Saturday, March 19, 2011

Better Late Than Never!


The Water Gap Woodturners finally caught a break after the winter and got together in March at the Peters Valley Wood Studio.  The road was "passible" and  8 hearty individuals came up for a deep dive on the ins and outs of hollow turning.  After the discussion of business and the fact that there was an issue with the chimney and we couldn't run the heat, we did our usual Show and Tell.  Of course, there weren't any pictures, so it never happened!

 The topic for the day was hollowturning, lead by yours truly, Steven Antonucci.  We defined the term hollowform as a vessel that the opening is less than 1/3 of the major diameter of the vessel, and then proceded to talk about how to make tools, measure, and the proper techniques for getting the insides out.  The diagram at the right describes the cutting sequence and oddly resembles a set of Sorby Calipers?

With the shop heat only being provided by 2 small space heaters, we decided to make the day less hands on and more demonstrative.  Unfortunately, the vessel didn't make it off the lathe in one piece, but the viewers agreed that it was valuable to watch how the insides were cut without that little hole at the top.  Substantially easier to clear shavings too...

In the end, we parted with a mission for all of the attendees to try hollowing at least one time.  I can't wait to see the next S&T.

In closing, we'll be getting together one last Saturday before the Peters Valley season begins in May.  We are looking for members to step up and demonstrate at the next meeting.  Any and all topics are welcome and appreciated.  Turning experience not necessary.

Then, you can have your demo picture posted in the blog like this little beauty:


See you in April. 

Safe spinning.