September, 2005

Meeting Information: Saturday, September 24th, from 9 am to 4 p.m.

J Paul Fennell: Turning and Surface decorating

Special all day demo: $25 fee includes lunch

At Levi Mize Woodcraftsman’s Shop

162 Aviador Street #17+18, Camarillo, CA 93010

Aviador Street is N. of the Camarillo Airport and is reached from the Central Ave. exit off of US 101: go S. and turn left on Ventura Blvd. then right on Aviador St.  About three-quarters of the way to the dead end, on the left is a long building.  Levi’s  shop is the last two doors on the left on the S. side of the building.  Please park directly in front of or behind his shop or against the curb on the N. side of the building and not in front of other shops.

BRING YOUR OWN CHAIR OR SIT ON THE FLOOR

August was again a very busy month with the  Ventura County Fair 2005 (more photos have been added of booth activities), and the excellent meeting on August 28th featuring our past president Jim Rinde giving a demonstration of use of the boring bar for deep hollowing of vessels.  Photos from the meeting and Jim’s presentation are below.

The school mentoring program at Cabrillo Middle School started Sept. 1st and is in full swing right now.  If you have time to contribute contact President Al Geller and sign up.  The kids are a pleasure to work with and eager learners.

The meeting this month, Sept. 24th features J. Paul Fennell.  We can only accommodate 35 people so be sure to reserve your spot by calling or emailing Al Geller.  The fee of $25 covers our costs and includes lunch.  The following are several links to sites that feature Paul’s work and will give you a short biography and indication of what he will be presenting: del Mano Gallery – Bio -J. Paul Fennell, del Mano Gallery |photos| J. Paul Fennell.  J. Paul Fennell is a wood-turner whose interest in creating original objects from the lathe dates back to the early 1970s. His thin-walled hollow forms are turned from woods of unusual colors, figures and grain patterns, mainly from native American species, but sometimes from imported woods as well.  The vessel forms are derived from variations of simple but pleasing classical shapes ubiquitous throughout civilization. To enhance the work, experiments are continually made to explore variations in surface texture, bleaching, gilding and carving.

Photos from the September meeting:

Vice Prsident Martha leading the meeting

Doug with a very nice platter

Alan with a natural edge Buckeye vessel

Rob sitting on his bench made from turned spindles and woven maple stripps

Rob with a 16″ pine platter

Rob with his Tall Milking Stool, just his size but the tall cows are hard to find

Jim with his hollow-form eye

Several boxes from Show N Tell – Ron was experimenting with different types of lids

Tim with a truck load of freshly cut lemon wood

Tim cutting turning blanks for members

Photos from Jim Rinde’s presentation on the use of the boring bar:

Jim with two hollow forms he turned last week as examples from a log like the one they are sitting on. End grain.

One of the first deep vessels Jim turned using his boring system which orignally didn’t have a laser light but used and internal light to judge wall thickness

Another example from an oval log allowing the natural edge to show on the sides

A “green” piece of California Pepper tree is mounted on a face plate and is being retrued to round

The initial hollowing is done with a forstner bit to the chosen depth. Inset show the frequent need to clean out the shavings

Using a level the boring bar is set with the cutting edge at center point and the tool level on the tool rest and the secondary back capture rest. The wires on the end are for the internal light system that Jim used prior to laser systems being developed

After the intial hollowing to the top part the outside is shaped before the remaining bulk is hollowed- this adds stability at this stage. Each part is finished before additional hollowing is done.

The surface of the wet wood is dried with a hairdryer so it can be sanded

Power sanding the top portion that has been dried. Normally he would sand to the final grit at this stage before proceeding to hollow deeper

Hollowing out the next section as he proceeds deeper into the form. The inset shows use of a shop vacuum to remove savings

Seting the laser light the desired distance from the cutting tool for the wall thickness

The laser light can be seen on the left edge of the form showing the thickness and the location of the tool tip

The desired shape for the bottom of the form is drawn and the next step is to finish the outside

working on the outside with a bowl gouge prior to deeper hollowing

Using his original internal light system – a 12 volt halogen car lightbulb run at 24 volts- shows the wall thickness thru light colored wood easily- here it shows on the endgrain at the top and in the inset thru a natural defect in the wood.