| September 2011 Meeting
|
|
|
Jim Nickless was kind enough to show us some of his inside out techniques for this month's demonstration. He first talked about how important it is to have pieces that are very close to identical with a cut and fit nice and tight. This is important to the strength of the glue joint as well as the finished design upon reversal. Jim only glues the last 1/4" or so with Titebond 1 for the first step and allows them to sit overnight. He also labels each end so that the right orientation of the pieces can be maintained throughout the various steps.
Once the piece is assembled and glued, Jim likes to turn his inside-out ornaments between centers. For safety reasons, he also uses zip ties (tie straps) on each end to prevent the piece from splitting when the centers are driven into each end. He usually starts by making a cove cut in the block of four (shown in the central item of the center picture below). Once he is happy with the cove shape, Jim removes the block of four pieces from the lathe and splits it apart by cutting the last 1/4" (the only sections that were previously glued) off of each end.
Jim then re-assembles the blocks by making what was the outside corner into the inside corner and gluing them together (the cove turned on the outside is now a roughly spherical opening in the center of the four blocks). Once the glue is strong, he mounts the item between centers again and shapes what will be the final outside shape. He turns it down to just short of a cylinder right away. Jim also likes to cut the excess wood off the ends before getting the middle real thin.
After the shaping the main body is to your liking, Jim suggest that hold the piece up in a 4-jaw chuck and drill 1/4" holes partially into each end using a drill chuck to accept your choice of accent finials. You can also drill a hole all the way through one end and insert decorative trees into the hollow chamber made from the same 1/4" dowel with a finial turned on the other end. One good local source for reasonably priced dowels in various woods is Bayer Wood Products.
As always, our thanks go out to Jim Nickless for sharing his experience with us!
The pictures below show some of the items brought in for the monthly President's Challenge entries and show-and-tell. Congratulations to our President's Challenge winner Tom Jones shown with his rice, coffee bean. and epoxy vase! We also had a second place winner with Ted Wilkins and his very nice little soapstone hollow form. As always, thanks to all of those that brought in items for the President's Challenge, show and tell, and those that brought in flag bases for our veterans.
Our October President's Challenge item is a turned jack-o-lantern that is preferably lighted. Ted has CA (super) glue and accelerator for sale. He has 2 oz bottles of thin, medium and thick for $6 each. He also has black glue for $8 each. Don't forget about our special challenge of turning wooden flag holders for our veterans at the Ann Arbor VA hospital. All bases should have a 3/16" hole to accept the flag. We are starting a mentoring program for our membership. If you are willing to help by fielding questions, please get in touch with Craig or Scott.
|
