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I began the demo by saluting Peter McCrea for his skill in getting demonstrators who knew what they were doing.

Up until he asked me, that is.

Like most everything else I do, this picture is a bit fuzzy.

I’ve had all these 12/4 shorts for ages and got tired of tripping over them. Finally found a way to use ‘em up.

Had to call in an expert to remedy a technical issue with the lathe.

Yup. She’s got power to it.

This is going well. I’ve killed fifteen minutes already and haven’t spun a thing yet.

The tech rep’s assistant finds the responsible culprit.

Drat!

I learned early on that for this to work well, the faceplate side has to be flattened/planed prior to mounting. If not, uneven wings will drive one nuts.

The first step is to reduce as much mass as possible. Did I mention how much I love turning bone dry wood?

Once it starts getting thin, the wings deflect as a result of the constant wood-air-wood-air effect that the ...

... gouge imparts. This provides a nice excuse for calling it quits when you’re down to about 3/16” or so, especially for those in the line of fire.

All photos this page by Peter McCrea and Don Caron

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You can clearly see that I’m not quite there yet. But the bowl is already beginning to materialize.

Switching to a smaller/lighter gouge tends to help with the deflection issue. This also helps when you want to insert a plug for certain imported tool accessories.

Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump

The beast is now turned around and the faceplate can come off. The two wing surfaces are already parallel.

I’ve found that a round nose scraper tends to be a better tool when the wings get thin. I like to keep the tool handle locked against my forearm for more control; especially when handles like this one are too light.

Whaddya know!

The bowl has an inside to it!

Some finessing cuts.

In theory anyway.

Here I am demonstrating proper button pushing technique.

The piece is now turned around for the second time and I’m nibbling off the remainder of the tenon.
Those who were there know what happened next. Drats again!

After some highly refined and precise layout work with a dull #2; it’s off to the bandsaw.

Later, much later, after lots of sanding and more sanding it will look like this.

This page last updated May 27, 2007