Planing Basics: Large Vase turning:

(The Constellation Orion was beautifully  visible tonight , facing south,  right over Leo's house )

Attendance:

Lawrence Martell returns to the Fold! We welcome back the Fiddle Prince
Arno, Shawn, Keenan, Jim Hiltz, Miles, Paul, John, Rick

Leo discussed the basics of planing , explaining how the "angle of attack" is what make the difference in proper planing technique. A Jack plane can be made to act like a low angle block plane by skewing the plane at an angle. Wooden planes are superior because of their light weight and the fact that they can be tuned quickly and accurately with slight taps of a mallet. Of course a few years of practice makes perfect.

Rick worked on the bowl lathe
Unfortunately, Jim Hiltz brought the wrong chuck and had to be disqualified tonight.
Miles arrived late and his hair was in a shamble , rivalled only by Keenan's--no surprise there!
Lawrence was present but had no purpose..seemed lost, but at least he found us again!
Arno showed up having missed the last session--his excuse was  acceptable

Paul prepared the screw bolt for the large vase by painting it with Parting agent. Three coats are needed and then a coat of wax is applied to the bolt. Fill the hole part way with the epoxy/ wood dust mixture.  (You should have drilled some epoxy release holes at the edges of the main center hole).  Place the bolt in the predrilled 3 inch hole and get it as solidly and squarely perpendicular as possible using wedges.  Let it set for however long your epoxy is designed to set. Remove the bolt and coat the remaining part with parting agent. Screw the bolt back into the hole. Then fill the rest of the hole with the epoxy (Making certain that the parting agent has been well applied first).

When the blank is mounted on the lathe (using the screw bolt in the head stock), there will invariably be a wobble as it turns so that the old center (tailstock end) will not register properly with the tailstock pin.. Glue a small block of wood onto the tailstock end of the blank and use the tailstock point to get the new center of the blank so that you can start turning.

Photos demonstrate some of the points discussed tonight.


Puzzle:How was this turned?            Keenans sanding gadget for the lathe(Antique?)

Arno's identical turnings: pretty good!                                     Leo's vase

Screw chuck dropped into the 3 inch deep hole
Note that the "reduced" end of the bolt is on the outside. Note the nut assembly . Spacer makes it possible to get a wrench around the bottom and top nut separately(need both wrenches applied to lock the assembly)

Leo demonstrates how to add a block of wood to the tailstock end to get a new center. The end is pared off smoothly and a small square block glued on so as a new center can be found. He just nailed this piece of wood in place to make his point.


Have an idea of the intended shape of the vase so you can turn down a section to a small enough diameter for your steady rest.

What's Leo up to here?

Leo is cleaning up a drill attachment that Paul macerated. The mechanism was badly scored and required re-machining and we all know who is the King of Re-machining!

Reamer to drill out the scored hole

Proof of the success of the plane lessons