Woodworms 8 May 2010

NEWSLETTER OF THE DERBYSHIRE DALES WOODCRAFT CLUB MAY/JUNE 2010! Woodworms Issue 8 Woodworms “Do I need a better lathe?” Every so often every woodturner, or would-be age, the treadle board walked away on woodturner if only they could avoid the dig-ins and every stroke, the drive rope fouled on the bed beam, and a lack of cross 50p breakouts, asks themselves this question. I've done it bracing resulted in the whole assem- many times, most recently being last year when one of bly lurching from side-to-side. I Free to our demonstrators brought along a nice little Record sorted these problems with a few members lathe which had many attractions. I didn't submit to more nails and wood scraps and then attempted some serious turning. If you the temptation, and I think I know why, it is about ever try to use a pole lathe you will find the how I came into woodturning, and what I expect to timing is critical, followed by the need to control the po- get from it. sition of the chisel on the cutting stroke. You will also About 15 years ago, during a family outing into Lon- find it tiring on the working leg making left and right don, I was looking at a couple of rather nice music stands in a footedness as desirable as left and right handedness. shop window and said to my youngest daughter "Would you However, with some regrinding of my wood chisels, the like a nice stand like that?" thinking it may make a good birth- careful use of a carving gouge or two to add some detail, day present. The reply I received was "Only if you make it for and an awful lot of sandpaper, I eventually managed to me", which blew me over a bit, and set a challenge that I fashion a central column for the music stand which was couldn't really ignore. duly assembled, French polished and presented to An- After considering a few designs, somewhat influenced nette. The bungees went back on the roof-rack, and I by a workshop consisting of a garage fully equipped with a rested my legs for a year or two. Workmate, a smoothing plane and a few carpentry and wood- continued on page 2 carving chisels, I settled on an option which required the use of a lathe for the manufacture of the central column. I did have a lathe, a 1959 vintage Black & Decker accessory on which I had managed to scrape-up a couple of clutch alignment tools over the previous four decades, but it was nowhere near large enough for the project in mind. With an empty purse, I quickly decided my only option was to cobble together a pole lathe from whatever materials I had to hand. With no previous experience of pole lathes other than watching the odd demonstration at a craft fair, my first attempt at constructing a lathe was a little deficient. Assembled from old fence posts, pieces of plywood and a few 4 inch nails, the lathe consisted of a single bed beam with an upstanding block at either end through each of which was threaded a ½ inch bolt on which I had filed a conical point to form two "dead" centres. The bed was mounted on two crude A-frames, a simple wooden tool rest was clamped to the bed beam using a G- clamp. With no handy sapling growing through the floor of my garage, I used a couple of bungee cords from the car roof- rack strung between the roof joists to act as the return spring at the upper end of the drive rope. This drive rope made a single turn around the workpiece before descending to the loose 14th. century print of woodturner treadle board. So what were the deficiencies? With no anchor- and pole lathe (not our author!) PAGE 1 NEWSLETTER OF THE DERBYSHIRE DALES WOODCRAFT CLUB MAY/JUNE 2010! Pole lathe continued . Having discovered what can be achieved from simple tools, and approaching the time in life when one wonders about what to do during approaching retirement, I began to consider what I might do with a "proper" lathe. The purse was still empty, well almost, so I looked round the DIY stores for something cheap that might fit the available funds but most of the items on display were missing parts, broken, and made in China, and didn't instill any confidence regarding durability. From somewhere I hap- pened upon a Record Summer Sale Catalogue offering a range of lathes from a British manufacturer with a past reputation for quality and a 5 year guarantee. For around £150 I could buy a 3-speed, 24inch lathe, complete with tool rest, a 2-prong drive centre and a "dead" centre for the tailstock - WOW! and the name on the headstock was the same as the name on my G-clamp = continuity = done deal. In the fullness of time I learnt a little about spindle turning, progressing to a borrowed set of 3 turning chisels ( a parting tool, a skew chisel and a spindle gouge). Thinking it was time to progress onto bowls, I revisited the local Record stockist to purchase a faceplate. "Haven't seen one of those used for years" he said as he plonked it on the counter and extracted £12 from me. This puzzled me at the time. Centres for spindle turning, faceplates for bowl turning, what else was there? Of course, as time progressed I found there is a almost endless range of chucks, jaws, gouges, ring-tools, and texturing devices, all designed to make woodturning easier and quicker, and extract more money from your purse. Lathes with five or more speeds, swivel heads, direct drive, electronic speed control, longer beds, greater swing, heavier build, all come at a higher price; I've had my DML24 for 12 years now. There have been times when I have considered upgrading, times when I have thought bigger would be useful, times when smaller and sweeter would be nice, but overall it does the job of turning the wood and supporting the gouge without crisis or complaint. So do I need a new lathe? In January for the competition table I entered a boxwood needle case copied from an example found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda in Northumberland and believed to date from around 200AD. The Romans would have used a pole or bow operated lathe. No chucks, no live centres, just simple tools and skill. I cheated. Late last year we had a demonstration on how to turn a flask, the result looked OK but traditionally these flasks would have been turned between centres on a pole lathe. Again, no chucks, and no fancy tools would have been available, so while the demonstration was interesting, it did not represent the traditional technique. Perhaps by now you can see where I'm heading. Would it be right to make Sheraton style furni- ture using a spindle moulder, or cut marquetry using a laser profiler? The answer you give de- pends on your aim. If you are in business for profit, then cost effective technology is a must. If you are trying to keep traditional skills alive, traditional tools are a must. If you just want a hobby, you can use any tools you fancy or can afford. A more sophisticated lathe won't make you a better turner, but it may extend your range of products. It would of course be lovely to polish, caress and admire while you are thinking of what to make next! So, I still have my trusty DML. If I had a bigger workshop, I would build another pole lathe and try and master the skills and techniques of our forefathers. Perhaps the lack of space is a blessing - I don’t think I really want the aching legs again. John Henbery Thanks John for a very interesting article . A couple of thoughts come to mind: a) How do members feel about constructing a pole lathe as a club project to be exhibited at Fairs etc. b) How did YOU start out in woodturning ?- tell us and share your experiences - Editor March Competition winners 1. John McConnell 2. James Sharpe 3. John Henbery Left - the “also rans”. Note the clever recycling of an ex- charity shop knife set by Tom Livesey PAGE 2 NEWSLETTER OF THE DERBYSHIRE DALES WOODCRAFT CLUB MAY/JUNE 2010! March Meeting There was a particularly good turnout of members for the March meeting to experience the hands -on marquetry session. Chairman John Oakes introduced our two guests Quentin Smith and Terry Cambridge who gave a quick summary of their involvement in the world of marquetry; Quentin was the founder member of the Sta$ordshire Marquetry Group (http://www.sta$smarq.freeserve.co.uk/), Terry is also a member, and they are both members of The Marquetry Society of G.B. (http://www.marquetry.org) and have served on judging panels. Starter kits were dis- tributed to members who wished to “have a go” (about 3/4 of the membership) and then it was all systems go with pieces of veneer and surgical blades. Miraculously no blood was spilled during the session! Star pupil was John Henbery although in fairness he has had a little previous experience! Right - Back to school! - looks like teacher is checking John McConnell’s work! Left - John Hen- bery shows how it should be done. Examples of the work done Right - Interesting use of by Quentin and Terry.

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