Desert Woodturning Roundup Aligning Your Lathe The Pen Turners ...

Volume XIV, Number 4 May 2009 Price—$4.00 

Alan Lacer’s box made during 

the demonstration on Saturday 

afternoon. 

Nick Van Bakel’s Diamond Bowl 

in Curly maple. 

Hans Finsterwalder’s Spider 

box from his demonstration on 

Sunday. 

Ron Goble’s Navajo Cross 

Hollow Form. 

Jason Clarke’s set of bowls in 

Eucalyptus Burl. 

All Photos on the cover of this issue were taken at the Desert 

Woodturning Roundup in Mesa, Arizona in February 2009. 

In This Issue: 

Desert Woodturning Roundup 

Aligning Your Lathe 

The Pen Turners Corner 

Rockler New Pen Press 

More Woodturning May 2009 Page 1

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Page 2 More Woodturning May 2009

Contents 


2009..............................................4 

Aligning Your Lathe....................9 

Letters to the Editor ..................10 

News in the Trade......................11 

The Burly Beauty Within..........12 

PenTurner’s Corner...................14 

Questions and Aswers from the Internet...............................................18 

Drying Rough Turned Bowls....18 

Material for Chess Pieces.........18 

Hand Thread Chasing ..............18 

Johannes Michaelson Turning a 

Hat ............................................19 

Upgrade to the Teknatool Cole Ja 

ws...............................................21 

Our Trip to Florida in February .... 

....................................................22 

Letter to the Editor.....................24 

Testing Rockler’s New Pen Press/ 

Drilling Jig................................25 

Tormek/Ellsworth Grind Follow 

up...............................................26 

Testing the Easy Rougher Ci1...28 

Coming Events..........................30 

Turner’s Tool Handle from Woodworkers 

Network........................32 


2009— Another View.................34 

Finishing the Collaborative Piece... 

....................................................35 

Instant Gallery Selections from the 

Desert Woodturning Roundup..36 

Live Centers..............................38 

Thread Cutting Jig................... 38 

The Market Place......................39 

About the Cover: 

All photos on the cover were 

taken at the Desert Woodtruning 

Roundup in Mesa, Arizona 

in February 2009. 

EDITORAL 

It was a busy time in February as Mildred and I travelled to Arizonia 

to attend the Desert Woodturning Roundup in Mesa, Arizonia. We had to 

kill a little time in Arizona before travelling on to Orlando, Florida for a 

couple of demonstrations and a day of hands on instructionnear Jacksonville, 

Florida, then attended the International Wood Collectors Society 

meeting in Eustus, Florida. Unfortunately, I became sick the first evening 

we were at the meeting. I thought it was food poisioning. That was a 

Wednesday evening. I got through the day on Thursday just fine and drove 

to the Woodcraft Store near Orlando for a demonstration. The demonstration 

went fine, but later that night I began to get more sick and decided we 

should consider going home where our medical insurance would work. I 

really regretted having to leave the meeting, but I had managed to attend the 

board meeting on Wednesday and one good demonstration on Thursday. 

We picked up some new tools and some nice wood on our trip. The 

Easy Rougher that we purchased at the Craft Supplies Booth at the Desert 

Woodturning Roungup has been reviewed in this issue. Both Mildred and 

I are impressed with this tool. I had heard of the tool, but couldn’t believe 

what it would do when we saw it demonstrated. I purchased both the Ci1 

and the Ci2 tools, but have only reviewed the Ci1 tool in this issue. The 

tool looks like a scraper, but performs much better than any scraper I’ve 

ever used. When I got home to try it, I was pleased we had purchased the 

tools in Arizona. 

This issue has a little bit of everything. There are stories by your editor 

and stories by several other writers who contribute to the magazine from 

time to time. I received three stories from Dick Veitch in New Zealand 

and have included one of them in this issue. 

I still want to encourage our readers to consider writing stories for the 

magazine. Everyone has some special thing that they do, which is probably 

of interest to other woodturners. If you have a story idea, send me 

an e-mail to fred@morewoodturning.net telling me about your proposed 

story. If you have a lot of high resolution photographs, please send the 

story and photos on a CD-ROM. If you would like, e-mail me and I’ll 

send you a copy of my writer’s guidelines, which outlines how I like to 

received the stories. 

We have two more trips planned for this year: The Utah Woodturning 

Symposium in Orem, Utah in May and the American Association of 

Woodturners Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico in June. The Utah 

event is in the same facilities as last year, which was an excellent venue. 

Both of these events are well worth attending and it is even better 

if they are in your back yard so the cost is less. You simply can’t absorb 

everything that you are exposed to at one of these large events. You also 

can only see a few of the demonstrators. Picking the demonstrations to 

attend can be a difficult number of decisions. 

Fred Holder, Editor and Publisher 


Desert Woodturning Roundup 2009 

by Fred Holder 

The Arizona Woodturner’s 

Association held its third Desert 

Woodturning Roundup on February 

6, 7 & 8, 2009 at the Mesa Convention 

Center, Mesa, AZ. This was a 

much nicer facility than was used 

for their first such event in 2006. I 

had no complaints about this event, 

I thought it was very well planned, 

had excellent demonstrators, and a 

good trade show area, which was in 

the same area lunch was served each 

day and the Saturday night banquet 

was held. Everything seemed to go 

smoothly and I was very pleased 

with the event. 

More Woodturning is published monthly 

except April and October for $35.00 per 

year by Fred and Mildred Holder at 19805 

Fales Road, Snohomish, WA 98296. Mailing 

Address is P. O. Box 2168, Snohomish WA 

98291-2168. Telephone: (360) 668-0976. 

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We had actually arrived two 

days early, because I got my dates 

messed up when making our airplane 

reservations. So we had two 

days to sort of tour the area and visit 

the Woodcraft store in the area and 

spend a bit of money for some wood 

and other items. We were able to 

spend some time Friday afternoon 

in the Trade Show area and again 

spend a bit of money. More about 

that later after I talk about the actual 

symposium. 

There were nine demonstrators 

and each had their own room 

for the entire event. The demonstrators 

were Jimmy Clewes, Bonnie 

Klein, Cindy Drozda, Mark St. 

Ledger, Nick Cook, Alan Lacer, 

Keith Tompkins, Hans Finsterwalder, 

and Dwight Klaus. Since 

I’ve seen Jimmy Clewes, Bonnie 

Klein, and Nick Cook demonstrate 

many times, I chose to watch the 

others for this event. I had planned 

to watch Dwight Klaus doing stone 

inlay, but decided instead to photograph 

the Instant Gallery. Mildred 

attended two of Dwight’s classes 

and was able to tell me about them. 

She was very excited about doing 

shell and stone inlay after watching 

these two demonstrations. 

I don’t remember whether I 

had ever set in on one of Cindy 

Drozda’s demonstrations before, 

but chose to attend her Multi- 

Axis Hollow Form demo for the 

first rotation. Cindy is one skillful 

turner and still amazes me with her 

exquisite finials. Her multi-axis 

hollow form was hollowed when it 

was still round and was then offset 

to produce open areas in three of 

the sides. 

Figure 1. Cindy Drozda starting 

to hollow the form. 

Cindy finish turned the hollow 

form and then turned one of her 

signature finials to mount on top of 

the form. She blackened the finial 

with a felt tip pen. This made it look 

like an exotic black wood. Figure 2 

shows the piece as finished during 

the demonstration. 

Figure 2. Cindy’s multi-axis 

hollow form with blackened 

finial. 


After lunch, I sat in on Mark 

St. Leger’s sphere box. Mark turned 

a box with a spherical inside and 

threaded both top and bottom before 

turning the outside to a spherical 

shape. During this demonstration, 

he introduced us to the thread chasers 

he is manufacturing and selling. 

Both inside and outside chasers 

are on one piece of steel. The end 

not being used is inserted into the 

wooden handle to protect the hand. 

Figure 3 shows Mark threading the 

inside threads on the box. 

During this demonstration, 

he introduced 

us to the 

thread chasers he is 

manufacturing and 

selling. 

Figure 3. Mark St. Leger 

threading the internal threads 

on his spherical box. 

When the spherical box was 

completed, Mark then took a wood 

burner and burned in the semblance 

of stitching on a baseball. Apparently 

this is how he completes his 

spherical boxes. He is shown doing 

the burning in Figure 4. 

Figure 4. Mark St. Ledger 

burning the stitching on his 

completed spherical box. 

I finished up the first day of 

demonstrations with Alan Lacer making 

a turned lidded box. I have seen 

Alan’s spindle turning demonstrations 

in the past and was interested 

in how he turned a box. Unlike most 

of us who use a parting tool to part 

[Text Continued on Page 6] 



Continued from Page 5 

off the lid portion of the box, Alan 

used a saw. He said that he felt this 

gave a cleaner cut than the parting 

tool. He is shown sawing off the lid 

portion in Figure 5. 

Box was until the demonstrations 

began and we learned that it was a 

box like Hans Weisflog makes with 

the eccentric intersecting grooves in 

the lid as shown in Figure 7. 

Figure 5. Alan Lacer cutting off 

the lid portion of the blank with 

a saw. 

Alan then fitted and hollowed 

the top and bottom portions before 

turning the final shape. I was impressed 

with the final shape that he 

turned as shown in Figure 6. 

Figure 6. Alan Lacer’s finished 

box. 

The first rotation on Sunday 

morning , I attended Hans Finsterwalder’s 

demonstration on the Spider 

Box. I had no idea what a Spider 

Figure 7. Hans Finsterwalder’s 

spider box. 

Hans then showed us the eccentric 

fixture for offsetting the 

top to cut the eccentric groves in 

the top. This is shown in Figure 

8 and the wood mounted on it for 

the outside of the lid is shown in 

Figure 9. 

Figure 8. This photo shows the 

fixture for mounting the lid for 

turning the eccentric grooves in 

the top of the box. 

Hans then showed us 

the eccentric fixture 

for offsetting the top 

to cut the eccentric 

groves in the top. 


wood for the lid mounted on the 

fixture. 

I skipped the next rotation and 

chose to photograph the instant gallery 

while there would be very few 

people in the gallery. It was there 

that I met the people that we would 

be staying with when we first arrived 

in Florida where I would be doing a 

Chinese Ball demonstration on Saturday 

afternoon and a hands-on day 

on Sunday. We have a few of these 

photos in this issue on Pages 36 and 

37. I finished up the demonstrations 

with Keith Tompkins demonstration 

Beyond Segmenting. Keith is 

an expert segmental turner, but has 

come up with some other ways to 

create impossible turnings, by turning 

and cutting up the turnings and 

gluing them back together into other 

forms. I had to see how this is done, 

although I never expect to do any 

pieces this way. Keith began by turning 

a cone shaped piece and sawing 

it in half vertically. By using at least 

two pieces, Keith was able to create 

an unusual shape that look like it 

could not possibly have been turned. 

Figure 10 shows Keith turning a 

cone shaped piece. And Figure 11 

shows him holding pieces together 

to give them an unusual shape for a 

turned item. 


Figure 10. Keith Tompkins 

turning a cone shaped piece. 

Figure 13. A pen with Don Ward’s name imbedded in it. 

6:00 to 9:00 pm on Friday evening. 

We were late getting in and missed 

a portion of it, but were able to see 

the demonstration of our own Pen 

Turning Columnist, Don Ward doing 

his thing. Don is shown in Figure 12 

during his demonstration. A pen 

with his name is shown in Figure 

13. 

As I mentioned earlier, the 

Trade Show area was in the din- 

[Continued on Page 8] 

Figure 11. Keith holds two piece 

of a cut apart shape together to 

create an unusual shape. 

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Figure 12. Our own Don Ward 

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Continued from Page 7. 

Figure 14. Craig Jackson 

making his Easy Rougher 

perform flawlessly. 

ing room and was open on Friday 

afternoon so that we could view the 

wares of the companies showing 

their products. The first person we 

met as we came in the door was Don 

Pencil, who had an good display 

of his tools. Don showed me two 

new items: a buffer designed to run 

at about 700 rpm and the carbide 

cutters that he is having specially 

ground to his shape. The cutters are 

similar to those used on the Hunter 

Tool and the Eliminator, but Don 

says they have more of a bevel rubbing 

grind on them. I came away 

with two of the new cutters and 

one of the buffers with his special 

buffing compound. These will be 

covered in separate articles in this 

or a following issue. 

Our next stop was the Craft 

Supplies USA booth where Craig 

Jackson inventor of the Easy Rougher 

was demonstrating the turning of 

a bowl and Darrel Nish was demonstrating 

the Wagner Texturing Tool 

to a person asking questions about 

the tool. I wound up purchasing all 

three versions of the Texturing Tools 

and both the Ci1 and Ci2 versions 

of the Easy Rougher. As shown in 

Figure 14, Craig Jackson was doing 

an excellent demonstration of his 

tools. Craft Supplies was offering 

10 percent off on purchases made 

at the show and free shipping. So 

this visit cost us a bit but we’ve 

some new tools that really add to 

“THE ELIMINATOR” 

our shops capabilities. We’ll have 

stories on these tools performance 

in other stories in this issue or a 

later issue. 

We continued on around and 

talked with our friend, Dave Smith, 

who does the alcohol drying of wood 

and on up to an end of a row to talk 

with J. Paul Fennell who was selling 

carving and burning machines. 

This was a well done symposium 

and I highly recommend 

anyone wishing to attend a good 

symposium consider putting the 

2011 Desert Woodturning Roundup 

on their calendar. I don’t think the 

date has been set but I’m sure it will 

be in February 2011. 

Hollowing Tool 

ELIMINATES: 

CATCHES, 

TEAR OUT, 

SHARPENING 

Available in three sizes: 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 inch cutters. Tool shafts are 

milled with flats for both right and left hand cutting. 

Available from: Packard Woodworks and Craft Supplies USA 

www.jewelwood.com 


Aligning Your Lathe 

by Dick Veitch 

If you are just turning a chair 

leg between centres it does not matter 

too much if the head and tail of 

your lathe are not perfectly in line. 

Likewise, you can turn a bowl without 

using the tailstock. But, if you 

want to do anything where the wood 

is held in a chuck and the tailstock 

is brought up to the wood, then the 

head and tail need to be correctly 

aligned. I am sure you can think of 

many times when both a chuck and 

tailstock are in use. Sphere turning 

is another where the two cup chucks 

need to be nicely aligned to turn a 

perfect sphere. 

It would be nice if all lathes 

were perfectly aligned at all times 

but some have swivel heads and 

their alignment needs to be checked 

every time the head is returned to the 

line of the bed. Some lathes are on 

uneven floors and the bed is twisted. 

Some lathes are a little worn and 

need adjusting. Some will be out 

of line for another reason. 

method may look like it 

is working but you finish 

up with both head 

and tail out of line. 

The hard metal 

method is to use a 

double-ended Morse 

taper. (See Figure 2.) 

Teknatool calls this the 

Acruline System. Simply 

insert this firmly 

in both the head and 

tailstock while both 

are loose on the bed. 

Tighten both down and 

they should be nicely 

aligned. 

If you need to 

check the headstock 

alignment with a little 

more care then grip 

a long length of wood in a chuck, 

(See Figure 3.) rotate it slowly (100- 

300rpm) and mark the central point 

on the tail end as shown in Figure 

4.. Then bring the tailstock close 

and this central point should be at 

the centre of the live tail as shown 

in Figure 5. 

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2006 issue of More Woodturning. 

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Available in: 

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Order from: Tony Cortese 

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E-Mail: romeowoodturner@msn.com 

Web Site: www.tonycortese.org 

Figure 4. Marking the end of the 

rotating wood with a pencil. 

Figure 1. Using two centers to 

check alignment. 

If you are absolutely certain 

that the tailstock of your lathe is 

perfectly aligned then you can put 

a drive spur in the head, live centre 

in the tail, and bring the two into 

line. (See Figure 1.) If the tailstock 

is not perfectly in line then this 

5. 

Figure 2. Using the Acruline 

System to check alignment. 

Figure 3. A length of wood 

mounted in a chuck. 

Figure 5. The tail center should 

align with the pencil mark on 

the end of the wood. 


Letters to the Editor 

Normally, I share your enthusiasm 

for items you cover under 

Product Reviews. But I do have to 

take exception to your and Mildred’s 

endorsement of the Rockler L.E.D 

work light. I ordered one after reading 

your January article and found 

it grossly underpowered while 

employing it in woodturning applications. 

It certainly doesn’t have 

enough range to be useful on a large 

lathe. Additionally, my halogen 

light did a better job in day lighting 

sanding marks. In the future I will 

be wiser and visit the Rockler store 

to see an item first hand rather than 

using the internet. 

—Dave Morris Bay Area 

Woodturners 

The Editor Responds: 

I will have to look at the story 

again. We were so impressed with 

the light for close up lighting. I 

think every instance that I showed 

the lamp was close to the work. It 

does not light a large area. For large 

areas we have 500 watt work lights. 

I’m sorry if I misrepresented the 

little light. It was not intentional. It 

was the first such light that I’ve ever 

owned that has an adequate magnet 

on it, thus allowing one to get the 

light close to the work. I guess that 

was part of what impressed us. 

—Fred Holder 

Hi Fred: I am now able to open 

January, thank you very much. As 

it happens this is the issue which 

included your article on the use of a 

Universal Support in order to shape 

tools on a dry grinder before moving 

to the Tormek. 

There are probably two reasons 

why you did not get an exactly 

duplicated shape when you 

moved from the dry grinder to the 

Tormek. 

Firstly, there are two different 

wheel sizes and in this case the 

wooden spacer method will not work 

100%. You will solve this problem 

by using the TTS-100 Turning Tool 

Setter, which is designed to accommodate 

wheels of any size. You may 

feel that it is worth informing your 

readers of this fact. 

Secondly, the two wheels have 

a different arc on the diameter and 

in this case you will get a difference, 

albeit it will be extremely 

small and you can quickly adjust 

the final shape on the Tormek after 

you have made the initial shape on 

the dry grinder. 

Both of these methods are 

fully explained in the Tormek 

Handbook. 

—Geoff Brown 


News in the Trade 

AMERICAN ASSOCIA- 

TION OF WOODTURNERS AN- 

NOUNCES 2009 SYMPOSIUM 

DEMONSTRATORS 

Albuquerque and New Mexico, 

which proudly proclaims itself 

“The Land of Enchantment”, play 

hosts to AAW members seeking 

to be educated, entertained, and 

enchanted at the 23rd Annual AAW 

Symposium in Albuquerque. The 

complete symposium schedule will 

feature more than 140 rotations, 

a dozen more events targeted for 

professional/studio turners, and 

Special Interest Night for pen turning, 

segmented work, ornamental 

turning, and more. 

Please join us at the Albuquerque 

Convention Center June 26 

to 28th for the AAW 23rd Annual 

Symposium. The following is a list 

of demonstrators: 

The major demonstrators 

are: 

Nick Cook from Marietta, 

Georgia: Dynamic Plates and Platters 

J. Paul Fennell from Scottsdale, 

Arizona: Seeing Your Way to 

Signature Work Emmet Kane from 

Castledermot, Ireland: Texturing 

Experimenting with Woodturning 

Ebonizing and Gilding Virginia 

Dotson from Show Low, Arizona: 

Secrets of Laminated Woodturning, 

Natural Perspectives, Weather 

Reports Peter Hromek from Sinntal, 

Germany: Spindle: An End-Grain 

Hollow, Flower: A Multiaxis Form, 

Capsula: Multiaxis Form Mike 

Mahoney from Orem, Utah: Turning 

Family Heirlooms, Coring Using the 

McNaughton Center Saver, Burial 

Urns with Threaded Lids Rolly Munro 

from Manakau, New Zealand: 

Very Thin Deep Vase Form, Carved 

Hollow-form Surfaces David 

Nittmann from Boulder, Colorado: 

Basket Illusion—The Cutting Technique—The 

Process and Inspiration 

David Springett from Warwichshire, 

United Kingdom: Streptohedrons: 

Plain turning With a Twist John 

Wessels from Bisbee, South Africa: 

Sheet Pewter as Surface Cast and 

Turning Pewter Resident Artist: 

Jean-François Escoulen 

Featured demonstrators and 

or Panelists: 

Garry Knox Bennett, Trent 

Bosch, Marilyn Campbell, Andrew 

Chen, David Ellsworth, Peter Exton, 

Charles Faucher, Barry Gross, Allen 

Hockenbery, Sherry Hockenbery, 

Michael Hosaluk, William Ray 

Hughes, Douglas Jones, Deborah 

Kermode, Jerry Kermode, Bonnie 

Klein, Pat Kramer, Bill Luce, Alain 

Mailland, Andre’ Martel, Larry 

Miller, Michael Mocho, Pascal 

Oudet, Binh Pho, Chris Pytlik, Joe 

Ruminski, Merryll Saylan, Betty 

Scarpino, Mark Sfirri, Steve Sinner, 

Bill Smith, David Springett, 

Bill Tilson, Michael Werner, Molly 

Winton, Andi Wolfe. 

* * * 

Missing Bowl from Demo 

Area at Desert Woodturning 

Roundup 

The Arizona Woodturners Assoc. 

and the Desert Woodturning 

Roundup committee thank those 

who attended and supported our 

recent symposium. We feel that we 

organized a good meeting and hope 

that all of the attendees enjoyed 

and benefited from the experience. 

We plan to hold our 4th DWR in 

2011 and hope you will be able to 

attend. 

One event occurred that detracted 

from the symposium. At 

the Sunday lunch break one of 

Alan Lacer’s prized oval bowls 

disappeared from his demo room. 

Naturally Alan is very upset about 

this and, along with us, asks that 

if anyone has seen or knows the 

whereabouts of this turning that 

they will contact him at amlacer@ 

dishup or us or me, Norris Ready, 

norles@sri-az.com. A picture of 

Alan’s bowl is included below for 

your reference. 

Alan Lacer’s Oval bowl that 

disappeared during lunch on 

Sunday. 

* * * 

Woodturning Guilds of 

Southern Ontario 

The success of collaborative 

US events has sparked the idea in 

John Buccioni whilst wearing the 

cap of Woochuckers Supplies and 

his alternate cap of the local turning 

guild that the 10 Canadian guilds 

in Southern Ontario should start 

working together and maximize 

woodturnining awareness. We hope 

to follow this trend to future events 

and are not excluding the possibility 

of a mini symposium in this area 

soon! 


The Burly Beauty 

Within 

by Bob Heltman, CMW, AAW 

(copyright 2009) 

Good neighbor Rusty’s son, 

Nathan, passed an old OLD burl 

to me, wondering if I “might want 

do something” with it. As a side 

comment, when you start off in 

woodturning you wonder where to 

get the wood; after a few years the 

wood starts to come to you, often in 

more quantity than you can readily 

use. Like this piece which seemed 

fireplace ready! 

This old burl looked gray, dusty, 

and rather like a thick, sun dried buffalo 

pie. It had been curing so long 

that for its 10” diameter size it was 

quite light. Even the flat cut-off surface 

was nearly as gray and wrinkled 

as the round exterior. 

Frankly, it seemed so fragile I 

wondered if it would fly apart during 

turning. So, the first thing I did was to 

mount it on my power-off lathe, turn 

on the dust collector, and use a stiff 

bristle brush to try and clean off the 

surface. This had some positive effect, 

BUT it revealed cracks running 

all over the surface, some quite deep, 

and branching in all directions. As a 

bit of a gamble toward safety, I carefully 

ran thin superglue into every 

crevasse and pit I could find. 

The surface still looked terrible 

so I next went outside, donned 

filtering face shield, and carefully 

sandblasted the exterior. This removed 

more debris and left the 

highly rumpled surface looking like 

“at least somebody tried to clean it 

up” (Figure 1). Only then did I turn 

on the lathe and prepare a tenon for 

the chuck, starting at 300 RPM then 

up to 500 RPM. 

Figure 1. The sandblasted 

surface at least looked like 

someone had tried to clean it 

up. 

Mounting the tenon in my 

chuck I trued up the opposite surface 

where the burl was cut from the 

tree and carefully started hollowing 

the inside. Because of the deep pits 

and exceedingly uneven outer surface, 

I had to check wall thickness 

by putting one finger of the caliper 

in the deepest outer surface pit, then 

moving the inner finger up against 

the developing wall. The thinnest 

part became around 1/4” but the 

thickest exceeded an inch. 

The inner surface showed 

many more cracks, voids, and dried 

out wood that separated fiber by 

fiber in places. Therefore, to both 

provide structural integrity as well 

as a smooth surface, I mixed up 

a small batch of EZPoly Wood 

Where Turners Turn First 

Rebuilder (www.ez-poly.net) and 

smeared it over the inside, pushed 

it with my finger into every spot I 

could, and let it cure over night (Fig. 

2). Starting with 80 grit 2” diameter 

sanding discs on my drill, the next 

step involved carefully sanding 

away the EZ Poly until wood could 

be seen, then changing grits down 

to 220. 

Figure 2. Inside of the bowl 

smeared with EZPoly wood 

Rebuilder and ready for 

sanding. 

What incredible beauty was 

revealed! I took the piece off the 

lathe, went upstairs, showed it to 

my admiring wife, and then sat and 

simply held and affectionately gazed 

at the unbelievable variety of wood , 

turned to reveal the textures, colors, 

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and grain patterns. There is nothing 

that can equal the raw beauty of 

unusual pieces of wood, turned to 

newly reveal the secrets within. In 

the last several years, as more and 

more hungry artists uses woodturnings 

as canvasses for painted art 

(a temptation to which I’ve fallen 

myself to a small degree), I find 

time and again that wood itself 

just can’t be matched for its natural 

beauty (Fig. 3). 

I sprayed the inside with 4 

coats of gloss lacquer. It still soaked 

into some of the more porous areas, 

like the dark upper left area 

shown in Figure 3. Then I waxed 

and buffed the interior. Utterly 

beautiful! 

The outside was sprayed 

several times with gloss lacquer 

too. In this case the bark was so 

absorptive that even so coated it 

Figure 3. Inside of the sanded and finished burl bowl. 

mostly remained a non-descript dull 

gray. Of interest, however, is the fact 

that the heavily textured, monotone 

gray outer surface gives its own 

reward to the viewer, as one’s eyes 

follow the bumps and voids, tries to 

determine the growth pattern of the 

host tree, and wonders what forces 

of nature had been at work making 

such a creation. 

As a side note, sandblasting is 

not as difficult as it might seem. I 

had purchased a simple top-fill gun 

a couple years ago in anticipation 

of some future need. A 100# bag 

of fine sandblasting sand only cost 

about $8.00. Just make sure you follow 

safety instructions, don’t point 

the loaded gun at any of your skin, 

and WEAR A FILTERING FACE 

SHIELD. 

Bounceback of fine sand particles, 

and debris, will come at you! 

Believe me. For this project I only 

used about 10# of sand, and have 

the rest left over in dry, sealed plastic 

buckets ready for the next project. 

By the way, I was cleaning out the 

sandblasting gun and thought it 

was empty when I accidentally had 

it pointed toward my bare left arm 

when I hit the trigger. BOY, the few 

sand particles left finally discharged 

and really stung; fortunately none 

penetrated my skin - so BE CARE- 

FUL. 90# of air pressure drives sand 

particles like little sharp darts. 

This rare specimen has for me 

a moral overtone too. I’m reminded 

that many a person may look plain, 

or even what some would call ugly, 

yet inside they are persons of rare 

charm and beauty. 

What surprising lessons one 

can learn from turning the gift of an 

old, gnarled piece of wood. 


PenTurner’s Corner 

by Don Ward 

The Desert Woodturning 

Roundup is history. I had a great 

time seeing some pen friends with 

whom I visit via email on a regular 

basis. I also enjoyed the demos. I 

was able to attend demos by Jimmy 

Clewes, Alan Lacer, Bonnie Klien, 

Nick Cook, and Dale Nish. I always 

enjoy seeing others turn and hearing 

their explanation. 

The pen meeting on Friday 

evening was a huge success. We 

had over 100 in attendance and lots 

of nice door prizes were awarded. 

Anthony Turchetta did a demo with 

his Legacy Mill showing us how to 

decorate pens with spirals, flats, and 

flutes. Mick Vickery did a demonstration 

on how to conceal the clip on 

a pen cap. That technique is referred 

to as hidden clips or recessed clips. 

And, I did a demonstration on how 

I use CA and boiled linseed oil as a 

finish on my pens. I think all of the 

demos were excellent and everyone 

I visited with enjoyed them. Thanks 

to Anthony Turchetta and those who 

helped him organize the pen meeting. 

They did a great job and we had 

a wonderful time. Thanks also the 

RoundUp bosses for allowing us to 

have this meeting. 

Reminder: The Penturner’s 

Rendezvous is quickly approaching. 

It will be held on Wednesday 

evening after the Craft Supplies 

open house and Super Wednesday 

sale prior to the Utah Woodturning 

Symposium. If you are planning to 

attend the symposium and arriving 

for the super Wednesday sale then 

you should also plan on attending 

the Penturner’s Rendezvous. Full 

details are available at http://penmakersguild.com/ 

. Also, there are 

penturning demos at the symposium 

and at the Craft Supplies sale on 

Wednesday. Demos will be by Anthony 

Turchetta, and Kurt Hertzog 

and they will also be demonstrating 

at the Utah Symposium along with 

Mark and Brian Gisi. Complete 

details can be found at http://www. 

utahwoodturning.com . The AAW 

symposium also has a penturning 

meeting scheduled for the special 

events night and maybe a penturning 

demo or two. Check the website 

at http://www.woodturner.org/sym/ 

sym2009 . 

The International Association 

of Penturners, aka IAP, at http:// 

www.penturners.org has local chapters 

forming. Check the website for 

details and location and dates of the 

chapter meetings. Maybe one will 

be held close enough for attendance 

or maybe you would be willing to 

organize a chapter in your area. 

Let’s make a pen! I was browsing 

the catalogs and came across a 

“desk pen” from Craft Supplies. You 

can find this kit on the “Pen Making” 

in the “ballpoints” section on 

page 3 of the Craft Supplies website 

(http://www.woodturnerscatalog. 

com) . But why, I asked, should 

I pay $6.50 for what is basically a 

slimline kit and a pen funnel (holder) 

I can use one of my slimline 

kits in chrome (under $2) and I can 

make the funnel from a piece of 

acrylic or wood cutoffs. So, after a 

couple of hours in the shop the set 

is finished, photos are taken and I’m 

back at the computer writing about 

it. If larger pens are to your liking I 

am confident the cigar kit could be 

used to do the same desk set, with a 

little thought, of course. See Figure 

1 for the completed set. Here are the 

step by step details of how I made 

this set. My way is not the only way 

to make this modification. In fact, 

several of you may even have a 

better way and I would like to hear 

about them. 

I choose mesquite for this project. 

Not only is it one of my favorite 

woods, I have an unending supply 

here in North Texas. I also choose 

mesquite because I found a blank 

that had already been rough turned 

round and had a tenon on one end. 

I suppose it was going to be a box 

at one time but it suddenly grew up 

to become the base for a desk pen 

set. I also found a pen blank about 

8 inches long or so. Mesquite it will 

be. See Figure 2 for the blanks used 

to make this desk set. 

The techniques I used for making 

the pen have been discussed in 

several previous articles. The pen 

bottom is basic slimline pen making 

and the top part is a closed end 

barrel made much like the calligraphy 

dip pen outlined in an article 

last year. Also, two other articles 

of mine discussed closed end pens 

and any of those techniques could 

be used to hold the upper barrel. 

The base: The base is probably 

the easiest part of this project. I held 

the blank on the tenon and began 

to turn. Although the base in the 

CSUSA desk kit was flat, I decided 

to make mine rounded on top...just 

to practice on making the curve. 

I’m not sure if I like it but sitting 

on my desk the shape is growing 

more favorable. Shape the base to 

whatever shape you like. Sand and 

finish it and part it off. Hand sand 

the bottom and finish it or use a jam 

chuck to hold it for sanding and 

finishing. I added a couple of beads 


just above the bottom. See Figure 

3 for the finished base just prior to 

being parted off of the blank. 

The pen: The pen is not as 

simple to make as the base nor is 

it as simple as making a slimline. 

Well, half of the pen is simple. The 

bottom half is basic slimline. I cut 

the blanks as usual. The bottom 

is standard length for the slimline 

kit used. The upper barrel’s blank 

was cut 7 inches long. They were 

both cut from one blank. I often cut 

blanks longer than normal just for 

projects like this. The lower blank 

was drilled through as would be 

normally done and so was the upper 

barrel’s blank, except the hole in the 

upper barrel only went in as far as 

needed to receive the tube. This type 

of hole is called a blind hole. The 

tubes were glued in using two part 

epoxy which is my glue of choice 

for tubes. 

I decided not to use the kits 

center band so I could make the pen 

a little fatter than normal. Actually, 

I’m not the best at turning small 

diameter spindles so I make these 

desk pens with a larger diameter. 

If you are good at turning small 

diameter spindles then I say use the 

center band (or not) and make the 

pen small. They look really nice 

that way. Caution: Be aware of 

where the tube ends in the upper 

barrel and do not start the small 

diameter spindle turning until you 

are far enough away from the end 

to be past the tube. Turning into 

the tube will require starting the 

pen over again...well, at least the 

upper barrel portion. Ask me how 

I know. I have experience though. 

Experience is that which you get just 

after you need it! I’ve turned into 

the brass tube or into a blind hole 

[Continued on page 16] 

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Overseas Telephone: 001-801-373-0919 


Continued from Previous 

Page 

Figure 3.This photo shows the 

finished base just prior to being 

parted off of the blank 


two blanks and the closed end 

pen mandrel. 

really want it to be. We will place 

both barrels on the mandrel later and 

finish sizing the pen, especially at 

the junction of the two barrels. This 

will insure they are both spot on the 

same diameter. We will also save 

sanding and finishing until later. 

We are now ready to turn the 

upper barrel. The blank is cut to 7 

inches in length. The finished length 

on the upper barrel of the pen for 

this project was 5.75 inches long. 

It could be made longer if desired. 

I used a closed end pen mandrel 

for 7mm pens. These are available 

from Arizona Silhouette at http://arizonasilhouette.com/Closed_End_ 

Pen_Mandrel.htm . They are really 

nice if one makes several closed 

end pens. One drawback is that each 

closed end pen mandrel is tube size 

specific. So, to make closed end 


the completed set 

Figure 5. This photo shows the two barrels at this stage of the 

project. 

Figure 2 for the blanks used to 

make this desk set. 

on more than one occasion. Some 

very pleasing shapes can be done 

by those good at smaller diameter 

spindle turning. 

Square the ends of the lower 

section. Place it on the mandrel and 

turn as normal. Leave the end opposite 

the nib end larger than you 

Page 16 More Woodturning May 2009 

Figure 6. This photo shows both blanks on the same mandrel before 

and after the turning and finishing was done.

Figure 7. This photo shows the barrel taped to the mandrel just 

before I removed the waste and did my magic trick to make the 

doodad disappear. 

pens using several different size 

tubes one would need a mandrel for 

each size. There are several ways to 

hold the blank for making closed 

end pens. Earlier articles in The 

Penturner’s Corner have addressed 

this. Closed end pen articles are 

available on my website at http:// 

www.RedRiverPens.com/articles if 

earlier copies of More Woodturning 

have been misplaced. 

The upper barrel’s end is 

squared and the blank was secured 

on the mandrel. Figure 4 shows the 

two blanks and the closed end pen 

mandrel. I now turned the upper 

barrel to the desired shape using the 

tail stock for support. Once the final 

length is determined and the basic 

shape of the upper barrel is set the 

end of the blank is parted off. The 

upper barrel of this desk pen came 

in at 5.75 inches. I also left the end 

that will meet the lower barrel at the 

center a little larger than what if will 

finally be. Figure 5 shows the two 

barrels at this stage of the project. 

The next step is to place the 

two blanks on a standard mandrel 

for final turning and shaping. Place 

a slimline bushing on the mandrel 

followed by the lower barrel. Slip 

on the upper barrel and adjust the 

mandrel. Bring up the tail stock 

and gently tighten the tailstock 

just enough to hold the blanks for 

turning. Too much tail stock pressure 

will bow the pen, especially 

the upper barrel. Turn them to the 

shape you want. Now the junction 

where the center band would be can 

be made and both barrels will be exactly 

the same diameter for a perfect 

fit. Notice the little doodad on the 

end of the pen’s upper barrel. I also 

do a little magic. Later you will see 

that it has disappeared! Sand and 

finish the pen. I used Shellawax 

friction polish on this pen. Figure 

6 shows both blanks on the same 

mandrel before and after the turning 

and finishing was done. 

Remove them from the mandrel 

and place the upper barrel back 

on the mandrel. Use blue painter’s 

tape and secure the barrel to the 

mandrel. Remove the waste from 

the end of the pen. Be very careful 

or you will develop your magician’s 

skill also. Figure 7 shows the barrel 

taped to the mandrel just before I removed 

the waste and did my magic 

trick to make the doodad disappear. 

Once the waste is removed the end 

of the pen can be lightly sanded 

and the finish can be applied to the 

end. The pen is now ready to be 

assembled. 

Now where did I put those pen 

funnels I know I have some somewhere. 

Amazing...I found them. 

They are all gold...no chrome ones. 

I thought I had some chrome ones 

The solution for me was to turn a 

funnel. I used a short piece of black 

acrylic and turned it round. I made 

a 1/2 inch in diameter to hold with 

my Beall collet chuck. The tenon 

is about 3/4 inches long. I used a 

small detail gouge to make the hole. 

Figure 8. This photo shows a 

before and after picture of the 

funnel. 

I checked the size and shape of the 

hole often using a pen to make sure it 

was the diameter and depth required. 

After the funnel was shaped it was 

sanded and polished. Figure 8 shows 

a before and after picture of the 

funnel. Placement of the funnel on 

the base was determined and a hole 

was drilled using the drill press. The 

funnel was glued into place with a 

small amount of CA glue. The pen 

was assembled and the project was 

finished. 

I made the desk pen for $1.70 

since the wood was free. This is a 

great and inexpensive project for a 

buck seventy! 

Email questions and comments 

to me at don@RedRiverPens.com I 

look forward to hearing from anyone 

who tries the techniques presented 

in these articles. Maybe I will meet 

some of the readers of this column at 

the AAW in Albuquerque. I will be at 

the pen meeting on the night of the 

special interests meetings. 

Do a good turn daily! 


Questions and Answers from the Internet 

Drying Rough 

Turned Bowls 

Question: I have read posts 

where people say to partially turn 

bowls then store them in a brown 

paper bag for a few months, then 

finish turning them. 1) Why store 

them in a brown paper bag and is the 

bag sealed, left open or folded over 

2) Where do you store them in the 

shop/garage, indoors 

—Ted 

Fred’s Response: The paper 

bag helps slow the drying of the 

rough turned bowl. It should be 

sealed and should be stored in a dry 

area out of the sunshine. What I’ve 

found even more effective than placing 

the bowl in a brown paper bag 

is to wrap the outside of the bowl 

with a brown paper bag and tape the 

bag at the rim of the bowl leaving 

the hollowed inside open. Store this 

bowl with the hollowed side down 

on stickers so that some air can get 

into the inside. This seems to work 

about as well as anything I’ve tried. 

Most of the time, I simply rough 

turn, write on the date of turning, 

and throw them on the shelf to dry. 

Sometimes they crack and most of 

the time they don’t. 


Lyle’s Response: The idea 

here is to slow down the drying process. 

The paper bag lets the wood 

breath/dry slowly and acts like a 

moisture chamber. You want the 

wet wood in the center of the wall 

thickness to dry out at the same rate 

as the outside surface of the bowl. If 

the outside dries too fast it will 

Hand Thread 

Chasing 

a crack. If you stop the drying 

like with a plastic bag then the wood 

will mold and decay. So, you cant 

stop the drying only slow it down. 

I prefer to turn wet wood so I don’t 

use the double turning method any 

more. 

Material for Chess 

Pieces 

Question: I need suggestions 

as to what is a good material to turn 

the white, light colored figures of a 

chess set. I have tried hard Maple 

but the density is too soft for the 

detail I desire. The darker pieces 

are to be turned from Babinga. 

The tallest figure will be less then 

3 inches. 

—MGH 

Fred’s Response: I haven’t 

done any chess pieces in quite a 

while. I would however recommend 

white holly or alternative 

ivory. Holly is fairly dense and 

holds detail well, but is sometimes 

hard to find. Alternative Ivory is 

a man made material that looks 

like ivory and will hold excellent 

detail. It is a bit more expensive 

than wood, but would give you the 

excellent detail holding quality you 

need and it makes a very attractive 

chess piece. I originally purchased 

my supply from a place in England, 

but I believe that Craft Supplies 

USA carries the material in smaller 

pieces than you can purchase it in 

from England. 


Lyle’s Response: I did my one 

and only chess set when I was age 

16. I think I used pine. So I am no 

expert on ivory, ivory substitute, 

antler, bone or tusks used recently. 

I never buy turning wood either. 

All my wood comes from already 

downed trees in northern Michigan 

where I live. There are 125 species 

of maple from very soft box elder to 

hard/sugar maple. I have used the 

softer maples for bowls and hollow 

forms. It spalts nicely. I have used 

hard maple, sugar maple (acer saccharum) 

for Christmas ornament 

finials. The hard/sugar maple from 

the northern growing district takes 

detail well with very fine close grain 

character. It’s the best I can do in 

Northern Michigan. It is a pale 

cream color, not white, but it has 

nice contrast to darker woods. I 

don’t know what part of the country 

you are from. Is it possible you got 

a softer variety of maple for your 

testing 

—Lyle Jamieson 

Hand Thread 

Chasing 

Question: I am seriously considering 

thread chasing tools. These 

would be used primarily with lidded 

boxes and some small urns. But, and 

this is my problem, the tools are offered 

in 10, 16 and 20 threads per 

inch. Is there a best size I seem to 

recall reading that with 20 TPI the 

threading job was easier. Is one size 

more useful in softer woods Lots 

of questions and I hope some of the 

usual good answers. 

—Harry 

Fred’s Response: Since my 

book, Making Screw Threads in 

Wood, has been quoted a bit, I guess 

I better post to this thread. To learn 

to chase threads, you need two 

things: (1) a good set of thread chasers 

and (2)wood of the proper hardness. 

I suspect that the person who 


ecommended using PVC to learn 

to chase threads was me, because I 

highly recommend it for learning to 

use the tools. 

For wood, you need a hard, 

dense wood like boxwood, African 

Blackwood, and some of the South 

American rosewoods. However, 

if you mount the wood so that the 

grain runs perpendicular to the axis 

of rotation, it is possible to hand 

chase threads in the softer woods. 

I’ve hand chased 16 tpi threads in 

soft white pine with the grain oriented 

so that there is some side grain 

and some end grain in the threaded 

area. 

I own many different thread 

chasers and can cut threads with all 

of them, but for some reason the 

Ray Iles Chasers sold by “Tools For 

Working Wood” in Brooklyn (see 

Page 2 for their advertisement) seem 

to work better than all of the rest. 

They are available in 16 tpi, which 

incidentally, is the normal thread to 

use for threaded boxes. 


Lyle’s Response: Is it easier or 

more difficult to chase threads for 

finer threads What do you think 

of the hand-vs-mechanized thread 

chasing process. I know the tool 

cost is considerably different, and 

the learning curve is significant, 

what do you think Purest, revolutionary 

or pragmatist 


Johannes Michaelson 

Turning a Hat 

Question: I look forward 

to getting the new issue of More 

woodturning each month and really 

enjoyed your article this month on 

the hat man. I have been turning several 

years and I want to try making 

a hat. I have not had the opportunity 

to see a live demo on making a 

hat but I have read several articles 

and have a general idea of how the 

turning process takes place but I 

have some questions that were not 

covered in your article or the others 

I have read. 

My questions are as follows: 

1, What is the diameter and thickness 

of the blank and is it end grain 

or side grain. 2, What is the final 

thickness of the brim and crown. 

3, Do you keep adding moisture to 

the wood during the turning process 

to keep it from drying out. 4,Is the 

hat sanded and finished before it is 

put in the shaping jig. 5, What finish 

do you recommend. 6,Do you 

have plans or dimensions you will 

share on the shaping jig. 7,Does the 

tape on the brim add strength and 

prevent cracking during shaping 

and will wide masking tape work. 

8, How long do you leave the hat in 

the shaping jig. 9, What woods are 

best for hats. I have access to green 

sycamore, white ash, silver maple, 

walnut, and many more woods. 10, 

How tall is the crown and brim on 

your hats. 11, The final finish mounting 

fixture looks like a jam chuck 

that fits inside the crown with a flat 

surface for the brim to jam against. 

Is double face tape needed to keep 

the hat in place while turning the top 

of the crown. I will probably think 

of more when I try my first one but 

this will get me started. M email address 

is ddhawkins@sbcglobal.net. 

Thanks for your help and your very 

informative magazine. 

—Don Hawkins, Gainesville, 

Texas 

Fred’s Answer: I had assumed 

that I had Johanneses e-mail address, 

however, I don’t and I find that he 

isn’t listed in the AAW Directory 

either. So, I’ll have to attempt to 

answer your questions: 

1) I believe that he normally 

uses a half log, which makes it side 

grain, but I believe either side grain 

or endgrain will work. 

2) He works pretty thin. I believe 

that the wall thickness and the 

brim are slightly under 1/8” , say 

maybe 3/32”. 

3) I believe that he squirts the 

wood with a little water if it starts 

to dry out too fast. 

4) The hat is sanded before putting 

into the shaping jig, but finished 

after it is dry. 

5) I don’t remember if he said 

what his favorite finish is, but I believe 

it is an oil based finish. 

6) If you consider a normal 

cowboy hat for size and then compare 

it to the photo, you should be 

able to get close. 

7) The tape is to protect the hat 

brim during the shaping process and 

may help keep it from cracking. 

8) It seems to me that he said 

the hat normally remains in the jig 

for several days, or until it dries out 

so it will retain the shape given in 

the jig. 

9) I think that he uses all types 

of wood, but seemed to like madrone 

the best, which he can only get 

when he comes to the west coast. 

[Continued on Page38.] 

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email: wmhollan@optonline.net 

phone 631-281-0302 


Editor’s Books for Sale 

Books Written by the Editor of More Woodturning 

Making the Chinese 

Ball 

Revised 2008, by Fred 

Holder. 

This revised booklet outlines Fred’s 

trials and tribulations in conquering 

this project. Tells how to make 

the tools needed to use the Crown 

Chinese Ball Tools. Booklet now 

contains 64 pages of information. 

Price is $10.00 including shipping. 

Order from: Fred Holder, PO Box 

2168, Snohomish, WA 98291. 

Telephone 360-668-0976. 

Price: $28.00, plus $5.00s/h 

Price: $27.00, plus $5.00 s/h 

I have purchased 25 copies of 

The Woodturner’s FAQ Book and 

have them available as signed 

copies for $19.95 plus $5.00 

for shipping by Priority Mail 

(Washington State residents 

please add 8% for sales tax.) 

We accept cash, check, or 

MasterCard and Visa credit 

 

book, which is “required reading 

for all new turners” directly 

from the author: 

Fred Holder 

More Woodturning 

PO Box 2168 

Snohomish, WA 98296 USA 

“Two Books in One” 

a CD-ROM 

This CD-ROM contains Fred’s 

newest book, “The Turning Process” 

and the above book “Making 

the Chinese Ball” on one CD-ROM. 

Both books are in PDF format and 

require Adobe Acrobat Reader to 

read them on your computer. The 

Turning Process is a 105 page 

booklet designed for beginner to 

intermediate woodturners. It might 

even have something worthwhile for 

experienced woodturners. 

Available by 9/10/2008 

Price for this CD-ROM 

is just $14.95 including postage 

within the United States. 

Order from: Fred Holder, PO Box 

2168, Snohomish, WA 98291. 

Telephone: 360-668-0976 

These books seemed 

to be missing from most US 

Sources. So I have purchased 

25 of each book for resale. If 

you haven’t had an opportunity 

to purchase one, this is 

an opportunity to get a signed 

copy. Books will be shipped 

by Priority Mail. 

Fred Holder 


PO Box 2168 

Snohomish, WA 98291 USA 

TEL: 360-668-0976 

Back Issues of More Woodturning 

Available on CD-ROM 

Anyone who owns a computer and likes to read More Woodturning 

on their computer or to archive it onto their computer, will 

be pleased to learn that we now have all issues of More Woodturning 

ever published in PDF format. While we offer individual years 

on a CD-ROM for $25.00, we have come up with a special price 

which includes all issues published from October 1996 to the date 

that the order is placed on a single CD-ROM for just $95.00. This 

 

More Woodturning, PO Box 2168, Snohomish, WA 98291 USA. 


Upgrade to the 

Teknatool Cole Jaws 

by Anthony Napoli, AAW, CMW 

When we turn a bowl project, 

the final turning step involves turning 

the bottom portion of the bowl. 

This final step merges the bowl 

shape into the foot and allows you 

to incorporate whatever design work 

you want to bring to the foot itself. 

This can include creating a series 

of grooves, a bead, a combination, 

or even carving. There are many 

ways to hold a piece depending on 

the characteristics of the piece itself. 

The holding options are often 

dictated by the shape at the top of 

the bowl, wall thickness, voids in 

the bowl, etc. As a result, we can 

choose to use 1) a jam chuck holding 

the inside or the outside edge of the 

piece, or 2) hold it in the chuck jaws 

or a clamping jig that sandwiches 

the piece between two discs of 

plywood/MDF, or 3) use a vacuum 

chuck. You may want to use any 

of the above methods, but you may 

not have the necessary equipment 

or materials. This is where I have 

found the Teknatool Cole Jaws to 

be useful 

Teknatools has made two similar 

systems for holding pieces for 

bottom turning: the Cole Jaws - 

Mini (#6006) and the larger Cole 

Jaws Set (#JSCOLE). They come 

with rubber buns and should be used 

up to 600 rpm for the larger set and 

up to 800 rpm for the mini. Figure 1 

shows the rubber buns have a height 

of 1/2” and work well with conventional 

edge bowls. The Cole Jaws 

are only designed for re-chucking 

small, lightweight bowls that are 

10” in diameter for the full size 

Cole and 8” for the mini Cole. For 

larger, heavier bowls, Teknatool has 

Figure 1. This photo shows 

the rubber buns have a height 

of 1/2” and work well with 

conventional edge bowls. 

drawings and instructions for MDF 

jaws extensions that are bolted on 

to the Cole jaws. So you have two 

Cole jaw options and an option for 

increasing the size capacity of either 

of the jaws. However, what do you 

do if you have a non-conventional 

edge that either does not touch the 

holding plates, or has a curved top 

edge, or other edge irregularity For 

instance, this piece shown (Figure 

2) is a triple off-center turned bowl 

and its edge does not sit on the 

Cole plates resulting in no edge to 

grip with the buns. I did not have 

available a suitable sized piece of 

wood to make a jam chuck. Vacuum 

chucking was out because I created 

the piece with a hole through the 

center. 

With a small investment 

you can increase the capacity 

of the Cole Jaws. 

Figure 2. This photo shows a 

triple off-center turned bowl and 

its edge does not sit on the Cole 

plates resulting in no edge to 

grip with the buns. 

With a small investment you 

can increase the capacity of the 

Cole Jaws from the 1/2” up to 1” 

height capacity. In Figure 3 are the 

components needed to upgrade the 

Cole Jaws capacity. I used 1-3/4” 

pan head screw (1-1/2” will work), a 

1” long steel sleeve, and clear vinyl 

tubing with 1/2” outside diameter 

and 3/8” inside diameter. The steel 

sleeve slides over the screw and the 

vinyl tubing is cut to 1” length and 

slid over the steel sleeve. Also when 

the bowls’ edge does not touch the 

plates, I will use a small washer between 

the plates and the steel sleeve 

to create more contact surface. 


components needed to upgrade 

the Cole Jaws capacity. 

[Continued on Page 22.] 


Cole Jaws Continued from 

Page 21 

Figure 4. Shows the upgrade 

installed and seems to hold the 

piece a little more securely than 

the rubber buns provided with 

the Cole Jaws. 

Too much pressure 

may leave marks 

or even crack your 

piece. 

This upgrade works well and 

seems to hold the piece a little 

more securely than the rubber buns 

provided with the Cole Jaws. (See 

Figure 4.) The steel sleeve, when 

tightened to the plates, does not 

flex or give. Depending on the 

height of the piece you will need 

to be aware of where the screws 

are in relationship to your tool and 

fingers. However, remember not to 

exceed Teknatool’s recommended 

rpm speed. Also, keep in mind the 

clamping pressure versus the results 

it may have on your piece. Too 

much pressure may leave marks 

or even crack your piece. As you 

can see, this upgrade increases the 

capacity of the jaws with limited 

investment of time and expense. 

Figure 5. This shows a sample 

piece being held in the upgraded 

jaws. 

Warning: As with any 

chucking system there is still 

the possibility of a piece dislodging 

and flying off while 

turning. Follow all of Teknatool’s 

warnings for the use of 

the Cole Jaws. Again, these 

jaws were designed for rechucking 

only. This includes 

but is not limited to, taking 

aggressive cuts, and/or trying 

to do major turning work. As 

always, choose the correct tool, 

and use it properly. 

Our Trip to Florida 

in February 


After attending the Desert 

Woodturning Roundup in Mesa, 

Arizona, we flew to Orlando, Florida 

where I was scheduled to do two 

demonstrations. One was before the 

International Wood Collectors Society 

(IWCS) meeting which was to be 

held near Eustus, Florida. We arrived 

in Orlando and then drove North to 

meed Keith Larrett who guided us 

to the demonstration location in 

Orange Park, Florida. The location 

was Jim and Sandy Schroeer’s home 

and shop. They also hosted us for 

Saturday and Sunday nights. I did a 

half day demonstration on Saturday 

and then a full day hands on event 

on Sunday. 

Monday morning we bid our 

hosts goodby and drove south back 

to the Orlando area to locate the 

Woodcraft Store where I was to 

demonstrate on Thursday evening. 

We needed to locate the store and 

learn how to get from the Lake Yale 

Baptist conference Center to there 

and back in the dark. We took one 

day of rest on Tuesday before the 

IWCS event was to begin. 

IWCS Winter Woodfest 

2009-Florida 

The International Wood Collectors 

Society (IWCS) Winter 

Woodfest for 2009 was held at 

the Lake Yale Baptist Conference 

Center near Eustus, Florida from 

February 18 through 22, 2009 with 

Chris Nothnagle serving as host. 

There was over 140 members in 

attendance. The event began with 

registration and set up of exhibits 

in the auditorium at 1:00 pm on 

Wednesday, February 18. Actually, 


egistration opened a bit early as 

Mildred and I arrived before noon 

and were able to obtain our registration 

packets and our room keys for 

our stay. Quite a number of people 

had exhibits, with many selling 

their wares. It think there was a bit 

of trading also going on at least between 

our wives: Mildred traded a 

butterfly to Shelly for one of Garry’s 

oval boxes. 

The first event was the annual 

business meeting of the IWCS, 

which was being held at this event 

because it was felt that there would 

not be a quorum at the annual meeting 

in Holland. This meeting was 

held at 2:30 pm on Wednesday. This 

was the primary reason for our attending, 

since I am the Northwest 

Region Trustee and therefore a 

member of the board. 

There was then an announcement 

of the Annual Meetings for 

the next four years: 2009 in the 

Netherlands, not a bad rate of 770 

Euro for the three weeks; 2010 at 

Lake Yale, Florida with Manley and 

Elaine Hunt serving as host; 2011 in 

Crawfordsville, Indiana with Bob 

and Judy Chastain serving as host; 

finally somewhat up for consideration 

is the 2012 meeting in Niagra 

Falls area. 

One final note was that Buckeye 

wood helps one avoid rheumatism. 

The Woodfest was kicked off 

at 7:00 pm in the South Wing with 

opening remarks and introductions. 

The guest speaker for the evening 

was Janet Hichee on Sandpine Silva 

culture. We missed this because I 

was getting sick, I thought it was 

bad food related. 

Thursday morning began with 

a number of classes, plus the Sawmill 

running all day with Manley 

Hunt. 

At 9:00 AM three classes started 

and ran until almost 10:30 am. 

They were Bob Chastain teaching 

carving ; Ted Spangenberg doing a 

stool making class; an Audubon bird 

walk outside the building toward the 

canal; and Ruth Wakeman with a 

class on making note pad covers. 

At 10:30 two demonstrations 

began and ran until noon. They 

were: Robert Parker doing a bowl 

hewing demonstration out by the 

sawmill and Bob Winter with a turning 

seminar. Bob turned a square 

edge bowl and a natural edge bowl. 

I was able to attend Bob Winter’s 

demonstration. 

Bob Winter turning a square 

edge bowl. 

Close up of Bob’s Squae edge 

bowl. 

Bob turning the foot of the 

natural edge bowl that he 

turned. 

In the afternoon on Thursday, 

we left the site for the Woodcraft 

store in Fern Park (a part of Orlando). 

I did my Chinese Ball 

demonstration, but found that I 

was getting a bit more sick than anticipated. 

Friday morning, Mildred 

called the airline and got us a flight 

out at noon on Friday. It turned out 

that I had a pretty nasty case of the 

stomach flu. The rest of this story is 

what was supposed to happen, but 

we missed Friday, Saturday, and 

Sunday events. 

After lunch, Regis Miller 

spoke on Wood Forensics in the 

Conference room in the south wing. 

Other events for the afternoon were: 

Nevada Rye doing a demonstration 

on making Pecan Brittle, Karen 

Fett on ribbon roses, Art Lee on a 

letter opener, Pam Munger with a 

woodburning class, Robert Goddard 

doing a turning seminar and 

Alan Curtis doing a wood explorer 

seminar. The evening entertainment 

was provided by the Lance Graham 

Band doing Country Music and 

Bluegrass. 

After breakfast on Friday, Regis 

Miller spoke on Wood Anatomy. 

Also Nevada Rye again did pecan 

brittle, Bob Winter did a turning 

[Continued on Next Page] 


Florida Trip Continued from 

Page 23 

seminar, Bob Chastain did a carving 

class; Chris Nothnagle did a seminar 

and class on cabriole legs and Queen 

Anne style furniture; and Robert 

Parker demonstrated bowl hewing. 

With lunch complete more 

demonstrations and classes were 

held: Gil Bryan did a fun brooch; 

Tom Fortenberry did a turning seminar; 

Pat Powers did blacksmithing 

by the lake; Tim Hegarton held a 

wood explorer seminar; Bill Perkins 

did a bird house building for youth; 

and Robert Goddard did a turning 

seminar. 

After supper, Mike Drayton did 

a presentation on prescribed fires in 

National forests. 

Saturday was an under the tent 

all-day auction. At 4:00 pm everyone 

took down their exhibits. After 

dinner, at 7:00 pm the craft auction 

was held. Finally, after breakfast on 

Sunday the farewells were made and 

all began to disperse. 

From Wednesday afternoon 

through late Saturday, there were 

many show and tell items. There 

were two that I was personally impressed 

with and we are including 

photos of those two pieces. 

It was a nice four day event 

and everybody seemed to be enjoying 

themselves, had an opportunity 

to learn new things, and many took 

home a lot of wood. Unfortunately, 

Mildred and I missed most of the 

event that we had come to see. 

This is a piece by Terry 

Sawbridge of the United 

Kingdom. At the time I 

photographed this piece, it was 

already marked sold! 

I failed to write down the 

makers name for this beautifully 

carved duck. It looked alive. 

Letter to the Editor 

Dear Fred, 

I’ve been enjoying your articles 

about the rolling pins. I’ve 

been making my style of rolling pin 

for about 4 or 5 years. It has a little 

twist, if you will, to the average pin. 

Thought you’d enjoy the pictures. 

—Mark J Klass 

Watertown, Wisconsin 

Mark’s rolling pin, does have a 

bit different twist. 

Thanks Mark, 

We appreciate seeing what our 

readers are doing. 

—Fred Holder, Editor 

Make 2-3 Bowls from 1 Blank 

with My New BowlSaw 

Turn Nested Bowls from 6” or 8” bowl blanks with a $39.95 

hand-held tool I call the Bowlsaw. 

See my website bowlsaw.com for details. 

Steussy Creations 

415-897-1457 334 Atherton Ave., Novato, CA 94945 


Testing Rockler’s 

New Pen Press/ 

Drilling Jig 

from pushing the pen tip too far, a 

common mistake with rudimentary 

clamps. 


Rockler Woodworking and 

Hardware contacted me recently 

asking if I would like to evaluate 

their new Pen Press/Drilling Jig. 

We were getting ready to leave for 

an extended trip to Arizona and then 

Florida, but I said that I would be 

happy to give it a check out when 

I returned. When we returned from 

Florida, the package was waiting at 

our home. 

Figure 1. This nice looking jig is 

what I found when I opened the 

package. 

I’ve always drilled my pen 

blanks on the lathe and used the 

tailstock to press the components 

together, but this new tool sounded 

like a better way to do the job. 

This is an innovative 

tool that eliminates 

three common pen 

making problems. 

This is an innovative tool that 

eliminates three common pen making 

problems: boring an inaccurate 

hole for the pen mechanism; pushing 

the mechanism in too far; and 

pushing the pen together crooked, 

resulting in a cracked casing. 

Figure 2. Drilling the blank 

is easy, but I recommend you 

clamp the jig to the drill press 

table. 

When drilling the blank initially, 

the jig’s sturdy notched 

jaws hold the pen blank perfectly 

vertical, creating a straight, precise 

hole to accept the pen tubes and 

mechanism. 

The jaws are also self centering 

so users don’t have to reposition the 

jig for different sized pen blanks. 

To take advantage of this feature, 

one needs to clamp the unit firmly 

to the drill press table and be ready 

to drill a large number of blanks 

at one time. I was pleased with 

the drilling of the blanks. The hole 

emerged exactly in the center of the 

other end. 

At the assembly 

stage, the pen is then 

positioned horizontally 

between the 

jaws. 

At the assembly stage, the 

pen is then positioned horizontally 

between the jaws. Two countersunk 

holes keep the ends precisely centered 

so the pen stays in a straight 

line and won’t buckle. At the same 

time, the slow, controlled clamping 

mechanism helps prevent the user 

Figure 3. This photo shows a pen 

being assembled in the jig. The 

components align perfectly in 

the centering holes provided in 

the jaws. 

The unit is made from solid 

extruded aluminum. The Pen Press/ 

Drilling Jig features a hollowed out 

space for a shop-made drawer. The 

jaws are cast aluminum, and the jig 

includes three replaceable sacrificial 

wood blanks that prevent exit-hole 

blowout during drilling operations. 

The feet are pre-drilled for 

mounting to an auxiliary base, an 

option that allows for quick setup 

on the drill press. I didn’t mount 

mine on a auxiliary base, but would 

recommend doing so. 

If you make pens, this jig 

would be an excellent addition to 

your tool inventory. I highly recommend 

it, especially for high volume 

work. Drilling is easy and pressing 

the pen parts together couldn’t be 

easier. 

The Rockler Pen Press/Drilling 

Jig retails for $94.99. It can be 

purchased from Rockler Woodworking 

and Hardware stores or partner 

stores nationwide, from Rockler. 

com or from the Rockler catalog. 

For store locations or a free 

catalog, visit www.rockler.com or 

call 1-877-ROCKLER. 


Woodturning Books For Sale 

We are pleased to offer the following books from Linden Publishing for 

sale through More Woodturning. 

Here are the titles we are offering: 

• All Screwed up!: Turned Puzzles and Boxes Featuring Chased threads 

by John Berkeley $24.95 

• 500 Wood Bowls $24.95 

• Beyond Basic Turning: Off-Center, Coopered, and Laminated Work, 

by Jack Cox $28.95 

• Chris Child’s Projects for Woodturners, by Chris Child $16.95 

• Decorating Turned Wood: The Maker’s Eye, by Liz and Michael 

O’Donnell $19.95 

• Fabulous Turned Wood Projects, by Hazeu Hiebert, et al $17.95 

• Richard Raffan Turning Guides, Slipcase Set, by Richard Raffan $59.95 

• Segmented Turning: A Complete Guide, by Ron Hampton $19.95 

• The Art of Segmented Wood Turning: A Step-by-Step Guide, 

by Malcolm Tibbetts $25.95 

• The Complete Illustrated Guide to Turning by Richard Raffan $39.95 

• The Lathe Book, by Ernie Conover $24.95 

• The Woodturner’s Workbook, by Ray Key $19.95 

• The Woodturner’s FAQ Book, by Fred Holder $19.95 

• Turn a Bowl: Getting Good Results the First Time Around, 

by Ernie Conover $19.95 

• Turned Boxes: 50 Designs, by Chris Stott $19.95 

• Turning Boxes with Richard Raffan: (revised and updated) $24.95 

• Turning Bowls with Richard Raffan, by Richard Raffan $24.95 

• Turning Boxes with Richard Raffan $24.95 

• Turning Green Wood, by Michael O’Donnell $17.95 

• Turning Pens and Pencils, by Kip Christensen & Rex Burningham $17.95 

• Turning Projects, by Richard Raffan $21.95 

• Turning Wood with Richard Raffan, by Richard Raffan $24.95 

• Wood for Woodturners by Mark Baker $19.95 

• Woodturning: A Foundation Course, by Keith Rowley $19.95 

• Woodturning: A Fresh Approach, by Robert Chapman $17.95 

• Woodturning Forms and Materials, by John Hunnex $19.95 

• Woodturning Projects, by Mark Baker $19.95 

• Woodturner’s Wooden Clock Cases by Tim Ashby $5.95 

Pay shipping of $4.25 for the first book plus $1.00 for each additional book. 

Priority Mail is $6.50 for the first book and $1.00 for each additonal book. 

Foreign Customers please request a quote for shipping costs. 

Order three books and take a 10 percent discount on the order. 

Note: Discount does not apply to postage. 

Master Card and Visa Charge Cards Accepted 

Send Orders to: 


P. O. Box 2168 

Snohomish, WA 98291-2168 

Telephone: 360-668-0976 

Fax: 360-668-1798 

Tormek/Ellsworth 

Grind Follow up 

Fred, 

I was forced to retire at age 60 

and, now that I’m working three 

jobs to make up for the one I lost, 

I’m having trouble getting into the 

shop as often as I’d like. 

But, I finally got to it and set up 

my Tormek using your instructions, 

finding that they were very close, 

but didn’t exactly match the profile 

of my new Ellsworth gouge. 

After some study, I realized 

that the distance from the stone to 

the Universal Support (guide) has 

the greatest bearing on the wings 

of the profile and that the angle of 

the jig and tool position in the jig 

had the greatest bearing on the tip 

of the profile. 

With that in mind I kept the 3” 

position for the extension of the tool 

tip beyond the jig and first adjusted 

the Universal Support/Stone distance 

to get the angle for the wings 

- that turned out to be 2.75 “. 

The next step was to adjust the 

angle of the jig to match the angle of 

the tip and that wound up to be about 

3+. It took a little experimentation 

to arrive at these settings, but only 

a few minutes time actually. 

The sequence of setting the 

distance between the guide and the 

stone first, and then the jig angle 

second seemed to work best for me. 

After marking the face to be ground 

with a black magic marker, I was 

able to complete the grind with all of 

the black marked area ground away 

from tip to the heel of the grind with 

a few light passes. 

I am able to rotate the handle 

through an arc of about 200 degrees 

- the stopping points on each side 

are when the tool steel comes to rest 


against the Universal Support rod 

on each side. This prevents grinding 

the last part of the wings and I 

don’t see a solution to that with the 

Tormek system. 

Then again, I’m probably 

missing the obvious. I assume that 

my adjustment changes are due to a 

slightly different grind on my particular 

gouge, which has an angle 

on the tip of 54 degrees from the 

centerline of the shaft. 

I too like sharpening my 

gouges with a finer stone, leaving 

a burr only on my scrapers. I also 

like the repeatability of using a jig 

and believe that I can complete the 

sharpening with less metal removed, 

resulting in the gouge lasting longer. 

Thanks again for getting me off in 

the right direction. 

—Jim Putnam 

Thanks for the feedback Jim, 

If you have the TTS-100 Turning 

Tool Setter, which is a new device 

that has recently come on the 

market, you might have been able to 

get the grind right on the first time. 

However, what you did should work 

for you and is worth sharing with my 

readers. There may be others having 

trouble getting the Ellsworth Grind 

on their gouges. 

—Fred Holder, Editor 

Note: I had e-mailed Jim a 

copy of the article that I had written 

for the July 2005 issue of More 

Woodturning. At that time the TTS- 

100 Turning Tool Setter had not 

come on the market. Geoff Brown, 

who is the world wide distributor or 

representative of Tormek, sent me 

the Tormek chart to the right, which 

has the TTS-100 settings for the 

Ellsworth Grind on the Tormek. 

The above chart is from the Tormek manual on the Tormek 

Grinders and they are currently being manufactured today. The 

chart assumes that the user has the TTS-100 Turning Tool Setter 

for their machine. If you have an old Tormek like mine, I suggest 

that you purchase a TTS-100 to help set up your Tormek to get the 

best results. This setter is much more accurate than using a space 

block as I described in the article in the July 2005 issue of More 

Woodturning. 


Testing the Easy Rougher Ci1 

By Fred Holder 

When I heard of the Easy 

Rougher, I discounted it until I 

saw it demonstrated extensively at 

the Desert Woodturning Roundup 

this last February. I watched Craig 

Jackson turn a bowl from a round 

wet blank to a final turned bowl, 

turning outside and inside with the 

Ci1 Easy Rougher. (See Figure 1.) 

I was impressed enough to purchase 

both the large one, the Ci1, and the 

smaller version (the Ci2). 

Figure 2. I began turning this rough blank using the Easy Rougher 

Ci1 tool. There were no catches, just shavings coming off of the 

awful blank. 

Figure 1. Craig Jackson turning 

a bowl with the Easy Rougher 

Ci1 at the Desert Woodturning 

Roundup. 

I purchased them through Craft 

Supplies booth. Craft Supplies was 

giving a 10 Percent discount and 

free shipping on all purchases at 

the show. 

When we returned home, the 

tools were there waiting for us. 

I found the most awful piece of 

wood in the shed and mounted it 

poorly, i.e., not the truest mounting 

and went to work. The blank was 

approximately 10” in diameter to 

begin with, but I only obtained about 

Figure 3. The turning continued with the Easy Rougher doing an 

excellent job. By this time I was pretty impressed with the tool and 

was pleased that we had purchased them. 

a 5” bowl out of it because of the 

mounting. The wood was spalted 

and rotten, but the Ci1 impressed me 

significantly. 


Figure 4. With the blank 

reversed into the chuck, I began 

hollowing. 

Figure 5. Nearing completion 

of the inside of the bowl. I was 

amazed at how well a square 

cutter could cut inside a bowl. 

There were no catches, it just 

cut away the wood. I found that a final 

pass with a bowl gouge gave me 

a better finish, but one could have 

started sanding with 80 or perhaps 

60 grit sandpaper and finished the 

bowl quite well. 

figure 7. Roughing a Red Birch 

spindle mounted piece at 3000 

rpm, the tool cut nicely. 

a spindle, a piece of good wood, 

Red Birch that was dry. At 1000 

rpm there was some tear out, but it 

roughed the wood quickly. I turned 

the lathe up to 3000 rpm and got a 

very smooth cut. Not as smooth as a 

skew chisel, but very smooth, ready 

to sand with 220 grit. 

Figure 9. Nearly finished with 

the hollowing of the goblet. 

I couldn’t round the bottom 

of the bowl and had to use 

an Eliminator tool to finish 

shaping the inside of the bowl. 

Figure 10. The goblet is nearly 

finished and only required 

sanding at this point. 

Figure 6. Completed inside of 

the bowl after one pass of the 

bowl gouge. 

This really is an excellent 

roughing tool. I then tried it on 

Figure 8. I thought that 

hollowing the goblet would be 

difficult, but I was wrong. 

I decided to try to make a goblet 

out of the wood. I completely 

turned it at 3000 rpm and only had 

to use an Eliminator to round out the 

bottom of the bowl. Otherwise the 

goblet was completely turned with 

the Ci1. Needless to say, I feel they 

were a good purchase. You can turn 

beads with it but not tight coves. 

Figure 11. The finished goblet. 


Coming Events 

Utah Woodturning Symposium 

2009 to be held May 14 

through 16, 2009 will mark the 

30th year that this symposium has 

been held. Mike Mahoney is again 

the symposium director and the 

location, I asume, is the same as 

for the 2008 symposium. For more 

information on this event, keep in 

touch with their web site: www. 

utahwoodturning.com. 

* * * 

The AAW 23rd Annual Symposium 

will be held June 26 through 

28, 2009 at the Albuquerque Convention 

Center, Albuquerque, New 

Mexico. The complete schedule will 

feature more than 120 rotations, 

plus many more events. Featured 

demonstratiors include: Nick Cook, 

Emmet Kane, Virginia Dotson, Peter 

Hromek, Mike Mahoney, Rolly 

Munroe, David Nittmann, David 

Springett, and John Wessels. 

AAW local chapter, New 

Mexico Woodturners, who will 

be hosting the 2009 Symposium, 

have selected the Holland’s Rose 

organization as recipient of Return 

To The Community gifts this year. 

Holland’s Rose is an all-volunteer 

organization dedicated to providing 

affordable housing and other 

services to patients and families 

who must travel to Albuquerque 

for medical care. For more information 

on the symposium go to: www. 

woodturner.org. 

* * * 

North Carolina Woodturning 

Symposium will be held October 

23-25, 2009 in the Greensboro 

Coliseum Special Events Center, 

Greensboro, NC. It will feature 63 

rotations by International, National 

and Local area demonstrators. The 


“THE ELIMINATOR” 

demonstrator list includes: Allan 

Batty, Stuart Batty, Jimmy Clewes, 

Stuart Mortimer, Ray Key, Nick 

Cook, David Datwyler, Mark Gardner, 

John Jordan, and Chris Ramsey. 

For more details go to http://northcarolinawoodturning.com/ 

and visit 

frequently to keep up to date. 

••• 

The Woodturners of Olympia 

2009 “Creativity in Woodturning” 

Symposium will be held Saturday, 

July 25, 2009. Eric Lofstrom will 

begin the day with a demonstration 

on woodturning basics. Eric will be 

followed by Jimmy Clewes. Jimmy 

is a well-known teacher and demonstrator 

in his native England as well 

as here in the USA. He will be performing 

demonstrations covering: 

• Design, shape, form & aesthetics 

• Oriental Boxes 

• Turning a twist and long stem 

goblet, and 

Manufacturer’s of the Worlds Largest Range of Fine 

Woodworking Handtools 

CROWN HAND TOOLS LTD. 

332-334 Coleford Road, Darnall 

Sheffield, S9 5PH England 

Hollowing Tool 

ELIMINATES: 

CATCHES, 

TEAR OUT, 

SHARPENING 

Available in three sizes: 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 inch cutters. Tool shafts are 

milled with flats for both right and left hand cutting. 

Available from: Packard Woodworks and Craft Supplies USA 

www.jewelwood.com 

• Colorings 

The cost for the full day is $70 

for early payment. After June 1, 

2009 the cost is $80. Children under 

the age of 18 can register for $10 if 

attending with a paying adult. 

Lunch is included in the cost 

if payment is received before July 

12. 

Demonstrations will start 

promptly at 8 a.m. and end by 4:30 

p.m. Door prize drawings will be 

made after the final presentation. 

Location is the Komachin 

Middle School located at 3650 College 

St. SE, Lacey, WA. 98503. 

For more information or to 

register see http://www.woodturnersofolympia.org/ 

or send payment 

directly to Al Price at 4112 Teakwood 

Ct. SE, Lacey, WA. 98503. 

Questions may also be directed to 

Al on 360-791-0396. 

Note: Two all day classes by 

Jimmy Clewes are scheduled following 

the Creativity in Woodturn- 

TEL: England 114 272 3366 FAX: 114 272 5252 

E-Mail: info@crowntools.ltd.uk Web Site: www.crownhandtools.ltd.uk

ing symposium organized by the 

Woodturners of Olympia. Sunday, 

July 26 will be a class in the basics 

of woodturning with the content 

structured to the level of participants 

experience, and then an intermediate/advanced 

class will be held on 

Monday, July 27. The classes are 

limited to the first 8 students with 

a cost of $125 per class. Please 

contact Al Price on 360-791-0396 

or via e-mail: APrice44@aol.com to 

register or for more information. 

* * * 

Ohio Valley Woodturners 

Guild will sponsor its 6th biennial 

symposium “Turning 2009 on Oct 

16-18, 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Featuring: David Ellsworth, Jean- 

François Escoulen, Bonnie Klein, 

Alan Lacer, Jon Magill, Stuart Mortimer, 

Jennifer Shirley & Jacques 

Vesery. For more information check 

their Web Site: http://www.ovwg. 

org/. 

* * * 

Editor’s Note: If you have an 

event coming up such as the ones 

listed here, please let us know in time 

to let our readers know that it is coming. 

Send information about your 

forthcoming symposium or event to 

fred@morewoodturning.net or to 

More Woodturning, PO Box 2168, 

Snohomish, WA 98291 USA. 

This space could 

have reported on your 

clubs coming event had 

we recieved information 

about it in time. 

Send us your Symposium information 

so that we may share it 

with our readers. 

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Turner’s Tool Handle from Woodworkers Network 

Turner’s Tool Handle from Paul Bennett of Woodworkers Network is fitted with one of Doug 

Thompson ‘s detail gouges. 


Some time back, Paul Bennett 

of Woodworkers Network contacted 

me about advertising rates. Then 

later, he asked if I would consider 

evaluating his tool handle that he 

normally sells on Ebay. He says that 

if you search “Turners tool handle” 

his site will come up. He is currently 

working on a web site, but at the 

last communication, it was not yet 

operational. 

I agreed to give his tool handle 

a try, but didn’t expect it to come in 

with one of Doug Thompson’s detail 

gouges for use with the handle. So, 

I guess this has to be a joint review 

of the tool handle and the detail 

gouge. 

The tool handle is 16” in length 

and is made from one inch solid aluminum 

core which is available bored 

for 3/8”, 1/2”, or 5/8” tool shafts. It 

is bored in only one end. The other 

end is nicely rounded over and the 

handle is covered with a chusioned 

grip which covers 14-1/2 inch of the 

length and provides a grip of 1-7/16 

inch in diameter. 

I found this handle to be very 

comfortable in my hand. If you have 

a smaller hand it might seem overly 

large and vice versa a much larger 

hand might find it a bit small. I however 

found it very comfortable. It is 

easy to grip, doesn’t slip in the hand 

as highly polished handles may do 

and it the right length to give good 

tool control. 

The Turner’s Tool Handle is 16” long and comes with an Allen 

wrench to use in locking the tool into the handle. This particular 

one is for 3/8” shaft diameter tools. 

That is about all that I can actually 

say about the handle other than 

it does seem to be well balanced at 

least with this 3/8” tool mounted in 

the handle. 

This was the first time, I’ve 

used one of Doug Thompson’s tools. 

I have heard many good things about 

them on the Wood Central Message 

Board, but I have so many good 

tools that I’ve simply not made an 

effort to acquire one of the Thompson 

tools. 

I haven’t used this tool extensively 

enough to find out how 

well the edge will stand up against 

other similar gouges; however, I 

was pleased with how well it cut in 

my tests of it on a spindle. If you 

haven’t heard of the Thompson 

tools, I suggest that you take a look 

at his web site: 

www.thompsonlathetools.com 

From start to finish each tool 

is handcrafted by Doug Thompson. 

“He says, the first thing you will 

notice there is more steel under the 

flute than other tools, this creates a 

stronger tool that’s easy to control 

especially when it needs to be extended 

far over the rest for those 

This new tool with its new 

handle has taken a preferred 

space in my tool storage. 

hard to reach details. Bowl gouges 

are a balance between flute shape 

and depth to prevent clogging. The 

shank will fit any aftermarket handle 

and are polished so they slide easily 

on the rest. A gunmetal finish, which 

is actually from the heat treatment, 

gives each tool a unique character all 


A selectrion of Thompson V-flute Bowl Gouges 

from his web site. 

it’s own. All tools are 10 inches long 

with a 6 inch flute except the 5/8 - 

3/4 inch bowl gouges that are 12 

inches long with a 7 inch flute.” 

Doug further says, “The tools 

are made from the best steel on the 

market, CPM 10V® (A-11) a powder 

metal manufactured by Crucible 

Materials Corporation with a 9.75% 

vanadium content to hold an edge 

longer and has a proven history in 

woodturning. The steel is hardened 

to 60-62 Rockwell, triple tempered 

with a cryogenic treatment between 

the first and second temper. The 

cryogenic treatment at this stage 

transforms the bulk of the retained 

austinite to martensite and form 

very fine “eta” carbides much finer 

than tempering alone, this increases 

the durability and toughness of the 

steel. Nothing else can be done to 

this steel!” 

At Doug’s web site he lists 

some of the tools that he supplies 

as follows: 

• V-SHAPE BOWL GOUGES 

• U-SHAPE BOWL GOUGES 

• SPINDLE GOUGES 

• DETAIL GOUGES 

• SHALLOW DETAIL GOUGES 

• SKEWS 

• SCRAPERS 

I always hate to make any 

claims for a particular tool manu- 

facturer on a single tool. But I believe that the 

combination of the Paul Bennet handle and the 

Thompson detail gouge is worth recommending 

highly. I suspect from trying this one tool combination 

that one will find the Paul Bennet handle fitted 

with a Thompson gouge or other turning tool will 

give you good performance. This is also what I’ve 

heard from other users. 

From the photo on the left, the gouges look to 

be very well made and perhaps fully sharpened with 

a good grind. 

 

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Desert Woodturning 

Roundup 2009— 

Another View 

by Jason Clark 


The 2009 Desert Woodturning 

Roundup was the weekend of February 

7 and 8, 2009 and I thought I’d 

be one of the first to post my review. 

Up front I want to declare that I was 

on the organizing committee for this 

symposium so my experience may 

have been a little different than most 

attendees. 

Friday started around 9AM 

and ran until 8PM. Most of the day 

was spent photographing the pieces 

in the Instant Gallery, browsing the 

vendors area, and meeting as many 

people as possible. Around 6PM my 

attention shifted to the Pen turning 

demos. The 55 chairs that had been 

setup were quickly filled and it 

ended up being standing room only 

with 80-90 people in the room at 

any given point. I took a couple of 

photos but was having some trouble 

with my flash. Overall I think it was 

a huge success, but next time we 

need to arrange for a video camera 

and a projector to be setup. Doing a 

demo with small pen parts in a large 

room with a capacity crowd is nearly 

impossible without video help. My 

wife and I left after the 2nd demo, 

around 8PM, as we knew we had an 

early morning on Saturday. 

Saturday started at 8AM 

with the opening ceremonies, Bill 

Haskell (President, American Assoc. 

of Woodturners) spoke as did 

each of the demonstrators. I didn’t 

stay for the whole 90 minutes as I 

had more instant gallery pieces to 

photograph. 

The first rotation started at 

9:45. I had planned to attend Cindy 

Drozda’s “Multi-Axis Hollow 

Form” but instead decided to forego 

the first rotation and elected to roam 

from room to room photographing 

all of the demonstrators in action. 

This included all 9 demonstrators, 

Jimmy Clewes, Bonnie Klein, Cindy 

Drozda, Mark St. Leger, Alan Lacer, 

Nick Cook, Keith Tompkins, Hans 

Finsterwalder, and Dwight Klaus. 

This also made it easier to choose 

which demonstrations I would attend 

for the 5 remaining rotations. 

Lunch was followed by the 

2nd rotation. I had selected to attend 

Nick Cook’s “Production Turning 

for Sale” but ended up splitting time 

between Jimmy Clewes “Colored 

platter” and Alan Lacer “Making 

and Using Hook Tools”. The volunteer 

videographer for Jimmy’s demo 

was needed in another room to fix 

a glitch in the video setup so I shot 

the first 10-15 minutes of Jimmy’s 

demo. I missed the first 20 minutes 

of Alan’s demo which I later found 

out was putting a burr on scrapers, 

but got to see the portion covering 

making and using the hook tool. 

The last rotation on Saturday 

was Cindy Drozda’s Finial box. 

Cindy made a beautiful little lidded 

box out of Holly and Mesquite with 

one of her trademark finials. She 

later donated it to the live auction. 

The Saturday evening banquet, 

live auction, and silent auctions were 

next. At the banquet 3 people were 

honored. Clarence “Shorty” Hart 

received the 3rd “Desert Woodturning 

Roundup Recognition Award”. 

Previous recipients of this award 

include Phil Brennion and Wally 

Dickerman. We tried to keep it a 

secret but enough whispers went 

around that Shorty knew he had 

been selected. In the end I think 

we’re all glad that Shorty did find 

out, if we had surprised him like we 

had planned I think the shock of it 

all literally would have killed him. 

We also honored Bill Baumbeck 

of Arizona Silhouette with the first 

Sponsor award. Bill has done more 

for our local club and for the DWR 

than I have room to type. Lastly 

we honored Mike Lucckino. He’s a 

former Arizona Woodturners Assoc. 

President and was the driving force 

and Chairperson for the 2007 and 

2009 DWRs. Mike in turn honored 

the rest of the committee members 

for their contributions and for making 

his job easy. 

We had a volunteer professional 

auctioneer this year to run 

the live auction. The results were 

fantastic. I don’t know the final 

number but it was somewhat higher 

than I had expected. I contributed 2 

framed photos to the auction, one for 

the live auction and another for the 

silent auction. Together the 2 photos 

earned somewhere between $200 

and $240. Both went to the same 

bidder and I’ve had several other 

people contact me about acquiring 

copies, including Mary and Alan 

Lacer. Other auction items included 

demo pieces from Cindy Drozda, 

Jimmy Clewes, Mark St. Leger, and 

Bonnie Klein. Hans Finsterwalder 

and Keith Tompkins also donated 

finished pieces. 

Sunday started at 8:30. I decided 

to see Mark St. Leger’s “Sphere 

box” with hand chased threads. I’m 

not planning to hand chase threads 

or turn a perfect sphere anytime 

soon but it was still an interesting 

demo to watch and made me want 

to see more of Mark’s demos. 

Next was Keith Tompkins 

demo on “Priciples of form & design.” 

I had really wanted to see 

Mark St. Leger’s 2nd demonstration, 

“Third axis in motion” but wanted to 

see Keith’s design rotation as well.

This next demo of Mark’s also had 

some multi-axis work so Keith won 

that battle. Keith talked about using 

the golden rectangle and the golden 

triangle as a guide to turning pleasing 

forms. Keith then went over the 

inspiration for some of his turnings, 

including Playing Hooky, Tango, 

Steppin Out, and Winter Rose. He 

finished the demo by turning a cube 

on the lathe, something I know he 

does that I couldn’t quite put my 

head around but now that I’ve seen 

it done I can’t believe it was that 

simple. He’s definitely inspired me 

to try a couple of new things and to 

step out of my comfort zone a bit 

(Hi Keith!) 

After Sunday Lunch I returned 

back to Mark St. Leger’s room for 

his “Rock a Bye Box” demo. I had 

seen a small portion of this demo 

on Saturday morning and knew I 

wanted to see it in full. This demo 

involves pretty much everything; 

shop made jigs, multi-axis work, 

hollowing, and turning a block 

mounted on a bias. He’s a great 

turner and entertaining as well. I 

highly recommend him to anyone 

who has a chance to see him demonstrate. 

I think the quality of the instant 

gallery improved over 2 years 

ago, as did the selection of vendors. 

On hand this year were Arizona Silhouette, 

Sanding Glove, Don Pencil, 

Big Tree Tools, Inc. 

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High West Wood Products, Timber 

Woodworking Machinery (they supplied 

most of the lathes used by the 

demonstrators), Serious tools, Driftwood 

Connection, Craft Supplies 

USA, Woodworkers Source, Rotary 

Chisel, Alan Lacer, Woodcraft, Elbo 

Tools, Burs for Carving, and several 

others that I can’t think of off the top 

of my head. 

All in all I think a great 

time was had by everyone in attendance 

and feedback has been 

vastly positive. One comment I was 

made aware of that springs to mind 

is “I’m not a woodturner. My boss 

is and he asked me to come along. I 

will be at your next one even if my 

boss does not attend.” If that’s not 

a glowing recommendation I don’t 

know what is. 

Finishing the 

Collaborative Piece 


The following set of photos 

illustrate how I was able to hold 

the collaborative piece to finish the 

bottom. The piece was illustrated 

in the March-April 2009 issue of 

More Woodturning. This technique 

can be used for many projects. 


fixture made up to help hold the 

piece while the foot was turned 

and the grooves were cut. 

Figure 2. This view shows the 

piece mounted on the fixture and 

the foot has been final turned. 

Note the grooves above the foot 

which were added to hide the 

glue joint. 

Figure 3. The finished piece is no 

masterpiece, but it does have a 

finished foot. 

Coving Tool 

Jimmy Clewes says, “The tool 

works really well in a variety of situations 

but lends itself particularly well 

to small detail work, finials etc and 

miniature turning.” For perfect coves 

every time, visit the Home of the Coving 

Tool at our website. 

www.jonathanhess.com. 

703-378-8508. 


Instant Gallery Selections from the Desert Woodturning Roundup 

Bob Rogne Cherry plate 

painted. 

Three of Cindy Drozda’s pieces in the Instant Gallery. 

Hans Finsterwalder Mystic 

Buffalo. 

Ruth Ingram plate with 

butterflies. 

Karen Freitas Silver Maple 

Leaves. 

Bruce Lewellyn Jarrah Burl 

Box. 


Two of Keith tompkins pieces in the Instant Gallery. 

Walley Dickerman giraffe in 

maple. 

Norris Ready quilted maple 

plate. 

Gary Scarpulh Twin Vases. 

Scott Clark Giving Thanks in 

Oak. 

Steve Mink Square Dish 

bloodwood and maple. 

Walley Dickerman pierced 

vessel in maple. 


Q&A Continued from Page 

19 

10) The best dimensions to use 

for size is to measure and actual 

cowboy hat. I believe after the large 

number of hats that he has made that 

Johannes has worked out a formula 

for the size. But basically, you need 

to measure the dimension around the 

head and add a little for shrinkage 

as the wood dries. The wood will 

warp to an oval shape in the jig as 

the hat dries. 

11) Yes, that is a jam fit chuck 

that will fit most of the hats that he 

makes. He does not tape the hat to 

the chuck, but he is only working 

on the top of the crown at this point, 

everything is done up to the very 

top of the crown. The light inside 

the fixture provides a guidance for 

thickness and eveness of his turning 

on the crown. 

I’m sorry that I don’t have Johannes’s 

e-mail address or telephone 

number. I’ve seen him demonstrate 

a number of times over the years 

and am still amazed at how skilful 

he is with his gouge and the grind 

on it. I’ve answered your questions 

to the best of my knowledge. I’ve 

never had an urge to turn a hat, but 

I always enjoy Johannes’s demonstrations. 


Lyle’s Response: Fred nailed 

your questions nicely. I have seen 

Johannes and Chris Ramsey do hats 

many times. They are both masters 

at tool control. They use different 

grinds so that is not the secret. I 

know Chris got some significant 

help from Rude Osolnik on his tool 

control. They are a joy to watch. 

It takes a steady hand and great 

precision to keep the wall thickness 

perfectly uniform. There is no room 

for error. 


Live Centers 

Question: Why are live cone 

centers so hard to find I am new 

to woodturning and I hold my breath 

every time I tighten the tailstock 

against the bowl blank with a standard 

60° live center for fear that I’ll 

split the thing. So far that hasn’t 

happened, luckily. I finally got one 

on E-Bay last week, but you seldom 

see them even listed. I don’t see 

them at Rockler or Woodcraft. Is 

this something the REAL wooodturners 

don’t even use What do 

YOU do 

—Pete Stanaitis 

Fred’s Response: I think what 

you are looking for is a live center 

with a cup plus the center point. 

Oneway makes a live center like 

this, Nova makes one, and Woodcraft 

did sell a live center with 

various interchangeable heads that 

had a cup center in the lot. Personally, 

since they came on the market, 

I use the StebCenter from Robert 

Sorby. It has a spring loaded center 

pin that does not dig in too deep 

and will not split your wood. It also 

has a notched cup around the center 

pin that holds exceptionally well. 

I use the StebCenters in both the 

headstock and the tailstock. They 

are a bit expensive, but no more 

expensive than the Oneway or the 

Nova centers. I know that Craft 

Supplies USA carries them and I’m 

reasonable sure that Packard Woodworks 

does also. Once you use the 

StebCenters you’ll not want to go 

back to regular centers. 


Lyle’s Response: You need to 

be looking in the turning catalogs 

like Craft Supplies, www.woodturnerscatalog.com 

or Packard, 

www.packardwoodworks.com for 

your turning supplies. They have 

many live revolving center systems 

to choose from. Woodcraft and 

Rockler are good woodworking 

resources but only have limited 

turning tools. 

I like the Oneway type centers 

too because of the versatility. I 

have even made my own adapters 

that screw on the threaded shaft for 

specialty turning needs. 

I don’t use the stebcenter. I 

prefer a stronger grip on the wood 

for the drive headstock end. The 

tool control and easy cutting action 

we have available nowadays means 

I can pour the coal to the wood with 

no physical effort by my body. I can 

take effortless but aggressive cuts 

when I hog off that would make the 

steb center drive fail. It would be 

OK for the tailstock end but does 

not have the flexibility that I can 

get with the Oneway live center. 

It has cup alone, small cone alone, 

large cone alone, inverted large 

cone alone, or cup and pin together 

capabilities. 


Thread Cutting Jig 

Question: Does anyone know 

of any Plans for a Thread Cutting 

Jig 

—Woodie 

Fred’s Response: Before I 

wrote my book, Making Screw 

Threads in Wood, I made up a simple 

threading jig to cut threads. Since 

my lathe at that time had a 3/4” x 

16 tpi spindle, I used a 3/4” bolt 

threaded with 16 tpi and a couple 


of 16 tpi nuts. The jig was mostly 

made of wood and worked pretty well. 

It simply mounted to the tool rest banjo 

and precision adjustments were not 

available, but it could be fiddled into 

position. I’ve included a picture of it 

here. There is a picture and description 

in my book. 


Photo of Fred’s homemade 

threading jig. It worked quite 

well, but hand thread chasing is 

still faster on a one off piece. 

Lyle’s Response: Great way 

to get the accuracy of machine 

cut threads without going through 

the learning curve of hand chasing 

threads. With that kind of jig I 

would bet that once set up the accuracy 

would be very dependable. 


Chinese Ball 

Tools 

I have recently become a dealer 

for the Crown Chinese Ball Tools and 

have an inventory of sets and extra 

handles on hand for immediate shipment. 

A set includes one handle, four 

cutters, a tool to make a tapered 

hole, and a pamplet written by David 

Springett. These are priced at $125.00 

for each set. 

The handles include a wooden 

handle and a metal piece to attach the 

cutters and ride on the ball. These are 

priced at $36.20 each. I recommend 

three additional handles. 

Fred Holder 

PO Box 2168 

Snohomish, WA 98291 

360-668-0976 

The Market Place 

The first 10 words of classified advertisements 

are free to subscribers, additional 

words are 20-cents per word, no minimum. 

On non-subscriber advertisements, price is 

20-cents per word with a minimum billing 

of $4.00. 

Beginning and advanced woodturning 

classes. Call Ted Bartholomew 253-927-6855, 

Tacoma, WA. 

Sharpening Machine for all Woodworkers 

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allowing you to sharpen all the hand tools 

in your shop! The convenience and accuracy 

are unequaled. Visit bigtreetools.com to view 

photos, see our other tools and read articles on 

turning by Jon Siegel. See ad in this issue or 

call 1.888.TURNING 

Super Glue 2 0z. $5.50, Thin, Medium. 

Thick, Accelerator 2oz. $3.00. acwtinc@ameritech.net. 

PAYPAL, VISA & MASTERCARD. 

LOGLAMPS.COM ARTISTIC & CUSTOM 

WOODTURNING, INC. 1-800-894-8123 

Make pens using your drill press with a 

Vertilathe. http://vertilathe.freeyellow.com 

Woodturning on a VB36 Lathe, at 

Higher Manaton Farm. SW England. Web Site: 

www.turning-wood.com 

Faceplates: Straight from manufacture, 

heavy duty aluminum, brightly colored anodize, 

most common sizes. Visit our website: 

www.minkcrafts.com or call toll free (866) 

956-2200. 

The Burl Source. Large supply of Australian 

Burl Caps, turning blanks, pen blanks, 

and large jarrah burl slabs. Check us out at www. 

theburlsource.com or call 801-942-2616. 

Emory’s Woodturning E-Books www. 

asthewoodturns.com/books.html. 

Free Wet Grind/Hone Instant Change 

Sharpening System Plans: http://www.DavidReedSmith.com. 

Maple Turning Blanks--PRICE $6-8 

PBF+S&H cut to size, call 360-942-3468 or 

e-mail: john@hamptonwoodcraft.com. 

Pen Finishing Kit: A must for all pen 

turners! Obtain a scratch free remarkale shine on 

all surfaces including stabilized woods, acrylics 

and solid surface materials using the new 2”x2” 

double sided foam backed sanding pads. Kit contains 

instructions for use and seven color coded 

pads ranging from 300 to 12,000 grit. $13.95. 

BG Artforms. TEL: 888-717-4202. 

Easier, Faster Segmented Vessel Design, 

Web Site: www.segmentedturning.com. 

TEL: (805) 489-5309. 

Woodturning classes – Satisfaction 

guaranteed. Call Larry Miller 360-412-1583, 

Olympia, Washington” 

Cabochons for woodturners at www. 

yoyospin.com/cab 

Woodturning Instruction: Now that I 

have insurance through the AAW Craft Workers 

Insurance Program, I can again offer training 

in my shop. If interested in basic woodturning 

instruction or specialized training such as the 

Chinese Ball, contact me at: 360-668-0976. 

Fred Holder. 

New Video--”Relief carved Embellishments 

for Wood Projects”. DVD--$30.00 

plus $3.00 S/H. VHS $20.00 plus $3.00 S/H. 

Contact: Tony Cortese, 20850 NW 13th Street, 

Dunnellon, FL 34431. Ph 352-489-5652. E-mail: 

romeowoodturner@msn.com. 

NEW REDUCED PRICE: Simplified 

Fluting with Al Caton. Video-$20.00 plus S&H 

$3.00. DVD-$30.00 plus S&H $3.00. Insturction 

and inexpensive jigs for fluted works of art. 

Order from: Al Caton, PO Box 2360, Dunnellon, 

FL 34430. TEL: 352-465-0562. E-Mail: alcat@ 

bellsouth.net. 

Making the Chinese Ball, Revised 2008, 

by Fred Holder. The revised booklet outlines 

Fred’s trials and tribulations in attempting to 

conquer this project. Tells how to make the tools 

needed to use the Crown Chinese Ball Tools. 

Booklet now contains 64 pages of information. 

Order from Fred Holder, PO Box 2168, Snohomish, 

WA 98291. Price is $10.00 including 

shipping. Telephone 360-668-0976. 

Bowl Coring with the McNaughton. A 

DVD by Reed Gray (aka robo hippy). Everything 

you need to know about how to use this 

tool, from will it work on your lathe, to the laser 

pointer system that is available. $30 including 

shipping in the US. Contact Reed Gray 541-463- 

9634, or reedgray@comcast.net. (05-09) 

Limited quantities of Mountain Mahogany 

(curly leaf). Flat rate postal box (12 

x12 x5 1/2 inches) $50 and up depending on 

what you want. Green logs sections, or green 

blanks, sealed, and plastic wrapped. Contact 

Reed Gray 541-463-9634, or reedgray@comcast.net. 

(12-08) 

Turn Nested Bowls from 6” or 8” bowl 

blanks with a $39.95 hand-held coring tool I call 

the BowlSaw. Check bowlsaw.com for details 

or e-mail me at Steuss@aol.com. For questions 

call 415-897-1457. Steussy Creations. 


MANUFACTURER OF QUALITY WOODTURNING LATHES, CHUCKS AND ACCESSORIES 

VACUUM CHUCK 

These devices have been designed as an aid to Woodturning. It 

enables an item to be re-mounted on the lathe for finishing without 

risking further holding marks. 

The Vacuum Chuck comes in two configurations. The first is 

designed to be used with any lathe. The Vacuum chuck can either 

screw directly onto the spindle of your lathe (via Vicmarc 

VM90/100 standard insert) or it can be picked up on its dovetail 

using any self centering chuck. The Vacuum Plate or any of the 

Vacuum Cups are then screwed directly onto the vacuum chuck. 

This configuration can be used with either a Vacuum Pump or a 

standard household Vacuum Cleaner. 

Figure 1 – Inboard Configuration setup 

with Vacuum Faceplate attached. 

Figure 2 – Outboard 

Configuration setup. 

Figure 3 – 300mm Vacuum Cup 

attached to spindle via insert. 

The second configuration is designed for 

Vicmarc Lathes only. The Vacuum chuck is 

screwed into the back of the headstock spindle 

and the air is drawn through the spindle. This 

allows the Vacuum Plate or Cups to be attached 

directly onto the spindle. 

This configuration can only be used with a 

Vacuum Pump. 

The Vacuum Cups are available in 

sizes, 100mm, 150mm and 200mm 

diameter. The Vacuum Plate is 

300mm in diameter 

Check our website for the full range of 

Lathes, Chucks and Accessories 

For your nearest Vicmarc ® dealer please contact us: 

Phone: + 61 7 3284 3103 Fax: + 61 7 3283 4656 

Web: www.vicmarc.com 

Email: vicmarc@vicmarc.com

Desert Woodturning Roundup Aligning Your Lathe The Pen Turners ...

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