Turning is Heaven in 2011

[Harlequin]

lovely piece of elm
nice work as ever

 

[CHJ]

A little something that has been awaiting a companion for a flight back home for a little while now.

Irish Bog Oak and a bit of Hedgerow English Elm.

 

[boysie39]

it travelled well on it's journey home and will be tresured for ever.
It's a lovely piece of turning and though the pictures look great in reality
it's beautiful.
Thank you Chas. it makes an old body feel good again.

 

[loz]

Thats a wonderful piece Chas, Seeing the insert in the 3rd photos shows the workmanship involved,

Super.

Loz

Eugene - i'm officially jealous !!!

 

[boysie39]

Loz I may take it on a Nation wide tour
It's a hell of a piece.

 

[farmerboyce]

Chaz
I have been a member for some time, on mainly a "search & find" basis as i don`t feel that I have that much to contribute. But I have learnt so much by browsing this forum, and I thank everyone for that.
What I feel obligated to say, having seen your pieces, is that you inspire me, and probably others, to go that bit further and attempt the wow factor.
To be honest there are works shown on here that are outstanding in both their creativity and execution, but are bordering on artwork more than woodturning, some of which is beyond the scope of us mere mortals.
Your work however is something that (with lots of practice) can hopefully be achieved by many, in that it is beautiful in its simplicity, or maybe you make it look easy!!!! Whatever, I`m gonna have a go.
Thanks Chaz
Steve

 

[CHJ]

Steve, thank you very much, you have identified my reason for bothering to post images of my bits and pieces. If they give someone an idea or a vision they can improve on all the better.

Personally I like to keep things as simple as possible regarding design thought.
If I pick up a lump of wood nine times out of ten it dictates what I make, the only criteria being that I try and show the character of the wood to its maximum potential.
But regardless of whether it has just free flowed, my preference, or been dictated by a specific request, I have from the start been strict with myself that the finish should be the best I could achieve.

I am old enough to have had the benefit of seeing some real craftsmen producing outstanding work in facilities with no electricity and self made tools, so I'm afraid my workshop and tool selection is no more than absolutely necessary to do the job and it does not embarrass me that it is not the latest and shiniest on the block, just that it is serviced and adjusted to best of my ability.
Neither does the fact that I 'do it my way' as opposed to the approved? method, as long as it's worked safely and finished well nobody but me is any the wiser when it's left the shed.

 

[johnny.t.]

Neither does the fact that I 'do it my way' as opposed to the approved? method, as long as it's worked safely and finished well nobody but me is any the wiser when it's left the shed.

Never met a turner with any other view than this yet! :lol:

 

[wasbit]

I have to say that I agree with farmerboyce's sentiments entirely & say a big thankyou to Chaz.

Just to add one point to Chaz's reply, established turners decide on what they want to make, then go to their woodpile & select a suitable piece, whereas a lot of new turners have no such stock thus when they get a piece of wood they wonder what they can make from it.

Regards
wasbit

 

[farmerboyce]

I am old enough to have had the benefit of seeing some real craftsmen producing outstanding work in facilities with no electricity and self made tools

Chaz
please don`t tell me that you are are turning out these pieces on a pole lathe, and, if memory serves, in an odd hour here and there, :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
atb
Steve

ps to wasbit
Aint that the truth, 100%

 

[CHJ]

....please don`t tell me that you are are turning out these pieces on a pole lathe, and, if memory serves, in an odd hour here and there, :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Steve....

Not quite that basic Steve, old and thrifty on the equipment re-cycling front I may be, but long enough in the tooth not to have too many masochistic tendencies left.
I still remember the local village carpenter had a shed full of stuff running off an old lister engine via belts and an odd job guy who came round the farm in the late 40's who had a little lathe come grinding station in the back of his van driven by an old 1920's motorbike engine.

So I guess if I have to downsize to a mobile home in the future and go back somewhere near basics I could always go that route.

 

[Silverbirch]

when they get a piece of wood they wonder what they can make from it.

Yes, but that`s part of the fun! :lol:

Ian

 

[Jonzjob]

That Lister engine didn't have a lot of distance to cover from the maker did it Chas!!

I used to look after the Listers IBM computer, mainframe, for 12 or 15 years, but I was on holiday and miles away when they had their BIG fire! 'onest gov! I still have a couple of thousand of their punch cards they used to track the progress of all of their engines! Complete with the mag stipe across the bottom 8)

 

[CHJ]

That Lister engine didn't have a lot of distance to cover from the maker did it Chas!!

Guess not, although that one and all the other smaller ones we used for pumping water etc. were in Worcestershire.
One of my chores whilst playing around the farm was to make sure the single cylinder units were topped up with cooling water whilst the livestock water tanks were being filled from the brook.

There's one connected to a water pump abandoned in the corner of a field a couple of hundred yards or so from my place, I'd love to get my hands on it and re-furb but owner is quite content to let it lie there and rot.

 

[Jonzjob]

That is a great shame Chas! A rather large stick, or even better a few pints of Ulely Pigamortis may help. Just ask Chas at Uley?? If he is still brewing it for the season a couple of Oil of Uley perhaps?

There must be a way of saving such a bit of engineering?

 

[bignomis]

Chas
Up to now my visits to UK Workshop have been spent looking at "projects, tours & past mistakes" so for a change decided to look at wood turning and am so glad I did as I have found your posts so inspirational. It's not just your obvious skill and imagination but especially your willingness to share all your knowledge & techniques so openly which is a huge encouragement to those like me who would like to do more.
One thing in particular I would like to know and that is what glue do you use for glueing together components such as the individual blocks in your laminated swirl box? These seem such a good idea as it really pains me to put all my small offcuts on the woodfire.
Simon

 

[CHJ]

......One thing in particular I would like to know and that is what glue do you use for glueing together components such as the individual blocks in your laminated swirl box? ......

For the bulk of work I now use Cascamite, on some smaller items I use Cyno Acrylate (super glue)
PVA works well as far as adhesion but I find it prone to creep and joins can be felt after a period of time due to wood movement.

The only reservations I have regarding Cascamite is in its keeping qualities.
Unless you are using large quantities then it is advisable to decant it (powder) into several smaller sealed containers to reduce the air/moisture exposure.

Note: if you are contemplating closed segment work it is essential that any wood used is fully seasoned/dried, use a piece with a moisture level much above 8% and sooner or later it will split or let go its bond.
Also let any glued construction acclimatize and let the glue moisture content disperse/equalise ** before final turning.

** CA items can be turned within minutes.

 

[Linus]

Very difficult to do by hand in solid wood if you want close joints, would be far more practical and a more stable job done with veneered MDF.

It would be virtually impossible to achieve the concave surface required with a standard spindle sander, no control of the precise radius and the drum would be too flexible.
That's the only way I have come up with so far. I'm working on an alternate
jig method but jigs tend to be rather restricting on component size.

Hi Chas

I know this is an old article but did you ever sort out a jig for cutting the swirls so as to avoid sanding to shape?

Linus

 

[CHJ]

Never managed to get anything more effective than the fixed radius sanding jigs Linus, tried several methods using routers but never came up with a jig frame rigid enough to achieved a consistent glue line profile.
Had resigned myself to seeing if I could get the accuracy and consistency good enough following the CNC router build, but that project has stalled somewhat due to other commitments. Have currently resurrected it and looking at a stand alone mini win 10 computer to run it so that I don't have to keep borrowing the laptop. That way at least I will be able to leave things loaded and ready to experiment further as and when I have a moment to tune into the software.

 

[Linus]

The reason I asked is because I saw the problem and basically, being a lazy person, I thought I could shorten the process. I found a method using a bandsaw jig I have already and tried it on a piece of scrapwood, result as shown below. Do you think that is close enough?