With my recent increase in interest towards woodturning I figured I needed some quality tools so today I picked up a 3/4″ roughing gouge made by Henry Taylor Tools Ltd. of Sheffield England.

The roughing gouges is used to “rough” square stock into round and shape shallow curves. Used with a slicing cut, it can also give an excellent finish like that produced by the skew.

The 3/4″ gouge is 16-3/4″ long overall with a 7″ blade and forged from a solid HSS (high speed steel) bar.

Back to the shop…

Here’s a couple of photos of the bowl I turned at the Beginning Woodturning course yesterday.

The bowl is made of maple and finished in a beeswax and boiled linseed mixture. The wood was still a bit wet when it was turned so you can see where it went out of round a bit since being turned. I think it added to it.

Continue reading 'My First Turned Bowl'

The sharpening course was followed up with a 2 day Beginning Woodturning course, again at Lee Valley and again with Stephen Zwirling.

The course outline stated “This seminar will provide participants with an understanding of the materials used in woodturning (wood and steel, and their interaction), leading to better, more trouble-free turning. Stephen Zwerling will present the material via lecture, demonstration, and discussion. It is a hands-on workshop for participants to develop solid, basic woodturning skills. Aimed at beginners, it can also be invaluable to those who need to learn theory and techniques to help them overcome difficulties or gaps in their technical skills.”

Why I decided to take the course was two-fold. Obviously I wanted the instruction that I hoped to gain from this course but more importantly, as I wrote about earlier, I was still being hauled into woodturning reluctantly (sort of :)) and I figured by getting proper instruction will allow me to make a more informed decision whether I wanted to invest more time and money into it.

The first morning was filled with woodturning theory that included the traits of wood including moisture content issues and grain considerations. This was followed by tool characteristics and use.
Continue reading 'Beginning Woodturning Course'

Today I went to a Lee Valley woodturning tool sharpening seminar hosted by local woodturner Stephen Zwerling.

Stephen is a founding member of the Nova Woodturner’s Guild and he creates both functional and decorative wood turnings including bowls and thin-walled vessels as a professional turner. His work is turned from native hardwoods and burls from his studio located in a 200 year old renovated barn at his home overlooking St. Margaret’s Bay, forty minutes south of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The session started off with tool sharpening theory and followed with hands-on practice using the Oneway Wolverine sharpening system.

Both the theory and practice gave an overall understanding of the sharpening process. I learned a lot. I was also thrilled to learn that sharpening woodturning tools was more tolerant than that of woodcarving tools (which I yet to master :)) and that the Wolverine jig makes it so easy.

It was a great day. Thank you, Stephen!

Back to the shop…

I went to a woodturning demo this evening hosted by Clive Owen from Robert Sorby Tools. He demonstrated a variety of tools and techniques including the Spindle Master, Texturing and Chatter tools and their Spiralling System.

Robert Sorby Tools is one of the world’s leading manufacturer of fine woodturning tools, woodcarving tools, chisels and lathe accessories. They are located in Sheffield, England.

The Spindlemaster is flat on one side and oval on the other which is supposed to make ‘dig-ins’ a thing of the past. Because of this it is quite popular with woodturners. It’s use appears to mimic both the skew and spindle gouge in it’s use.

The Texturing, Chatter and Spiraling tools offer a unique options for different decorative finishes to your work, including orange peel, striated and ribbed patterns.
Continue reading 'Sorby Tool Demonstration'

I have just added a link directory to Woodworker’s Guide. Right now this is a place to organize my woodworking links but I hope that over time it will evolve into a comprehensive listing of woodworking related links.

You can access the directory from the ‘Directory’ link on the top menu or by clicking here.

If you have any favorite links that you would like to share with others you can do that by clicking here.

Back to the shop…

The Work Sharp WS3000 is the sharpening and honing solution for the discerning woodworker and heavy hobbyist who want sharp tools quickly and easily. The WS3000 offers 3 ways to sharpen your tools: Top Side with Tool Rest, the Chisel and Plane Iron Port and the Edge-Vision Port. The WS3000 sharpens chisel and plane blades up to 2″ wide to a perfect 20°, 25°, 30° or 35° bevel angle without any set up time! It also allows you to sharpen a perfect 5° micro-bevel for even faster re-honing. The WS3000 also sharpens carving tools, lathe tools, scrapers, putty knives and more! Work Sharp uses a powerful 1/5 hp motor and produces a high torque max wheel speed of 580 RPM. Work Sharp offers an active air cooled sharpening port with routed air flow and heat sink design to quickly and easily sharpen you chisels and flat blades without overheating or damaging the steel.

Continue reading 'Work Sharp 3000 Sharpener'

Seeking to bring innovative and superior quality products to the market, Steel City proudly introduces their new 10″ Riving Knife Cabinet Saws with Granite Table Top.

The ground breaking addition to the Steel City line machines perfectly flat, will not warp or change. It is not affected by heat, cold or humidity and will not rust like traditional cast iron table tops. The heavy duty stone top helps absorb vibration making the cut smooth and blade alignment accurate. It is also virtually maintenance-free.
Continue reading 'Steel City’s Granite Top Table Saw'

With all the woodworking I’ve done over the years I never had any real interest in woodturning. It was something that just never appealed to me. I don’t know why. I never really thought about it.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine was moving into an apartment and was going to put his lathe in storage. He asked if I wanted to borrow it. “Sure, why not?”, I said. Just because I wasn’t interested in turning didn’t mean that I would turn down an offer to have a new tool around.

He delivered it one afternoon and gave me a quick lesson on how it worked. After he left I tried turning a piece and it was a ‘gawd awful’ attempt at a simple rounding. Over the next couple of years I made the occasional attempt again. It never amounted to much though, but with a lot (A LOT!) of sanding I was able to create a few candle holders, or at least that’s what I called them.
Continue reading 'The Reluctant Woodturner'

This evening I visited Halifax Specialty Hardwoods with the Atlantic Woodworkers Association for a shop tour and a demonstration on their milling process. The evening was hosted by owner Darrell Vallis and his sister Cheryl Borden.

The shop was opened in early 2006 and has since then has grown from a stock of 16 species to over 40 plus a large supply of plywoods including Baltic birch. They specialize in crown moulding, baseboards, wall trim and mantle mouldings and also stock burls, pen blanks, and preturned bowl blanks.

Continue reading 'Halifax Specialty Hardwoods Tour'