Unusual Pens

We had a pen making challenge for our September meeting, and I turned a couple of somewhat unusual pens for it. While most wood-turned pens incorporate hardware kits, with all of the metal pieces provided, I'd seen a demo some years back involving the turning of a 100% wood pen that incorporated the innards of a simple Bic stick pen. Here's the process: you drill an appropriately sized hole in the end of your blank, turn your pen, pull the innards out of the Bic, and insert them into your pen. Voila! Pretty simple, and allows for lots of variations. [If you're interested in the turning details, drop me a note.] I did two pens, of slightly different styles, both pretty long (8 1/2" and 9 1/4"). I've discovered that long pens are less likely to disappear on the desk or be mislaid. The longer of these two pens incorporates a "captive ring" (see last photo), which I turned using old dental scrapers I'd acquired from Sue, the very kind hygienist who cleans my teeth (and to whom I have since given the pen)! (Basically a captive ring is just a ring of wood turned loose, in place, from the same piece that holds it; they're a little tricky to do, at least with a tight fit.)

I didn't turn this, but I wish I had - Japanese Winged Box

Last week end I attended the Chicago Area Woodturners' three-day symposium, "Turn On! Chicago." As in 2008, it was held at the St. Mary's on the Lake Seminary campus, in Mundelein, IL - an incredibly beautiful campus setting. About 220 of us were there for a series of ten rounds of demonstrations by professional and very talented amateur turners. There were five alternative venues for each round, so there was a great deal of picking and choosing. Among the sessions I attended were three by Jimmy Clewes (originally from New Castle, England, and now Las Vegas, NV) and three with Cindy Drozda (of Boulder, CO).

At the charity auction following our Saturday night dinner, I had the good fortune to bid in the demo piece that Jimmy had turned at one of the sessions I had attended - the Japanese Winged Box shown in the photos below. He turned the base from a solid piece of cherry 10" x 4" x 2" mounted on a screw chuck and running at an incredibly fast 3200 rpm. It sounded like a close-up airplane propeller! For purposes of the demo he also made the box lid (turned from a separate block of cherry) snap-on tight, so you have to pry it off. (You wouldn't do this for a gallery piece, but this was a show-off piece for turners.) And he did all this in less than an hour and a half while talking about what he was doing and telling stories at the same time. really amazing!

I've added a link to Jimmy's web site in the links column to the left.

Cherry burl finial box

A professional turner named Cindy Drozda specializes in turning very small boxes with very delicate finials; they are exquisite. (I've added a link to her website in the "Links" list in the left margin.) My friend John Nicholson has studied the techniques she teaches, and has turned many similar boxes himself. A couple weeks ago he gave a step-by-step demonstration of this process for a small wood turners' group, and I went over to his shop to handle the video camera for him. After watching the demo I was inspired to try one myself, and these photos reflect the result. My box is not as small or delicate as the professionals', but I think it came out pretty well. The main wood is cherry burl; the rim and foot are bloodwood. This box is 2 1/8" in diameter at its widest point, and 4 5/8" tall.

Ellsworth-style birch closed form

In April David Ellsworth, one of the best and best-known professional turners in the US spent a three-day week end with our group, talking, demonstrating, teaching and critiquing. On Friday night Brent English had a reception at his Robust Lathe shop, where David showed slides and discussed his work. On Saturday, at Dave Hiller's shop, about 50 of us watched David do all-day demos of his techniques, during which time he turned a standard bowl, a natural edged bowl, and a closed-form vessel. (In the photo he's working on the last of these.) Then on Sunday he held a hands-on class for 8 turners. I attended the Friday and Saturday sessions, but could not attend Sunday's. I did, however, attempt to emulate David's technique in turning a closed-end form, and the photos below reflect my result. The piece is turned from an old birch log, and is unfinished and mostly unsanded. It is about 4" in all dimensions and fully hollowed. I've generally described the process by which this is done following the photos. I've also added a link to his studio website in the Links I Like section in the left-hand column.











Here's more than you want to know about how this is done. David's approach to turning such a piece (and the technique which I used here), is to mount the log blank lengthwise between centers on the lathe, and turn it into a cylinder of roughly the diameter of the piece you want to turn. You then turn the piece as fully round (ball-shaped) as possible, leaving only tenons on each end where the piece is held on the lathe. Then you take the piece off the lathe, turn it 90 degrees, and mount it between centers again, this time on the surface of the round ball. Then you turn off the remains of the original tenons (achieving a nearly round shape) and turn a new tenon at one end, shaped be held in a chuck. Finally, you again remnove the piece from the lathe, and remount it with the new tenon held in your chuck. Then you hollow it out! (Why do all of this? You don't have to if you want an end-grain vessel - i.e., one where the grain runs vertically from the base to the opening in the top. But the technique shown and described is used if you want the grain to run across the piece instead of up and down. Also, it's the best way to get a really round shape.)

Laminated Off-center Pendants

In February I did a demo for our turning group on how to turn laminated, off-center pendants. This process involves first, laminating together layers of the woods and veneers you want to include in your pendant and then band-sawing the blank to rough size. Then you mount the blank on the lathe glued to a wood waste block, which is mounted at an angle in your chuck. That way when you turn the block you will create a thinner side (the top) and a thicker side (the bottom). After that, you move the waste block slightly to one side in the chuck, and turn the center hole, which will be offset because you moved the block over. Make sense? If not, take a look at the photos and you'll see what I'm driving at. There are several additional pendants shown in the listings at my Etsy store. Most of these pendants are 2" to 2 1/4" in diameter. All of them are mounted on a leather necklace with a metal spring clasp.

My dougswood Etsy Store

One of the things I've done over the past few months is set up an online store on the Etsy website. Etsy provides a storefront set-up for craftspeople to sell their creations in a relatively low-overhead environment. Take a look and let me know what you think! Just click the title bar of this post and you will go to my Etsy store page. Then click your browser's back button to return here. (Or, you can click with your right mouse button to open the Etsy store page in a new window or tab, and then just close it when you're done.)

Blogging Again! Large Cedar End Grain Bowl

Since I've been away from this blog for several months I'll go back and pick up some of the things that I've done in the interim, but not necessarily in the order I did them. This first entry is one of my more recent pieces. I won a section of red cedar tree trunk at one of our club raffles, and decided to try an end grain bowl with it. As you can see from the pictures the wood is spectacularly colorful. Cedar, however, has a notorious tendency to crack, and you can also see evidence of a number of repairs which were made as the bowl was turned. This bowl measures about 9 1/2" across at the rim; 10 3/4" at its widest outside diameter; and 6 1/2" deep. It is finished with semi-gloss polyurethane and buffed.

"Trivet Pursuit" - Update

The trivets pictured in the July 5 post won the challenge at our meeting.

Exotic Tape Measures

In the Summer 2009 issue of American Woodturner (p. 28), there was an article by John Giem titled "Transform Your Tape Measure." So, of course, I set out to do so. The two smaller examples in the photos below reflect my result using the techniques described in the article, which is quite clear and complete. The technique involves the initial turning of a jig on which to mount the three component parts of the "box" as you turn them. The author's technique incorporates the tape and spring from an easily obtainable, inexpensive metal 3' tape measure, which must be carefully removed from its carrier and held "poised" in its wound-up position until you are ready to insert it into your turned piece. This, as I learned on my first try, can be an adventure!

The third tape measure in the photos - the large one - involves an approach of my own devising, which incorporates the entirety (case and all) of a four foot tape measure with a cloth tape and a retraction button on the side. In essence, I "buried" the tape measure in the three-part wooden case (well, four parts if you count the button).

The small tape measure with the light-colored sides (the one that looks like a mini-burger) is turned from spalted birch (the 'buns'), and redheart (the 'burger'); it measures about 2" across an is 1" thick. It is finished with Watco Danish Oil - Natural, followed by buffed Renaissance Wax. The sides of the other small tape measure are turned from padauk, and the center ring from hard maple; it is just over 2" across and is only 3/4" thick. It is finished with buffed Renaissance Wax only. The large tape measure has padauk for one side, and purpleheart for the other, with hard maple for the center ring. Oh, the button - which is fully functional - is also purpleheart. It measures 2 3/4" across and is 1" thick. It is also finished with buffed Renaissance Wax.

"Trivet Pursuit"

Last month at my woodturners' club one of our members demonstrated how to turn the sort of trivets depicted here. The techniques (and jigs - see below) are described in an article titled "Trivet Pursuit," by Reuben Everett, in the March 2004 issue of Wood magazine (p. 70). As is our custom, last month's demo became this month's challenge - for our July 7 meeting. The photos show what will be my entries in the challenge. The trivets are 6" in diameter. Two of them are just under 1/2" thick; the third is just over 1/4" thick. They are finished with Watco Danish Oil - Natural.

I constructed my trivets from four different woods (padauk, walnut, birch [I think] and a mystery wood [the lighter "orangish" one in the center]). The separate pieces were jointed, planed and glued together on their long sides, then re-planed. This long, flat blank was then cut into squares about 6 1/4" on each side. Then for each trivet two of the squares were glued together face-to-face, with the grain directions of the two pieces at 90 degrees to one another. After this, a miracle occurred.

Actually, the author of the article is responsible for the miracle (except for the part dependent on turning). The final photo shows the jigs (described in the article) which he devised, and which you must first construct and use in order to turn the trivets. I'll leave you to figure out how they are employed. I have some variations in mind to try when I can get around to it.

Multi-Sided Bowls

Last week I did a demo and show-and-tell on multi-sided bowls for our wood turners club. This was our first meeting in our new location (the Monona Grove HS wood shop), and was well attended. I demonstrated how to turn one type of multi-sided bowl, and did a CD/slide presentation of all three techniques. I won't go into the turning details here, but will post some examples of each style of bowl - they are very different.


The first technique involves turning the multiple sides (three to as many as you can construct) by using off-center axes, and then turning the inside and outside of the bowl proper on the center axis. Here are examples of a 3-sided cherry bowl and a 3-sided walnut plate done this way:

The second type of bowl is a three-sided bowl that is turned from a precisely cut cube of wood. (This technique can be used only to turn a three-sided bowl.) Two opposing corners of the cube are cut off with a band saw sled having very exact angles, in order to mount the blank accurately between centers, and you go from there. Here are three examples: the painted ones are cedar; the natural one is birch.

The third style also can have as many sides as you want, from three on up. In this straight-sided design, the polygon is drawn on the blank (or on a glued-on paper template) and then the sides are cut off with a saw; accurate layout and cuts are essential. The bowl is then turned, preserving the straight sides. In the examples below (both cherry), the straight sides form the rim in the 5-sided version, whereas in the 3-sided bowl the wings have been "dropped" part way down the side of the bowl, and are also curved down.