October Meeting

Wednesday October 19, 7 pm at Bridges Church

  Program:
  Turning a lighthouse with good proportions
  by Kelly Smith

  Show & Tell

  President's challenge:
  A piece with a base smaller than the tenon used for
  chucking

  Bridges Church map

Wednesday September 21 2022
Turning bottoms - not limited by a tenon - by Bob Bley

Bob showed us various ways of completing the bottom of a bowl without having to incorporate a tenon. The bottom can be smaller tnan the original tenon. He showed us jam chucking, vacuum chucking and others, with complete coverage of the subject..

See photos of the President's challenge and Show & Tell

President's Words - Claude Godcharles

I am pleased to see so many of you visiting each other's shop, mentoring and learning together. That has to be one of the best benefits of our club. Attending meetings does expose us to each other's work, but taking it a step further and learning new techniques directly from one another, that's hard to beat!

We are approaching the end of the year, which means starting to plan our Holiday party, renewing our board of officers, make plans for next year. What do you want to see happen with our club? At the risk of sounding like a broken record (remember those?) I still see many areas where our club needs helpers in order to keep our level of activity and keep members interested. For instance, some help with the website, newsletter, professional demos, and CA glue is currently needed. If you can contribute, even just occasionally, even just a little bit, that would make life easier for those who carry all the weight to make this club function. No need to be an expert, just a willingness to help our club keep on track! Come talk to me or any of our officers at the next meeting, will you?

And don't forget to try one of Bob's techniques to free yourself from the limitations of your tenon, that is the President's challenge for this month. Our demo will be with Kelly Smith and making elegant lighthouses.

Until then,
Claude G.

"As the Wood Turns"
Grinds Grinds and more Grinds- by Dave Vannier

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a discussion of tool sharpening with several different people. When I was first learning to turn, more than 20 years ago, one of the club programs was on the ever popular subject of tool sharpening. Being very new, it was something I was still struggling with and the resulting problems associated with bad grinds. The demonstrator made a statement that the ONLY grind that was correct was one sharpened at exactly xx degrees. I can’t remember what the exact angle was, but he insisted anything else was wrong and just wouldn’t work. Being new, and having heard other things, I leaned over to one of the best turners, in my opinion, in the club and asked what angle he used. His answer stuck with me, and has always rung true. It was a simple one word answer “sharp”.

There is a saying that goes something like this: Ask 5 Woodturners a question and you will get 12 different answers. Sharpening is clear an example of this. So many professional turners use very different grinds. It would be difficult to say anyone of them is wrong, given the quality of the cuts they make and types of turnings they make. Each of them has a reason for the grind that they have chosen. This makes it difficult for new turners to not be confused, particularly since most never explain why they prefer theirs over someone else’s. Alan Batty was the first to have me be “successful” with sharpening. He didn’t use a jig, and made it pretty easy. By no means would I say I was better than fair with it, and with the onset of my tremors, I’ve given up trying to freehand sharpen. Jigs are another story. I learned how to use a jig to make an “Irish grind” that I really grew to like. Later I tried Mike Mahoney’s style. Great cuts, but difficult for me to repeat. JoHannes Michelsen demonstrated turning thin making hats and yet another grind. Next, I took a 3 day class from David Ellsworth, I learned how to use his jig and get his grind. Great cuts, easy to reproduce. Along comes Stuart Batty, and his 40/40 grind. Great finish tool, but free hand sharpening. Found a jig setup that will producing it, and I’ve been using it. Next, Glenn Lucas has a different grind, or should I say grinds. Recently, I’ve sort of settled in on using them.

Now, the result of this journey is 4 different jigs and 3 different grinders. Each grind has a use that I really like. David’s grinds has a very long wing, great for shear scraping. The old standby Irish grind has wings that let me take big cuts for roughing. JoHannes’s micro bevel reduces the bruising on thin turnings and helps get around the sharp turns of some designs. The 40/40 and Glen’s 45 degree produce very clean final cuts. Ask me about sharpening, and as you can see I’ll give you a dozen different answers. Each are right in their own way. All are sharp. I was asked if I had to settle for one, what would I pick. That is a tough question. Speed of roughing vs clean cut to minimize sanding. I hate to sand, but scrapers can help with that problem. If I remember correctly I picked clean cut, going with Glenn’s grinds. They are easy to produce, but still needs 2 gouges with different grinds. So I guess I’m cheating a little on my answer.

In the end, pick a grind you can make work for the way you turn. Make sure it is sharp. Have fun!

Dave
www.daves-turned-art.com

Letters to the Editor

Premium Metal Inlay Powder: Copper - Sokolowski Studios
https://sokolowskistudim/shop/metal-inlay-copper/
Thanks to Edgar Whipple

2022 WBW board members and committee chairs

President: Claude Godcharles
Vice President: Tom Gaston
Treasurer: Jon Bishop
Secretary: Roman Chernikov
Member at Large: Fred Colman
Meeting Program Coordinator: TBD
Visiting artist Coordinator: TBD
Anchor seal: Dennis Lillis
CA Glue: Tom Kenyon
Craft Supply:Tina Chou
Librarian: Kelly Smith
Audio Visual: Curtis Vose
Website & Newsletter: Tom Haines

click here for contact information on the above

Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.