When to Push Your Limits

On March 22nd and 23rd I attended the 10th Annual Matisho Memorial Woodturning Cancer Benefit at Waldhiem.  This was my 4th trip there, and I enjoyed it as much as ever.  Because there are always a lot of very experienced turners there I see this event as a chance to bite off a little more than I normally chew.  There is a certain amount of comfort in knowing there is a lot of good help around if you get into trouble.

For my project this year I picked a piece of birch that I had picked up at a garage sale a few years ago.  It was about 4" thick and had been bandsawn into a blank about 10" in diameter.  I laid out a square on the top with a diagonal a little larger than the diameter of the circle.  This meant that the corners were rounded off, which would make them a little stronger.  I then sawed off the parts of the blank that fell outside the sides of the square.  I did all this before I went to Waldhiem and in my enthusiasm I forgot to take any pictures.

For the second year the event was being held at Menno Industries.  The people there were kind enough to donate their shop space and all-important lunch room to the cause.  Here is a shot of my set up.

This next shot may give you a better idea of what I was talking about up above.

Here you can see that the blank is a square with the corners chopped off.  The rough shaping of the bottom is done and I have left a tenon in the middle for the chuck to grab when I turn it around to work the top.

Now the top is shaped and sanded with 80 grit sandpaper, and the opening is defined.  In the picture below you get a good idea of the profile.

Time in the shop is usually time alone, but I think that people that come to this event enjoy the social aspect.  I know I do.  I think it is telling that, of the five turners in the picture, only two of them appear to be doing anything.

At this point I have hollowed it out enough to bring out the big gun, my Scorpion hollowing tool.  I was starting to lean a long way over the lathe , trying to look back along the tool to see what I was doing.  It got so bad that I went over to the other side of the lathe to see if it would be easier to turn from there.  It didn't work, but it did show me that the point of the cutter was getting to be a long way from the tool rest.  I switched to a scraper platform, stuck inside the mouth of the bowl, for additional support.

I continued working my way out to the edges and finally, toward the end of the day, I got to this point.

There are a couple of advantages to having holes in the side of a hollow bowl.  First, the bowl doesn't fill up with shavings anymore.  Second, you can stop leaning over the lathe and peering into the mouth of the bowl to see what you are doing.  You can stand up and see the point of the tool as it is cutting.

Thanks, Cal, For taking the picture.  I continued hollowing and this is where I wound up at the end of day one.

On day two I forgot to take my camera.  Don't worry, you didn't miss much.  I kept going until I was happy with the openings and the top and bottom were pretty close in thickness.  Then I sanded the corners of the openings until they all sort of matched.  This was necessary because I wasn't able to get the blank perfectly centred.  Like that ever happens.  Anyway, this is what it looked like when I got it home.

My next step was to get rid of the tenon on the bottom.  I used a chunk of scrap attached to a faceplate and turned a short stub that matched the diameter of the opening in the top.  Then I drilled out the centre and stuck a bolt through it from the back.

What's the bolt for you ask?  That's another advantage of  the open sides.  Once the bowl was on the stub I was able to put a thin piece of plywood over the bolt and snug it tight with a nut.  The wrench just fit inside the bowl.  This held the bowl in place so I could round off the bottom.

Once the bowl itself was done I started on the legs that support it.  While the bowl had stayed pretty much the same from the original concept to the finished product, the legs went through several changes in my head and on paper before I settled on the final shape.  Originally I was going to make them round in cross section, then changed that to curved sides with flats on the inside and the outside.  In both cases I was going to turn them on the lathe so they would be curved around the corners of the bowl.  There were a lot of technical challenges in doing it this way and, although I felt I had worked them all out in my head, I still wasn't 100% sold on either shape.  Eventually I settled on flat-sided legs to contrast with the curves of the bowl.  This meant that I could have different curvature on the inside and outside of the legs and when I drew it out that way I knew I had made the right choice.

I built a jig so that I could shape the inside and outside curves on my oscillating spindle sander.  Here I have done the inside curve.  To tie the legs visually to the bowl the radius of the curve is the  same as the outside of the bowl.

The radius of the outside curve is about half the length of the side of the bowl.

I feel that echoing the proportions of the bowl in the legs helps to give it an overall unity, even while the legs are in contrast to the bowl.  I know that it sounds pretty artsy-fartsy, but using that idea was a big help in figuring out how the legs would look, and in the end I think I got it right.

After sanding the curves I used a block plane to taper the legs from front to back.  This lightens the look of the legs, and makes the top and bottom of the leg look thicker than the middle.  It's cool the way the intersection of two simple forms, the curve and the flat surface, can produce such a complex looking shape.

With the bowl completed and the legs done all that was left was a way to hook them together.  I had decided early on that I was going to do this with dowels.  Drilling the holes straight required another jig to hold the bowl perpendicular as the holes were drilled.

My failure to get the blank perfectly centred reared its ugly head again at this point.  Getting one corner centerd  under the drill bit did not mean that any of the other corners would be centred side to side.  That is the reason for the two blocks clamped to the table in front of the jig.  They act as a reference to keep the drill bit lined up front to back as I slide it side to side.  I didn't have to move it very much.  You can't tell that the holes are not perfectly diagonal to each other, but you certainly would have noticed if they weren't centred on the corner.

I gave the bowl a couple of coats of Danish oil to darken the wood and give it a golden color.  The birch was too light to match the picture I had in my head.  The legs I painted with black semi-gloss acrylic.

The bowl went back out to the shop and was buffed with Hutt Perfect Pen Polish to give it a nice sheen.

The last design decision I made was the offset of the legs.  My original intent was to have them right up tight to the corners of the bowl but while I was sketching out the legs the idea of having them offset popped up.  When it came time to attach the legs I decided I liked it.  I feel it increases the sense of suspension.

This bowl was a challenge, both physically and mentally.  There were all kinds of places where it could have gone wrong, but in the end it turned out to be one of the most satisfying projects I have ever done.  It matches the vision I had in my head, and that's not easy to do.

Evil Alien Face

Feed Me!

I have decided to name this one 'Calling Occupants' after that old Klaatu song.  It has sort of a space ship-y kind of feel to it, and the open sides seem to invite you to fill it.

Lee Valley Wooden Plane Kit - Sort of a Review

Just before Christmas Lee Valley came out with this hardware kit for a wooden plane.  As soon as I saw the adjuster I knew I had to build it.  I waited 'til Christmas for my usual Lee Valley gift cards and took them over to the store to pick up the kit.

Unfortunately I went on a pen turning binge before I got to building the plane and then the cold set in again and kept me out of the shop for a while. In the mean time though, I made a close examination of the one part that really intrigued me, the adjuster.

If you look closely at the picture you will see that the larger thread is right handed and the smaller thread is left handed.  What this means is that when you turn the knob one full turn the traveler, which moves the blade, will move the sum of the two thread pitches.  I measured the travel for 1 turn and found it to be 1/8th of an inch.  I was bored (too cold to go in the shop) so I did the math (way too cold) and calculated that in order to change the depth of cut 1/1000th of an inch, which is that magic standard for shaving thickness, you turn the knob 4.09 degrees.  The knob is 3/4" in diameter, so to turn it 4.09 degrees the lateral movement is .027", or less than 1/32nd.  That is pretty fine motor skills for a klutz like me.

The threads on the adjuster of my block plane look similar at first glance, but upon closer examination you see that both threads are right handed.  This way the traveler movement is the difference between the two thread pitches, or in this case, 1/32nd for a full turn of the knob.  The block plane also benefits from a 12 degree bed angle compared to the 45 degree angle of the wooden plane.  The result is that you have to turn the knob 55 degrees to change the depth of cut by .001".  The knob is also larger (1" diameter) which translates to almost 1/2 inch of lateral motion.  Much easier for clumsy fingers.

Finally the weather improved enough for me to get out to the shop without risk of severe frostbite.  The wood I chose was a block of cocobolo that I had received for Christmas a couple of years earlier.  You have to be careful when working with cocobolo because it can cause strong allergic reactions and can create sensitivity to other woods as well.

This is me in my cocobolo protection gear.  Actually this is the way I look all the time I'm in the shop in the winter.  Even with the heater going, I don't think it ever gets to be much above freezing in there.  The cocobolo is dark enough that pencil marks and knife lines don't show up very well, so I stole my son's white pencil crayon to help.  I sharpened it to a chisel tip and went over the knife lines to increase visibility.

The instructions were pretty straightforward, although sparse (If you want to read them you can get to them through the link above).  It really is a pretty simple build, overall.  It's just the tricky little details that that aren't in the instructions, like flattening the blade bed and setting the throat opening.  These are the things that can be the difference between a plane that works and a plane you want to work with.  Fortunately I had read Making and Mastering Wood Planes, by David Finck, which helped me to fill in the blanks.

I'm not going to rehash the entire build, as I mostly just followed the instructions, but I do have a few tips for you if you are thinking about getting this kit to build a plane.  My first piece of advice is that if this would be your first plane, get the book I mentioned above.  I think that would be a big help in understanding what is important and how to make sure you get it right.  I don't fault Lee Valley for not making the instructions more detailed, because in order to do that they would pretty much have to include a copy of this book with every kit.

My second tip is that you might want to put the adjuster a little higher up the blade bed than the instructions tell you to.  I say this to prevent the near disaster that happened to me.  After the plane body was assembled and the glue had cured I made a couple of light passes over the jointer to make sure the bottom was flat.  I then put some 220 sandpaper on the jointer bed and sanded the jointer marks off the bottom of the plane.  Once I had the throat opened up enough for the blade to pass through I put the adjuster in.  With the blade retracted as far as possible this is what I got.

In case you can't tell the blade is sticking through the bottom about 1/16th".  That's a pretty big error.  Fortunately the cup that holds the adjuster fits into a round hole in the plane body.  My solution was to turn a plug from the waste from the centre section of the plane to fill the hole and then drill a new hole about an eighth of an inch up.

My next tip is to be very careful about where you drill the hole for the cross pin.  I thought I was, but when I tried to install the lever cap it wouldn't fit.  It was a simple matter to plane down the lever cap so it fit, but I just found it odd.  Probably my fault.

Lastly, the lever cap they show in the instructions is butt ugly.  Do something about that.  My solution was to trace the shape of the blade on the lever cap and shape it to match.  I don't know if it is the best solution but it is a huge improvement.

The lever cap turned out to be my favorite part of the build.  It is a lot simpler than trying to fit a wedge.  I'll need to spend some more time with this plane to see if it holds as well.  I barely got this plane done in time to get it to the Sienna Gallery for the show. I did take a few shavings from a piece of curly maple.  It planed without any tear-out, but I couldn't get those fine, fluffy shavings I had hoped for.  For now, I'm blaming it on the adjuster.  When I get the plane back I'll try it with and without the adjuster to see which way works better.

All in all, this was a fun project, and a fairly easy build if you don't goof it up like I did.  I thought the adjuster would be my favorite part, but it turned out to be the lever cap.  If it can hold as well as the wedge I may have to use the idea again.  For my next plane I hope to get away from the Krenov style and make something with a tote.

A Plethora of Pens

Wow.  I can't believe it has been three four five(!) months since my last post.  I blame work.  While it is not our busiest time of year, we brought in a new computer system and all of the preparation, learning, and implementation have been mentally draining.  Between that and a couple of other things going on I have not been feeling very inspired.  The really cold weather we have been having lately hasn't helped either.  Until recently the only thing I have done in the shop is fit some doors for the house.  Don't ask why, it just tick's me off.  Then, it was just too cold  to be out in the shop for a while.

Finally though I have been forced into the shop to make some pens.  Really I only had to make one, but it is so darn addictive that I couldn't stop.  I have to keep going until until I'm absolutely sick of making them.  I keep having these ideas and then I have to try to make them.  Some are more successful than others.

This one is a success.  It was made with Amazing Casting Resin (48 hour cure) swirled with blue and green ink.

Another one made with Amazing Casting Resin, this time with the 10 minute version, which dries opaque white, again with blue and green swirl.  While the pen looks good from this side it is a different story when you turn it over.

This stuff pours like water when you put it in the mold, so bubbles are not usually a problem.  Never have I seen a line of them turn up like this before.  It figures that they would wind up right at the surface of the pen.  Verdict: Fail

This pen turned out pretty good, although some of the fibers didn't stay down after the wax finish was applied.  Some of the wax built up in the pores, so the wood doesn't look as smooth as it is. I believe the wood is cocobolo.

I'm not sure that chrome hardware was the right choice to go with the mystery wood on this pen, but all the gold hardware was the right choice for other pens.

More mystery woods.  The one on the left may be walnut burl, but the color is a little light.  I have no idea what the one on the right is, but it is definitely not birds eye maple.  It has a very strong aroma when it is worked, not like any maple I have ever smelled.

This pen was trouble from the very start.  This is made with more of the 48 hour resin, which is quite a bit thicker than the 10 minute stuff.  I managed to get a lot of bubbles in the resin when I mixed it up.  I have run into this before so I have a solution to the problem, a home-built shaker that vibrates the bubbles out.  Unfortunately it also caused most of the glitter to sink to the bottom, so the glitter isn't as thick as I had hoped it would be.  What really killed this pen though was that the drill bit wandered while drilling the blanks, resulting in the cloudy areas at the top and bottom.

This is the pen that started this binge.  It was the only one I had to make, and it was the best of the bunch.  The Brazilian rosewood goes perfectly with the chrome and black trim.

I hope to be back a lot sooner next time.  I have already started another project and need to finish it soon.

Turnips of Destiny Reach Their Destination

It's embarrassing to admit that it has been over a year since I made this post about a couple of finials I made to top the gate posts outside our house.  Finally though I have them in place.

Because the finials were a little smaller in diameter than the width of the posts I needed to taper the tops of the posts so they wouldn't look silly.  A straight taper wouldn't look right either, and that would have been too easy.

The round tenons at the bases of the finials are 1" in diameter.  I allowed 1/4" on either side. which made the top 1 1/2" wide.  since the posts are 3 1/2" wide, that left 1" on either side for the taper.  With the width set I picked 6" for the height, made a grid, and used my French curves to sketch a few profiles.

It quickly became clear that 6" was too tall and 4" was too short. 

After trying a few different curves I chose the last one on the right. The next step was to cut a piece of cardboard from the side of a cereal box and fold it in half.  Then I glued my curve to one side and cut along the curve. I left tabs at the top and glued them so they were at 90 degrees to each other to make my template.

I cut the posts off at 7" above the top of the fence and then used the template to mark the curves.

Here is the post after the first cut with the coping saw.  A coping saw is not really the right tool for this job, and I hate my coping saw to begin with.  Over the course of the next seven cuts I broke 2 blades.  Did I mention that I hate my coping saw?

I smoothed the surfaces with a Microplane rasp and sandpaper, then drilled 1" holes in the tops of the posts.  I glued in the finials and finished the job with white stain.  Now if you come to visit these posts will welcome you to our house.

Practice Makes a Bunch of Stuff

So I spent some time sharpening my turning skills.  Nothing too exciting, but I spent some time doing it so I will show what I have been up to.

 





This little scoop is made from beech.  The trick to making these is to make the little ball on the end as close to a perfect sphere as possible.  Then you can mount it in the jaws of the chuck with the handle sticking out to the side between the jaws and hollow the centre.

 

 

A small dish made from walnut burl.

 

 

I like the effect of burls.  At its best, the wood appears to be boiling and frozen at the same time.

 

 

This dish was made from a branch from a mountain ash tree that grew in my back yard.  It was cut through at a point where two smaller branches came off.

 

 

The nice thing about this wood is that it is very stable so you can do end grain turnings with it and not have to worry about it developing a bunch of checks.

 

 

Same branch, natural edge with the bark left on, side grain.  Both pieces were finished with mineral oil & wax.

 

 

More pens made with Amazing Casting Resins.  The pen on the left is made with the clear cast and shavings.  The other three are made with the 10 minute resin.

 

This pen and pencil are linked.  The pencil was made with shavings left over from the pen.

 

 Just to be different, I made a pen and pencil from actual wood.  they are finished with Hutt wax and pen polish.

 

I do think that practising turning helps to improve my skills.  The only problem is that now I'm tired of turning for a while and want to move on to other things.  It's this scattered approach that keeps me from really developing my skills.  It's all just so much fun.

 

 

 

 

Bobble Bowl

 

I have finally completed the bowl that I started back in March at the Matisho Memorial.  Almost as soon as this bowl came apart on the lathe I knew that I was not done with it.  There was too much time in it to let it go.  I just needed a little time away from it to settle down.  Everyone who has done some turning knows what it feels like to have something go to pieces in an instant.  Over time, I decided that I wanted to use this bowl to try to capture that moment.

I was relatively lucky that the bowl split into three relatively large pieces, and that those pieces were not damaged further as they flew off the lathe.  I sanded the pieces with a bowl sander.  Since I couldn't spin the bowl on the lathe and move the bowl sander around with the drill as I would normally, I chucked the sander in my drill press and moved the pieces around against it to sand them.

Once all the pieces were sanded to 400 grit I gave them a couple of coats of mineral oil and wax finish, then buffed them with Hut Perfect Pen Polish to give them a nice gloss.  Here they are, ready to be assembled.  The wood is from an apple tree that used to grow in my front yard.

For almost the whole time that I was planning this bowl I was going to use Amazing Casting Resin to make clear rods to connect the pieces.  Now that the time had come to make and use them though I was having doubts.  I worried about the strength that they would have.  I had a vision of someone putting something a little too heavy in the bowl and the sides just flopping down as the acrylic rods (or the wood around them) gave way.

It was this vision, though, that inspired the path that I finally chose.  I ran down to my local big orange hardware store and bought these.

1/4" x 1 1/2" springs.  I had been hoping to give the bowl a sense of motion, that you would be seeing it just as it came apart on the lathe. With the springs I could give the bowl some actual motion.  I drilled 2 holes in each side if the base and 2 (sort of) matching holes in the wings.  After trimming the springs to adjust the spacing I glued them into the holes with 5 minute epoxy.  Here are some shots of the result.

I like this one.  It looks like some sort of prehistoric crab.

And some that are a little more 'artsy.'

 

If you go by the axiom that "if it holds water it's a craft, if not it's art," then this qualifies as art.  Since works of art usually have names, I have decided to name this one 'That Moment' because, as I said at the top, every turner knows what that moment feels like.  More likely though, it will always be thought of as the 'Bobble Bowl.'