Club Meeting: 24 October 2018
Report by: Bill Alden

Graham showed us his home-made sanding blocks from the various foam offcuts of different sizes, to which he had glued Velcro and used fabric backed sanding pieces

First Piece

Offcut blocks are used for this project and don’t need to be exactly square. Mark centres using diagonal lines and use a bradawl to indent the centre. Graham used steb centres. He also explained all the usual setup and safety points and spin the work before switching on the lathe.

Rough to a round and then use a small bowl gouge to work on the shapes. This first piece was a simple shape with gentle curves top and bottom the lower finial being left slightly longer than the upper finial. Before finishing the top a small hole possibly 3 mm as Graham was not specific on this (about that size) was drilled at the top to allow for a string to hang the ornament. Final finishing and parting off produced the first piece.

Second Piece

This was again marked out and roughed out this time using a 13 mm bowl gouge and using a spindle gouge to form the new shape which this time had two wings Graeme also talked about colour using felt pens and these need to be applied to the spinning work of course after final sanding and finishing.

Third piece

Graeme use different tools to finish this one and was roughing out partially with the skew chisel the design of this one was a little more complicated and three sections were marked out with Long point of skew and which were then shaped with a small skew and a spindle gouge.

Club Meeting: 17 October 2018
Report by Earl Culham

Members of SAWG were privileged to have Trefor Roberts from North Shore Woodturning Guild as the demonstrator for the first meeting of the term. The term theme is Christmas Toys and Trefor chose to turn a Christmas cracker.

Trefor said that his aim was to present a number of ideas and techniques to the audience, so that the ideas could be used and adapted for members own creations. In his view, and as a rule of thumb, woodturners may use the ideas of other turners but if it is a straight copy, then the originator should be given credit for the idea.

Trefor used a bought Christmas cracker as a guide for sizing and for some bits to add as contents for the finished article, but anything plastic was only fit for the rubbish bin. Examples of what he would use were the exploder, the paper hat and the joke. You can’t have a Christmas cracker without it making a good cracking sound or a containing a joke can you!

A turned cylinder with two chuck bites was marked into three pieces, i.e. two ends and the middle. Grooves cut to identify the ends and then the centre piece was parted in the middle. The centre and ends were then drilled out and the centre fitted back together as you would when making a lidded box. A hole was drilled through the narrow part of the ends so that the tail of the exploder could be passed through and glued into place when the cracker is assembled.

In addition to the paper hat and the joke which are the contents of the cracker, Trefor turned a small Christmas tree coloured with felt tip pens, and as another example of toys that can be added, he made a trick spinning top. Some of the nuances of making a trick spinning top were explained during the turning of the top e.g. length of spindle in relation to the end bulb needed to be the same, the curve of the bulb where it attaches to the spindle is essential for the top to flip over. Anything you can think of that will fit in to the cylinder is fine. Trefor produced a box full of a wide variety of spinning tops, quick to make and fun for people to use.

The demonstration provided a good example of what can be made for Christmas with a little bit of thought and planning. How much better would wooden crackers be on the Christmas lunch table than those that we can purchase? And what’s more, they could be refilled with new turned pieces for next year.

Many thanks Trefor.

Club Meeting: 19 September 2018
Report by: Graeme MacKay

Bruce Wood showed the original version which was very chunky before showing use the evolution and the matching perspex templates to gauge the shape.  He did admit to bending role slightly not starting with a cube, rather with a rectangle of hundred and 130 x 180 mm. The extra length is, at an early stage, to allow him to cut the holes on the edge.

So then, Bruce went to Paul Hedman style that was accurate, however, was a little thin.

Method
A large solid jig very engineered, the holes predrilled.
Bruce was able to keep the holes vertical with a Forstner bit – and little bit of action.
The jig gets a bit more complicated, through doweling fixed and carefully drilled in place.
Once set on the jig, extra lead is added to balance, in this case 375 g spinning at 740 rpm.
So another hole was made on the new centre using a template to gauge the depth and shape.
Fine cuts, little standing.

A Ha! moment: the use of longer screws is good as the MDF gets worn.

A few minutes more, a rebalancing of the lead, a new centre, and a second hole is made using this very engineered template. Samples are well marked and provided indication of the other cuts to be made. Good samples were handed around and gave clear example of the direction of this particular type of wood-turning.

Another Ha! Moment: using the right index finger as a guide. An old method promoted by Ian Fish and works every time.

Soren Berger sphere:

Bahat then went on to turning a sphere Soren Berger’s way. The cube used was 125 mm and made into a sphere using the special Soren Berger tool for measurement.
Initially, turning a cylinder in the standard manner. Outside edges first, the centre of its, and in reality the beginning of sphere. Using the Soren Berger tool, the cylinder is now hundred and 124 mm in diameter and transferred to the measurement of the sphere.

The cylinder was marked. In this case 124 mm. The length of the cylinder is now the same as a diameter and sitting between two centres. The new cylinder marked using the Soren Berger tool. The first cut was made straight between the two lines marked on each face – and using specialist tool.

Then, second lines and marked using the third part of the specialist tool or caliper. The cuts then straight lined between the marks. The sphere is starting to emerge. These new lines are now the high spots on the proposed sphere.

A line is now drawn on the midway point between these lines. They represent now the low point in the older high points, the original lines, are now carefully cleaned with relatively straight short lines. Sandy now removes imperfections. The little holding spigots, about the diameter of the stem centres, can now be removed by a number of methods: cups fixed on the jaws and tailstock, cutting off the greater part, gentle chisel work and some sanding.

Another Ha!
Don’t be a hero and try the saw, gentle hands avoid tearout, hand standing avoid dimples.

Club Meeting: 12 September 2018
Report by: Graeme MacKay

A humorous and very informative demonstration from a woodworker of long-standing. A well prepared approach to dealing with fruit wood branches supported by a regular commentary on safety for operation and fixing. Chris started with the pitfalls of a long thin blank that required an understanding of negative space and shadow directed cutting.

The initial checklist for starting with new fruit wood highlighted Chris Hooton’s approach:

• check for nails and cracks
• work out the correct way to cut the branch including having a suitable jig for using on the bandsaw
• sort out and mark the cuts
• measure and mark the centreline to allow for installation of faceplate.
• Ensure that schooling through appropriate for the fixing of the faceplate

And simple things such as

• ensure that the faceplate holes of the correct size to take the tech screws
• and very simply, with humour, check that the tech screws are long enough

Chris provided a clearly illustrated approach to cutting across spaces and working with shadows. A useful tip was the placement of lights and shifting them around to get a clear and definitive shadow to work with. Then, using the shadow of the chisel to judge the distance to make initial contacts and start cutting.

A tip for sanding: Chris uses chalk gently rubbed across the face of the surface being worked to highlight and identify scratches, marks cuts and hollows. Chris used a standard soft builders chalk stick rubbed across the surface and using the marks to decide on the type and placement of the next cut. This process was used for final sanding with Chris providing illustration of what marks show through at the movement through the sanding paper grades.

Tip for measuring wall thickness: Chris noted that we often forget what the start point was after two or three checks. A piece of masking tape over one end of the figure 8 calipers and have it sticking out so that a mark to be made on the tape. Once the initial measurement has been taken, a mark is made on the masking tape where the non-taped caliper end stops. The tape cut at that mark. It provides an ongoing guide point for subsequent measurements on that particular surface. Simple and low-tech.

Chris provided a number of excellent workplace tips and directions for the topside cutting on the newly formed spigot. He emphasised the need for soft hands for the chisel work and the usefulness in providing marking lines.

Tips and guides included:

• Check on your cutting directions, although looking for a flat surface you’re still cutting to the middle like hollowing out a bowl.
• Mark depth and check.
• Adjust lighting to show shadow to assist cutting.
• Keep the tailstock in place until as late as possible.
• Keep the hands soft, keep chisel sharp, and don’t rush it on the final cuts.
• When using power tools for sanding, look at your approach and angle for the sanding mandrel.
• Keep sanding mandrel moving working through the quadrant angles, backspace. A hollow centre dimple means that you have not sand with the correct angles.

Demonstration Date: 5 September 2018
Demonstration Title: Ellsworth Signature Gouge
Author of Article: Wim Nijmeijer

The challenge for this evening was to produce a bowl made from a 125mm Rimu cube using only the “Ellsworth Signature Gouge”. Raed then explained and demonstrated the various cuts made with this gouge.
(The cube was already mounted on the lathe using the screw chuck method.)

Roughing Cut- Raed explained how to present the gouge, axial pitch of the gouge 45 degrees, shaft horizontal on the tool rest. He then identified the cutting area of the gouge. He then proceeded with the removal of the corners and the rough shaping of the outside of the bowl. Using the gouge in this manner, large quantities of wood can be removed very quickly; the surface left on the wood however is pretty rough.

Following the rough shaping of the bowl, the slicing cut was used.
But before commencing with the slicing cut, Read first cut the spigot, to allow remounting of the bowl at a later stage.

Slicing Cut- Gouge presentation, axial pitch 45 degrees, shaft 20-30 degrees on tool rest. The final form of the bowl was now further refined. This cut also resulted in a lot less tear-out compared to the roughing cut.

With the shaping of the outside completed, it was now time to finish the outside of the bowl by using the shear scraping cut.

Shear scraping Cut- Gouge presentation, axial pitch 85 degrees, shaft 45 degrees on tool rest. With this cut, Read was able to put a very smooth surface on the bowl. Only minimal sanding would be required to finish the exterior of the bowl.

The bowl was now remounted using a scroll chuck.

Raed then preceded roughing out the interior of the bowl by using the Interior Roughing Cut, this cut is basically the same as the roughing cut used on the exterior of the bowl.

Interior Roughing Cut- Gouge presentation, axial pitch 45 degrees, shaft horizontal on tool rest. Read explained the importance of body movement and position during the execution of this cut.

With the roughing out of the interior of the bowl completed, the Interior Finishing Cut was used to make the final cut on the interior in preparation for sanding.

Interior Finishing Cut- Gouge presentation, axial pitch 0 degrees, shaft horizontal on tool rest. Before commencing this cut however, Raed first made a 6 mm deep cut to support the bevel when starting the interior finishing cut. Using this cut Read achieved a very smooth interior surface of the bowl.

All in all it was a very well executed and interesting demo. Thank you Raed.

Note
Further information about:
How to sharpen the Ellsworth Signature Gouge,
Detailed information on the various cuts with the Ellsworth Signature Gouge can be found in the “Ellsworth on Woodturning Book” held in our Library. (Book # 194)