12 October 2024 Club Meeting

The members and guest meet at the St Ignace High School Wood shop with Show & Tell items and Bring Back items for auction and for a discussion/presentation by Steve Promo on how to make a Steady Rest. Here are some of the Show & Tell items.

Archie made the three on the left.  Sheila made the Maple bowl on right.

All three of Archie's bowl, yellow hart left and two purple hart centered were finished by polishing.   Sheila's Curly Maple bowl was turned after one day of instructions and also polished.  

Two bowls brought bought in.  Left is segmented wood turned.  Right item has high light rings on the outer edge.  

A dark wood bowl with an unique lid.  

Jim Rutledge made the bowl on the upper left with a copper bottom which is sewn on.  Top right has leaves carved into it and the dark area is hand burned to add color and texture.   The small center item has artificial sinew sewn on the top to make the bowl distinctive along with side directions.  The large platter was turned and had large sections of pulpy wood and then taken and hardened with resin under vacuum.  Steve Promo's bowl lower left is thing and he gave it a dark upper edge for a stunning contrast.

There were several items brought in for the auction.  

In addition to the auction items Steve Promo brought in two boxes of wood blanks to be given away.  Thanks Steve.

Two boxes of wood like this for free.  Nice.

After the drawing and Show & Tell discussions Steve gave a talk on how to make a steady rest.

One of Steve's steady rest shown at the September meeting.

First is the video of Steve's presentation which will be followed by pictures showing the steps taken.  

Here are the pictures showing the step Steve explained.

After the presentation Steve talked about our 9 November 2024 meeting where he will demo making a laser mount for the boring bar.  Here is a short discussion on the subject.

14 September 2024 Club Meeting

At the last club meeting the members made boring bars.  So this meeting theme was use of boring bars.  Many of the members brought in their boring bars and boring bar braces to show other members.  First, there was the bring backs that people brought in to be auctioned off during the meeting.  

Roller blades for their wheels, a carving stand and wood for auction.  

The wheels from roller blade skates can be used to make a steady rest.  

More wood and a turned piece and a coffee mug were part of the bring backs.

Someone was nice enough to bring in a finished turning and a coffee mug.

Show and Tell items

Upper left is a box that looks like a basket with a crow on the lid by Jim Rutledge.  Steve Promo brought in a piece of weathered wood for Jim to mount a carved bird on and a natural edged bowl ( one of three).

Jim Rutledge's Crow on a basket.

This is a closeup of Jim Rutledge's Crow on a basket.  Note the color of the eyes to add character to the bird.  The workmanship is exquisite.  Another wonderful piece by Jim.  
  

Two more of Steve Promo's natural edge bowls.

Archie brought in two more of his walnut bowls.

Last month Archie brought in several walnut boxes that he made.  He had some small pieces of branch walnut left and made these two.   Left is a natural edge bowl and right is a box.  The led was made by joining walnut sections together.  

Three tools used by Steve Promo to make 8-ft lamp posts (see video below).

Several members brought in the boring bar brace used with their boring bars.

Sam Staffan's boring bar brace with boring bar.

Sam's boring bar brace used with his short lathe.

Sam's boring bar brace is flexible.  Mounted to a half a truck rim and extensive use of clamps allow for quick changes and easy movement.  

Jim Rutledge's brace has a long slot in the base.  

Along slot in the base allows Jim to position the brace to match the swing needed for his boring project.

Another member used a angle iron for support and easy movement.  

Steve Promo's brace is made from wood he hand handy.

Steve a first use a block of wood to fasten the brace to the underside of the lathe but under pressure the block of wood split along the grain.  Thus the multi layered plywood block on the bottom.

Archie Patterson made his brace for wood left over from house construction and a large threaded rod for adjustments.  The bottom brace is from an old adjustable chair and is heavy steel.

When hollowing longer sections of wood brace is needed to keep the wood steady and thus a steady rest is needed.  Here are some members examples.

Archie Patterson's 3-wheel steady rest of MDF.

Steve Promo's 4-wheel steady rest of plywood.

Steve used a 2-wheel steady rest when turning his twenty 8-ft lamp posts.

This is not Steve's 2-wheel steady rest but an example of what one looks like.  The wheels are placed behind the work to counter cutting pressure from the front.

There were several discssions and here Steve talks about tool grinds and the edge bur. (https://youtu.be/rGUFRBGvd-I)

Here Steve explains different tool grinds and the use of a bur on the cutting edge of the grind.   Below a member discusses his boring  bar.  (https://youtu.be/3iqJ1uxkWLM)

Steve Promo discusses his two-wheel steady and the banana effect in long turnings. (https://youtu.be/-kAN_OA-qk4) 

Discussion of using a lase as a thickness guide in hollowing a wood turning.

(https://youtu.be/lDELXmS2YTs)

Here Steve discusses the making of twenty 8-ft long lamp posts that are hollow for a  power cord up the middle.

Finally Sam Staffan talks about making a chess set for his son and some of the complications he encountered.  (https://youtu.be/td94gaWQrEo)

10 August 2024 Club Meeting

 The club met at the Saint Ignace High School shop and there were many Bring Backs and Show and Tell items.  

Bring Back Items

Bring Backs included several pieces of wood that were auctioned off during the meeting.

The Complete Table Display

At the last meeting the club made boring bars and the Bring Back items showed off many items using the boring bars.  At this meeting there was a large selection of finished turnings.

Some Great Member Turnings

More Great Turnings

Two of the items held candles and on the right are two were small burls.

A Mix of Turnings from Sam.

Sam removed the plastic outside from an insulated cup and turned a wood replacement.    More great work by Sam.

Jim's Great Work

Jim showed off some more of his great work.  Several with fine carvings on top.

Maple and Birch Turnings by Archie.

A neighbour gave Archie some Walnut branches and he made several boxes with finials.   Far right is a box made from spalted Birch.  

A tapered bowl showing off the heart wood.

After the meeting Mike Obuchowski from Traverse City did a demo using the Lyle Jameison Boring Bar.  Mike works for Lyle Jameison demonstrating his tools.  

Mike Obuchowski during meeting.

During the meeting Mike gave a quick overview of his demo and answered questions.

This is the Jameison Boring Bar.

The Jameison boring bar is lighter than the bars the club made and has a replaceable boring bar.

Lyle Jameison's website is:  https://lylejamieson.com/   

Boring Bar on Lathe.

The boring bar support comes with a attachable base with adjustable heights and a wide support stabizer.  

First he made the wood round.

Turns the end flat.  

Warns not to push thru the nub.

Pushing thru the nub could cause the took to catch the upward motion of the back side of the wood and thru the tool back.

Here he is applying paraffin wax to the moving parts. 

Applying paraffin to the support bar, the boring bar and the support will make it easier to move the bar when cutting.

Using a gouge as a scrapper.

Using a gouge without a handle he using it as a scrapper to smooth out the outer surface.

Using a hand held drill to open the center.

Setup to start hollowing.

Note the laser mounted over head used to mark the thickness of the material.

Hogging out the center.

As the material is cut out he watches the laser dot indicating his thickness.   The laser is adjusted each time either the cutter is adjusted or when he is cutting on a different edge.  

Parting off the bottom.

Taking questions at the end.  

Our thanks for Mike Obuchowski for coming over from Traverse City and demonstrating the use of a boring bar and taking our many questions.