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Terry Scott – Pewter

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.

Dick Veitch – Toothpick Holder

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.

Tom Pearson – Lavender Bottle

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

Terry Scott – Spoon Lidded Box

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.