Shellac

Attendees: Paul ,Jim MacNeil ,Jim Hiltz ,Chris, Miles


Leo continued on his discussion of finishes. Everyone  had a small bowl made for this.

Leo demonstrated a large bowl blank that had "funky" spalted wood with soft spots and lots of fuzz. Usually these are nearly impossible to turn.

Solution:

Coat the wood with Shellac
Then coat with a mix of Shellac and Cabosil--thoroughly ....and wet sand it all in to penetrate
Alternatively use Bond and Cabosil or Clear Acrylic and cabosil
Let Dry

Use a fine Particle carbide cutter to turn,  taking very light cuts
The carbide scraper blades work well for this.
They need to be mounted on a tool to work
(We decided to order 10 or 20 for the group. Leo can get them from England)

The result is spectacular--wood turns very smoothly
You can salvage very bad pieces using this technique

Sand off a shellac finish using Methyl Hydrate on the sand paper (wet sand )

Using  a clear Acrylic coat on bare wood (2 coats) before staining gives a very nice effect and avoids excess end grain uptake

Leo went over the dry brushing technique of applying stain

Leo showed us several home made scrapers he made using the carbide blades

Tip:  Paint can rims become clogged with the paint and as soon as you try  to get the cover back on, the groove in the rim of the can is filled with the paint.

Solution:  Turn a wooden rim with a lip that fits into the groove in the top of the can and  tapered downward towards the inside of the can so you can squeeze off the excess paint.
When you are finished, remove the wood lid and replace the metal one into the now clean groove

Next session we will be doing a spray on finish using the airbrush ( instead of using a brush to put the finish on)

spalted blank

scraper

stain sample

Staining applied to shellac,bond one coat, bond 2 coats, raw wood.The 2 coat bond seemed to give the best result 

Use rubber wine cork for the stop on the chuck accessory jaws (Jm Hiltz idea)

Wood lid in place while using the paint can

remove the wood lid and replace the metal one into the clean groove!

Minutes Mar 2/2010

Wilson, Paul, J MacLean, Rick, Chris, Lawrence, J Hiltz

Paul brought several turnings for discussion. Sadly, the others had nothing to show!


Leo discussed the properties of carbide cutters. For wood, the edges have to be razor sharp. For metal, they have to be slightly rounded.

To slightly enlarge a hole drilled into metal (or wood),(eg 1/4 inch hole) use a slightly larger diameter, cheap carbide drill bit like the ones used for concrete drilling. Grind off the sides on a green stone to make a bit ever so slightly larger than the original hole you drilled into the piece.

Leo continued work on the bowl project: inside, reverse turning.

Several sanding devices were discussed and demonstrated:

The clothespin glued to a stick is used to grasp a strip of sandpaper, which is wrapped around the strip to allow one to enter the bowl easily and safely. Contours can be made to the strip and weather stripping can be used to create soft surfaces.
A sanding disc is easily made from a bolt (threaded left-handed) which captures several pieces of sand paper. The bolt is screwed onto a circular disc eg. plywood, onto which sand paper is glued.

Leo demontrated how Minwax wood conditioner will soak into a piece of wood very rapidly and stabilize it for even staining. It works well on cherry. It can toughten the wood fibers so that a piece with a soft area might be hardened up over a few weeks. (spalted wood eg). Some experimentation is needed here.

Mar2/10 Meeting