December 2016 – Winter Party
[gallery size="medium" best casino canada ids="6654,6655,6656,6684,6657,6658,6659,6661,6662,6663,6660,6664,6665,6666,6667,6668,6669,6670,6671,6672,6673,6674,6675,6676,6685,6677,6678,6679,6680,6682,6683,6686"]
As is our regular practice no meeting was held in December. Instead our third annual Holliday Social was held December 3rd at the Geller’s. A report on this fun event with photos will be in the January newsletter.
Al Geller presided over the November meeting and held the election of new officers for 2006. Martha Etchart was elected president and Bruce Berger was elected vice-president. The rest of the positions remain unchanged. Program Chair Joel Oksner gave a brief out line of the schedule for the first half of 2006. The rest of the schedule is shaping up and we are just waiting for confirmation of several major demonstrators.
A lively Show-N-Tell session was followed by Sam Turner demonstrating hollow vessel turning using simple home-made tools and jigs which are easy to make and don’t require fancy (expensive) tool rigs and laser guides. He turned a simple form from ash and discussed that an understanding of the characteristics of green wood as it dries is the key to success. He highly recommends reviewing John Jordan’s video “The Aesthetics & Properties of Wood” which is in the club’s library. After achieving the outside shape of his vessel, Sam used a drill to set the depth of the inside cut then used a straight tool with a rounded tip to do most of the hollowing. He kept track of the wall thickness with calipers and used a bent tool only for the underside of the neck. After parting the vessel off from the base he reversed the piece and held it in place with a “donut jig” to finish the bottom. This is easy to make in various sizes and replaces the need for a vacuum chuck system. Sam didn’t have time to finish the vessel in our shortened half day meeting so I have shown a hollow vessel he entered in the fair this year.
Last year we saw how Lyle Jamison made hollow form sculptures, and this year Jim Rinde and J. Paul Fennell also demonstrated hollowing methods which require special equipment. Sam does use a home made laser system on his larger vessels, but the simple technique he demonstrated in November can be done by anyone, even on smaller lathes, without undue expense. In January Herm Ross and Al Geller will be discussing tool making. Several of the tools that Sam used were made with Herm’s help.