March - San Diego Woodturners

San Diego Woodturners Page 14 March 2013
Wood Day at Nottingham
By Mike McElhiney
How much wood could a wood
turner chuck when a wood turner
would chuck wood A great
deal is the answer to that one.
Tom Edwards, Dan White, Mark
Jacobsen, Roman Scheidel, Karen
Freitas, Jeff Neff, and Allen
Driver tore into our huge woodpile
at Nottingham while club
members observed, learned and
then turned. Tom began the day
by cutting up a round on a cleverly
designed platform. He took
the piece to a bandsaw, handed
it to Roman who cut it round in
a trice, showing me yet another
method of making a bowl blank.
If you don’t have a wonderful
set of those round cutouts made
by Karen Freitas, try this: find a
piece of cardboard, draw a circle
of about the size you need, tack
it to your bland and voila! You
are ready to turn.
Tom went through the process
of chucking up a piece and then
turned a quick bowl, showing
bowl gouge techniques, tenon
tactics and fielding questions
from the group. After the demo,
Tom went back to the wood he’d
selected for the day, cut blanks
and handed them to attendees.
They carried their pieces to
Roman who manned the bandsaw,
gave advice and sliced and
diced the blanks. Inside, Allen
Driver, Karen Freitas and Jeff
Neff helped people get started
with their bowls. There were at
least six, maybe seven people
turning at any one time. Many
of the attendees took advantage
of the astounding offer of FREE
WOOD.
Yours truly brought a piece of
fresh and very wet sycamore
to the party, sliced it in twain
with my trusty chain saw, took it
inside and turned a quick bowl.
At least I started. The wood was
so wet that I stopped, found a
towel, dried my face shield and
started again. Then I blew a
fuse! I know where the fuse box
is now and got that going again.
But the floor was so wet from
the sycamore that I had to move
the lathe and get a mop. Eventually
I finished, took it home,
micro waved it and it sits waiting
for sanding on my bench.
That is how turning goes for me;
always interesting, sometimes
wet.
But back to the woodpile...
Quite a few people were taking
advantage of the FREE WOOD
offer by Dan. After finishing
my bowl, I walked back to the
club wood storage facility and
helped to organize the unbelievably
cheap and varied selection
of wood. Star Pine or Norfolk
Island pine or carob or olive,
or oak or pepper and more –
they are all there. It is a shame
to not take advantage of this
incredible wood supply. Go to
Frost. Check the price. Come
to Nottingham. Check the price.
No comparison. And it is a
shame to let that wood become
firewood; a year in the sun and
sealer on the end or not, the
wood dries and cracks.
Much of the wood there does
have cracks in it – but it is still
eminently useable. Tom Edwards
taught a class on using
epoxy resin to fill cracks and
stabilize a turning piece. It is
worth taking or if you have done
so, use your know-how to make
this wood into something gorgeous.
We have avocado to die
for. I took some home with me.
(Continued on page 15)