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A Chapter of The American Association of Woodturners
JUNE 2013 THE WOODTURNERS’ LOCAL RESOURCE
VOLUME 19, ISSUE 6
Northwest Woodturners meet-ings are held on the 1st Thursday of each month 7:00PM www.northwestwoodturners.com ... details and map for. June Challenge: Father’s Day gift July: No meeting August: Picnic President Richard Hall [email protected] phone 503 649 5582 V. President David Williams Secretary Roger Crooks Treasurer Mike Meredith Members-at- Large Bill Giffin Max McBurnett Bob Mach Steve Newberry Jim Schoeffel Stan Postma Librarian Denvy Larson Lynne Hemmert Bill Rufener Raffle John Neumann Supplies Roger Crooks Newsletter & Web Barbara Hall Official Greeters Jim Moore MyFamily Administrator Owen Lowe
QUICK UPDATES PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
We have sun! This is the nicest spring we’ve had in several years now. Barb want’s me out in the yard picking weeds and the branches that have blown down over the winter. But Peter Frampton is on AXSTV. So I compromised and am writing this. I can look out the window and see the weeds - and I can hear Peter play - all at the same time.
David Williams will be our presenter this month. He is a highly skilled turner, and enjoys experimen-tation with different techniques. The presentation sounds very interesting, and I for one am sure to learn something from it!! We have ordered the book he is basing his presentation on for the library, so it will be available for those wishing to delve deeper into the material David will present. This is the last of our four meetings at Franklin High.
Remember that we do not have a meeting scheduled for July, as no one seemed to want to meet on July 4th. So I’m wishing everyone a fun and exciting July 4th, and I hope everyone gets out camping, or boating, or barbequing, or just about any activity with family and friends. Don’t blow your fingers off with your M80’s, and don’t start any grass fires with your bottle rockets. Only kidding, who would have THOSE things in this day and age, when we all know safety comes first. And it does!
It’s not too soon to talk about the picnic in August. It will be held this year at David’s house, same place as last year. Last year it was over 100 degrees that day, yet at David’s house it was very pleasant, there was plenty of shade, up on a hill, with a cooling breeze. The picnic is also the time we host our wood auction, where we make a good portion of our operating budget for the year. We held the picnic on a Saturday last year, and we’ll do the same this year. It allowed us to have a relaxing time, eat all we wanted, and have plenty of time for the auction without running out of time. We need good donations for the auction, so for everyone who has a stash of wood hidden under the floorboards, please break it out and select some nice pieces for us to auction off.
Our future meeting place is still not firmed up. There are a few ideas floating around, but nothing is concrete. We will be sure to notify everyone once we have a solu-tion.
Enjoy this fabulous weather, and we’ll see you all Thursday at Franklin High.
Richard
PAGE 2 VOLUME 19, ISSUE
Woodworkers show
PAGE 2 VOLUME 18, ISSUE 06
Thanks to Bill Giffen for sharing his photos with us
We have our spot in conjunction with the Guild of Oregon Woodworkers at the Woodworkers show. EVERY member of Northwest Wood turners was invited to show their turnings at the show. There was NO COST to the member -the club handled all the exhibiting costs. We shared our booth with the Cascade Wood turners. This was a great opportunity to get your pieces seen, and even sell a few. Members who exhibited generously manned the booth. This is a fun show and very enjoyable to be an attendee as well as an exhibitor! Lots of handcrafted items to look at and appreciate from furniture to jewelry to ceramics and more! Next year plan to bring the family
In memoriam ... Dale Nish: author, educator and international presenter
For nearly three decades, Dale had a significant impact on woodturning. He lectured and demonstrated extensively in his travels, making more than 200 national and international presentations at workshops and symposiums. He authored the books Creative Woodturning (1975), Artistic Woodturning (1980), Master Woodturners(1985), and Woodturning with Ray Allan (2004) and wrote several articles about woodturning. Dale contributed to the “Ask Dale” column of Woodturning Design magazine and was the Director of the Woodturning Workshops at Craft Supplies USA. We will all miss his warm presence in the wood turning world.
VOLUME 19, ISSUE 6 PAGE 3
L IBRARY WAGON NEWS … DENVY LARSON AND THE LIBRARY TEAM
WORDS OF WISDOM
Here it is June, already ! This is the perfect month to get that Library to the Meeting ! Last month did not work out.....this month we will make it happen. So, bring that library item back, it will be checked in and you can check out a different publica-
tion.
With so many publications to choose from, it is easy to pick something to review, but difficult to pick something that everyone will receive benefit. So with that in mind I have chosen a book writ-ten by Barry Gross, "Learn to Turn". This is "A Beginner's Guide to Woodturning From Start to Finish" that is good for even experienced turners to review. From the Introduction, "So much as been written about woodturning in the past that it creates a challenge to approach the topic with an innovative agenda. My method is to look at woodturning from the perspective of the student and not the teacher. Looking at woodturning from this viewpoint brings to light some of the frustrating aspects of the hobby as a beginner-such as feeling nervous when you first try to turn a piece of wood on the lathe; struggling to grind an edge on a tool; attempting to get a good finish on a bowl; or
turning the final bead on a spindle, getting a "catch," and demolishing your project.."
Many topics are covered including safety. At the end is a troubleshooting section that is very helpful. With publications like
these in your hands, may you enjoy a good June with lots of chips in the wood shop. See you at the meeting and Happy Turn-
ing to All.
Denvy
The library will be available at the June meeting. Enjoy!
I thought you might enjoy the following comments from Jim Leslie. He expresses the personal enjoyment and relief from the daily grind that we receive from wood turning as well.
PAGE 4 VOLUME 19, ISSUE 6
My demo is on the techniques described in the book "Woodturning Evolution" by Nick Agar & David Springett (from the UK).
It is a combination of ring turning, off-center turning and segmented turning. The starting point is generally turning half a torus ring and cutting it and re-assembling the pieces. The basic concept is pretty straight forward, but there are a lot of ways to make it hard or cre-ate unanticipated "design opportunities". The variety of permutations and styles allows anyone to develop their own versions. I will bring examples of the designs in the book and what I discovered in following their directions ( OK: I didn't always follow directions, where's fun in that?).
June Demonstrator ... David Williams “woodturning evolution”
David tells me there are 4 variations of the Torus in the Demonstration. You may remember The Torus was the October 2011 Challenge piece won by Steve Newberry. Did you know that Steve drilled a hole and inserted a glass cylinder (test tube) so his torus is also an elegant flower vase! The support area is small. Balance requires weight. A thin walled torus could easily tip and spill its contents. Functionality was a major requirement.
The experiment was to make the sides of the torus continuous; both sides a mirror image of the other. It must also be finished smooth and continuous to the touch.
Directions for turning a torus are included in the Design of CraigTimmerman’s torus presented at the AAW 2011 symposi-um and are repeated here from the September 2011 Newsletter.
The pattern is based on a 7” X 7” block. Parallel the faces. Mark the center on one face and make a circle. Cut the waste away with a bandsaw.
Mount the vase sides between centers. Make cuts across the front and back faces to be sure that they are parallel. Cut an expansion chucking point in the face for a 4-jaw chuck to expand into. Cut as close to the center as possible and no deeper than necessary Create the vase tube hole. Mount between the top and bottom centers. Turn a tenon on the bottom, keeping the rest of the
bottom as flat as possible. Chuck the blank on this tenon and drill most of the vase hole. Don't let the bit go through the piece. Craig uses a brad point bit with the point ground off. Turn the recess around the test tube hole. You can use a dowel that matches the diam-eter of the test tube for a jig; should fit slightly loose and be curved on the bottom to fit the base of the test tube. Sand the recess. Finish drilling the vase tube hole to the proper depth.
Woodturning Evolution will soon be available for your reading interest in the Northwest Woodturners library.
VOLUME 18, ISSUE 06 PAGE 5
The torus ….. Thanks to craig timmerman
You may need to turn from the outside edge to the inside edge). Use light cuts because this can chip out. You want to have the same curve on the front and the back. Use a center line on the edge as a guide. Join the front face to the drilled area. Turn into the hole; keep-ing the curve as smooth as possible. Do not make the hole much larger. Sand the front face and blow off dust.
Turn the second face. Use a wood drum chuck with a flat face. (Mount in the chuck or faceplate or use MDF and tape to match the spindle size. Add double- sided tape to drum chuck. (or build a specialized vacuum chuck). Bring torus disks up to drum or vacuum chuck. Use a large cone attachment on the live center or use a 4- jaw chuck attached to the live center adaptor or turn a loose jam chuck to fit the hole in the vase and mount that on the live center. If you are using a double-sided tape, keep the tailstock pressure ap-
plied for at least a minute before removing the tail stock.
Turn the second face like you did the first face. Use light cuts and hopefully prevent catches. Make sure the two sides meet cleanly in the center of the hole. Sand the second f ace and also the hole. Remove the bottom tenon. Mount the jig you used to turn the to recess in a 4-jaw chuck. Bring up the tailstock on the bottom tenon. Turn off as much as you can. Be sure the bottom is flat … use your straight edge. Use carving tools to remove any remaining tenon. Sand the bottom. Apply the finish of your choice. Craig invites you to visit his website to see the torus http://web.me.com/gtw44/GTW/Craig_Timmerman.html Craig‟s specialties include multi-axis, non round work, square bowls and hollow forms. It would be great to have him demo at the NWWT sometime!
Mount the blank on expansion chucking point on the face. Drill the face hole. Craig uses a 2-1/4‟ Forstner bit. Be aware of how close you get to the chuck jaws. You want to drill right between them. Mark the center line of the outside edge to act as a guide in rounding the edge. Round the outside edge. Do the front face first. Then turn from the inside to the outside. Then round the back face.
$35 for 35 demonstrations. I want to thank everyone who helped out with my $35 for 35 project. This is my 35th year of woodturning and I wanted to mark it with something special. I combined it with my role in the AAW. I have traveled around the US and abroad teaching woodturning but had never done an all day demonstration here in the Portland area. I originally planned on doing one day but added a second day when the sign up reached capacity of my shop. On Friday we had 25 turners here and on Saturday 18 turners. I started with a slide show of how to take a tree down and cut up the tree. Then I roughed out a bowl showing how to manipulate the grain to get the best pattern in the finished bowl. We talked about how to dry the bowl blank and different methods of drying wood. I then finished turned a madrone bowl show-ing tool usage and talked about sanding. Members got to see how I make a bowl starting with the tree clear through the fin-ished bowl. Next came a thin bowl turned from wet madrone to less than 1mm showing how to use light as a thickness cali-per. Friday I went through the bottom when I reverse turned it. Darn, the first mistake of my life. Next came turning spheres by eye showing how to use cup chucks and jam chucks. I finished up with a demonstration on how the oval chuck works. We finished the day by raffling off all the demo pieces and a few roughed out bowls. We raised $2308 for AAW. Thank you to everyone that contributed. And thanks to Pete Gibson and Howard Borer for all their help. Dale
DALE LARSON DEMO REPORT
PAGE 6 VOLUME 19, ISSUE 6
PAGE 6 VOLUME 18, ISSUE 06
DESIGN WORKSHOP … CRITIQUING YOUR OWN WOOD TURNINGS
I recently came across a WOW ‘My Family” notation from 2007.
The question posed asked fellow wood turners can they objectively critique their own work? For me this really meant looking and seeing every nuance in my own wood stuff that I or that we in col-
laborative work produce and then passing judgment. Ed Koenig responded “I can critique others work subjectively and be quite accurate but when it comes to my work, I'm never sure”. Malcolm Tibbetts responded, “Self doubt can be a good thing so long as we use it as a tool for learning, experimenting and improving what we make”. Do you question your ability to criti-cize your own work objectively?
I believe when we make something, an attachment can be formed with the work which ultimately clouds our objectivity. We may also want to preserve the work for all time and do not release it, the antithesis to the Japanese expressed viewpoint to see the object as ephemeral. “A fence made of bamboo is not created to last forever” Do you sometimes cling to the stuff you make? As a kid I drew a fox on my blackboard. My mother wrote ’Well done’ on it. I never erased the drawing or the good words, which meant I never drew on that board again. Maybe it was the loss of my favorite drawing media; but I learned this decision was really dumb and deprived me of a lot of enjoyment. I lacked the faith that other drawings could be as good .
Do you have difficulty seeing an object you are making when it is not positioned in the finished plane? Several WOW members believed that it can be difficult to evaluate a piece when it is on the lathe - horizontal when it will be displayed in a vertical posi-tion. (He failed to mention that it can be even tougher because we are working with three dimensional pieces that may be viewed from all angles).
The difficulty can be multiplied many times when trying to assess its value from a two dimensional drawing. Before I begin turning, I always show my drawings to my husband who has the rare capacity to visualize them in 3 dimensions. Together, we examine my two dimensional drawing. If still not sure if it is going to work, I make a 3 dimensional mock up in clay or Styrofoam. If the model looks really promising and passes my self imposed visual tests on line and form, I go ahead and make it. Does this work all the time; no, but in a majority of instances it does.
Kelly Dunn says: Yes, you get to a point where the things you do many times can be self critiqued. And no. When you step into areas you are not to sure about even though it looks great to you, my experience is that others will see things you do not and can offer great advice. I suggest picking a person who you feel has mastered the general idea of what for you is new or dif-ferent. Some of us are slower. It took David Ellsworth maybe seven or eight years of critiquing my hollow forms before he said I got it. And I thought I had got it. But when you hand over a work to a master of that type of work they sure see things differ-ently. John Lucas feels that it is difficult to find an honest critic of your work. I'm talking about a really honest critic from an outside artist, possibly in some other medium. We tend to look at how it looks to other woodturners. Is the form nice, is the finish nice etc. We don't usually look at them from the standpoint of will this stand the test of time kind of artwork. I would like to present some pieces and have people tell me where I missed the boat. I’m talking about the kind of work that a ceramics, glass artist or collector would pick up and say this is really good.
Jerry Bennett - Dec 1, 2007 “The true ‘Critique’ is a comparison of a standard and an effort. In the learning process, we pick up what is traditionally expected by most people, a standard. If a lot of people like a piece, we say it is good. This is a comforta-ble place. To really grow as a craftsman or an artist, I think a test of these boundaries is required, but this requires knowing where those boundaries are. Many currently honored art works were ridiculed in their own time. Not a comfortable place for the one doing them. Self critique is in knowing the standard for a good sales item or for personal growth or both. Judge your own progress if you want to sell the piece; otherwise design in accordance with your own standard and develop your skills in what feels the right to you”. Sticking to your path, garnering ideas and suggestions that are both positive and negative will help you in this quest for improvement.
A famous glass artist’s suggestion to those aspiring to follow in his footsteps once said, “Find your comfort zone, then stay the hell away from it”. This implies “knowing”. Nationally known turners already know through experience what we like and they do it. They seldom seek our critical review, they judge themselves. Self critique of your work is an absolute requirement. It is
VOLUME 19, ISSUE 6 PAGE 7
DESIGN WORKSHOP CONTINUED
important even though it's hard to do. When others see the same things in your work that's important to you, their positive reinforcement can be a big help. Self doubt??? Search for the next level. Everyone does bad work once in a while, not on purpose, but as I learned growing up: "If you are making no mistakes then you are making no progress, because you are not really doing anything/trying." It's not easy, but when I look at my things, I try to see the good in them and still seek means to make the next ones better. Is that self doubt?
It's odd that woodturning should have a blind spot ... our lack of confidence, and I wonder why that is... In "Art," the rules are pretty much the rules, till someone comes along and breaks them. On the one hand, you have classic form on which we can "always" rely and on the other you have "cutting edge" stuff (which often has classic elements). It's the never ending strug-gle, we want to be "perfect," we're not. Geoff Whaling comments: In a discussion with a fellow wowie on the subject of cri-tique he stated “That we mostly know what is "wrong" with a work we submit into a competition or when we submit it for critique by our peers”.
Alby Hall: With all my work I'm my fiercest critique, and after working on a piece for a lengthy time ,with a preconception of how it should look, the result sometimes is not what I expected. This can cloud the perception of what's really there. So rather than beating my self up over it, I forget about it for a while, put it away and go on to the next thing. Then I come back to it with a fresh mind, seeing it without all the preconceptions, as an item in its own right. It 's easier to accept the work for what it is, evaluate it and go on to the next piece with insight gained from it. But I must say, it's only a small amount of my work that I'm completely happy with. Striving for those pieces is what drives me, that's what makes it all worthwhile.
Does your piece stand the test of time … your time not the timeless ages. This is the best gauge for me of a successful piece. Does it still seem successful weeks, months or even years later?
We have a unique opportunity in the Northwest Woodturners, the opportunity to display and share our work with other members of our group. Have you taken advantage of this opportunity to show others where you are at this time in your turn-ing? Have you been willing to answer questions concerning technique, problems and successes? Bring your pieces to Show and Tell and if you can design a piece for a specific criteria enter it in the Challenge. Our judges are carefully chosen from members with strong skills and experience in turning. Their critic of your piece is seeing the good points, analyzing, coupled with suggestions of how to proceed further along on the path ahead. If you request critiques that point out any failings in your piece, be prepared to accept and listen to learn to be able to do a better job the next time. Don’t take the cri-tique personally. It’s not aimed at you; but at creating a better piece. Barb Hall As Ricky Nelson sang: .It ’s all right now, yeah, learned my lesson well. You see, you can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself
PHIL LAPP … OUR MAY DEMONSTRATOR . . .HOLLOWING SYSTEMS
Phil’s demo was as always special. He com-pared hollowing systems including the Carter Hollow Roller. Superb descriptions
PAGE 8 VOLUME 19, ISSUE 6
OUR BUSINESS MEMBERS
Something New at the Rockler Store
Get to Know your Rockler Staff.
Thursdays from 5:30 to 7:00 we will be hosting a Free Refresher Class/Demo/Discussion on a variety of Woodworking subjects.
We thank our generous business partners. We encourage our Northwest members to visit their stores and find the many new products and stock up on the nec-essary items for their wood turning needs.
As
PAGE 9 VOLUME 18, ISSUE 06
EDITOR’S NOTES
06/01 06/01 06/08 06/08 06/08 06/13 06/22 06/29 06/29
Pen turning Pyrography Wood Carving Sharpening Tools Using Carbide Tools Sharpening Tools TBA TBA Pen Turning .
Woodcraft Woodcrafters Woodcrafters
Rockler Rockler
Woodcrafters Woodcrafters Woodcrafters
Woodcraft
2:00PM 10:00AM-3:00PM 1000:AM-3:00PM
10:00AM-11:00PM 12:00PM-1:00PM 10:00AM-3:00PM 10.00AM-3:00PM 10:00AM-3:00PM
2:00PM
Many other fine demos and classes are available from your local stores: Demos Woodcraft Store at (503) 684-1428 Email [email protected] Rockler Store at (503) 672-7266 Email [email protected] Classes Woodcrafters Store at (503) 231-0226 Web page http://woodcrafters.us/ craft supplies *Fee: students should bring chucks, sharpened turning tools, safety gear. Please phone businesses with questions on demos and classes.
LOCAL EVENTS, CLASSES, AND DEMO ’S
Key: H1 Hands-on class Friday H2 Hands-on classes Friday and Sunday H3 Three day Hands-on class D Saturday Demo
Jan 2013 Annual Swap Meet July 2013 No meeting (Holiday)
Feb 2013 Ron Fox: PENS Aug 2013 Picnic/Wood Auction
Mar 2013 Ashley Harwood H2 D Sep 2013 TBA
Apr 2013 Neil Seigel: Ladle Oct 2013 TBA
May 2013 Phil Lapp: Hollowing Systems Nov 2013 TBA
June 2013 David Williams: Woodturning Evolution Dec 2013 Christmas Party
May2013: Friday and Saturday sessions Please call or e-mail Gary Sundquist for details. [email protected] 503-645-2231. June 2013 demo: Joe Wagner: making ornaments and small stuff
W ILLAMETTE VALLEY ’S DEMONSTRATORS
CASCADE WOODTURNERS DEMONSTRATORS
If you did not receive a courtesy email from me that the May Newsletter was on line the beginning of the month, please email your corrected email address to me. [email protected] All Newsletters can be accessed from the NWWT website or the Members Forum. Members Only who do not have email ac-cess; please give me your address for mailing your July Newsletter to you.
May 2013: Contact Terry Gerros with questions and to sign up. [email protected] June demo: Ron Gerton: Strobe light turning
Submissions to the newsletter are due by the 20th of the month. Articles, tips, web links, classified ads, or other items pertaining to woodturning are welcome.
Barbara Hall Newsletter/Website Editor Phone: (503) 649-5581 E-mail: [email protected] All other business should be directed to: Northwest Woodturners P.O Box 1157, Lake Oswego, OR 97055
2012 NORTHWEST WOOD TURNERS MEETING SCHEDULE
PAGE 10 VOLUME 18, ISSUE 06
13500 SW Pacific Hwy, #185
Tigard, OR 97223
Show your NWWT Membership Card to receive a discount of your purchase at Gilmer’s, Rockler, Woodcraft, Woodcrafters, NorthWoods and Crosscut Hardwoods. Membership has benefits. (Plus great demos)
David Williams: turning tips … share the knowledge
Announcements
Shop tip; Magnets! Glue one to a pencil and hang them on every lathe, bandsaw, table-
saw, etc. Calipers get lost so easily.....except when magnets are on the lathe head-
stock.
Shop tip #2; Chainsaw Bucket. Invariably I will be using a chainsaw and need some-
thing else, a wedge, oil, spare chain, wrench... Now I keep everything chainsaw re-
lated in one container and take it with me the first time.
1.June 6th: Cruisin’ Sherwood: Blocks of vintage cars; great hotdogs with all the fixings and a fun (and sore feet day). We first attended this event when NWWT met at Sherwood High School. Each year it seems to get better! 2.July NO MEETING: Enjoy the Holiday!
3.WOODTURNERS--BIG SALE--ALL TOOLS 50% OFF CATALOG PRICE--Sorby, Taylor, Jamieson, Deep Hollowing, Kel-ton of New Zealand (The Hollowing System Set")--Aluminum and Wood Handles--Scraper tools, handled and unhandled--Drive Centers-- Tool Rests--Machined aluminum and steel faceplates--Nova Chuck, with pin jaws to bowl jaws--Industrial 8” slow grinder with Wolverine sharpening system--Sorby Sandmaster sandpaper and lots of sheet grits. THE ABOVE ITEMS ARE PRICED TO SELL INDIVIDUALLY. ADDITIONALLY, A new jet mini-lathe on a lathe stand with flexible arm lamp and heavy duty face shield. PRICE FOR THE JET LATHE AND ITS ACCESSORIES IS $325.00--CASH ONLY. Pat Lynch CALL 503-557-5526.
