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.

2. 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

3. 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.

• Bruce used a micro light that is attached to the tool rest which allowed him to see inside the box while turning and see exactly what he was doing. You can see the light here: https://www.woodgrainnz.com/apps/webstore/products/show/8148180?fbclid=IwAR0tBNT3iAbBAyB3gf11GQ8x5jE6_uaSmOttlzskJPE2aiPdnDV95coTnS4

• 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.
 

Club Meeting: 17 June 2020
Report by: John Young

Another fascinating demo by Warwick, choosing this time to make a lidded box from stone.

Inspired by a small Malachite bowl he had picked up on his travels through Russia, Warwick had made a few small boxes with stone inserts in the tops. Not fully satisfied, he decided to make a box entirely from stone.

Hence his demo of a lidded box from Oamaru stone, with resin/stone lid, finial and base.

Oamaru stone is a very soft, creamy white stone, with a hardness of 2 on the Mohs hardness scale. (Diamonds by comparison, have a hardness of 9, while fingernails have a hardness of 2.5).

Warwick started with a square blank of the white stone. The corners were chopped off with a cheap saw from Bunnings. A hole was drilled in the top, so it could be mounted onto a set of pin jaws. The outside of the box would be shaped first.

A cup chuck was used on the tail stock to help steady the piece. (A steb centre or piece of wood could also be used as an alternative, to help hold it in place)

Thin pieces of rubber were used on both sides of the stone, to help hold the slippery stone in place. Foam rubber can also be used in the jaws to help prevent cracking.

The stone was turned at a slow speed, and normal woodturning gouges were used. Containers were placed under the lathe to collect the dust, which would be used later for the lid.

Large plumes of dust were created, which according to Warwick is “good to breathe in” (???). He went on to claim returning soldiers from WWI (Or WWII?) would be sent to work in the Oamaru mines, and the dust would help “neutralise the poison in their lungs”. Some interesting history from Warwick…

Once the outside shape was achieved, a light sand of 100 grit paper was enough to smoothe it out. Before turning it around, a forstner bit was used in the tail stock to drill a hole in the bottom of the box.

The box was turned around and remounted. A long thin centre of Warwicks own creation was brought up in the tail stock for additional support. The top rim was then shaped to receive a lid and the inside hollowed out.

Tile grout sealer was sprayed on the outside to seal the stone, preventing dust from coming off and to avoid staining the white surface.

For the top, a kitchen sieve was used to sift out the fine powder. To this was added colouring (artificial rock), and then clear resin. Three separate batches of the coloured rock/resin mixes were made. One for the top. A second for the finial, and a third for the base.

These were set in a shallow bath of ice water to keep them cool while the resin set. As these would normally take many hours to set, Warwick had some of these pre-prepared blanks made in advance.

The lid was mounted in a 50mm chuck. This was an easier material to work with, although the sanding resin can be harmful to your health. Warwick had an answer to this, which was to use wet sandpaper to prevent dust, creating a better finish and to help cool it down. After he had turned the shape he wanted, he began the long sanding process. From 120 grit up to 600, then micro mesh pads up to 2000 grit. EEE was used, followed by carwax polish.

The bottom is created in the same way, and both are affixed to the stone with clear silicone glue.

The final product was very impressive, as were his previous efforts which he displayed.

Warwick did a further brief demo in turning a “greenstone” lid. For this he mixed some Jade powder he had purchased, with resin in a 50:50 mix. If there is not enough resin in it, it becomes too hard to turn. While this material is tough on the chisels, it scrapes well. Sanding is done with Carborundum sandpaper, which has a hardness factor of 8. Slightly higher than the greenstone hardness, which is seven.

He exhibited an impressive lidded box he had made with it, with a brass insert and malachite pebbles inlaid.

Some in the crowd were disappointed it wasn’t a hunk of pure greenstone, but Warwick told them he would need diamond edged chisels for that!

Thank you Warwick for another fantastic demo!

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.

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.