Club Meeting 31 Jul 2024
Report by Roger Pye

Denise would happily toss away housekeeping in favour of woodturning. Her campervan is ready to roll complete with mini lathe to join in with any convention where there are other woodturners doing their stuff as well. No, she does not travel alone; her husband is there to do the driving and provide the meals or as time permits is out visiting the local sights.
So, this time, at her favourite SAWG Clubrooms, she elected to show us how to use other materials than just wood.

Being naturally inclined to produce items of jewellery, her choice was to make a pendant. The materials comprised a 4mm slice of pure white deer antler, together with a 4mm slice of jet-black buffalo horn. These two separate pieces were held in place face to face with double sided adhesive tape. A scroll saw was then used to cut an interesting design.

A drill press is used to drill an 8 mm hole through the joined slabs in the centre of the pendant scroll. When the two 4mm slabs were separated and one of the two pieces reversed, an exact fit is achieved. These two pieces are then permanently held in place with superglue.

With appropriate shaped blocks of wood fashioned to fit and hold the pendant centrepiece in the lathe the outer edge is carefully trimmed. Because of possible variations in thickness, a 10 mm round rubber pad is used at the tailstock.

8 mm diameter black and white infill buttons are turned-up separately about 10 mm long. Each is cut to an appropriate length for insertion in contrasting positions on the pendant.

A dense piece of mounting wood for the pendant is cut to a diameter of 60 mm. A Forstner bit of 38 mm diameter is used to cut out the initial mounting hole. The depth and final diameter are turned to get the exact fit for the pendant. The newly made disc is glued into place using medium Superglue.

A suitable “jamb-chuck” is then made for the final finishing of the new pendant. With the usual grades of sanding and polishing materials the front face of the pendant is brought up to a highly polished and smooth finish. Using the same wooden “jamb chuck”, reverse the pendant and polish the backside.

A small hole drilled through your selected top edge of the pendant will enable the fitting of a cord on which to hang the pendant around your neck.

Thank you Denise.

Club Meeting: 24 July 2024
Report by: Ian Connelly

This demo was of two of the projects the Guild does to support the community. Wig Stands are donated to Look Good Feel Better in support of those going through chemotherapy. Butterfly Boxes are in support of Child Cancer, where parents of those children that don’t survive are given a glass butterfly which is presented in a hand turned wooden box, rather than a small cardboard box.

Both of these projects have multiple project sheets.

Wig Stand
Wig Stand Shafts
Wig Stand – Ball & Vase Shaft
Wig Stand – Drunken Shaft
Wig Stand – Handshake Shaft

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

Wig Stand as turned by Dick for the Demo.

BASE

Mount blank for base between steb centres, check everything is tight, check speed is 500rpm.

With a set of calipers set to 46mm mark the spigot on the bottom of the blank, and then cut the spigot.

Remount the piece in the chuck (standard 50mm jaws). Speed up the lathe and shape the top surface.

Drill a 26mm hole for the stem, and clean up the surfaces with a sharp gouge (push cut) and sand.

Reverse into Mini Spigot Jaws and tidy up the bottom surface and sand.

HEAD

As with the base – Mount between stebs, but spigot 46mm, mount on spigot.

Because Dick was using timber with the grain running along the bed of the lathe, he was able to round the piece with the Spindle Roughing Gouge. He then cleaned up and straightened the bottom with a small bowl gouge, and sand bottom.

Drill a 26mm hole for the stem.

Mount on Mini Spigot Jaws, and shape the top. Sand the top,

STEM/SPINDLE

Mount between steb centres, round with the spindle roughing gouge.

Dick then marked up the pattern he was planning for the spindle – 14mm each end for the spigot, then a bead at each end. From the top he then marked out for a cove, another bead then a longer ogee shape.

The spigots were formed with the parting tool. The parting tool was then used to mark out the transition points of the other features.

A spindle gouge was tehn used to form the beads and the cove, and then back to the spindle roughing gouge the shape the ogee. Sand it all up.

The next process is you take it off to test fit, find your spigots are too big, put it back on to trim….

Finally you glue it together with a good wood glue, and spray it with lacquer/polyurethane or another hard finish that will not transfer to the wig.

Butterfly Box

Mount between centres, make a spigot.

Mount on the spigot – tailstock up and round the wood.

Put a spigot on the other end.

Part off the base, the lid remains in the chuck.

Clean up the lid, make a step in the edge as the lid will sit inside the box.

Mount the base in the chuck, initially hollow with a bowl gouge. Dick finished the hollowing with the Soren Berger end grain hollower. (this could be done with the square scraper)

Disk then worked on fitting the lid, tuning the size with a skew as a scraper.

Your can then tidy up the spigots using a method of your choosing.

As with always it is a pleasure to watch Dick with some wood and the chisels, always got a tip to share and demonstrates a mastery of the tools we can all aspire to.

Club demo: 3 July 2024
Report by: Ian Connelly

Kieran started the night by showing us what he was going to make, it was a spoon with a lid as designed by Guilio Marcolongo. He then talked about how useful such a device is. He then acted out scooping some sugar and walking across the room, pretending to trip. This is where his youthful enthusiasm failed and he hit the floor, the audience gasped thinking this was the end of the demo. Kieran leap up and on the show went. Fortunately all of the senior members of the club also survived the shock.

Kieran start with a blank 165 x 55 x 50, then a 20 x 50 piece was cut out of it, and a waste block glued in it place. The piece that was cut out was carefully marked to allow for realignment of grain later.

Handle end to the tailstock, he rounded to blank and added a spigot at the tailstock end.

Mounting it in a chuck he turned a sphere for the outside of the spoon bowl.

This sphere was mathematically calculated, firstly by taking the diameter of 46 and multiplying by 0.293, resulting in 13.5, this was to be the length to measure to take the first corners off. The next length was 46 multiplied by 0.1075, which gave 5mm, the length to measure to take off the four corners that were left by the last cut. Then he smoothed up the sphere. He also got out the Soren Berger designed sphere caliper which does these proportions for you.

He then proceeded to remove the bulk from the handle area. He turned a couple of timy beads by the spoon bowl, finished turning the handle. Used a wire to friction burn a couple of embellishments on the handle.

It was then sanded, and parted off.

He then talked about how to mount the spoon to allow him to hollow the bowl. The final invention he came up with (or subconsciously copied) was a cardboard tube split and put in nova spigot jaw to protect the wood.

He then turned off the waste block, and hollowed the spoon.

The lid

The piece that had been removed from the original spoon blank had bee glued to another waste block. This was mounted in 50mm jaws.

Kieran turned the wood round, faced it off and hollowed the lid of the box, making and testing the tenon of the lid was going to fit the spoon.

The then partially shaped the top and parted it off, before making a jam chuck with the remaining waste block to tidy up the lid.

It was a great demo by Kieran of one of the projects on this website that does not get made very often.

https://sawg.org.nz/sawg/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Spoon-Box-Guilio.pdf

Club Meeting: 26 Jun 2024
Report by: Ian Connelly

Terry started the demo declaring that when he searched Google to find something about the history of the rolling pin and was greeted with thousands of results. In Summary

Its origins can be traced back to ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Early versions of the rolling pin were made from materials like wood, stone, and even ceramic. These primitive tools were used not only for cooking but also for tasks such as crushing grains and spices.

Terry then presented some examples of rolling pins, and also some feedback he had received from the recipient.

First traditional bakers rolling pin – Too short, and need drilled with separate handles

French Pastry Rolling Pin – Too tapered

He then showed some other rolling pins which included half a marble/stone rolling pin

Rolling Pin 1

Terry took a long piece of wood and mounted it between steb centres.

Rounded the middle to allow the use of a steady to help remove the whip from such a long piece of timber. (plan for steady – Spindle Steady Small)

Then he used the parting tool and calipers to “gauge” the wood, to make sure the result would be consistent.

Using a skew chisel he joined the parted valleys.

A long board sander was then used to sand the rolling pin and keep it flat.

Rolling Pin 2

A short piece of wood was selected (about 350mm), again mounted between stebs. Gauged to 60mm.

Then he marked 70mm from each end, parted down to 25.4mm. Using a spindle roughing gouge he turned the handles.

Then he took a beading tool and put ribs along one of rolling pin handles as an example of how they may have been made if being used to crush oats.

A router jig also made an appearance and a couple of large grooves were cut the length of the rolling pin.

Rolling Pin 3

Terry got out a laminated piece of timber (a bud vase blank from training), and turned it a little.

For another example he used a drill jig to make holes, which he then plugged to a non-contrasting timber to give more ideas

This was to demonstrate that a rolling pin does not have to be boring. In fact you may be able to create something that gets passed down the generations or used as a feature in a kitchen.

Not sure that anything created tonight will ever make it to a kitchen, but as always Terry was full of ideas and enthusiasm which may have rubbed off on someone. The show and tell table will hopefully benefit.

Club Meeting: 19 June 2024
Report by Graeme Mackay

Dave the fast way in and efficient shaping between two centres. Using good straight matai turned at a good speed. In this demonstration an odd nail shortened the length of the pepper grinder and the demonstration was based on a modified primary measurement.

Shaping happens early using peeling cuts with a Bedan. The timber piece held by Steb centres which allows space to work around-particularly the appearance of nails. Dave noted having a plan allows for unplanned modifications.

A key. Pepper Mills are based on exact measurements for each stage, getting the correct diameter and step position. Each step always has an exact diameter with only a small amount of tolerance.

A tip amongst the exactness is that the shape of the drill allows exact judgement of length. However, he reminds to check on the type of drill any modifications to assist the continuing need for this tip.

Similarly, where flat faces or operational surfaces are working against each other, a slightly angled inwards cut assists the provision of clean working surfaces.
Dave reiterates the need to follow the steps.

Production work still requires the same set of steps and planning. Think about the job of the parting tool. Ensure that is the correct size, thickness and shape. Dave’s words: “do not rush in”, the charging in speed “always comes back to bite you”. Demonstration things come out of hiding in crucial parts of the demonstration process.

Tenons need to fit tightly. All thicknesses of parts have to allow parts otherwise and it spells splitting, cracking and unplanned embellishment. To loose and…… I think the translation of that comment will be left out. Again, similar comments to shaping; the wall thickness as to allow shaping and forming plus whatever embellishments want to be used.

Specialist tools: modified tools, chisels and jaws are useful. Taking stock and reading the plan is is required. Review the various step requirements and take time to “think” about the process.

Pepper grinders are a process requiring exactness and specific planning. Production turning process steps may produce some benefits, i.e. cutting on reverse. However, planning is always needed whether for a single grinder or a production/multiple line.

Embellishments: there are allowances that have to be made plus early decisions i.e. wall thickness. And, with laughter, embellishment events don’t just appear, or sneak up unexpectedly, rather, come forward as a result of a miss-thought or the un-availability of tools.

Installation tips: everyone has a process, Tip or tool Some are developed as part of normal installation process i.e. cutting the nibs or tabs on the main units. The most important production aspect is “asking around.” Check with others about the benefits of each process, tip or tool.

And with humour,
there is a fairly exact process,
shortcuts are earned with a long series of mistakes.

Club Meeting: 5 June 2024
Report by: Kieran Fitzgerald

Our demonstrator tonight was Bob Yandell. Bob began with an interesting introduction about the history of the mortar and pestle. These are one of the oldest tools invented by humankind, being in existence since the stone age, so over 10,000 years ago. When it was required to grind or crush seed to make food they used an indented stone as a base, and mallets of stone or wood to process their plants and other foods.

Earlier in the evening, Jim Jackson had shown us a weapon that he was gifted as a child by the Maasai people, and was deployed to bring down a lion. Bob pictured the Maasai using a wooden jar and a pole as a mortar and pestle to crush their grain.

Today the mortar and pestle are typically associated with the pharmacy profession due to their history in preparing medicines. The image of a mortar and pestle would be displayed outside the premises of pharmacy to provide a visual reference for those unable to read. They are used in chemistry to pulverize materials, used in the arts and cosmetics, and of course by chefs in the processing of seasonings.

The mortar is a simple bowl with size determined by the user and the ingredients to be ground or pulverized. It is either held in the palm of the hand or sits on the work bench.

The pestle is a simple mallet that fits inside the mortar and can be easily held in one hand. Early pestles could be up to a metre or more in length requiring two hands to hold.

Bob showed us an example of a stone mortar and pestle used for preparing seasonings. In woodturning the size and shape is a personal choice.

The Pestle

You want a hard wood. Bob’s demo pestle is olive, and he has used pohutukawa in the past. Bob joined the olive to a pohutukawa blank with a glued dowel joint, providing an attractive two tone pestle once turned to shape.

The total starting length of the blank is approx 170mm.

The blank is turned between centers with a 30mm chuck in the headstock and a steb live centre in the tailstock. Initial rounding is achieved with the spindle roughing gouge and final shape is created using skew and spindle gouges. The olive end is rounded to 25 – 28mm with a profile not to dissimilar to that of the end of the steel rules used in the club. The end is sanded smooth. The handle end reduces to 20mm, with an overall length of 95 – 100mm.

The hand end of the pestle can be a personal choice based on looks and comfort, and the grinding end should be a “fit” with the internal shape of the mortar.

The Mortar

The key elements of this simple bowl that make it suitable for a mortar are as follows:

It can be held in the palm of the hand or be stable on the bench.

It is deep enough

It has a slightly concave inside wall and a curved base/floor to retain and grind the product being processed

The wall thickness, at least 10mm, is such that it can survive the pulverizing action

The bowl material needs to be of a hard wood. Bob used olive. Pohutukawa is also suitable. Puriri is not suitable as the colour, yellow, will taint the product being processed.

The blank is 95 x 75 and mounted using a screw chuck. The spigot is 46mm x 8mm and will be turned off when the inside is complete. The external curve of the bowl is hand friendly. Remember to indicate the centre of the spigot to ease alignment for removal of the spigot.

Remount on the spigot and hollow. Wall thickness is 10mm and a slight undercut inside wall. As when turning a hollow form the shavings are caught up inside and this is what you want to happen to the product being ground/crushed. The profile of the internal base should allow even contact with the pestle. A heavy bottom is desirable.

The inside bottom of the mortar needs to have some roughness to grind herbs and spices against, so 80 grit sandpaper will suffice.

The mortar can be mounted to allow the spigot to be removed:
Against a faceplate
Using a vacuum chuck
Using the 50mm chuck in expansion if it suits.

Our thanks to Bob for demonstrating this utilitarian tool which should be both a useful and attractive adornment in every kitchen.

Club Meeting: 29 May 2024
Report by: Ian Connelly

Garry started by talking about the masking tape he was using – a thin tape used by car painters etc for laying out graphics. It allowed you to get nice flowing curved lines. The tape he was using was source from Glue Guru in Penrose.

One he had the basic layout with the thin tape he then used thicker masking tape to block out the areas he wanted to protect on the work.

He had a number of different paints and other tools that he was using

• Jacquard airbrush color – source spotlight
• Jo Sonjas iridescent paint – source Hobbyland
• Gilders Paste – Timberly
• Gilding Wax – Woodgrain NZ
• Burrs for high speed carver – Timberly, Carbatec, ‘shop at 15 Trugood Drive’
• Brushes for rotary tool – Temu

With his design Garry works on creating movement, also planning to disguise faults or cracks in the wood. Best to allow your design to work with the grain.

Garry then proceeded to mask an area on the piece. First process was to frame the area with a groove cut with a burr.

Next he used tape to mark out lines on the wood as a guide for the texturing that followed. Taking care not to leave too many flats of uncut wood.

Then once he was happy with the texture he sprayed the piece with flat black duramax paint (Bunnings). Then gilders wax was applied.

There was another piece that was also featured during the night, it went through the same processes up until the last step when Garry used the Jo Sonja’s Iridescent paints. These were applied to the same black background of duramax. These paints all look white until they are applied over the black. Only a small amount of paint was needed. Clearly Garry had a good understanding of how to blend these colours even when there was no visible difference until they were appied.

A very informative and interactive demo even when Garry had stepped in at short notice. Thanks Garry.

Club Night: 22 May 2024
Report by Graeme Mackay

The Demonstrator provided the Ideal story theme: Odell’s cousins and family. An entertaining lead into the demonstration. The story of each individual providing the substance for the project and development of an art piece for the family and its extensions.

Each individual story was carried by a type of Owl I.E. Barn Owl.
Each bird will depict a specific person or family member and their perceived main activities. All individual birds represent a person’s strongest features.

Key questions raised were.
“What do your cousins do.”
“What is their primary and visible activity.”
“What type of carving to show this activity.”
The types, sizes and shapes of the owl define the story.

The many uses: discussion moved to how things, items and common material can be used to assist the construction and fitting process. Odell’s magic box bought out a whole range of very common items that can be used in other ways i.e., painting pyramids to hold things up. Old paint loads for use as a backdrop and used as mini containers. Lighters to make limited and restricted heat sources. Lighters to use for burning and sealing ends of lashings, necklaces, and jewelry fittings. More came out of the special box; lamps using USB chargers.

Then various jigs came out. All had specialty uses that can be made into additional applications. An interesting reminder that old chisels can be reused and reshaped to bring a range of embellishments and patterns to an object or project.

Special “Owl” demonstration: The special demonstration project was directed towards the story of a well-known person and their strong and invisible features. Further, the project Owl was designed for a specific competition. Odell outlined the story that directed the carving and explained about the project process produced a continuous flow of spirit and awareness. All within the watchful eye of the specified Owl.

All the key features of the person were viewed with a discussion about their carving embellishments and adaptations. There was a range of considerations such as planning the individual colours used. Each colour covered part of the story. The direction of each individual colour or set produced a different change in the embellishment provided for each section.

Amongst this process came practical examples and ways of getting a project going. All very simple. A useful example was keeping the paint and/or embellishment material from the same brand. Avoid unnecessary conflicts.

All the pieces: ODell emphasised the planning and working out the structural and strengths requirements of the individual parts and overall. Specialist fittings have to be checked. Thought needs to be given to the construction process. What parts need strengthening? What is the size of embellishments and specialist fittings?

All part of a story’s progress and process.
Considering design features to identify the target story’s positive features.
All are part of the process.
All coming down to design.

Addendum

On the 29 May 2024 O’Dell presented Dick Veitch with the Owl that had been developed as a proof of concept of the Cussies theme.

Club Meeting: 15 May 2024
Report by: Ian Connelly
Photos: John Osbourne

Started with a block of Kauri (Looked about 125mm square)

Mounted between steb centres, with grain running along the bed of the lathe (spindle turning)

Rounded with a Spindle Roughing Gouge.

Used a parting tool to put a chuck bite on the bottom.

Mounted in 50mm jaws on the chuck.

Started shaping – pointed out not to make the top end too small as this needed a good opening to access the salt.

Dick then shaped the “pig nose” down to 65mm.

Started the hollowing process with a forstner bit, running at 350rpm, keep it cutting, slow speed to minimise heat.

Hollowing then continued with a bowl gouge, and a munro hollower (which did not co-operate, resulting in magic box).

Reversed the salt pig into 70mm jaws, with some plastic drain pipe that had been spilt to protect the wood.

Finished the bottom of the pig with a slightly concave base.

Next step is to take it to a sander and put a flat on a side to allow it to sit at and angle.

Some discussion about having two bases followed, and Dick’s answer was that vertically it is easier to fill, and on an angle it is easier to spoon the salt out.

Spoon

Mount blank in 50mm jaws with tail stock support.

Round with Spindle Roughing Gouge to 30mm diameter.

Make a ball on one end, this process was assisted by a piece of pipe.

Sand the outside

Shape the handle

Cut in half on a bandsaw – the square end that was in the chuck provides the support needed to do this.

Shape the handle further with the sander/bandsaw.

Dick then got out a jig that he had made to hold the spoon for hollowing that was mounted on a set of cole jaws

Another great demo from Dick, with an answer for every question that was thrown at him.

….

See project sheets for more details

Salt Pig
Spoons 2

Bonus – a photo of the reference material on Dick’s box of bits and pieces.

Club Meeting: 8 May 2024
Report by: Ian Connelly

Rocky started the evening by explaining that the origins of epoxy resins were linked to the dental industry. This set the tone for a very informative evening.

His main source of epoxy was Liquid Polymer Glass deep pour with a ratio of 2:1. He also used their Knot Filler resin for thin flood coats over the wood and resin. Here he highlighted the importance of checking the ratio of the resin you are using, as getting it wrong can have dire effects. He used a measuring cup from aliexpress that had various ratios on the side of the cup as well as indicators for different quanities. This works for resins designed to be mixed by volume, rather than by weight.

He then showed us an example board that took about 2 litres of resin.

With the slow deep pour resin Rocky had found he could mix the resin, wait an hour for the bubbles to rise, then pop them with a flame. He would then pour a thin stream into the mold to minimise the addition of further air to the mix.

When Rocky start his journey into epoxy resins he made home made molds, but found this too risky as the resin would find the smallest pinhole to escape. He then moved to using commercial molds, silicone molds which the resin releases from quite easily, although the use of a mold release product improves the lifetime of the mold and reduces the likelihood of tearing the silicone. The other molds he has are made from hdpe, and have draft on the side (an angle) that allows them to release with a twist and a tap on the bench.

Other topics covered included

• Use of a spirit level to make sure the mold was level before a pour.
• A cardboard box over the item to prevent dust (especially for items that received a flood coat).
• Painters cones to raise the board when flood coating, to it does not stick to the workbench.
• Having some small items to pour was also suggested to minimise waste of resin, Rocky makes handles for ice cream scoops
• Wood should be dry – Rocky suggests 10-12% moisture max before using with resin

Another thing that was noted is that Rocky left the ice cram scoops for 2 weeks after pouring before he would attempt to turn them.

It was a very informative night, and if somehow people failed to learn something from Rocky then they must have been sleeping.