PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE A couple of weeks ago I received an email from the American Association of Woodturners that began: “Woodturning is a journey where the learning never ends! Regardless of your skill level, you'll experience challenges that are best seen as opportunities for learning. And, according to Kurt Hertzog, "Often satisfaction comes not from the finished product, but from problems solved along the way." An experience this week proved that to be very true. I’ve been making threaded collars for hollow forms out of pewter for a number of years now. I do this on the lathe using a shop made jig and a set of tap and dies. The outcome leaves a threaded opening in the hollow form about a half inch in diameter, just perfect to form a support for a finial to grace the top of the hollow form. Well, last week I received an email from a friend on the west coast of Florida. This is a guy who I’ve met through the Florida Woodturning Symposium. We exchange emails mostly prompted by our mutual interest in incorporating pewter in our woodturning. His daughter’s cat had passed and she had requested that he make an urn for the remains, however, she wished for the opening to be large enough to make it easy to place the remains in the urn. He asked me if I had any experience making a threaded collar with a large diameter. I replied

that it could be done with a large tap and die set but they were prohibitively expensive and a better option would be to use a threading jig, store brought or shop made, similar to the one Bonnie Klein uses. He happened to have a shop made threading jig and a couple of days later sent me a picture of the completed urn. For my part, it made me think about other threading methods and in particular hand chasing threads. As much threading as I have done, I have always resisted learning how to hand chase threads. It has always seemed to be shrouded in mystery and requiring a skillset, talent and skill set that is beyond me. I’ve seen the technique demonstrated a couple of times, read magazine articles and watched videos and nothing has changed my mind that this technique is something that I would be able to do. Well, prompted by the email exchange, I decided that the time had finally arrived on my woodturning journey to lift the veil and see if I was up to learning a new technique, hand chasing threads in pewter. My new tools arrived and I have to admit they looked pretty small and underwhelming when I took them out of the box, given how the whole idea of hand chasing threads had intimidated me for so many years. I started out trying to put some threads on a piece of PVC pipe, a recommendation I had heard somewhere. It turned out to be a bit of a disaster and I found

North East Florida Woodturners

Volume 19 Issue 2 February 2019 An Affiliate of the American Association of Woodturners – Club Number 130 - jaxturners.org

the PVC to be very catchy. I quickly abandoned that idea and decided to practice with the material that I actually wanted to use, pewter. I figured that any pieces that didn’t work out could go back into the melting pot, so it wouldn’t cost me anything. Surprise, surprise. My first attempt on a pewter collar left me with an acceptable set of female threads. The male threads were a bit harder, my first attempts were grooves not threads, however over the course of a couple of evenings I figured things out and actually got threaded parts that screwed together!

I was really struck by how a technique that I had found so mysterious and intimidating for so long, was actually pretty simple and achievable once I had committed to learning and mastering it on my woodturning journey. I wanted to share this experience with you in order to encourage you, regardless of your experience level, to challenge yourself to learn a new technique or skill set. I’m sure you will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I also want to remind you that you don’t necessarily have to figure it out by yourself. Take advantage of the resources the club has to offer, in particular, the mentoring program. There are a number of experienced club members who are offering their time and experience to help you.

Get together with one of them and schedule a session to learn more about woodturning. As the email from the AAW says; “Woodturning is a journey where the learning never ends!” I look forward to seeing you at the Florida Woodturning Symposium or at the February meeting! Regards Keith Demonstrations January 2019

Mike Mahoney did a remote demonstration featuring the making of a platter from quartersawn white oak. He did a very thorough job reviewing his wood selection and techniques, emphasizing that he wants all his pieces to be really used and not put on a shelf. We saw a video starting from cutting the blank to finishing during which he did a running commentary. He was very active with the video, slowing down or speeding up or replaying parts to make sure we clearly understood his process. Since there was time left after the platter video, he also reviewed some other videos in a similar way including; making and coring a bowl, making a Scandinavian style wooden cup, a review of his tools and their design and how he sharpens them and another video on finishes. Through all the videos he was very responsive to questions that were asked by the club members. Mike certainly gave us our money's worth staying right to the close of the meeting. Although there were a few instances of dropped sound or a frozen video, the attendees felt this

was a very good way to see a well-known, professional turner for a club demo. Spring 2019 National Demonstrator – Ed Malesky

On March 30 & 31, 2019 we'll have Beth Ireland for a demo and a Hands-On session. She will be doing:

Turning Outside the Box Turning Simple offset boxes Turning with Your Mind (time

permitting)

We have four people signed up for the Hands-On with Beth Ireland next month:

1. Barb Hahn 2. Don Penny 3. June Chambers 4. Tina Minahan

We have room for 2-3 more. Please contact Ed Malesky (emalesky@comcast.net) if you would like to take one of the spots. Please only put your name on the list if you really plan to come. For the last several Hands-On sessions a number of people that said they would come did not, leaving the club to cover the costs. Committee Reports Charitable Giving – Kay Seivert We started with two new kids from Safe Harbor the first week in January. They are well-mannered as most of the Safe Harbor kids are. Both are very different, but seem willing to learn and happy to be in class. Ed purchased some new spindle gouges (using the proceeds from Zoo Lights) and skews for the program, a welcome addition. The old spindle gouges had definitely seen better times.

We are still looking for more mentors for the boys. If you would like to start as an assistant, we can arrange that for as long as you like. You would only have to serve one Friday morning a month. Let Kay Seivert or Ed know if you are interested and we can put you on the schedule. It is a rewarding experience to pass on to a young person your interest in wood turning. New Member Coordinator – Paul Rushton – Seven new members/guests came to the January meeting.

Please welcome Don Schmitt Steve Robinson Emory Mcloughlin Chris Bonts Michael Teele Jeff Budd Melissa Sanders

Treasurer – Kathy McCall DUES are DUE for 2019! Please pay Kathy $35 for your 2019 membership. Club Demonstrations – Daniel Callahan By summer, and after Florida and AAW Symposia, we should have some "formerly beginning" turners who are now "intermediate and close to ready to do a local demo for our very forgiving local club. So, please start thinking about it. I imagine our veteran demo folks would be happy to help any newbie plan and problem solve an agenda!

Secretary – Paul Rushton – We had a really big turnout for the January meeting, the biggest so far. We have folding metal chairs for people to sit in but we only have so many. If you bring your own comfy chair to the meeting, it would help.

We haven’t had a safety committee representative in a while. Contact Paul or Keith if you think you could help out with this role by giving a 2-3 minute safety talk at the club meetings. Sharpening I included a very good piece on bowl gouge sharpening by Kent Weakley at the end of this newsletter. I thought it was excellent and Kent granted permission to publish it in our newsletter. Thanks Kat McCall for suggesting this article.

Florida Woodturning Symposium – Ed Malesky We're sorry if you didn't register in time for the Florida Woodturning Symposium. For the third time in the last four years, the Symposium was a sellout. It really excites us to know there are so many interested in woodturning in the area. This year is also going to be special with the raffling off of the biggest prize we've ever givens. Thanks to all of you that bought tickets and good luck this Saturday evening when we do the drawing. Classifieds: No ads submitted this month. January Meeting Show and Tell

Bernard Ross shows two pieces he made from the same piece of firewood finished with about 10 coats of tung oil.

Bernard also brought this bowl made from loblolly bay. A lot of figurative cracks in the bottom. Beautiful piece Bernard

Bernard talked about how much fun he had at the Christmas parts and showed off this piece he got in the gift exchange from Tina Minahan.

You see Bernard here wearing a Gators hat and a Clemson shirt. Anybody besides me confused? The small bird house piece has a tiny alligator on the lid. Is this supposed to be bird food? Just kidding Bernard, nice little piece.

Keith Larrett showed the cedar box he made and the raffle exchange item he made for this month’s winner.

Danny Rodriguez brought in this sweet gum bowl he made. Nice going Danny

. Tina Minahan got a visualizer for hollowing and made a set of hollowforms. The one above is spalted holly.

This one is poplar

And this one is of Bradford pear. Nice work Tina. Tina said the hollower is just outstanding and easy to use.

Jim Selby made this ring holder of walnut and sycamore, nice piece Jim.

Colleen Larsen brought this snowman out of pecan.

Colleen also brought this bowl out of maple.

And this small dish out of myrtle.

Nancy O’Donnell showed off this very interesting unusual piece Gene and Nancy made together. It’s maple with a cocobolo lid. The design idea came from a Carl Jacobsen video which can be seen here: Jacobsen Lidded Box

Gene O’Donnell also made this painted bowl

And Danny Aaron brought in the bowl he made out of spalted hickory and finished with teak oil. Upcoming Events February 8-10, 2019 Florida Woodturning symposium will be at the Lake Yale Baptist conference Center near Leesburg. Registration is open. For more information visit:

Floridawoodturningsymposium.com or on Facebook at: MyFWS

February 11: Ron Thomas - Embellished hollow forms with finials March 11: Don Geiger - Sharpening March 30, 2019 Beth Ireland demonstration

March 31, 2019 Beth Ireland hands on demonstration. Limited seating, extra fee of $125 April 8: Mark Wood & Daniel Callahan - Finishing May 13: Keith Larrett - Paper glue joints in woodturning June 10: Cindy Drozda (remote demonstration) - Finial Box July 11 – 14, 2019 2019 AAWs 33rd Annual International Woodturning Symposium in Raleigh, NC. Demonstration, panel discussion, exhibitions, auctions, trade show and more. Club Officers President Keith Larrett keith.larrett@gmail.com (386) 527 0230 Past President Mark Wood mwood@mjwood.com (904) 280-2283 Vice President Don Penny donaldpenny@att.net (904) 591 6231 Treasurer Kathy McCall Kathy.mccall@wellsfargo.com (904) 771-6054

Secretary Paul Rushton rushtonwood@yahoo.com (205) 587-5226

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES STEP BY STEP

CREDIT: KENT WEAKLEY

TURNAWOODBOWL.COM

Bowl gouge sharpening techniques are really the first thing that needs to be learned when turning wood bowls. Why? Because without a sharp bowl gouge turning wood bowls is not easy.

As the saying goes, “An almost sharp bowl gouge will almost cut wood.”

Another reason bowl gouge sharpening techniques need to come first is, depending on the cuts and type of wood, the bowl gouge will only stay sharp for so long.

I had an opportunity to see this play out first hand. My brother, who lives about a thousand miles away, had just acquired a small bench lathe but had no tools. He wanted to turn some bowls.

When we went to visit him, I threw a couple of my gouges in the car to bring along. Long story short, we got one small bowl made before the gouges were too dull to continue. Without a sharpening system, we could go no further.

Being fortunate enough to do my initial wood turnings at weekly group gatherings, I started without any equipment. As I learned the importance of a sharp bowl gouge, my equipment acquisition order was easy to determine.

My bowl gouge sharpening system was the first piece of equipment I put into place in my shop. I did this even before I owned my first bowl gouge.

HOW IT WORKS

When we sharpen a bowl gouge, we are not doing anything other than restoring a sharp cutting edge to the bowl gouge. Over time, that sharp edge gets dull as we turn.

The area of the bowl gouge that needs attention is the bevel. The bevel is the flat area that wraps around the front and sides under the sharp cutting edge.

When we employ the bowl gouge sharpening techniques, we are smoothing and leveling the surface of the bevel. At the same time, this action restores a sharp, crisp edge between the bevel top and the bowl gouge flute.

The corner where the bevel top and flute edge meet is the business end or cutting edge of the bowl gouge. Start by understanding the terminology:

BOWL GOUGE ABUSE

While turning a bowl, it’s easy just to forget the stress on the bowl gouge. However, let’s look at this from a different perspective.

What if instead of working a nice compact round of timber, the bowl gouge was drug across a long continuous surface? Imagine, sitting on the tailgate of a truck going down the highway and holding the bowl gouge tip against the road.

Depending on the size of the bowl blank and the time spent cutting, your bowl gouge actually accumulates MILES of cutting time. Too bad there’s not a frequent flyer program for bowl gouge miles turned.

If you’re good at math, you can pretty quickly run some numbers. The circumference of an 8” bowl blank is 25.12”. If the lathe is turning around 800 r.p.m., the bowl gouge will travel a full MILE about every three minutes.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES GOUGE WEAR CALCULATION

That’s an amazing amount of cutting and performance from a piece of steel. It gives me a new respect for the durability and performance of the bowl gouge.

WHEN TO SHARPEN

There are several indicators that a bowl gouge needs sharpening. Some of these indicators include; time, temperature, and results.

When the gouge dulls, performance also reduces, friction will increase. One sign of a dulling bowl gouge tip is heat. If the tip or end of the tool feels warm or hot, it’s time to practice your bowl gouge sharpening techniques.

Another great indicator of a worn down cutting tip is performance. Yes, performance problems effect bowl gouges too.

The quickest way to tell is if the bowl gouge produces chips or dust instead of longer shavings. Keep in mind some woods don’t make nice curly shavings, but in general dust and chips are a good indicator of the need to sharpen.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES CURLY SHAVINGS GOOD DUST CHIPS MEAN TIME TO SHARPEN

And the third best way to know it’s time to sharpen your bowl gouge is your memory. Can you remember when you sharpened last? If you can’t remember when you last sharpened, it is now probably time to sharpen or past time to sharpen.

Always remember this wood turners joke, or perhaps a truth. “If you think your gouge needs sharpening, you should have done it ten minutes ago.” In other words, keep on top of your bowl gouge and sharpen frequently.

If you are experiencing heat, poor results or if you can’t remember, it’s time to sharpen.

WHAT ANGLE TO SHARPEN

When we go to the grinding station to sharpen this is not the time to reshape or change the angle of the bowl gouge. So, for now the cutting angle of the bowl gouge will be the same as it currently appears.

Changing and adjusting bowl gouge sharpening angles is covered thoroughly in another article, be sure to check that out.

I do encourage experimenting with different bowl gouge grinds and angles, but that is a much broader topic covered in other articles. Here, we will focus on our bowl gouge sharpening techniques.

SETTING THE WOLVERIN E VARIGRIND JIG

Depending on the bevel angle and length of the bevel side wings, you will need to adjust the Wolverine VariGrind Jig accordingly.

Essentially, the angle of the leg sticking out from the bowl gouge holder adjusts the amount of side wings created while grinding jig extension arm position adjusts the front bevel angle.

We will be making adjustments that match your bowl gouge’s current front bevel angle in step five below. The front bowl gouge bevel dictates the distance the jig is from the sharpening wheel.

The thumb screw on the jig controls the side profile or side-wings of the bowl gouge. This angle can be adjusted to create shorter wings or longer swept back wings.

I sharpen my bowl gouges with long swept back wing profiles. The swept back angle gives me more cutting surface to remove more material quickly. I can also flip the tool over and use those wings for scraping or shear cuts to smooth a bowl surface.

Swept back wing is my preference. Your bowl gouge may have a completely different grind, and profile and that is fine. We are here to understand bowl gouge sharpening techniques, regardless of angle or profile.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES SWEPT BACK WING GRIND

SHARPENING CONSISTENCY

The ultimate goal of sharpening is to maintain a continuously smooth and sharp cutting edge consistently. Each time we go to the sharpening wheel we want to be consistent.

To achieve consistency, I strongly suggest using a sharpening jig. I use the Oneway Sharpening System with the Wolverine VariGrind jig to maintain consistent sharpening angles at the wheel every time. See my Recommended Sharpening Equipment guide for further details.

Yes, it is possible to sharpen by hand at the grinding wheel. However, this takes a lot of practice and skill. I admire those people that can hand sharpen efficiently and consistently.

Because only a small amount of bowl gouge metal needs to be removed to restore a sharp edge, I don’t want to risk slipping and necessitating additional grinding. The more you grind, the sooner the bowl gouge is reduced to a stub.

Using the grinding jig is simple, quick, and very efficient. When done correctly and frequently, sharpening with a jig only takes a few seconds and is accurate every time.

The results from using a sharpening jig are consistent and repeatable. These are the two main key factors that make the bowl gouge ready to turn efficiently every time.

Here is my complete guide for setting up and using the Wolverine Vari-Grind Jig for consistent bowl gouge sharpening results.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES

Here are the bowl gouge sharpening techniques step-by-step. Keep in mind these steps incorporate the Oneway sharpening system to produce consistent and repeatable results each time.

1) Position the bowl gouge in the jig with the pointed leg of the jig facing backward and down. Tighten the thumb screw until it is snug against the flute of the bowl gouge.

2) Using a depth gauge jig, Set the exact length of bowl gouge extension from the jig and tighten the thumb screw completely.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES DEPTH GAUGE

3) With the grinder off, loosen and adjust the sliding jig holder extension.

4) Place the leg of the bowl gouge jig into the extension arm end holder.

5) Slide the extension arm in or out to position the front center bevel of the gouge flush with the surface of the grinding wheel. Tighten the extension arm lever.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES BEVEL FLUSH TO WHEEL

6) Take a marker and color the surface of the bowl gouge bevel.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES MARKING BEVEL SURFACE

7) With the bowl gouge held out of the way, turn on the grinder and let it get up to speed. Once up to speed, make light contact with the bevel area that is colored.

8) If the colored area appears to have an even stripe ground through from the top to the bottom of the bevel, all is ready to continue to step 10. If, the strip is only partially across the bevel continue to step 9.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES FLUSH CONTACT

9) If the top edge of the bevel is ground but not the bottom, loosen the extension arm and move it inward a very small amount, just a hair. Lock the extension arm and make another slight contact with the wheel, go to step 8. If the bottom edge of the bevel is ground but not the top, loosen the extension arm and move it outward a very small amount, just a touch. Lock the extension arm and make another slight contact with the wheel, go to step 8.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES TIP ONLY CONTACT

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES HEEL CONTACT ONLY

10) Using smooth fluid movements, roll the bowl gouge bevel across the surface of the sharpening wheel from left to right. Try to keep the sharpening area of bowl gouge in the center of the sharpening wheel on the grinder. Also, attempt to give all areas of the bevel the same amount of time against the sharpening surface.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES SHARPENING ACROSS GOUGE CENTER

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES RIGHT SIDE ROTATION

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES LEFT SIDE ROTATION

11) After only a few seconds of moving the bowl gouge bevel across the sharpening wheel, remove the gouge and closely inspect the bevel and cutting edge. If a smooth, shiny bevel appears from heel to cutting edge all the way around, you have a shape edge. If you see any rough spots or interruptions in the bevel smoothness return to step 10 and repeat until the bevel is smooth in all locations.

BOWL GOUGE SHARPENING TECHNIQUES SHARPENING STAGES

To learn more about the Wolverine Vari-Grind Sharpening Jig and how to set it for your specific needs, read this article.

BE PRECISELY PRECISE

The most critical aspect of bowl gouge sharpening techniques is to be consistent and precise. Our bowl gouge is a highly effective tool vital to the whole bowl turning process. We need to treat the bowl gouge accordingly.

Each time we go to the sharpening wheel we need to make sure the bevel is exactly flush with the wheel. Even being off a hair will cause issues eventually.

Think about this for a second. If your sharpening angle changes a quarter of one degree, barely noticeable, each time you sharpen it will add up. Do that four times, and your bevel cutting angle will change a full degree. Do that forty times and, now your bevel angle is TEN FULL DEGREES different from where it started.

Take your time, use the marker on the bevel trick to confirm the bowl gouge is indeed flush with the grinding wheel each time. This simple step is worth the effort.

The time you take being precise while sharpening will pay off in a couple of ways. Your bowl gouge bevel angle will be consistent and you will remove less metal making your gouge last longer.

JUST ENOUGH

Sharpening is not grinding; we are here only to sharpen. Using the bowl gouge sharpening techniques, each time at the grinder you should just be removing a thin amount of material from the bevel of your gouge.

If you find yourself needing to spend a long time sharpening and making the bowl gouge bevel smooth again, you may need to sharpen more frequently. Stop more often and sharpen less is better than waiting and needing to sharpen a very worn gouge.

Ideally, each approach to the grinder should take a couple passes across the bowl gouge bevel surface and only require a few seconds of time. As soon as the bevel is shiny, flat and even, the gouge is sharp.

STEEL COLORING

The coloring of the metal at the tip of the bowl gouge might occur if you’re sharpening too long, with too much pressure or both. We do not want color to appear on the steel of our bowl gouge.

Colored metal indicates that the gouge shank is overheating and that causes stress within the gouge. Colored areas need to be removed and this requires slow patient grinding, not necessarily sharpening.

If you feel the heat, preferably before you see any brown or blue start to appear at the sharpening tip of your gouge, stop sharpening. Let the gouge cool a bit. Go sweep shavings or take a break because your gouge too needs a break.

QUENCHING HOT METAL

You can cool the bowl gouge by dipping it in water to quench it while sharpening. However, and this is important, DO NOT quench or cool the gouge if it colors or overheats.

I had to get an explanation about quenching directly from a bowl gouge manufacturer in England to confirm. Here’s what I learned.

Like so many things in this wonderful world of woodturning, there are opinions, ideas, and facts. And usually, those three don’t always mix or play well together.

Previously among other turners, I was told, “Yes you can quench high-speed steel (and cryogenic steel) in water while sharpening.” Only later to be told quite emphatically by others, “NO! Do not quench gouges while sharpening. You will weaken the metal.”

So, which is it, Yes or No?

The answer is both. Of course, the answer is both! I love all the variables in woodturning! Ha!

Here’s how it works. You can quench and cool the metal as you sharpen if the metal does not get excessively overheated and/or discolor. It is safe structurally for the metal temperature to be reduced with water if the temperature is within reason. Quenching needs to happen frequently and which keeps the metal temperature within a narrow range that doesn’t get overly hot.

On the other hand, cooling a bowl gouge that is overheating and discolored will result in too great and dramatic of a temperature shift which can damage the internal structure of the steel. Dramatic heat shifts in the steel can cause the tip of the bowl gouge to chip, shatter, or break potentially.

The best way to avoid all this is to sharpen nice and slow and easy. Make quick light sharpening passes on the grinding wheel letting the wheel do the work, never press hard into the grinding wheel. Then there is no reason to stress about the metal stress in your bowl gouge.

CONCLUSION

At first, bowl gouge sharpening techniques may seem daunting and headache inducing. After a few times at the grinding wheel, the entire process eases and the bowl gouge sharpening techniques become old habit.

Take your time, sharpen frequently and with precision and your finely tuned bowl gouge will reward you with beautiful wood bowls time and time again.