Table of contents for Fall 2013 in Woodworker's Journal

Woodturning might just be the perfect baby-boomer woodworking niche. It’s fun and relatively easy, doesn’t take a bunch of room, and you don’t need a big pile of money to get started. And here is the kicker: you can turn a project, from start to finish (you know, the kind you wipe on) in an evening! Even more complex turning projects don’t take as long to make as a big piece of furniture does. Think of it as “instant gratification” woodworking. We here at Woodworker’s Journal know that there are many woodworkers who are interested in woodturning, but they have yet to make the move (or more likely, moves) to begin turning. While there are probably lots of good reasons why you may not be ready to jump into the…

Fortunately, I’ve survived my “misapplied knowledge” events, mostly intact. I would like to share some easily misunderstood woodturning concepts with the hope of decreasing confusion and adding to your enjoyment and safety. Some of these misunderstandings result from the plethora of new turning items currently available. Many new gadgets are excellent, but if you don’t take time to understand their proper use, they’ll cause problems. Faceshields and Goggles I wish I could decree that no lathe would start until the operator is wearing a face shield! Goggles are for preventing splinters from entering someone’s eye. A 9" bowl, spinning at 2,000 rpm, is much larger than a splinter. If it, or some portion of it, flies off the lathe, it will smash your face. Enough said? Tool-rest Height Confusion The…

PVC pipe for this project’s plastic cylinder will be easy to find at your local hardware store. The wood for the top and base is probably already lying around your shop. USING THE PATTY PRESS 1. Prepare your ground meat mixture using your favorite recipe. 2. Place the cylinder loosely onto the tenon on the base. 3. Spoon meat mixture into cylinder. You may need to adjust the amount to achieve desired patty thickness. 4. Using a twisting motion with the top, compress the meat into the press. 5. Using a twisting motion to break surface tension, lift and remove the top. 6. Remove the cylinder from the base, leaving the patty in place. 7. The patty will usually adhere to the base, which will allow you to move it…

In their drive for the perfect art form, bowl turners are constantly experimenting with shape. This can range from entirely functional to pure art that is not very usable at all. An artistic technique that I really like is carving designs into the outside or rim of a bowl. You do not have to be an “artist” to do this sort of carving, you just need to be able to lay out a pencil grid and to tap a gouge with a mallet. Carving breaks the absolutely circular nature of a turning, lending pattern, texture and beauty to the finished vessel. It does not require many fancy tools, carving patterns or textures; all you need is a gouge or two, a veining tool and a mallet. (The mallet you can…

Our editor in chief, Rob Johnstone, suggested to me that an article on turning a Japanese kendama game would be fun for all. This child’s game is pure spindle turning ("child" being defined as anyone from nine to 92 years of age in the case of this addicting game). A variation on the age-old ball-and-cup toy, the player uses the ken (handle) to capture the wood dama (ball) attached to it by a string in one of four ways. There are two cups, one larger and one smaller, attached to the ken at right angles. There is a third cup in the base of the ken that is still smaller. Finally, the ball may be captured on the spike at the business end of the ken. The ball has a…

When it comes to “quick and easy” gifts, turners have an advantage over most woodworkers. This simple project can be “turned out” in an afternoon or evening, and it lends itself to production work. The “Counter Cat” is a great cook’s companion, holding those recipes and instructions above any spills or splatters that hit the countertop. Once you get all the steps set up, you’ll find you can make a half dozen of these gifts in a day. Aside from turning, the skills necessary to complete one of these projects are pretty basic. Get started by selecting the wood you want to use: a 2" x 2" x 6" blank for the body and a 2" x 2" x 4" scrap for the head. Creating the Body Mount the body…

When my son Dan turned 21 years old, I couldn’t buy him that Honda Ridgeline pickup he wanted, so I decided to do the next best thing: I made him his very own bottle opener in his college team colors. What more could a young man want?! Supplies You Will Need This bottle opener project can be created in less than a day, but first it requires the purchase of a metal bottle opener gadget. These can be obtained from various turning supply companies or through Rockler (item 44185; rockler.com). Wood Selection Select a solid piece of hardwood, with strength to the grain and preferably with a nice grain pattern. I hereby give you permission to shop for lumber! For Dan’s opener, I used a chunk of ash, 6" long…

For those of you who don’t yet own a lathe, this guide will help to answer questions you may not even know you have. The main point to remember is to go ahead and buy a lathe. Don’t be afraid to take the plunge: your first lathe will train you. Besides, most of us will own more than one lathe in our lifetimes. The first lathe is often a “starter” lathe; the second is the one you won’t want to share with others! Counting the Cost Lathes are priced from a few hundred dollars to more than seven thousand dollars. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for. More expensive lathes are heavier, they run true, and they are machined so that the parts work and move easily. They are…

I just can’t deny it - I am an instant gratification sort of woodworker. So, when I am looking for a clear finish on my turned pieces - and I predominantly turn bowls - I almost always reach for a friction polish. They are easy to apply, build up quickly and look great. What’s a Friction Polish? A friction polish is designed to be applied to wood and then burnished to make the product flow - to be smoothed out over the prepared surface. Burnishing (rubbing vigorously with a cloth or piece of ultra-fine steel wool) can be hard work on a flat piece of wood. But it’s pretty easy if the wood is spinning on a lathe. For that reason, friction polish is a real favorite for turners. Common…

“Just grab a piece of black pipe, take it to the grinder and practice putting an edge on it!” is the advice a turning expert gave to his new-to-turning daughter. He said it to address one of the issues a person must confront when they begin turning. Sharpening a flat edge like a chisel (or a skew) is not difficult to master, but when it comes to sharpening curved edges, like the ones you find on the gouges and scrapers, it’s a different story. And, while some folks can master the “freehand” method, others, like yours truly, need a bit of an assist. The good news is there is plenty of help out there. Is Your Grinding Wheel Well-Dressed? Dressing a grinding wheel refers to the process of removing the…

Like recipes, turning projects have an organic quality to them. Most are best presented as ideas so each turner can make changes to suit a project to his or her own tastes. Our salt and pepper set is a good example. If you enjoy contemporary tableware, these shapes will blend right in with that look. You can follow the Full-size Drawings on page 56 to make exact duplicates, or take off with your own ideas to create a unique style. The construction of the salt shaker includes a useful ring joint that you may want to try out on other sectional designs like candlestick holders, vases or vessels that are made with separate pieces of wood. Making the Pepper Mill The first thing you should take care of before starting…

Start with a piece of wood slightly bigger than the ball. Since we want a 211/4"-diameter ball, start with a 231/4" square billet that is about 311/4" long. Mount it between centers and turn it to a 211/4" cylinder (see Fig. 1). Make a jam chuck by screwing the 4" square by 511/2" billet to a faceplate. Turn it to a cylinder, face the exposed end flat and drill a 1/2"- diameter hole through it (see Fig. 2). The hole will facilitate getting a knockout bar through from the headstock to eject the work. Using a scraper, scrape a 211/4"-diameter opening that tapers inward at about a 3-degree angle (see Figures 3 and 4). This is about the same taper as the Morse tapers in your lathe. I use an…

The term Shaker is sometimes seen as denoting a furniture period, like Queen Anne or Chippendale, but although Shaker furniture making is a genre built to a set of aesthetic principles identifiably different than those of other genres of furniture making, the Shaker genre is not based, even loosely, on a historical period. Shaker furniture making existed outside American furniture periods, running sometimes concurrently with them, sometimes trailing well after the fact. Nevertheless, like the country furniture tradition in which it is most deeply rooted, Shaker furniture making drew deeply from the high-style period furniture made in the American urban centers, borrowing forms and design motifs, translating them in the light of the Shaker aesthetic. Shaker tables, for example, often exhibit straight leg tapers much like Hepplewhite tables of the…

Q I am new to the art and pleasures of woodturning and recently wondered about the safety of using leather gloves while working on a lathe. This thought came to me after my bowl gouge got a catch on a walnut blank. The blank shattered and a rather large splinter sliced right through the underside of my hand. Afterwards, as I wondered about what I could have done differently to protect myself, I realized that I’ve never seen anyone marketing gloves for this purpose or seen anyone who uses gloves while turning on a lathe. Is it a safe practice to use leather gloves while roughing out or turning a blank, or am I being too much of a wuss? Rose Gehring Beech Grove, Indiana A Your concern is well-founded.…

About 35 years ago, a young turner named David Ellsworth moved to our Pennsylvania neighborhood. He was a rising star in the woodturning world, known for his delicate “hollowform” vessels — as light as a feather, with walls as thin as 1/8" and just one small hole at the top. I was mystified as to how anyone could remove all that wood through such a small entry hole. The secret, it turns out, was the combination of specialized tools and techniques that David had devised — straight tools for plunging into the center of a vessel and bent tools of various curvatures for excavating the rest of the interior. As I discovered for myself, the actual hollowing process is not as difficult as it might seem. There’s definitely a learning…

SHOPPING LIST • Pen mandrel with bushings • Pen blank you cut or buy • 7mm carbide brad-point drill bit • 7mm pen kit • CA (cyanoacrylate) adhesive • Finishing supplies I turned my first pen about eight years ago when I took the very pen turning class I now teach. I’ve been hooked on turning ever since. Making pens is a great introduction to basic spindle turning. Turning your own pens results in beautiful, custom, no-two-alike masterpieces that make great gifts, each having their own character and charm. What a great excuse to sneak out to the shop for a little fun. There are a few specialized pen-turning tools you’ll need to get started: check out the Shopping List, previous page. Key among the products is a pen turning…

Turning green wood is a wet and wild adventure, but there are pitfalls to be avoided when working with or acquiring it. In this article, I will provide background information about preparing, storing and working with freshly cut wood so that you will have better success with nature’s bounty. Green wood is wood that has not yet been dried. It’s actually not green in color, but rather not yet seasoned by either kiln-drying or air-drying. It can range in wetness from dripping wet (cut in springtime) to only slightly wet (cut in fall or winter). This “free” wood can come your way throughout the year, so it’s best to understand how to effectively deal with what ends up littering your driveway or overtaking your shop. Air-dried wood is much nicer…

Prior to World War II, most fishing plugs were made of wood, and even today most consider the wooden Rapala the world’s most effective lure. But can an average woodworker make wooden lures and thus combine two hobbies? The answer is yes! With minimal turning skills and an eye on design, you can make your own topwater, floating and sinking plugs at pennies on the dollar and in sizes from 1/2" fly rod plugs and poppers up to 10" surf and saltwater or even muskie plugs. Add to those advantages that your finely crafted plugs can be hand-tuned and tested to maximize your catch. Shape and Design Factors Check your local tackle shops for one of the two massive volumes of “Fishing Lure Collectibles” by Beany and Dudley Murphy, and…

Turned eggs are a terrific project to hone your skills at woodturning and for using up small pieces of wood. Here’s how you can finally make something special out of that chunk of highly figured hardwood that’s been gathering dust in the far corner of your shop. A turned egg appears rather simple to make, but getting the curves and shape right can be a challenge. It’s a fun challenge, however, and once you get the hang of it, you will discover that other turning projects are much easier. Shape of an Egg The most important thing to know when turning an egg is that there are no flat areas. Eggs are continuously curved. They may be round — some owl eggs are. Guinea hen eggs are nicely round on…

This is my second holiday season as a woodturner, and I’ve “graduated” from making gifts of pens and bottle openers to bowls. And, like many woodturners, I’ve been searching for a good way to clean up, sand and finish the bottoms of my bowls. Jam chucks, Cole Jaw sets and the strapping tape/faceplate method may be generally accepted practices, but once I ran across this bowl chuck (also referred to as a Longworth Chuck, after its inventor), I knew it was just the ticket. It is similar in concept to a set of Cole Jaws: rubber bumpers provide outside or inside force to the walls of a bowl, exposing its bottom and holding it secure on the lathe for light cutting, sanding and finishing. Instead of using a scroll chuck’s…

Inexpensive Calipers One reader has been successfully using the simple homemade calipers shown above for many years now. The calipers are made from scraps of plastic laminate. Just lay out the required opening on a scrap piece, then use the table saw and miter gauge to nibble away the waste between the layout lines. The calipers are very accurate, they keep their shape if you happen to drop them and, being thin, they fit into the smallest gaps on virtually any spindle turning. Best of all, your homemade calipers don’t cost a dime if you have a few scraps of laminate left over from another project. One additional note: it’s important to make the saw cuts deep enough so the caliper can reach past the middle of the turning without…