
Turn the section nearest the tailstock into a tear
drop shape—again this is more or less. You can
turn the small or the larger one first and you can
decide to turn the pointy end toward the tailstock
or the headstock. Remember you are the design
person. I tend to vary the direction just to get
more practice cutting in any direction. Use
whatever tool you want or use one that you feel
you need more practice to perfect. Sand and part
it off and try not to lose it.
January 2011
page 3
4.
Turn the remaining section into another tear
shaped piece. I tend to make the body a little
longer and stockier and the pointed part a little
more rounded.
5.
Using a small dowel such as 1/8 inch which can
be found at hobby shops, cut a short length for the
neck and a longer length for the legs. Play with
the pieces until you find a pleasing attitude or
look. Drill 1/8 inch holes and glue the dowels in.
Remember you can finish your bird before or after
the neck and leg are glued into place. These make
cute house plant friends.
CLUB OFFICIERS
President: Tom Dean 903-626-4062
Vice President: Tony Kosta 254-698-6805
Secretary/Treasurer: Norm Burgess 254-772-7032
Even Coordinator: Keeley Guthrie 254-541-5111
Newsletter: Judy Williams 512-293-7479
Webmaster: Larry Walrath 512-255-5329
Liberian/Video: Bill Meador 254-857-9876
Crumpets: Dena Fox