Wood 'n' things - mswa.co.uk

Wood 'n' thingsWood 'n' things Mid Staffs Woodturning Association Newsletter Issue 5 - June 2006 Editor: Paul Bellamy Email: [email protected] Tel:- 01543 472669

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A message from our chairman - Down in the woods Do you sometimes feel that you are caught up in an age when everything you do seems to have an 'urgent' label on it. ''Must go to the bank'', ''Don't forget your hospital appointment'', ''Got to collect the grandchildren from school'' and ''I must find time to make that piece for the club competition!'' and so on. Oh what a rush everything seems. Well, if you had been down in Berry Wood at the Stafford County Show at the end of May, you would have been in a totally different world, where urgency was relegated to deciding whether to walk a few yards to the Venison Burger stall and have your lunch now or wait a bit and have it later. There was no contest really. I had one now and another later! Delicious they were! As part of the Forest of Mercia's display of ''What you can do with Timber'', our club was taking part, with a display of wood turning items which members had kindly loaned. It all started very early in the morning. Well, early for me, that is. Joan and I set of from Wheaton Aston at 7.00am so that we could be at Chris Gibb's house at 7.45am to pick up Paul Bellamy and a few more items for our display. We arrived at the Show Ground before 8.30am and were fully set up by about nine o'clock. Already the place was a hive of activity as exhibitors from all over the area rushed around, locating their plots and setting out their wares. We had done a lot of preparation beforehand and our display, set out on two tables in a Gazebo. looked very impressive indeed. Over 40 items from nine club turners were on show and you can get some idea of it from the photographs which Paul has included. So, there we were, all ready for the crowds, sitting under the fresh green canopy of oak and sycamore trees, newly sprung in leaf, the dappled sunlight glinting on our display. Yes, it was still chilly at that time in the morning and in fact we were shielded from the direct sun for the entire day. And by ''entire day'' I mean from 9.00am until nearly six in the evening! But the time passed by very quickly because, even before the show officially opened, people appeared as if from nowhere to come and look at our display and ask questions. Questions which ranged from the easy and obvious, such as 'What sort of wood is this?' to the more difficult, like ' How did you manage to make those flamingo's on a lathe? Try explaining that to a young lad who has only the vaguest idea what a lathe is! All day there was a steady stream of interested viewers, some obviously turners being modest about their skills and not ''letting on'' how good they were! A lot were ladies of all ages from about seven to seventy and they seemed more inclined to pick up the pieces and stroke them, saying such things as ''Oh, I love the feel of wood'' or ''Wood is very tactile, isn't it?'' One chap, about sixty years old, I would say, spent quite some minutes looking at the work and picking up several items which he examined quite closely, particularly on the back and I thought ''He's a turner for sure'' but he said nothing. So I asked him straight out ''Are you a woodturner sir'' ''No, he said, ''I wish I was. I'm a blacksmith!'' It turned out that he was one of the supervisors on the stand in the main show area where there was a demonstration by farriers shoeing some horses. It is nice to talk to people from other disciplines and hear of their experiences isn't it? And so the day went by. But for the visitor to Berry Wood there was much more to see than just woodturning. There was a woodcarver who had on show the most exquisite freestanding figures and low relief work that you could wish to see. A demonstration of pole lathe work was very popular - particularly among the young lads. You could see a man carving garden ornaments with a chain saw and a woman showing the skill of cleaving timber and roughly shaping it with a draw knife ( looked a bit dangerous to me ).After chatting with her for a while I learned that these processes were the preliminaries to making a chair on a pole lathe.

Wood 'n' thingsWood 'n' things

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Further down in the wood, trees were being felled and dragged to a ''Wood Miser'' band saw by a heavy horse. This was interesting to watch as the horse had obviously done this job before and knew exactly where to go and when to stop. And how about that ''Wood Miser''? It is basically a horizontal band saw and the operator could reduce a tree trunk to planks - of whatever thickness - in short order time! He was making laths about 6mm thick for the ''wattle and daubers'' one minute and cutting 50mm planks the next and it all looked so easy. And there in lies the skill and experience of the man at the controls There was a man showing Bird Mobiles, beautifully painted and made from various woods and once the smoke had cleared you could see that ancient skill in action - the charcoal burner. Oh, and I must not forget the wood itself. A lot was going on, certainly, but you could take a short walk further into the wood and find that solitude which we all seek from time to time. And not even a Teddy Bear's Picnic to disturb the silence! I judged that from MSWA's point of view, it was a show well worth doing and I would like to thank Paul Bellamy who shared the first day with me and my wife Joan, and Chris Gibb and Paul again for doing the honours on day two. There would not have been a show, of course, if members had not given their work for display and I thank them all for making it a first class show. Good luck to you all, Peter.

Peter

Editor's note

Well we are in for a busy month, with the Staffordshire county show to get it going, a club demonstration, and a hands on evening. As I am writing this after attending the show I can say it was most enjoyable, and, as Peter has said, a very relaxing two days down in the woods. This was my first time on one of our stands and I found the interest shown and the variety of questions, a real surprise. If anyone else can spare some time at future events, I can thoroughly recommend it. One event at the show did remind me how life can throw in real surprises. I overheard Peter talking to the gentleman who was very interested in our display but turned out to be a blacksmith, not a woodturner. Peter discovered that he had travelled up from a small village in Devon, called Branscombe. This was quite a surprise as Peter has visited the village and even been to the 'smithy'. An interesting coincidence, but now for the spooky bit. As a youngster, my family stayed at an old Wesleyan chapel my grandmother had bought as a holiday home. I used to enjoy the walks in the country lanes and one day discovered a blacksmith's forge. The smith was always busy but one of his 'party pieces' was to make miniature horseshoes as souvenirs; to bring good luck. I was fascinated to watch a rough rod of iron turned into the shoe and I am sure that helped bring out the engineer in me. Over 40 years later, I still have the shoe, mounted, the right way up, on my office shelf. Now I think you may have already guessed but the forge was just outside the village of Branscombe!! Till next month, Paul



Club information Your club committee for 2006 comprises:- Chairman - Peter Worrall Secretary - John Smith Treasurer - Maurice Partington Assistant treasurer - Roy Fallows Events secretary - Geoff Payne Abrasives - Terry Gray Raffle - Margaret Hill Member's representative - Ron Barnsley

Club merchandise

LATEST - Chestnut products John Smith has put a lot of effort into negotiating a deal with a supplier of Chestnut wood finishing products but to take up this offer, we need to place an order for £150-200 this month. Unfortunately there has been virtually no response from the club members. If you are interested, please let John know what products you would like to buy at the July club meeting otherwise this offer will fall by the wayside. The most useful products are probably Sanding sealer, Melamine lacquer, Cellulose thinners and Danish oil. If you need it, I added an Order form as the last sheet of the May newsletter.

Clothing

The club has a selection of items for sale, all featuring the club name on a blue background. Sweatshirts (dark blue) £12.00 T-shirts (light blue) £7.00 Baseball caps £6.00 The sweatshirts are ideal for the workshop at this time of year; nice and warm, and they keep all that loose clothing wrapped up, but they are also smart enough to wear down the high street. See John Smith at the club meetings if you would like to purchase any item of club clothing.

Abrasives If you need that finishing touch, Terry Gray is now in charge of the club's stock of abrasives. They are £1.75 per metre and we have 180, 180, 240 and 320 grit in stock.

Club meetings

The next meeting, is on July 7th. and Ann Hays will be demonstrating for us.

Club Competition pieces The Challenge cup competition piece for the July meeting is:- 'A platter between 6 and 8 inches diameter and a maximum of 1.25 inches high'. and for the Novices / Beginners, the August piece is:- A spinning top. This was a popular child's toy before the advent of plastics and computers. Children would compete to see whose top would spin the longest, or even battle one top against another. We might have an interesting tea break in August!! There are no formal specifications for this item so it's up to you how you interpret the design.

Next issue

Gordon's tips on Shape development, jigs and turning fractures into features.



June competition entries

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a picture of the winning entries but congratulations to everyone who entered a piece. It is good to see there are more entries into the competitions these days.

First place - Andrew Plews

Second place - Margaret Hill

Third place - Roy Fallows

Sorry I forgot to bring the bottle of wine to check the size but I was testing it the night before!.

And here's another reflection on life! On a recent trip into town I observed a very peculiar thing happening with two workmen. One would dig a hole, walk a few yards, dig another hole, and then walk a few more yards... you get the point. The second man would come behind the first man and fill the hole that had just been dug, walk a few yards, fill the next hole, and so on. These actions quite puzzled me. Furthermore, these two men were working very hard! One digging a hole, the other filling it up again. Finally I couldn't hold my confusion in any longer-I had to find out what they were doing. "I appreciate how hard you're working," I said to the first man, "But why are you digging a hole when your partner comes behind you and just fills it up again?" "Oh yeah, I guess it must look pretty funny," the hole digger replied, taking a break to wipe the sweat off his forehead. "But the guy who plants the trees is sick today." With all the modern rules and regulations, it makes you wonder if this could actually happen!



Graham Lovatt - the Mid Staffs. banker! Graham has demonstrated for our club on several previous occasions but, as Peter said in his introductions, he is the banker in the pack as he can always be relied upon to come up with something interesting. And this evening was no exception as he showed us not one, but four different projects. One thing about all demonstrators is that they bring their own style and techniques to their work, sometimes contradicting the books on woodturning, but who is to say there is only one way to do something. Graham opened the evening with a very apt statement, " A demonstration is what should be done, a presentation is how I do it" and with that went on to show us that how he does things would probably not be a bad way for us to be doing things. Certainly the end results were very effective. The first project was to put an inlay into the rim of a bowl that he wanted to embellish. To creat the pattern Graham had already drilled eight small holes in the rim, then, with the work mounted on the lathe, he cut a shallow groove, intersecting the holes. He pointed out that it is important to undercut the sides of the groove so that the inlay is locked into the wood. After that he removed the workpiece and set it flat on the lathe bed but this would normally have been the workbench. Now to mix the resin. Graham uses polyester resin, readily available at Halfords and for a mixing bowl he used the top from a deodorant bottle! (One word of cautions when choosing containers for mixing polyester resin, it will dissolve some plastics. As a quick check, wipe the container with cellulose thinners. If it goes sticky, resin will dissolve it, so don't use it.) To make the inlay more appealing, it can be coloured using resin additives but other substances can be used. Flour and talcum powder will give you an ivory white. You can use acrylic paints which open up an endless range of colours, but don't add too much or the resin won't set. You can also add other material to affect the texture of the inlay. Graham has used glitter powder and even rice, which he says gives a pearlescent finish when the grains are exposed on the surface. It sounds like there are numerous possibilities. The resin is cured with a hardener, and takes about 30mins. to set so you need to have things to hand but it isn't a desperate rush. Once the mixture is ready, carefull pour it into the inlay areas but it doesn't matter too much if it 'escapes' onto the other parts of the work as it will be reworked when it has hardened. Graham managed to get some on his chuck but this came off quite easily later on, possibly because most chucks have an oily surface film on them. Later in the evening, with the resin fully set, Graham mounted the bowl on the lathe and, using the same woodturning tools as normal, worked the inlay area to remove the excess. He did say the resin will blunt the tools more quickly and it is important to use a light touch to prevent any build-up of heat. Final finishing was with standard abrasives, again taking care not to press too hard to prevent heating. The end result was very impressive for a relatively simple process and something we could all try without too much expense. While Graham was waiting for the resin to cure, he showed us another project that I would say is typical of him - something simple both in appearance and in the work required but still very appealing. It may be mid Summer but he was turning a choir boy! It looks simple but as Graham pointed out, turning the head is very good practise of tool control for producing spheres. He uses a long ground bowl gouge, both for roughing out and finishing the shape. And while he was working he suggested that items like this will sell well at Craft fairs, local fetes etc, especially if they are done in sets, usuall with three figures. And they don't have to be choir boys. How about a Mr. Plod, or Mr. Farmer or you could promote one of your choir boys to be choir master, making him a bit taller. I can see a lot of these appearing around Xmas and could even benefit your local church by raising funds for it. Obviously the shape on its own doesn't convey the full impression so Graham showed us some basic pyrography to apply the face and hair. How do good craftsmen always make this sort of job look so easy?? But a word of warning - Use the burner over a sand box so you don't drop embers into shavings. He also used a hacksaw to support a piece of wire for 'burning' the grooves at the base of the figure to create nice black lines. (Editor's tip:- Use nichrome wire from old electric fire elements. This lasts much longer than other wires as it is designed to run hot. Copper wire will stretch and melt too quickly.) Finally he used superglue to stick a pipe cleaner supporting a folded piece of paper for the arms and prayer book; use a larger one for the bishop.



Grahams' next project was most unusual, to achieve a raised pattern on the workpiece by taking advantage of how wood reacts to water. The area of the workpiece which is to be patterned, is turned to within about 3mm of the final diameter. Then the area is peppered with a pin punch. The 'holes' need to be as consistent in depth as possible and Graham recommended some type of automatic punch. He used an American spring loaded one but there are several types available. Maybe if club members try this they could let us know how they get on. Once the whole area is 'punched', the piece is turned to remove the wood surrounding the holes but don’t take too much away. After that the area is wetted and, very quickly, the compressed wood at what was the bottom of the holes, swells up and raises wooden pips all over the surface. There is no guarantee how well the wood will react, so it is a bit 'hit and miss' or should that be 'hit and rise', but the end result would, I am sure, intrigue many people. Finally Graham was persuaded to produce one of his old favourites, the 'lady'. This is another simple but very effective piece of turning. In this case using offset turning to achieve the end result. Any wood will do but it helps to choose the orientation of the grain so that the 'face' will be symmetrical. The spindle is centre marked at both ends but two additional 'centres' are marked about 5mm from the true centre and diametrically opposite one another. With the spindle on its true centres, a small spherical head is turned at the tailstock end of the piece. The head should be right at the end of the workpiece and it won't be necessary to remove the tailstock centre mark as this will be hidden with a hat. The neck is also turned with the centres at this position but the wood that will be the shoulders must be left in place as that will be turned with a different centre. The head must be sanded and finished at this point, while it is still spinning 'true'. Graham uses cellulose sanding sealer, diluted 50/50 with thinners as this soaks into the piece and dries very quickly but still gives a good finish. Now the drive centre is moved to the false centre towards what will be the front of the figure, and the shoulders and torso can be turned. Graham has obviously done many of these before as he seems to have an instinctive feel for the right shape. Although the work appears relatively simple, it is still good practise for 'turning air' where part of the time, the tip of the tool is not in contact with the wood. A steady hand and good control is needed. Again, once the shape is created, it must be sanded and finished before changing the centres. The hips and skirt are turned using the false centre towards the rear of the figure, ensuring a shapely bottom. The last section to be turned is the legs and feet. These are done on the true centre and again, it is important to keep the figure in good proportion. If you have the chance take a look at the real thing, you might even get suggestions on what 'she' should look like. Finally turn a spigot below the feet for your lady to stand on her pedestal. That is a simple base but will set off the piece to better effect. And to complete your lady, turn a broad brimmed hat. A contrasting piece of wood will work very well. Turn the under brim first, then hollow out the inside, stopping frequently to check it will fit the head. Graham used a cheap screwdriver, gound flat on one face, and with a flat ground end, much like a miniature 'skewchigouge' if you have ever encountered one of those. Yet another great idea from Graham. Once that is done, the outside can be worked to achieve a thin brim and crown. (I wonder if we could use one of Phil Iron's ideas to give the hat a coloured band!!). Part off the hat and fix it to the lady with a few spots of superglue. Needless to say, Graham got a huge round of applause from the members. He says he enjoys his visits to our club and feels 'one of the family' but I think that is due to his down to earth, very natural approach to his presentation. Not so much 'this is what I can do', more 'this is what you can do'. Thank you Graham, for a most enjoyable evening.



Gordon Fradleys's Tips, Tricks or Treats Copy Turning. Here’s a little trick which you may find useful when copying an angled face on a base or lid for something. Turn the copy, taking measurements from the original (pic.1) until you are ready to copy the angled face shown against the black background in pic. 2.

Pic. 1 Pic. 2 Hold the angled face of the original which you are copying, hard against the tool rest, and rotate the tool rest until the original lies parallel with the lathe’s axis, see pic. 3.

Pic. 3 Lock the tool rest in this position, then cut the angled face parallel to the tool rest.



Tool Grinding Angles When I started woodturning some twenty five years ago, I remember that I always used to have trouble in understanding the angles that were recommended for grinding my tools. I was never quite sure whether the grinding angle quoted was from the centre line of the tool or from a line struck at right angles to the line along the tool. I’m sure some turners quoted one approach and another group quoted the alternative so perhaps it is no wonder I was confused. Obviously if the grinding angle for a spindle roughing gouge is 45º then it is the same whether you take that angle from the centre line of the tool or its complimentary angle from the line at 90º to it, but for all other angles, beware. To help me achieve a consistent angle I produced the attached chart. Your grinding angles may differ from those shown and if they suit you, that’s fine, don’t change. But if you need some guidance then try these. By the way these angles are very similar to those recommended by the late Keith Rowley in his book and video.

To consistently obtain these angles you will need a suitable grinding jig. Why not make your own? And here’s one way to do just that. The body of mine is made from MDF off-cuts and comprises a ‘U’ shaped base fitted with a coach bolt for attaching to the grinder’s platform. The two side uprights of this base are drilled for coach bolts to provide the in-line pivot points for the tool platform. This too is a ‘U’ shaped member which is a snug fit when inverted over the ‘U’ shaped base. A series of holes are drilled in the one side as shown. These can be marked off with a protractor at the required angles and drilled to accommodate a location pin. Once assembled, set the platform to a horizontal position and drill

through the first hole into the right hand side of the base unit so that the location pin pushes through to give the zero position. By loosening the pivot wing nut, the tool platform can be rotated to the grinding angle required by the tool, the locating pin is then inserted in the appropriate hole and the wing nut tightened.

Grinding Jig Platform on grinder to accommodate Grinding Jig. You may notice from the first picture that I have reinforced my tool platform with a small piece of metal, bonded on with Araldite, this saves wear but is not really necessary. The second picture shows the platform screwed to the grinder’s table. It is fitted with two strips of timber running fore and aft in which the grinding jig is free to slide, being finally locked in position with the coach bolt and wing nut provided. The grinding jig needs to slide in and out towards the grinding wheel as the grinding angle is increased or decreased so that a nominal clearance is provided from the wheel. By the way, if you are wondering what you can see below the grinding jig in the first picture, it is simply a bit of round wood put there to stop the jig falling over while I took the picture!.



Turning tips This section is for any tips or advice you would like to pass on to other members. It doesn't matter what it is, if you discovered something you found useful, that you think may benefit others, please pass it on. My apologies are due to Keith Lanchester who sent in the suggestion of using a lamp dimmer for controlling the speed of a dust filter and whether it could be used to control a small lathe. Sack the editor!!! In the nick of time Keith was also responsible for a great offer on Anti-Fatigue mats at the June meeting which leads me on to a 'tip'. These mats are used to relieve the stress of standing on a hard surface for long periods, as when standing at a lathe. But they have another cost saving benefit. If you ever drop a tool, invariably it is the cutting edge that hits first. Well, these mats offer a nice cushioned fall for any tools and save a lot of grinding to get rid of the nick. How much did that new bowl gouge cost you? Forgot the tape measure! Here is a quick and easy way to find the middle of a length of wood, without using a tape measure. Estimate the middle, by eye, and make a pencil mark. Hold the end of the workpiece against the end of another piece of wood and make a corresponding mark on that piece as well. Now turn your workpiece around, hold it against the other piece and transfer the first mark back onto your workpiece. You now have two marks, hopefully fairly close to one another. Now estimate the middle of those two marks and repeat the process. Do that until you are happy your mark is at the middle. It's a lot easier to do than describe! Elbow protection We have all been advised to remove the tailstock when faceplate turning so you don't let the point of the tailcentre impale your elbow. On some lathes that is easier said than done so save the tops from liquid containers, cosmetics etc and you are bound to find one that is a good fit. Mine takes a 'Comfort' bottle top!!

Useful websites There is an awful lot of information available on the internet but some is better than others. If you come across any good or useful sites, please let me know and I will publish them in the newsletter. The following is worth a look :- http://www.craft-supplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdCat.cgi/Chestnut===Finishes,2,,,Finishing===Materials

Latest news

Questions and answers This section is an opportunity for members to ask questions for other members to answer, primarily about woodturning but I see no reason why this couldn't be extended further. There is a lot of knowledge in the club on many subjects and this should be an easy way to get answers.

Items for sale or wanted If you have any items for sale, or if you are trying to find something, send me the details and I will put it in the next issue. For sale Kity 613 Bandsaw A large sturdy 500 x 500mm cast aluminium tilting table with a T-slot for acceptance of a mitre guide. Rigid steel construction with unique swan neck reinforcement prevents distortion even with a highly tensioned blade. 1.5 hp single phase induction motor Tel. Martin Davis 01889 270204 Please note. Martin is not a club member. He met us at the county show and asked if anyone would be interested in this saw. He did not set a price and said he is open to offers.

Wood 'n' things - mswa.co.uk

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