Archive for the ‘The NWG’

Sharpening And Hollowing At The NWGMay 13, 2008

We were treated to two great presentations last night at this months Nova Woodturners Guild meeting. The first was a sharpening presentation by Don Moore and the second was an information session on hollow turning by Dave Wilkins.

Don began the evening showing us the various facets of correctly sharpening our woodturning tools. Some of the information he imparted (and/or reminded us of) included:

  • Sharpen scrapers upside down. This automatically creates a burr on the top edge.
  • Keep the grinder wheels dressed.
  • Mark the full breadth of the tool edge with a marker. This not only helps in setup but will show any areas that the grinder may be missing.
  • Round the bottom edges of the scraper to ease movement across the toolrest.
  • Remove some of the heel on the scraper to facilitate getting into bowl corners.
  • Add a piece of leather to your grinder station for quick honing.

    He also showed, and told the benefits of, the grind he uses on his skew chisel. He grinds the first half at the standard 70 degrees and then curves the second half. This differs from the standard full 70 degree grind and the full curved grind.

    Dave began his presentation with an explanation on how he created two different hollow forms. The first was a ‘bottomless bowl’ and the other, that can be best described as a wheel, had two openings, top and bottom. In addition to the challenge of turning these pieces there were obvious mounting issues.

    Dave followed this with an explanation of the use of some of the chisels in the Kelton line of woodturning tools as well as performed a live demonstration of these tools on a small hollow vessel. This was followed by a short Q & A session while several members tried their hand at using these tools.

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    Woodturning Spindles At The NWGApr 22, 2008

    This month’s meeting of the Nova Woodturner’s Guild was another fun and informative gathering for approximately 40 members. We were treated to an instructional segment on spindle turning and a ’show and tell’ of some great work by the Guild members.

    Dave Wilkins conducted the spindle turning instruction, demonstrating the use of the skew and spindle gouge.

    Woodturning Spindles At The NWG

    Working with just a scrap piece of wood, he turned it round and demonstrated the proper use of these two woodturning tools. Working with the skew he showed how the peeling cut can be used to remove a lot of material quickly and how the planing cut is used to smooth. He spoke of the ideal position of the skew on the wood, where using the middle of the blade is preferred. He validated this by showing us the riving action caused by using the heel of the blade and how using the toe easily causes a ‘catch’, the bane of the skew.

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    From The Forest To The LatheMar 18, 2008

    We had another great presentation from master woodturner Don Moore at this month’s Nova Woodturner’s Guild meeting. His talk was on cutting bowl blanks from logs. He shared his experiences with tips, anecdotes and his usual light-hearted humor and banter.

    Don Moore

    I mentioned in a past post about Don that he owns, and lives on, a 450 acre woodlot. This has given him the opportunity to farm and cultivate his own wood ‘from the ground up’ and the experience needed to create quality wood for woodturning.

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    A Bouquet Of Wooden FlowersFeb 18, 2008

    This month’s meeting of the Nova Woodturner’s Guild featured a presentation by Guild member Stuart Taylor who demonstrated how he creates his works of art that he simply calls ‘turned flowers’.

    Stuart Taylor

    Working with a branch of wet wood he deftly created a unique, one-piece turning of a wooden flower. The wet wood allows the turning of the slender stem, along with a lot of skill. :)
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    2007 NWG Woodturning CompetitionJan 26, 2008

    This months meeting of the Nova Woodturner’s Guild was held at Lee Valley and was the awards ceremony of the 2007 Woodturning Competition.

    The Nova Woodturner’s Guild Woodturning Competition is held each year with the People’s Choice award being the Warman Castle Memorial trophy. The trophy is in memory of Warman Castle, who was a longtime member of the NWG and passed away a few years ago.

    There were a total of 54 entries this year and all of them were astounding! Here, have a look:
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    Tips On Lathe And Woodturning SafetyDec 10, 2007

    The theme of the December meeting of the Nova Woodturner’s Guild was lathe and woodturning safety.

    Ken Parsons, an experienced woodworker and wood turner who has been practicing his craft for over forty years, was the guest speaker. An expert in woodworking and cabinet making Ken also does custom production work in both spindle and face plate turning. He has learned a lot about safety in woodturning, often the hard way… as most of us do, unfortunately.

    Ken covered a wide range of issues from toxicity in wood to proper clothing and various safety guidelines like:

    1. Always wear a facemask when turning.
    2. Keep the guards on your grinder.
    3. Always use a dustmask when sanding.
    4. Stand to the side when starting your lathe.
    5. Ensure tightening tools are removed when starting your lathe.
    6. Blow sawdust out of equipment, electrical outlets and heaters

    This was a general talk that served as a reminder of the importance of safety in the workshop, something that we can never get enough of. :)

    Back to the shop…

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    Some Tips On Maintaining Your LatheNov 19, 2007

    Tonight’s Nova Woodturner’s Guild meeting was on Lathe Maintenance and woodturner Don Moore gave us lots of tips!

    Woodturner Don Moore

    1. Use a silicon spray on the lathe ways for ease of banjo adjustment.

    2. File your toolrest smooth with a file and then sand with a fine emery paper to ease tool movement.

    3. Round the edges of the skew. This will help when rolling over the tool when making beads, etc.
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    Sorby Tool DemonstrationOct 23, 2007

    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.

    Clive Owen - Sorby Tools

    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.
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