Something that has been bugging me for a while is where and how to store my donut chuck.  I use it often so it needs to be close to the lathe, but at just under 16″ diameter and consisting of a couple pieces 3/4″ plywood along with a heavy dedicated face plate, it is fairly bulky and heavy.  Inspiration struck me and I decided to hang it on the wall behind my lathe using a threaded wooden dowel.  The following post shows how I threaded the dowel with 1 1/4″ x 8 threads to match those on the face plate.  Thanks to Al Hockenbery for the advice he gave me on the AAW forum.

The first step was to measure the large diameter of the threads on my lathe.  Strangely enough that came to 1 1/4″.  Who would have guessed that!  Now I know why it is called a 1 1/4″ x 8 thread!

I then rounded a piece of scrap wood between centersto the same diameter, tapering one end slightly.

Then, using the faceplate that I had dedicated to my donut chuck, I cut threads in the dowel.  Tapering the end of the dowel helped a lot in getting the threads started.  I also found that reducing the overall diameter of the dowel from 1 1/4″ helped as well.  Once I had done this, screwing the dowel into the face plate and cutting the threads, was a lot easier.  Making the dowel about 8 to 10″ long also helped as it gave me a decent place to grip with both hands.  The threads did not look as good as those on a metal bolt, nor were they as deep, but they worked just fine.

Once that was done I mounted the dowel in a chuck and predrilled a hole for the screw that was going to be used to attach the dowel to the plywood.

Measured to length and parted the dowel off.

Not trusting the holding power of a screw into plywood, I put some wood glue on the back of the dowel before screwing it to the plywood partition.  I was concerned that when I unscrewed the donut chuck from it’s new resting place, that the screw holding the dowel on would unscrew from the plywood.  Here is a shot of the threaded dowel mounted.

A shot of the donut chuck screwed onto the dowel.  I made the dowel about 2 1/2″ long, giving me room to hang the front section of the donut chuck on the dowel as well.

Excited with my new threading abilities, I made some more threaded dowels, and decorated the wall with my sanding disc and my vacuum chucks as well.  I was surprised how well the wooden face plates on the vacuum chucks threaded onto the wooden threaded dowel.  They actually threaded on easier than the metal faceplate on the back of the donut chuck.   I did find that a dab of paste wax on the threads helped lubricate them.

Related posts:

1. Make a Donut Chuck
2. Center Finder
3. Chuck Reversing Adapter

Dixie Biggs offering some advice during the workshop

Prior to the workshop Dixie sent out an e-mail with a list of supplies she wanted everyone to bring to the workshop.  The list included a variety of carving burrs.  This was her basic recmmendation, all available from MDI Woodcarvers Supply:

• Stump cutter #20-B5
• Mini Stump cutter # 21-SET36
• Mini Stump cutter # 21-SET39
• Diamond cutter set #17-20SET
• Kutzalls bur #12-3F1

Not a long list, it came to around $50 with shipping, and I was pleased to find out at the workshop that this set of carving burrs would enable me to get a good start with carving.  As an aside I found the service from MDI Woodcarvers Supply to be excellent.  The burrs arrived within a couple of days and they had substituted the 12-3F1 burr, which was out of stock, with a more expensive 37-3F1Y burr for no extra charge.  There was even a hand written note explaining what they had done and telling me that if I was in Dixie’s class she was aware of the change.

The image below shows my efforts from the workshop.  As it was one of my first attempt at carving I was quite pleased with it.

Work in progress

Dixie work primarily consists of carved leaves.  To that end she has a Tupperware case of dried leaves that she uses as patterns.  She also has a case of patterns that she has transferred onto a material called Borco.  Also called Vyco board cover, it is the plastic board cover used on drafting tables and drawing boards.  It is easily cut with a pair of scissors or utility knife and is pliable so that it can be bent around the surface of a bowl while you trace the pattern onto your workpiece.  While the the Vyco has the advantage of being more durable than a dried leaf, it has the disadvantage that you are not able to observe the finer details and contours of the leaf.   A quick online search for “Vyco board cover” revealed this result.

Gene and Nancy O'Donnell carving up a storm

To get us started, Dixie provided us with some leaf templates which we traced onto our workpiece.  She then outlined the steps needed to carve the leaves.  They were as follows:

• Carve out the outline of  the two leaves.  This thin outline needs to be carved to the final depth of the leaves.  While carving the burr needs to be held so that it is cutting at 90 degrees to the surface of the piece.
• Then carve away the area around the leaves to establish the background.
• With the background of the two leaves established, you then carve the outline of where the two leaves overlap.
• Then an area of the lower leaf is carved away so that part of the lower leaf is below the level of the upper leaf.  You don’t need to carve the whole lower leaf to achieve this, just the section that is close to the upper leaf.  Note also that this carving does not go as deep as your background carving.
• If you want to show the veins of the leaves, these are now carved.  I chose not to do this.
• The two leaves are then shaped by carving their surface contours and undulations.  This is best achieved by observing an actual leaf and seeing how the contours of the leaf flow from the edges and the various veins.
• Then the surface of the leaf is smoothed and sanded using finer burrs and sandpaper.  (I did not have time to get started on this during the workshop)
• Lastly the leaves are undercut to allow them to stand out from the background.  When undercutting the stems, Dixie emphasized the importance of being careful as the stems are pretty delicate.

Yours truly engrossed in my carving

Listening to Dixie talk it became obvious that observation and procedures where important in carving.  You need to observe the leaf closely in order to replicate it while carving and the steps you follow while carving are important to the final outcome.

During the workshop Dixie provided us with a list of carving supply sources:

• Wood Carvers Supply
• MDI Woodcarvers Supply
• Treeline
• Christian J. Hummul Company
• Rio Grande (Jewelry Supplies)
• The Sanding Glove (Pfingst Micro Sander & 3M Scotch-Brite Radial Bristle Discs)
• Constantines (Paste Wood Filler)
• Crafts Supply USA (Liberon White Liming Wax & Black Patinating Wax)

The final image shows some of the pieces Dixie had in the instant gallery.  Definitely something to aspire to!

Dixie Biggs' work in the 2010 Florida Woodturning Symposium Instant Gallery

Thanks to Ed Malesky for the pictures taken during the workshop!  I was to engrossed in my work to take any pictures

Related posts:

1. 2010 Florida Woodturning Symposium
2. “Captured” hollowing system with laser

My trip started out early Friday morning.  I had to leave the house before 6am to get to the venue as I was scheduled to do a workshop with Dixie Biggs at 8:30am on Friday.  The workshop was great.  Dixie, is obviously a great teacher as well as an amazing artist.  I have just started to get into carving, my rotary carver is barely broken in yet, and was concerned that I might be “that guy” holding the rest of the class back.  Fortunately most of the class was in the same situation, although I think Dixie is more than capable of handling a class with a variety of experience levels.  There were only seven of us in the class, so we were really able to get some one on one time with Dixie.

I was also pleased that I was able to get some valuable information about what burrs to buy.  I had been doing some research and with the huge assortment available I was getting pretty confused.  I was starting to feel that if you ever think you have run out of tools to throw your money at, then you should get into power carving.  Dixie gave us a list of a dozen or so burrs to bring to the class, and it seems that this will be a good selection to get started with.

After the workshop, the demonstration rotations started.  Well, truth be told, we had lunch after the workshop and then the rotations started.  It quickly became obvious that wood turners like to eat and they like to eat often!!

The list of demonstrators that I managed to see over the weekend were as follows:

• Rudolp Lopez
• Michael Mocho
• Dale Nish
• Nick Cook
• Alan Leland
• Larry Hasiak

Al Hockenbery was also demonstrating, but I did not see him as he recently did a full day demonstration and a full day workshop for our wood turning club.

Watching a total of eight demonstrations over a 48 hour period can be a bit of information overload!  I plan on posting about some of the demonstrations over the next couple of weeks, as I process the information.  I learnt a lot and there were a number of things that I saw which left me thinking, “I have to try that!”

In between the demonstrations and all the meals, I spent plenty of time in the main auditorium area where the vendors and the instant gallery were set up.  While the vendors provided plenty of irresistible temptation, the instant gallery was a constant source of inspiration and motivation!  I’m always amazed at the talent and creativity I see from other turners.

I took plenty of pictures of the pieces that I really liked and have created an album for those not lucky enough to be there.  You can view it at this link.  I hope you enjoy the images!

Related posts:

1. Workshop with Dixie Biggs
2. Woodturning Online

The image below shows the pile of phone books which I carried to our recycle bin this morning.  Not one of these were ever opened, nor were any of them ever requested.  They were just dumped on my doorstep.

This year I resolved to do something about it.  My first instinct was to go to the source of the problem at yellowpages.com  Well, that proved a bit fruitless.  Ten to fifteen minutes of searching on their site proved that if they had an opt out option available, they didn’t want anyone to find it.

After some more searching on the internet I came across  a movement called Yellow Pages Goes Green.  Yellowpagesgoesgreen.org is an organization working to educate consumers and promote a movement to eliminate unsolicited delivery of Yellow and White Pages books.    You fill out a simple form on their site and they will contact the publishers on your behalf and inform them that you have chosen to “opt out” of delivery of the phone books.  After filling out the form you will receive an e-mail and there is a link in the e-mail which you must click on to confirm your sign up.   The service is free to you.

Looking at the pile of books that I had heading out to the recycle bin, I realized that not all of them were the Yellow Pages.  A bit more research and I found another website, Yellow Pages Opt Out.  By entering my zip code at this site I was able to get a list of publishers that distributed in my local area.  This included my local Chamber of Commerce, Yellow Book, AT & T and The Complete Phone Book.  The list also included phone numbers and e-mail addresses to contact in order to opt out.

Another large publisher of phone books is Dex.  They do not distribute in my area, but you can get opr out information by entering your zip code at Select Your Dex.

Some interesting statistics from Yellowpagesgoesgreen.org

Over 500 million of these directories are printed every year. That is nearly two books for every person in the country! These directories produce a staggering amount of waste, not only in terms of misused natural resources but also in filling of valuable landfill space.

To produce 500 million books:

• 19 million trees need to be harvested
• 1.6 billion pounds of paper are wasted
• 7.2 million barrels of oil are misspent in their processing (not including the wasted gas used for their delivery to your doorstep)
• 268,000 cubic yards of landfill are taken up
• 3.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity are squandered

The cost associated with the delivery and disposal of these books is exorbitant. Unfortunately, these unsolicited costs fall heavily on consumers. Why are we paying for something that was delivered to our homes and offices that we did not ask for?

Related posts:

1. A tour of the blog
2. What would you like to see on this blog?

A chuck reversing adapter is used to take a turning that is mounted in a chuck on the headstock and rotate it and mount it on the tail stock so that you can align or center it correctly while mounting on a vacuum chuck or donut chuck prior to finishing the bottom of the piece.  Or to put it more simply, it is a piece of metal with a morse taper on one side and a thread on the other that matches your chuck.

I normally don’t have any problems reversing a vessel with a wide rim, especially when using my donut chuck.   However, for pieces with a narrow rim, like hollow forms, I have been struggling with alignment when reversing.   The chuck reversing adapter has solved that.  The following pictures illustrate how it is used.

Here is a hollow form that I’ve finished hollowing and am now ready to reverse and finish off the bottom.  Without removing the piece from the chuck, I unscrew the chuck from the headstock and set it aside.

I then mount the back piece of my donut chuck to the headstock.  You can see in the above image that I have attached a piece of scrap wood to the center and have turned it to a cone shape.  Then I attached a couple of pieces of self adhesive fun foam.  This cone will go into the mouth of the hollow form.

I then mounted the chuck reversing adapter into the tail stock and threaded the chuck onto it.  Note, the chuck reversing adapter is not a live center!  It does not rotate in the tail stock as it has no bearings.  It is a temporary method to hold the chuck in the tail stock in alignment with the headstock.  Don’t start the lathe with it in place, you’ll ruin your whole day!

The tail stock was then slid forward till the workpiece was almost touching the donut chuck.  Then I locked the tail stock in place and advanced the spindle using the hand wheel until the workpiece was snug against the donut chuck, taking care not to crush it.  The front piece of the donut chuck was then secured in place with the bolts.

I then loosened the chuck on the tenon of the hollow form, and withdrew the tail stock.  The donut chuck held the piece securely and correctly aligned.

I then put a live center in the tail stock and brought it up to the work piece in order to turn the bulk of the tenon off, leaving just a small nub.  It’s a good practice to support the work piece whenever you can using the tail stock.

The last little nub was removed with the tail stock out of the way and then the bottom of the piece was sanded.

Related posts:

1. Make a Donut Chuck
2. Vacuum Chuck
3. Center Finder

I have a set of forstner bits and they go from 1/4″ to 2 1/8″ diameter, in 1/8″ increments.  I figured that while I was busy making the gauge, I might as well go ahead and include all these diameters.

I used a piece of 1/4″ hardboard.  It was thicker than my parting tool, so I ran it through my drum sander a couple of times until it was just slightly thinner than my parting tool.  This is probably not necessary for most applications, but I thought it may be useful occasionally when I wanted to make a parting cut in the middle of a piece and not have to widen it in order to insert the gauge.

Then I drew two lines down each side of the hardboard, just over one inch from each edge.  I set my drill fence so the center of the forstner bit was positioned over one of the lines.  Then, using a scrap piece of wood as a backer board,  I started drilling holes, from big to small, down one side and up the other side.

When all the holes were drilled, I set my table saw fence to the line I had previously drawn, and with two passes, cut all the circles in half.

The gauge now hangs within easy reach of my lathe and is perfect for sizing tenons and checking spindle diameters.  A quick, easy and cheap solution that makes my work flow at the lathe easier

If you have a hint or tip feel free to share in the comments section.

Related posts:

1. Turning a hollow sphere
2. Making a Board Game on the lathe
3. Make a Donut Chuck

A couple of months ago a demonstration at my woodturning club prompted me to start experimenting with dyes.   Dyeing and coloring is one of those subjects that can be pretty intimidating.  There are so many colors out there where do you start?   Well, my first step was to buy myself a color wheel.  I also spent some time researching what type of dyes to start with and eventually settle on TransTint Dyes.  The next step was to decide which colors to buy.   After looking at the number of colors available and the cost of the dyes, I decided that I would just buy the primary colors and black.  I figured that with those colors I could mix any other color that I might want.

With that decision behind me I placed my order for a bottle of red, blue, green and black dyes.  While waiting for the package to arrive I took a trip to Harbor Freight and got some 8oz squeeze bottles.  I also went to Walgreens and got a small syringe for accurately measuring the dyes.  If ever you want to feel like a crack addict, going to the drug store and asking for a small syringe will do that for you.  Although they very kindly didn’t charge me for it, the kid at the pharmacy looked me over twice and also asked to see my drivers licensee before giving me the syringe!

The package of dyes arrived and, feeling like a mad chemist, I opened it up ready to start mixing.  Well, who knew that green is not a primary color!!!  I guess if I’d taken the time to really look at the color wheel I brought I might have know.  Apparently the laws of physics/chemistry weren’t going to be changed just because I had brought the wrong color dye, so a trip to my local Woodcraft and I had a bottle of yellow dye to add to my collection.  (“My local Woodcraft” is a relative term here involving a three hour return trip).

My plan was to mix up a “master” bottle of the three primary colors, red, yellow and blue, and then use those to mix up “master” bottles of the secondary colors, orange, green and violet.   From these six colors, along with the black, I figured I could mix up any other color I wanted on a “as needed” basis.

TranTint dyes can be mixed with water or alcohol.  They can also be added to common finishes including shellac, water based lacquer and polyurethane and most oil based finishes.  I chose to mix the dye with a 50/50 solution of denatured alcohol and lacquer thinners.  This would have the advantage of not raising the grain of the workpiece.  The one disadvantage of doing this is that the solution dries very quickly after application.  As you only get an idea of what the final color will look like when the dye is first applied and wet this does not allow for much time to see if the color is to your liking.

The dyes need to mixed in the following proportion, 1 oz of dye to 1 quart of water or alcohol.  If you’re not interested in doing the math, this came to 7.5 ml of dye to be added to my 8 oz solution of alcohol and lacquer thinners.

Related posts:

1. Update on ebonizing wood

Click here to go to WoodTreks and view the video.

Related posts:

1. Turning a Natural Edge Bowl
2. Turning Wooden Flowers on the Lathe
3. Turning a hollow sphere

I finally got a chance to play with the chatter tool I made.  My initial experiments were pretty disappointing.   The tool was “screeching” as it is supposed to, but I only seemed to be able to put spiral grooves on the test piece.   My first thought was that the blade was not thick enough and I was getting too much “deflection” and not enough “chatter”.  I had used on old jigsaw blade, so I took an old sawzall blade and cut and shaped that.  Even though it was wider, and offer less give, I was still just getting spiral grooves.

So I took the two blades back to the grinder and ground a very slight bevel on the edges.  More importantly I rounded over the point of the blade so that instead of coming to a sharp point it came to a blunt, slightly round point.   Immediately I started to see improvements!  Both the jig saw blade and the sawzall blade worked great, although they did produce different patterns.

There are no shortage of patterns you can get with the chatter tool.  Whether any of them are repeatable is open to debate though!  A number of variables affect the pattern.

• The amount of the blade sticking out the tool.
• The distance from the tool rest to the work piece.
• The speed of the lathe.
• How hard you push the tool into the work piece.
• How quickly you move the cutting edge across the work piece.
• How many times you move the cutting edge across the work piece.
• The angle the cutting edge is presented.

The image below shows some examples.  I colored the patterns with a black permanent marker so they would show better in the image.

A chatter tool is used primarily in end grain, so applications include embellishments on box lids, spinning tops etc.  The chatter tool will work better on hardwoods than softwoods.

After spending an hour or so playing with the tool, I feel the most important variables are lathe speed and distance of the tool rest from the work piece.  For the most part the tool is presented so that the blade is horizontal and the handle is closer to you than the blade.   The tool rest is about 4 to 6″ from the workpiece and lathe speed is around 1000 rpm.  The blade is pushed into the wood and then pulled from the center to the edge.  Rotating the tool slightly counter clockwise will change the pattern achieved, but it will also cause the tool to move towards the edge of the work piece a lot faster!!  I found lathe speeds between 750 and 1800 worked with an optimum range between 1000 and 1200.

Related posts:

1. Homemade Chatter Tool
2. Woodchuck Lathe Tool
3. Making a Tool Handle – Part One

Just in time for the holiday season!

Use coupon code 1aec884194 for a 10% discount on all
orders over $100.

Offer valid until 12/31/2009.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any of
your friends you think might be interested in my products. They are
welcome to use the discount coupon. New
product

Introducing a new style of rollerball pen, the Ariel. The Ariel is unique in that it features a magnetic pen cap! The magnet allows the user to mount the cap on either end of the pen without threading. Simply slip it onto either end of the pen and it will “snap” securely into place! Click on the image below to order yours!

Also introducing the Stars ‘n Stripes. These Stars and Stripes of these beautiful pens are laser cut into specially dyed maple wood. The upper barrel is blue with 50 tiny white stars and the lower barrell features alternating red and white wavy stripes. Click on the image below to choose yours!

Exotic, dangerous and truly one of a kind. A limited number of pens featuring genuine snakeskin are available! Click on the image below to order this truly unique pen!

The skeleton of a cactus plant has been cast in resin
to form the bodies of these unique pens! Only a limited number available!
Click on the image below to order yours!

Autism puzzle pens are assembled from laser cut North American wood pieces that have been dyed in vibrant traditional colors of the symbolic autism puzzle. A portion of the proceeds from this pen are donated to help solove the puzzle of autism. Click on the image below to order this truly unique pen!

In
this issue:

• latest news

• new product

• special offers

• coming soon

LATEST
NEWS

I am now offering laser engraving on any pen purchased.
When purchasing a pen click on “Yes Please” for engraving and enter the text you would like engraved on your pen.

If you are on Facebook consider
becoming a fan of Syzygy Pens. I run a monthly competition where you
could win one of my products. You’ll also be able to follow my adventures
in wood turning and wood working as my blog automatically appears on
the page.

I am now able to accept credit cards as a payment option. In addition
to PayPal I now accept Visa, Master Card, American Express and Discover.

I am now offering free shipping on all both domestic and international
orders. All shipping is by USPS Priority Mail and includes insurance.

Easy
Flow 9000 Ball point refills

These are exceptionally smooth-writing ball point refills are from
Private Reserve. The difference is simply amazing!!! These are like
no other ordinary Parker style refills. You really have to try one to
experience the difference!

Scmidt
5888 Rollerball refills

These smooth-writing Schmidt roller ball refills are often regarded
as the best. They are not always easy to find, so make sure to stock
up!

COMING
SOON

My adventures in wood working and wood turning continue and in the
months ahead I will be expanding my product line beyond pens. I will
soon be offering:

• pepper mills
• bottle stoppers
• shaving brushes, razors and shaving mugs
• cosmetic brushes
• earring holders
• toothpick holders
• wish bowls
• ring holders

Related posts:

1. Syzygy
2. Easter Themed Pens
3. Laser Cut Pen Kits