There is a piece missing from one of our lathes. It looks like this, and has come off the tailstock. The square plate may be round, and it is about 6 inches by 3. It is the bit that sometimes falls off when you slide the tailstock off the end of the lathe bed, and I suspect that this is what happened. Someone has probably found it, picked it up and put it somewhere safe. Quite a few of us have looked and cant find it. If you are the person who put it somewhere safe, please let us know, so that we can put it back. If you absent mindedly put it in your pocket, this is why your jeans are so uncomfortable, heavy, and why you lean to the one side. The lathe can not be used for spindle turning until the part is replaced.

Rolf

We still need someone to look after the show on Monday 24 August, morning or afternoon or both. If you can help, please email Phil H, email phil.howard50@btinternet.com or ‘phone 01556 610998.

We sold 11 items today, including two that I’d just brought in !

WORK HOLDING   METHODS

In order to turn you need to be able to hold your work on the lathe.

The most straight forward way is to use a chuck and Phil told us all about shop bought chucks the other month.

Work holding is one of the 3 main elements of woodturning:

1 Sharpening

2. Turning techniques
3. Work holding

Work holding as it applies to us is the way we safely and accurately position the work piece on the lathe so that we can turn it.

When we prepare to turn anything we should think about the entire process so that we know how we are going to hold the piece for each operation.

Whether it  be reverse chucking a bowl to finish the bottom or rechecking a box lid to finish the inside.

If we don’t prepare ourselves then we might find we have no way to hols the piece in order to finish it!!!

There are many ways of holding our work pieces and it’s well worth learning a few trick of the trade.

Most work holding fall into three categories:  the 3 S’s

Squeezing,    Sticking,    Screwing,     Sucking

(not my alliteration but Kurt Hertzog in the Woodturning Mag)

So  Squeezing,   Sticking,  Screwing    and Sucking

The 1^st S – SQUEEZING

Between Centres:  Arguably the most secure of all work holding methods.

You have the headstock providing the power and the tailstock providing the squeeze, keeping the piece connected to the drive.

Marking Centres

2 & 4 Spur drives –  give a good hold –  problems: can lead to splits and also can tear the fibres and spin – particularly on wet wood.

Morse taper – Cleaning

Self ejecting tailstock

Other drives

Steb Centres – Spring loaded point so you can disengage the teeth without removing the point.

Given better grip than the spur drive and will not split the wood.

If you were at the Joe Laird demo the other week you would have seen Joe jamming the wood between the chuck and the tail stock – yes it works but not the safest method!

As well as Squeezing between centres we also squeeze by holding on a chuck of some description.

First of all there are the home made chucks

Wood Jaws – use of Wood plates

Cole Jaws

Longworth chuck –    www.woodworkersguide.com

Off Centre Chuck

Doughnut Chuck

Mandrels

Pin Chuck

Collet Chuck

Jacobs Cuck

Jam Chuck – one of the most useful methods of work holding particularly if you are making boxes –

The 2^nd S – SCREWING

Faceplates – on Chuck – direct onto spindle

Natural Edge Bowls – Seating with use of Forstner bits

Screw Chuck – bought  –  one way, – Axminster!!

Home made !! – ok for small items (draw handles

Use of Spacers

Eccentric Chuck

The 3^rd S –  Sticking

Hot melt glue          Glue blocks ( not end grain)           Sticky Chuck

Paper joints with Titebond

Double sided tape

Pendant jig

The 4^th S – Sucking

The Vacuum Chuck

Other  devices & Jigs:

Carvers Jig

Drilling on the Lathe   –      Joe Laird’s Jig

Centre Steady

Vase with a high gloss finish

• Judith Simpson  7.7
• Bryan Jardine  7.7
• David Simpson 7.4
• Phil Jones  6.8
• John Brown  6.4
• Reg Thirlwall  6.4
• Ian Robertson  6.1
• Jake Twiname  6.1
• Bobby Carson  5.1

There are still a few places on the Better Bowls workshop on Saturday 25th July, so if you can make a bowl, no matter how rough, then come along next Saturday, and we will have a look at improving what we do. Bring along some of your bowls, the good ones, and the ones which you can claim someone else made! and we will see how to rescue the less elegant ones. I will be there at 10am and we will close the workshop at about 5, but feel free to come and go – the early ones get the best lathes! bring your own wood, or the club has some we can sell you, or you can reshape something you bring.

• Reg Thirlwall  7.7
• Jake Twiname  6.6
• John Brown  6.0
• David Simpson  5.3
• Judith Simpson  5.1

The notes from the Club meeting about Abrasives on Tuesday 9 June are now available on the Club web site. From the home page, click Library, then scroll down to the end of the Presentations section and click on Abrasives.

Further to Phil J’s post last week, I’ll bring my Sorby texturing tool as well tonight. I’ll also bring a chattertool and Proxon grinder with chain saw type cutter.

Why not bring your bowl still in your chuck then mount the whole lot on one of the Club lathes. Provided of course that your chuck is either 3/4″ X 16, 1″ X 8 or M33 x 3.5mm.

As the next competition item is a bowl with textured decoration, I’ll have my texturing tool at Turning Tuesday tomorrow night (26 May) if anyone wants to try it out. I’ll leave it in the workshop for the Wednesday folks as well.