Paul, J Hiltz, Miles, Chris

We spent the night  studying some blanks that Miles had brought and one of Jim's as well
Leo designed a way to cut the blanks and mount them on the lathe so as to turn the inside without disturbing the outside bark .

Attendance: Jim Maclean, Jim Hiltz, Rick, Chris, Paul, Robert
http://www.wood-database.com/

The link is for wood identification: excellent site



Leo has developed an idea to make a lathe that has the ability to counterbalance heavy blanks for turning.

He will attach an arm mechanism to the back of the headstock with weights than can slide to and from the center so that the blank will turn balanced.

He has yet to build the machine.

Rick has just about finished the big bowl and Leo demonstrated how to get the bump out of the bottom of the bowl using the cross slide.

Paul used the chain saw to gouge out the center of the large burl and then the gouge and mallet to shape the recess better. Rick brought along his accessory for the angle grinder which makes short work of grinding out wood in a big bowl like Paul  is working on.

Bowl challenges

Miles, Paul, Chris, Jim MacLean and
 and Rick were in attendance

Rick  finished up turning the large bowl
Paul mounted a medium spruce bowl and did the outside turning

Miles brought in a segmented style bowl project that he is assembling

Bowl Woes

Rick and Paul were the only attendees
Regrets: Mr. Caldwell, Mr. Martel

Some discussion on whether we should suspend membership for Misters  Hiltz and MacLean and Miles MacDonald. We finally agreed on giving them a second chance to redeem themselves but if they don't show for next meeting ,woe betide them!

Rick continues work on a big bowl using the bowl lathe. Leo adjusted the rollers-trued   them up
Leo has completed a lovely, stylistic, tall vase using a silver inlay (aluminum actually)
(Photos available later)


Paul brought a small vase that was gold painted which Leo liked
Paul had a large bowl that had lots of epoxy fill and uses a sharp scraper to clean up the outside  and remove the epoxy. Since the bowl was laying around the shape altered a little and a 3-jaw chuck will be needed to mount it for turning the inside. The outside is all finished

Leo Advised spraying on a good shellac coat BEFORE filing in with epoxy

Robert is working on making his own musical instrument using discarded hard drives, fiddle strings   and sundry other parts...very mysterious but he seems to think it will work.

Paul's Gold painted piece

Paul's vase: Black acrylic paint/whiting  mix; overpainted with a gold sparkle and then shellac

Big Bowls

Rick, Jim Hiltz, Jim MacLean, Chris, Miles, Paul

Leo spoke about indexing on the lathe.
To index an odd number eg 11 divisions:  wrap a paper tape around the perimeter of the chuck and mark the exact circumference
Then place the same tape down on a surface
Measure the length of the tape start to the marked area.
Divide this measurement by 11 to get can approximate division
Use dividers to mark off the divisions and adjust the divider repeatedly so as  you get exactly 11 even divisions

This is easy and fast to do
Jim Hiltz mounted his large bowl and proceeded to hand turn the outside-a slow laborious process

Leo helped Paul figure out where to place dowels in his uneven blank so as to be able to mount it on the lathe

Big Bowls !

Rick, Him Hiltz, Miles, Chris, Paul

Some People brought in large blanks for turning.

Leo discussed the various paints: House paint vs Artists Craft paint vs Airbrush paints.
The differences is in the size of the pigment granules which matter as to whether the lines get blocked up in the spray gun.

If you paint using the whiting/bond/paint approach, be sure to start the sanding with coarse grain paper or the result  is a finish that is uneven

Leo demonstrated a simple jig for drilling  a log on the drill press: see photos. The jig is usable as a small stool as well!

Leo demonstrated how to use a jig on the lathe to drill angled holes at even distributions (indexed)

Rick mounted his large bowl using the spider chuck but it was too big for the machining jig-he has to start it using  hand power and a big gouge

Leos'Ammonia finished bowls

Jig to find leg height

Drill press jig-Blank is screwed on from top

Angle drilling using lathe and indexer

Ricks Bowl

Drilling on lathe

Potpourri

Paul, Jim MacLean, Jim Hiltz, Rick, Chris and Miles


Leo did some explaining of techniques for surfacing wood prior to painting:

Shellac + whiting mixed into a paste (add a little yellow core, or other pigment (don't use Tempra)) can be applied to the wood, evened out, then let dry.
(Whiting is sifted lime stone)

Then sand it down.  Use coarse paper  to wet sand with methyl hydrate--this takes  the high thick layer off quickly.
Continue with finer grade paper until the surface is smooth
Then dry sand to the finest finish

Alternatively:
Bond + whiting
Acrylic paint thickened with whiting

The result is a hard surface that is smooth and ready for spray painting or other finish including shellac, lacquer

Leo used Behr interior enamel house paint--brown colour

If you spray the acrylic paint it has to be diluted with water very thinly so as to go through the airbrush system.

Leo showed how to polish a finish using:
sand paper up to 10000
Pumice
Rottenstone
Cerium oxide

Finally waxing with Carnuba:  rub the carnuba in using leather-a leather glove would work

CRL Cerium Oxide is a high grade optical polishing compound used to lessen and polish scratches from mirror bevels, table top edges, glass in vehicles or structures. CRL Cerium Oxide is mixed with water to form a paste or slurry. This compound has excellent suspension qualities and will not harden. Contains no zinc oxide, and meets most local disposal ordinances. This Cerium Oxide Compound can be used with a hand pad for light surface cleanup, powered hand devices for scratch and surface repair, mechanized scrubbers in mirror silvering lines, or as the final polishing step in multi-stage edging and beveling equipment.

Leo suggested we all do a small bowl or vase so as we can practice this paint finishing technique.

We agreed to bring large blanks next session for bowl turning on the bowl lathe.

November 10 Notes

In attendance: Jim Hiltz, Jim MacLean, Chris, Rick

Leo tip: use dividers to mark equal distances. You adjust them as necessary to achieve this. As well, it is a good idea to have an extra set with one of the legs bent inward . This makes it easier if you’re trying to divide a board in half.

Leo tip: if you’re cutting threads in wood—make your own tap by cutting a notch part way up the bolt. This helps clear the wood chips.

If shellac gets hard add methyl hydrate to it. A good mix for shellac is 3-1. If you are using a brush for shellac, you should soak it in methyl hydrate.

We brushed shellac on our bowls (inside and out) and then lightly sanded them using 400 grit. You then wipe them with a lint free painters cloth. 

Leo suggests not to use a tack cloth.When spraying a curved surface such as a bowl, use a circular motion. The spray pressure is 12lbs.

Tip:  I discovered by accident that lacquer thinner will partly dissolve and dull the finish on pens finished  with CA glue. Adding thinner into the pen makes it easier to dissemble the pen for correcting flaws.

Salad bowl finish seems to stick to shellac and vice versa

Wonders of Shellac

Attendance: Paul, Miles, Chris, Him Hiltz, Jim MacNeil, Rick macDonald

Everyone had a piece of wood and we practiced various methods of staining.

Various approaches can be used to get a good result:


Sanding the wood  to a fine finish is important regardless of methods used.

Coat with clear dewaxed shellac
Let dry: then begin to build layers of stain
Add a WATER based vinyl stain (Clear varnish) :  use a good brush
wait several minutes
wipe off gingerly and let dry
Coat this layer with an OIL based stain, wait a few minutes and wipe off and let dry
Repeat with the WATER based stain until the color is right

(The reason for alternating is because  adding  water based stain over a water based stained layer just results in dissolving the first layer: same for the oil based layer so alternating the Oil and Water based stains gives the best result)

Finally dry overnight and coat with clear shellac by spray gun using a low pressure

Alternatively:

Coat wood with Bond or the Vinyl first
Let dry
Coat with water-based stain;- wipe off after a few  minuted and let dry
Coat with Oil based stain;  wait a few minuted and wipe off- let dry
Re-coat with the water base stain until you get the right color

Finally spray on clear shellac after an overnight dry

Leo put  a piece of wood  immersed in water for 5 days that he had shellaced and the finish remains hard and dry!

For wood with voids:

Coat with Clear shellac
Use a shellac -cabosil mix brushed on to fill in the voids
Proceed to stain as above

Hint:  Adding a little Ammonia to a water stain  makes the stain eat into the wood better when the wood is pre-treated with the vinyl  or shellac layer: Otherwise the stain does not penetrate and will wipe off completely

Leo gave all hands a bottle of  Ammonia
Paul gave all hands a supply of Acupuncture needles.
We might find a use for them in the New year projects

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!