Reports

Bruce Wood – Guilio Box

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Club Meeting 24 June 2020
Report by : Janet McDonald

The 24th June 2020 Bruce Wood gave a great Demonstration of an Offset Box. Bruce followed the project sheet in our website of a project Guilio Marcolongo is well known for. So in this report I will not reinvent the wheel by giving you the box instructions, but leave a link to the website project instructions. https://sawg.org.nz/sawg/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Guilios-Burl-Top-Box.pdf

But in among the demo Bruce reminded us of lots of general woodturning things to help achieve a great look.

  1. If you are using callipers for measuring wood; round off the ends of the metal pincers slightly so the tips don’t grab the wood.
  1. You can find a chart for suggested speeds for using a forstner bit on the lathe in our website: https://sawg.org.nz/sawg/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Drill-Speed.pdf
  1. Bruce showed us how he used his “Digital Tailstock/Drill Press Measurer”. You can follow the instructions here to make your own: https://sawg.org.nz/sawg/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Tailstock-Measurer.pdfhttps://sawg.org.nz/sawg/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Tailstock-Measurer.pdf
  • Being the professional turner Bruce is, he showed us it must be ok to accidently drop 11 things on the floor during a demo.
  • Use a fine wire brush on your sandpaper to unclog it and get more life from it.

Bruce used Ondina Oil to wipe over his turned wood just before sanding. This stopped a cloud of dust cloaking the front row of spectators. Read more about this oil here: http://www.timberlywoodturning.co.nz/products.php?product=Woodturners-Sanding-Oil-%7B47%7D-Shell-Ondina-Oil-15-%252d-1-litre-


When using buffing wheels on your lathe it is easy for your turned object to fly out of your hands. So Bruce laid a folded towel over the lathe bed, so if the object flew it would not get dented on the lathe bed.
 

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Reports

Terry Scott – Pewter

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Club Meeting: 10 June 2020
Report by: Rio Davies

 Terry had pre-poured the pewter into grooves in timber to make rods; easier to work with.

Pewter turns like butter but will scratch easily.

2nd hand pewter from op shops melted down can be ok, but old stuff will contain lead, whereas it is no longer added to new pewter.

Making the base- Use a forstner bit in plywood to make a round mold.

Pewter has a low melting point, a solder iron is no-good however.

Rim – groove with rebate; measure your outside perimeter on blank.

For molten pewter, jimmy a metal spoon onto a long stick, stir to remove slag. If left in will make the pewter brittle from air voids. It will stop skimming off slag when it’s ready.

Pour into base mold and rim, Keep continuous even pouring till it crests.

Running it under cold water will weaken it so allow it to cool naturally.

When melting do not let it boil. It will burn the timber and will react with resin in the wood when poured directly into your bowl. Sparks and flames ensue.

Diluted pewter containing lead will also make flames.

To release from mold, sometimes sawing of the wood will be needed.

Terry demonstrates turning a bowl, cutting spigot (54mm), proceeds to make the mess he promised not to (10/10).

For base, cut rebate for pewter to key onto, 3mm, not too deep so you don’t lose the bottom from the inside.

Remove from chuck.

‘New turners can’t imagine a concave curve’, isn’t that always the way.

Plywood backer behind the pewter base disc in the chuck.

Levels pewter, knocks over his shavings bowl.

Cut corresponding rebate in pewter.

Turning the tenon, flat or slightly concave is ok.

Turning the rim, add spigot. Chattering that can be heard is the pewter moving in the mold, can use superglue to hold it.

Check rebate depth is the same on both sides.

Back to bowl. To avoid going back-and-forth buy a second lathe (but only from Terry of course).

Match rim to bowl with calipers.

To glue use 24hr araldite  , quicker setting (5 min) is ok to get turning sooner but not as strong.

Use tape on the chuck to avoid gluing the jaws shut (Terry has extras of course).

Turn away wood on top to reveal Pewter rim, round and tidy.

Pewter embellishes nicely, a leather punch will work and can accent with Indian ink in the grooves.

Terry uses a texturing tool.

For sanding, 400 through to 2000.

Don’t use Danish oil- black comes off pewter into the wood.

Turning inside of bowl, finish rim first because the heat from the glue can move it.

Sand inside w/ 240 grit, through to 400.

Use jam chuck to reverse bowl, Terry uses next bowl to hold it however, turn RPM down.

Cleaning the base pewter, pronounce concave of the base to remove weight.

Tidy and sanding exterior of the bowl.

Warned to use mask with mahogany as the dust is sharp and dangerous to inhale.

The base foot pewter can scratch easy but won’t need polishing like silver.

Completed.

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Reports

Dick Veitch – Toothpick Holder

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Club Meeting Demo : 3rd June 2020
Report by Graeme Mackay

An excellent demonstration highlighting the need to work through process and sticking to measurements, measuring again and checking that measurement. Dick Veitch followed the Project Sheet for this small functional item, with several components.

As usual Dick came up with some simple solutions, some quick marking answers and developed a fun project. A good chance for new turners to think through process, work out the operation off the plan and apply the required actions. A good example was the use of the Bryden centre finding tool.

The side title to this project could actually be the drilling project and/or Jacobs chuck use. The Turner is required to use the Vernier callipers and check the diameter of the Forstner and/or Brad point drill bits. This included the simple straightforward sharpening of the Forstner cutting blade. The age-old question of checking out your tools before use was quite apparent. It may be a 16 mm Forstner bit, however, when check the diameter was 15.85 mm. A small discrepancy that could totally fail up the pop-up movement.

Dick demonstrated that keeping to the sequence was key to this little project. Possibly one should say sequence and correct depth. Marking the depth on the drill bits was a good value-added action. Simple, straightforward and easy to do with a bit of tape. There was a timely reminder that dual speed is important. Check the charts. Ensure that the shavings are coming off an even basis. The correct speed means cutting rather than skidding.

Although a functional item, once the components were completed, there was plenty of design space for getting the best looking form. Choosing the appropriate type of wood will help get clean fine-grained services that allow the pop-up mechanism to work.

A good learning project.
The project sheet is on the SAWG site and is easy to follow. Further, provides a good plan reading and/or process organisation exercise.

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Reports

Tom Pearson – Lavender Bottle

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Club Meeting: 18 March 2020
Report by: Bill Alden

Tom showed us various boxes that he had made over the years of many sizes. Including a spinning top box which was an ancient game originating in the Middle East

The blank used for the Lavender Bottle was 20mm X 20mm and 120mm long was placed between centres. Tom used a “story stick” with the dimensions of each element of the bottle. From the Headstock end. 60 mm for the bottle 15mm for the 8mm spigot plug and 20 mm for the knob.

Leaving the bulk of the base square he shaped the foot and the neck of the bottle with a bulb at the top. The next 15cms were parted down to 8mm using parting tool and calipers. The lid was then shaped as per the photograph with a spindle gouge reducing the waste at the top for later removal.

At this stage the bottle should be sanded and finished.

Hold the base in in a small set of jaws and centre using the steb centre. A 2 mm parting tool is now used to cut off the spigot. With an 8mm bit drill to a depth of about 25mm and fit the lid spigot into this hole . Tom used a round file and sandpaper to achieve a snug fit. It was noted that the spigot may be shaped more narrow where it meets the hole to assist fit. The lid can now be removed from the waste and final sanding and finishing done at this point. The spigot is sanded if necessary to ease the fit.

The base is now parted off and sanded on a sanding mandrel in a Jacobs chuck on the lathe or a belt sander. Finish with oil wax or lacquer as preferred.

When ready to sell or gift pour no more than 2-3 drops of oil in the hole. This will permeate through the wood to perfume handbags, drawer or car, etc. Too much lavender oil can be overpowering.

Tom sells these with a small bottle of lavender oil in an origami box made from Calendar pictures. For instructions see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8_uUz5__nk

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Reports, Unclassified

Terry Scott – Spoon Lidded Box

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Club Meeting: 11th March 2020
Report by: Bob Yandell

The “House Full” sign was up and Terry was at his best – humour, skill and knowledge for all present. The start was, as only Terry, the entrepreneur and entertainer could, an opportunity following the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent shortage of toilet paper. We woodturners could meet the shortfall by providing toilet paper by supplying the leaf from Salanum maurtianum plant, better known as Woolly Nightshade or Tobacco plant which Terry observed was growing in plentiful numbers either by itself or in combination with our turnings and a few chemicals mixed together, compressed then peeled like a veneer and rolled. If you weren’t there you missed the business opportunity of 2020.

The actual demonstration began with Terry showing examples of spoons and his development of the concept into the lidded box. Spoons for a salt pig through spoons with long handles. (Refer Club projects sheets – Spoons for the basic concept).

Terry started with a block of Kauri 60x60x180mm. Hard woods are best used when making spoons. The block was mounted between centres and turned round. The final diameter was  53mm based on the internal dimensions of the sphere cutter being used and a 48mm spigot was put on each end. The lid section was parted off at 64mm. The box/spoon section was that left. At this point Terry informed that the length of the spoon was dictated by the swing over the lathe and a maximum length for the lathe was 400mm to which the allowance for the lid and spigots “X”mm is to be added.

The Spoon/Box portion was mounted in the 50mm chuck; end cleaned up and a line defining the centre of the sphere clearly drawn, approximately 28mm in from the end, and a fainter line defining the sphere diameter marked. This latter line is where the handle starts and a cut on the lathe head side of the line, with the parting tool indicates the beginning of the handle profile and diameter. The distance between the line defining the centre of the sphere and the external diameter is divided into 4 equal parts(3 lines either side of the main line) because a sphere is formed from 4 flats( starting with the centre line being the beginning of the curve and end furthest from centre being the end of the curve and the beginning of the next and repeating until curve complete).

The sphere profile is refined gently using a pipe tool with the lathe running. This is a piece of tube with a handle fitted in one end that allows approximately half the diameter to extent, like a chisel tip, and is sharpened on the belt sander. The “roundness” is checked using bottle caps and until no gaps between wood and cap. Sand and finish.

Complete the handle profile and part off. Texture, captive ring, may be pyrography – sand and finish.

The next stages require a jamb chuck and ideally a second chuck for the yet to be made lid.

Making the box requires a jamb chuck mounted in 50mm chuck. The sphere plus handle needs to fit snuggly so handle is flush with face of the jamb chuck. Determine diameter with callipers or Vernier and mark face of jamb chuck and turn out always checking fit. It must be snug and firm. Cut a slot to accommodate handle. Terry used an Arbortec. Drill a hole from the side of the jamb chuck into the bottom to assist removal. Position the sphere in the jamb chuck to optimise the strength of the grain and visual appearance. Hot melt glue can be used to ensure no movement of the sphere. Mark the centre so a drill can be used to define the depth of the cavity of the box. The depth is the diameter id the sphere less wall thickness.

Cut the opening for the lid and hollow it and cut the rim to accept the top part. Finish all these surfaces. Terry used a cup tool and emphasised the need to rub the bevel. He also used a scrapper in a circular motion, like the hand on a clock to maintain the inside of the sphere.

Next stage was the lid using the piece set aside at the beginning. The face is cleaned up and the internal hollowed so that the curve is a continuation of the internal curve of the box. There is sufficient wood so Terry was able to develop the external profile so it matched/complimented the box. This is where a second chuck is of value as you can produce the lid and then fit it to the box to finish the top albeit a finial, knob or handle. Complete the handle profile and part off. Texture, captive ring, may be pyrography – sand and finish.

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Special feature

Marbling

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By Dick Veitch

Despite marbling being a craft practised since the 12th century we still don’t have a precise recipe on how to do it. It has, however, been part of the NAW National Certificate in Woodturning since its inception. In the training books we find a recipe that works – but, it seems, not well enough for many to use marbling as a frequent enhancement of their woodturning.

When Walter Wager, from near Tallahassee, offered us a marbling demo I was a bit ho-hum. He included a copy of his marbling report to the American Woodturner journal. Nice pictures, nice work, and yet another recipe requiring the mixing of spoonsful of this with quarts of that to make up gallons – probably US gallons. There also was a statement about “pure” this and using distilled water. A little web search established that I could buy distilled water in the supermarket and I could order in pure methylcellulose and pure alum.

That suggestion of not using our chemical-laden town water and not using wallpaper paste (methylcellulose with unknown additives) made great sense. Please do visit us, Walter.

To prepare for his visit I worked my way through many recipes to make up an alum solution and the methylcellulose size needed to float the acrylic paint needed to create the marbled effects.
Now, bear in mind that there are marbling kits available in some New Zealand stores and online – they all work, but most are designed for one-person use. We were going to have ten, or more, people wanting to put marbling on their choice of wood. The National Certificate in Woodturning also needs to cater for more than the single user. So, getting information on the important ingredients is necessary.

The important wood preparation is firstly to choose a dense white wood, turn it, sand it, and apply alum to the wood – just keep the items small please? That meant that most arrived with eggs, egg cups, a wig stand foot and little bowls but, as always, one had to arrive with an item that challenged our biggest dipping dish!

Any acrylic art paint is supposed to work – true, most do – but, as a rule, the cheaper the paint the coarser the granules within the paint.

Next challenge is to get a nice pattern of paint floating on the surface of the methylcellulose size mixture. Amongst the crowd at Walter’s hands-on afternoon we had some fairly basic acrylics, tubes of quality colours and some of the Golden High Flow Acrylic mentioned above. Most of those had to be thinned with water (or, later, more paint added) so that the paint would float on the surface of the size. Some spread more readily than others. Some colours of the same brand spread well when used alone but then either would not spread when placed over other colours or would spread madly and push everything aside.

Our choice now is Golden High Flow Acrylic. Ok, appears to not be cheap but only a few drops are needed for each marbling action. This paint has a fine and consistent texture and is available in more than 50 colours.

Obviously, putting drops of colour sequentially at the centre of a bowl results in rings of colour. You can have these rings of colour on your wood or take a comb and stir it a little. Then dip the wood in. Rinse it off and let it dry. When thoroughly dry put a finish over it.

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Reports, Unclassified

Garry Jones – Ring Box

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Club Meeting: 4th March 2020
Report by: Cathy Langley

Garry Jones’ version of this term’s “lidded box” theme was a small jewellery box for storing women’s rings (both under and above the lid) with four feet and a finial providing elegance. Garry had brought a number of finished examples illustrating a range of possible designs.

He started with a block of timber 70 x 70 x 150 cm, emphasising that the blank needs to be exactly rectangular so that the feet are equally spaced. On each side of the blank, he had drawn a line 40 cm from one end for the lid, and had marked the centre point of the longer end on each of the four sides. At these points, he had drilled a 40mm hole into each side, meeting in the centre and creating what would eventually become the space between the four feet.

Using a steb centre in the chuck, he created a spigot on each end, remounted the blank with the holes at the headstock end. He marked a line just beyond the holes on the side toward the lid section, to indicate where the bowl shaping would begin. He then turned the lid section to a cylinder and shaped the bowl and feet, with a narrower diameter where the line had been drawn earlier to indicate the base of the bowl.

The next step was to part off the lid section and hollow out the interior of the box. Garry used a Rolly Munro mini-hollower to leave a raised “finger” in the base of the bowl to hold the rings. Garry then faced off and designed the rim of the bowl as for any other lidded box. He left the sanding and finishing to our imaginations (except to suggest that the edges of the holes be smoothed with a flapper wheel in a drill) and parted off the blank, separating it from the spigot at a point that cut into the bottom edge of the pre-drilled holes to separate the four feet.

The next-to-last step was to mount the lid section in the chuck, face it off, and hollow it. (Garry suggested that a dimple could be left in the inside of the lid with texturing applied around it, as he had done in several of the examples of finished ring boxes that were passed around.) He presented the base of the box to the mounted lid several times to ensure a good (and fairly loose) fit, and then completed the outside of the lid, leaving a spigot at the headstock end which could either be turned as the handle for lifting the lid, or as a 10mm (or just under) dowel over which a finial could be glued into place.

The final step is optional. Several of Garry’s examples had a finial on the box 50-80 mm long with an approximately 25mm base, narrowing to 12-15mm at the top, to hold additional rings. If you decide to do this, mount a 40 x 100 mm blank of similar or contrasting wood, drill a hole 10mm in diameter and about 10 mm deep, bring up a live centre in the tailstock, and shape he finial. Finish and part it off, and glue it over the dowel at the top of the lid.

Beautiful!

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Reports

Dick Veitch – Pencil Box

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Club Meeting: 5 Dec 2018
Report by Graeme Mackay

Dick’s pencil boxes demonstration: This exercise was taken from an AAW project that was based on Beth Ireland’s boxes. The process is that the box making system ends up with a pencil looking like a pencil case. Dick started the demo with a history of lead pencils i.e. those with graphite in them in. Then a discourse about the colours that pencils came in.

The base: A cylinder, about 200 mm long is made with two jam chucks it is cleaned and then a parting is taken around 60 mm from one end.

A Dick V tip: When parting off a piece, remember to keep the gap and do not let the tool jam.

The next process is started with hollowing by way of Forstner bit or bits if you are precise. A piece of measured tape on Forstner bit provides a depth check. The second Forstner bit opens the hole further. The second part of the hole is continued with an extension on the Jacobs chuck.

Another Dick B tip: keep to speed down when using Forstner bit and check the actual width of the piece.

The lip at the top of the long section allows for fitting the pencil top onto the box base. Remember, the lip on the box head is made to fit the base lip. Similarly, a hole check on box top depth is required. Measure and make the lip fit in a close manner and this is done while leaving the box top in the chuck.

The pencil faces: Dick brought out his cleverly fashioned jig. A boxlike structure that is attached to the frame of the lathe. After some adjustment, fiddling, shifting around, the Router was used to clean off the six faces of the pencil. Some measuring and judging is required. The box is relatively simple and is technically only a guide for the router. It is simply one of the ways in producing the six sides of the pencil – all hopefully matched even and appropriate looking.

Back to the top i.e. the sharp end that that has imitation graphite in it. The lip is mark with Vernier callipers and cut down with a standard skew. It is hoped that you have remembered to leave sufficient thickness to accommodate the flat faces and that they join into a new top.

The finishing touch: The bead lines highlight the end of the pencil in the piece that holds your eraser. Texturing highlights these beads provides a differentiation to the pencil part and hopefully shows up in its glory, with some clean edges. This part of the process is achieved by putting the top of the box/pencil case onto a cylinder mandrel. Holding the box top on with the stem centres will assist safety and avoid any mishaps.

Colouring helps highlight faces, eraser frame and eraser itself. The sharp end of the pen is highlighted by colour or even just a dark felt -tip.

This is a standard box process with some interesting features. The avoiding confusion is easy, just go onto the site, and follow the box making plan.
Tip
The best tip once you enter this process is
measure, measure again, and check that measurement.

Graeme Mackay
December 2018

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Reports

David Gillard – Back to Basics – Bowl

Club Meeting: 2 April 2025
Report by: Ian Connelly

Dave started by discussing how he dissects a log to get a bowl blank. His preference is timber that is under compression as this gives the best figure. Such timber is found below branches, or in the root area of the tree.

He then mounted a piece of magnolia on a screw chuck, and bought up the tailstock for additional support. He pointed out that having the tailstock up when you can adds to the stability and safety.

He then showed roughing the blank down with the bowl gouge having bevel contact with the wood. Directing your weight down into the toolrest to prevent the tool jumping.

Another techinque he demonstrated was using the chisel with the bevel fully open, taking small cuts and controlling the depth with the forward hand against the toolrest.

As the blank becomes more round and balanced you can increase the lathe speed.

Always mark the centre of your spigot with the skew, using the tailstock on wet wood can result in you mark closing back up.

Dave then presented the option of gluing on a spigot. This can be a handy technique if you want to use the full depth of wood. He used an offcut from his spindle work (pays to keep these for this or jam chucks etc). Using “Jimmy’s glue” he wet both surfaces before applying the glue then clamped the joint in the lathe for 4 minutes, can turn this particular glue in 30 minutes.

Dave then talked about faceplate turning, and pointed out to try not to get multiple screws in line on the grain, as this can lead to a spilt.

He then showed another bowl with a spigot within a bigger recess. This can help simplify the final finishing of the bowl as you can just remove the spigot without having to put as much thought into the shape of the base as this is already formed around the recess.

Dave showed the process of reversing a bowl using the reversing mandrel in the tailstock. This allowed the second chuck to be better aligned to the already turned outside of the bowl.

Dave proceeded to hollow the bowl with tailstock support, leaving a cylinder in the centre, which he then cleaned up. This process reduced the stress on the spigot and allowed him to potentially take bigger cuts.

There was a high spot in the middle of the bowl, Dave showed using shading of a pencil the process of cleaning up this high spot progressively until all the pencil was removed.

The demo was an interesting journey through a number of different ideas and approaches to something that many of us take for granted. It reinforced that there are many ways to approach turning a bowl while still doing it safely. Thanks Dave.

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Reports

Kerry Snell – Scroll Saw Marquetry.


Club Meeting: 26 March 2025
Report By Cory Wyatt.

Kerry has been a member of the North Shore Woodturners Guild for 30 years and has developed from turning to many other facets of wood work including making many many boxes with marquetry.

So, what is Marquetry? Google states that Marquetry is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns or designs.

The Process:

You start with a drawing that you want to make. This is called a Cartoon, this is then transferred to tracing or baking paper.

You next choose your wood, were contrasting colours make the over all image pop. Using tape (you use a lot of tape so have plenty before starting) create a hinge on with the traced image, wood to be cut and a piece of waste wood. Mind the patterns on the wood, burls and grains can be used to develop the image.

The cut the pattern out on the scroll saw. Use tape as needed to stop the wood fluffing. You can complete the same steps over and over and double up on layers of veneer to ensure you pieces match with only a small curf. The curf is the space cut by the blade and explains the small gaps between different pieces.

To cut inner shapes use a small drill bit to cut a whole just bigger than the blade (0.6-0.7mm) and thread the blade through and cut as normal. Here is where a non-pinned blade is easier as a smaller hole is needed for the blade as no pin is present. When drilling, only drill 4-5 holes at once, as they can fill with dust causing issues later.

When all the pieces are ready and taped up turn over and cover in PVA (Tight bond) glue and place on the backing board. Place a small piece of foam and a board and clamp together. Baking paper can be used to ensure the foam does not stick. The foam limits the damage to the veneers.

After 24 hours peel and sand, be careful as the veneer depth is about 0.7mm. Finish as you see fit.

For discussion on pinned vs Pinless blades here is a highly rated Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suvhnj1yx80

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Reports

Dick Veitch – Back to Basics : Boxes

Club Meeting: 19 March 2025
Report by: Bill Alden

Dick opened with some Do’s and Dont’s of Box Making

  • Don’t put a thread on a box except for small pill boxes or a needle case.
  • Don’t make it too big consider hand size.
  • Pop fit is not encouraged as it takes 2 hands to open.
  • You may use a finial as a handle.
  • If it is wider than it is tall use cross grain wood. If taller than wide End grain is better.

Dick then showed us a dozen or so boxes from his collection made by various people in the club and overseas visitors.

Butterfly Box

He started with the block pushed firmly against the chuck jaws with the tail stock and cut a 46mm spigot on one end.

After reversing it into the chuck it was rounded down to the outside diameter of 75mm which will allow a 65mm internal diameter for a butterfly box.

Make the final cut slowly with a freshly sharpened 10mm bowl gouge. He then cut a 46mm spigot on the bottom.

Then he measured for a 20mm deep hollow on the inside. Before the final parting off of the lid a 2mm parting cut was made on the lid end to the correct size to fit into the neck of the box

Then mount the lid in the chuck and cut a curve on the inside of the lid, finish and polish.

Dick showed two methods of hollowing the box

Method 1

Put base back on the chuck and hollow to a width of 65mm with a 55 degree bowl gouge to a depth of 20mm, using a flat scraper or a skew chisel to flatten the bottom.

Bring up the lid and sand the outside with lid attached and finish, tape on the lid and finish the top.

Method 2

Follow the same procedure up to *

This piece was done with a 65mm Forstner bit, tip keep the bit moving.

Dick then used the Soren Berger hollowing tool which is designed to cut a flat bottom on the box. With the tool horizontal draw from the centre hole to the outside.

Finial

Dick then showed us a basic finial. Tips: Do not use the tailstock as the pressure will break it start with the top “onion” and work down the elements do not go back finish each element as you go.

Keep plenty of meat at the chuck end.

Use close grained hard wood. Hairy wood will not make a good finial and will be difficult to finish.

Thank you Dick for another informative Demonstration.

Box, Butterfly #1
Box, Butterfly #2
Box, Butterfly #3
Box, Butterfly #4

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Reports

Strett Nicolson – In a Jam

Club Meeting: 5 Feb 2025
Report by: Peter Wyatt

Strett discussed the use of ‘JAM CHUCKS’ to allow turning in situations outside the normal lathe chucks.

Theoretically there could be jam chuck for all situation.

Small Bowl Chuck

This can be used to remove spigots and finish the bottom of the bowl. The jam chuck does need to completely fill the bowl tightly with the tail stock needed to centre the bowl and hold it in place.

Larger Bowls

The same situation as small bowl

Internal Pointed Chuck

This chuck is cone shape with rubber around it and will go into hollowed out bowls, as in the photo. The tail stock must again be used to hold and centre the bowl.

Oyster Catcher

This chuck is made with spigots at both ends It is round with holes in each end to suit the item to be placed inside. The holes will need to reduce in size to take the shapes to go in. Strett uses this chuck to make his Oyster catcher, as you can see in the photos

Glue Chuck

Glue chucks can be used to support small to very large items for turning.
They can have spigots for attaching to the lathe or a threaded piece to screw the board to the lathe.
The items to be turned are held in place by the tail stock and then glued to the supporting timber plate.
This chuck is used in off centre turning, and for small items such as Deer antler buttons

Dowel Work and Finials

Strett showed us a jam chuck, in the photos, that can be used for turning dowel. The dowel is griped by the 4 piece plug that can be seen. Once centred by the tail stock it is tightened by pushing the plug in. The hole in the chuck goes right through to allow a length of dowel to go in.

Strett stressed that jam chucks are limitless, and he advised that he only showed a few to show what can be done.
He mentioned:
Box spigots, Pencil repair kits, All off centre turning, and all dowel and finial work.



“Keep all left over ends, and pieces as they will come in handy one day”

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Reports

John Osbourne – Resin Pools

Club Meeting: 12 March 2025
Report by: Ian Connelly

John has been doing a variety of resin work to complement and enhance his woodwork. Not always with woodturning, but we will let him away with that on this occasion.

John used a EnviroTex Resin purchased from Rowe Advanced Materials, the particular resin was a 1:1 mix designed for tabletops.

He explained that colour could be added to the resin with dyes, and he had examples of both transparent and opaque dyes. He had also used copper powered and other similar materials to change the effect of the resin.

John favoured small pours, which meant that the bubbles were easier to manage. These he popped with the help of a small gas torch.

He explained the journey he had been on, with the mixing process of multiple cups, settling on a process of just using one cup.

He had also experienced issue where he was mixing by weight, but due to the differing specific gravity of the components this resulted in a sub-optimal result. He calculated the weight ratio as 1 to 0.88 for this particular resin. Bottom line – read the instructions on the resin.

Other tips

  • Level the work
  • Glue down objects so they do not move or float
  • Seal the rim of a bowl with acrylic paint or PVA to avoid bleeding
  • Thickest layer with this resin he was pouring was 3mm
  • Blowtorch bubbles

John poured three objects during the demo, two open pours of clear resin to make “Rock Pool Art”, and also a third pour to an enclosed void in a block of wood, that he is planning to turn into a bowl.

The first two pours went without incident, John constantly remembering to go back periodically to pop the bubbles.

The third pour demonstrated the ability of resin to find the smallest of holes in the sealing material (in this case masking tape, with a layer of duct tape over the top) and escape. John was clearly expecting this as he had the object in a plastic basin to contain the pooling resin.

This was an excellent demo from John that stood in with only a weeks notice when it was determined the lathes were going to be on the truck for participation before the meeting. Everybody that was there would have learn something more about working with resin and the possibilities of incorporating it into your wood art.

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Reports

Emma James-Ries – Approaches to Marbling & Painting Effects

Club Meeting: 5 March 2025
Report by: Graeme Mackay

Emma’s demonstration came through with a new approach to embellishing, with the use of a 3D raindrop effect and water based Suminagashi colouring technique. A bright introduction to the options of marbling. Emma’s demonstration and illustration of methodologies was cheerful and well presented, providing an easy view of how to get into the subject of embellishment through marbling and colour.

Key features of these embellishments:

  • 3D water effect that requires a flat surface.
  • A black painted surface on the lathed areas.
  • Preference for spray-painted black base.
  • Preference for acrylic based paint.
  • Starting preference on the complimentary colours to be used.
  • Clear contrasting areas dark and light.
  • Use of colour wheel.
  • Practise and experiment on water delivery and your application styles i.e. pipette.
  • Awareness for drying times and requirements/equipment needed.

Illustration an example was given to encourage new entrants to conduct regular experiments. Also, use and record a trial and error approach on waste blocks etc. Emma noted that there were many ways to initiate and start the marbling embellishment process. And, there is a lot of fun in exploration.

Traditional Marbling.

Emma outlined the basics of paint on water marbling with an emphasis on colour choice. This approach is matched to the characteristics of paint material. An excellent introduction to the beginning marbling and highlighting of key points:

  • Appropriate liquid base, Emma used Carrageenan.
  • Appropriate colour variations and selection.
  • Emphasis on method of alum application.
  • Introduction to the basics of the mordant process.

Each section was given tips and directions i.e. use of a colour chart, working on complimentary colours, avoiding air pockets, and recording the style of application. It was interesting in that some topics appeared on a regular basis:

  • Experimentation
  • Trial
  • Method variations tested.

Emma had an excellent approach to finishing the base product: surface presentation is essential. Working to the standard sandpaper grades is a normal process.
And remember: marbling shows up all the faults!

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Reports

John Balsillie : Back to Basic’s – Spindle Turning.


Club Meeting: 28 Feb 2025
Report By Cory Wyatt.

John started the demo with a small hand out describing the 4 major spindle working forms: Bead, Cove, Vee, and Straight. As seen below:

From this John moved to the four actions used in spindle turning and how the combination of these actions gets the differing forms.

From Here John moved to showing how these work in making a wig stand shaft (refer to the SAWG link https://sawg.org.nz/sawg/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Spindles-for-Wig-Stands.pdf).

Wig Stand Shaft

Starting by marking centres, placing between centres on the lathe, moving the rest to slightly below centre lining up with the bed, before checking the spacing with the lathe off with his spindle roughing gouge.

From here he started rounding off the timber with the tool at an approximate 45-degree angle starting in from the edge and moving to the end to avoid chipping the end. Showing the gouge was held on with two fingers and making small frequent cuts during the rounding process.

He used a 25mm spanner to remove the material at either end of the stand where they will be attached to the base and head. Note the club generally uses a 26mm Forstner bit for these holes, so please adjust to meet the tooling that you use. The ends of these cuts were then under cut to ensure a good fit on the base and head with a spindle gouge.

John marked up the shaft with his design and used a skew with a small vee cut to mark up his lines for his beads and coves.

Making Beads: Using either a spindle gouge or skew, you cut away from your high point rolling down to your low point. Best down in small cuts if not comfortable with larger cuts. By finishing with a vertical spindle gouge this means the wings do not hit the other side of the cut.

Making Coves: Start with a V cut and move towards the lowest point of the cut making small cuts. You are cutting downhill for an easy definition.

Making Skew Cuts: Roll the body and work towards the lowest point of the cut, remember that your tool rest hight is normally higher for your skew than your spindle gouge. There is no issue with changing between a spindle gouge and skew.

Door Stop

John moved on to his next project and described the two ways to make a door stop. Firstly, you can make a single stop and once turned you use a saw to remove the waste wood. Or you can make a double ended stop and cut in half. Either way the turning is the same.

You start by Turning your square end into a ball or large bead, as described above with a slight rounding of the inner edge with a v cut.

This is needed to make the bead and looks attractive, once done you can either turn the other end for a double stopper or take straight to the saw for a single. These can be made with either the skew or spindle gouge.

Other possible projects

John showed other projects that be completed using the same cuts and the work completed on the beginner’s course.
Muscle up Toy


Christmas Cracker


Baby Spinning Top


Tulip

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Reports

David Gillard – Spoon and Spatula Makin

Club Meeting: 19 Feb 2025
Report by: Kevin De Freitas

David, an experienced woodworker with 12 years of spoon-making expertise, shared his process for crafting wooden spoons and spatulas. Throughout the demonstration, he provided insights into his techniques, tools, and finishing methods.

Development of an Idea

David showcased various samples of his work, discussing how his designs have evolved over time. He emphasized the iterative nature of woodworking, where additional features, such as scraping edges, were added based on functionality and user feedback. Notably, he created a batch of spoons of Martha Stewart style, using native New Zealand wood for export to the USA.

Making a Spatula

Materials and Preparation

  • Uses wood scraps approximately 300x100x30mm.
  • Layout includes two spoons or spatulas per blank.
  • The bandsaw is used to cut away excess wood (referred to as “wings”), which is then repurposed as kindling.
  • The spoon or spatula end is mounted at the tailstock end of the lathe for optimal shaping of the handle.

Turning the Handle

  • Key considerations: Stability between centers and proper tailstock tension (not too tight) to avoid vibration.
  • The lathe runs at 2400 RPM, and a face shield is worn for safety.
  • A roughing gouge with swept-back wings is used, allowing it to function as a skew when required.
  • The curve is shaped starting from the spoon end toward the headstock.
  • The neck is refined while leaving the handle thicker initially to maintain stability.
  • For the final cut, the handle is stabilized by hand—often using a paper towel to prevent heat buildup.
  • A Detail gouge is used for final shaping of the end of the handle.
  • The piece is parted off 1mm beyond the intended end, followed by power sanding to prevent grain breakage.

Shaping the Spatula End

  • The bandsaw is used to remove excess material from either side.
  • The belt sander (80 grit) is applied to smooth the spatula’s surface.
  • To avoid linear scratches, the spatula is moved up and down quickly during sanding.

Making a Spoon

David employs a Pantorouter, a pattern-following router jig developed by Matthias Wandel (YouTube creator). The Pantorouter ensures precision, as the template used is double the size of the final spoon, eliminating inconsistencies.

Steps:

Routing the Spoon Bowl

  • The router is equipped with a ball-nosed bit.
  • Mount the blank and carefully follow the pattern to create the concave spoon profile in the blank
  • Can create both right-handed and left-handed spoons (typically at a 40:4 ratio).

Turning the Handle

  • The process follows the same steps as spatula handle shaping.

Finishing the Spoon Bowl

  • Cut away excess wood to form the outer shape of the spook
  • Superglue is applied to stabilize torn grain before sanding.
  • The spoon is carefully sanded for a smooth finish.

Finishing Process

  • After sanding, the spoons and spatulas are treated with Woodgrain Wood Conditioner.
  • The pieces are oiled and waxed, with the wax left overnight for better absorption.

Packaging for Sale

David demonstrated how he packages his finished spoons and spatulas in hemp bags, making them ready for sale at markets.

David’s demonstration provided a comprehensive look into the artistry of wooden spoon and spatula making, from raw materials to a finished product ready for sale. His combination of traditional craftsmanship with modern tools like the Pantorouter highlights the balance of precision and hand-finishing required for high-quality wooden kitchenware.

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Reports

Anwar Jahan – Wavy Bowl

Club Meeting: 12 Feb 2025
Report by: Ian Connelly

Anwar came well prepared with tools and examples of his wavy bowls.

First you need a bowl with a broad rim, then you need to work out how many segments you want to lay out the wavy pattern. Anwar suggested that odd number look best such as 7, 9, 12.

This was followed with a number of ideas for how to divid up the circumference of the bowl.

  1. Calculate it, π d gives the circumference, you can then divide this by the number of waves desired… dividers were then used to step around the edge, allowing for adjustment if need before making the marks.
  2. Use a round template with the angles marked (good method if you are doing many with same number of waves)

The centres between the marks were also marked.

Anwar then mounted a bowl on a woodcut promount and with a sanding drum on drill he showed one of his methods of carving the waves. Other methods included rasps, dremel.

Anwar showed a second example and passed many pieces around the audience.

The final method he presented was a sanding drum he had made by gluing sandpaper to a cylinder of wood and mounting that in a chuck on the lathe.

A great demo giving another idea for how to make a bowl more interesting, thanks Anwar.

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Reports

Garry Jones – Kina

Club Meeting: December 11, 2024
Write-up: Holm Miehlbradt

Gary started by describing the enjoyment of catching and eating Kina. He then proceeded to make a wooden Kina shell.

He started by rounding the piece of wood between centers and made a spigot on one side. He then mounted it in a chuck to turn the outside of the Kina. This surface will be later carved, but needs to be well finished including good sanding.

While still mounted on the chuck he drilled a hole with a forstner bit for easier hollowing and for mounting on a smaller chuck. For hollowing he used a Munro tool and cleaned out the shavings with a spoon! If possible the lathe head can be rotated to allow for a better position when hollowing.

After turning the piece around and remounting it, he finished off the bottom and drilled a hole which can be enlarged or reshaped during the carving process.

Gary finally discussed and showed different way of carving the outside of the Kina to make it look more realistic or decorative. He used different patterns to achieve various effects.

Thanks Gary for this very interesting demo with a lot of creative possibilities.

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Turning Tomorrow's Treasures