8 Oct 22 Club Meeting

 The meeting was held at the St Ignace High School Wood Shop.  

At the start of the meeting the member describe the items they have brought in for the Show and Tell describing how they made it and any problems they encounterd. 

In this example the low right four items were brought in by Archie Patterson.  All are made from Box Elder.  The large item in the lower left blew up on Archie when he put rubber jaws on the outside of the thin lip and started to turn the bottom and there was a catch.  The stress broke the bowl and it flew apart.  The red item was Sam Steffen's vase that was to look like a pumkin and is made of resin and wood.  The small item center right is also from Sam and has a interior ring of contrasting wood for the lid to sit on. 

This item was made by Steve Promo from a block of wood brought in by Sam.  the walnut ring was added to a grove cut into the wood. 

The item on the left is from Jim Rutlidge and is the completed bowl he started at last months demo and looks like a basket.  The three items ont he right are from Steve Promo and illustrates that grouping items in sets of three to five will earn a larger price. 

 

Jim Rutlidge brought these items in.  On the left is a vase that looks like a basket weave, next in is a Spalted Ash bowl.  The boxed items Jim used in used talk. (see video belwo)

Steve Promo brought this in to illustrate how he used color to add character to his items.
 

 

This also a Bring Back time during the meeting where the club auctions off items brought in by member.   All proceeds go to the club treasury.

 

There was a large section of Walnut and a large section of hard maple that was auctioned off along with two of the Show and Tell finished items.  

 

During the meeting Jim Rutledge talked about how he did reversed center turning.  Below it a video of his comments.   View video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zopeGx3xs9Y

Steve Promo talked about the items he brought in to show the group.  View video here:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac6aJNsdPbA

 

Steve Prom did a classroom talk about cutting and turning multiple items from a slab of wood and then demonstrated the process from cutting to turning in the wood shop.  View video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s81l97CZnMo 

 

It was a great meeting with many helpful insights from the members.    A good point to remember is Spalted Wood contains a fungus that creates the pretty lines in the wood.  Wear a mask and dispose of the mask filter and all shavings and unusable scrap wood to get the fungus out of your shop.  Be Safe.

 

 

Steve Promo and Honey Locust Bowls

HWC members,

Just a reminder that we will meet this coming Saturday at the School woodshop.  Don’t forget your SHOW AND TELL pieces and BRING BACKS if you won a bring back in September, or just want to donate something to benefit our treasury.  At this time I am planning to have a meeting on November 12th at the school as well.  I will not be able to lead a meeting after November until at least April of 2023.  Just a suggestion, but I hope some of you will get together by arrangement during the winter months as there is a lot to be gained by visiting one another shops.

Last BRING BACK I won a piece of HONEY LOCUST donated by Sam Staffan.  I thought about what to make out of the firewood chunk which was about 10” in diameter, green, and very heavy.  I thought about a natural edge bowl as Sam said the bark really stays on nicely.  I decided to get a LOT of small turnings out of the log and was so pleased with how it rough turned that I drove to Mackinac City to Sams shop and he gave me two more firewood chunks.  

The multiple small hollow forms I turned from Sam’s wood were inspired by a very wide and very thick piece of MESQUITE slab wood that I got at a sawmill in Texas many years ago.  I could have made one large platter or shallow bowl from it but decided to go for a dozen smaller pieces instead.  I was just getting into selling hollow forms then so I wanted to choose a shape that was easily hollowed out with a straight round nose scraper.   (Left photo shows their orientation within the slab and right photo the finished set of three which we kept)  

I did not have a large bandsaw in Texas so I cut the blanks into vertical square cylinders with a chainsaw.  Next I batch turned them into true cylinders with bark on top between centers.  Next I bored them out with forester bits on a drilll press and glued the bottoms onto faceplated scrap blocks.  I then trued up and refined the exteriors, hollow turned the interiors, sanded and seal coated them with shellac on the lathe.  After rough turning I kept them in a cardboard box to slow evaporation and prevent cracking as I hollowed them individually.   I recall getting a dozen pieces out of that slab.  When I tried to sell them individually I was disappointed.  I later learned that THINGS IN THREES sell really well.  Now I only sell them in sets of three.  A dremel with small sanding drum was used to make the wavy rim surface.

I will demonstrate how I cut these blanks, rough turn them, and hollow them out at our meeting this Saturday.  My BRING BACK will be a set of three in HONEY LOCUST, so raid the cookie jar $ for the raffle! 😁

It would be great if one of our members could volunteer for the demo at our November 12th Meeting.  I would very much appreciate this!

See you Saturday!

Steve Promo

Current President HWC