Gloat and new turnings (at last)

[Thom Sturgill]

Some of you may know that I bought and moved into a new (to me) house last December. It was a short sale and the house and shop have needed most of my attention for the past months, but are coming along well. Our club recently had David Ellsworth for two days. The first day was demonstrations and I helped with the cameras. The second day nine of us (myself included) had hands on instruction (gloat). I chose to do a hollow form as that is where I had been having some difficulty and it is his particular expertise.

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This vessel, from Florida Rosewood, was turned during the training. I bought his small cutters to do the turning as well as a couple of his DVDs. The vessel is about 5 1/2" high and has 1/4" thick walls. The opening in the top is 1 3/8"


After returning home I turned several more items, notably a small spalted maple jar (3 1/2" tall and wide with 3/16 walls, 7/8" opening)
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And one that I named 'Their Last Supper' turned Saturday before and finished on Easter Sunday. ('They' are two worms-in-residence that met their ends.)

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This is spalted Elm, 4" tall and ~7" diameter. close to 1/8" wall thickness but almost 2" opening. I found that I could have done this one with a much smaller opening, but no where near as small as David tends to use.

I will admit I had a few problems. The one I started during training got cut through the side just a bit and one I started after getting home blew up totally. All in all though, the training session seemed to be a great success.

[charlie knighton]

great gloat, i am sure you will treasure your time spent turning with DE

[Bernie Weishapl]

Thom good to see ya back posting some really nice turnings. Great gloat. Like all three turnings but the first one really caught my eye.

[John Keeton]

Thom, glad you are getting settled! Some nice work, and I agree with Bernie on the first one (rosewood) being the pick of the litter - at least for me. However, I also like the spalted vase form, too - really nice wood!

I bet the workshop was a blast.

[Roger Chandler]

Thom,

Did you use Ellsworth's hollowing tools? He came and did the same thing at our club for two days, and although I was not one of the guys who ponied up the extra bucks for the second day, I did get his tools and made handles for them. His tools are a good step up from the Sorby hollowmaster I have, but I am pretty partial to the Monster Hollowing rig I have now.

That first hollow form has Ellsworth written all over it in style.........you did a great job on that and the others are nice as well.........."last supper" ....:eek:.......the worms didn't get the joke I suppose! :D

Congrats on your new place..........

[Thom Sturgill]

I figured that if anyone commented on the name it would be you, Roger!
I bought the smaller set during the training and used my boring bar (3/8" hole in the end of 18" of 3/4" steel) and an aluuminum handle during the training day. Made for a very long and heavy rig! I made a set of handles for them and then ordered the larger tools as well, but have not made handles for them yet. I may put them in the long handles I made and continue using the boring bar for the smaller ones, just with a shorter handle on the bar. Changing blades in the bar was quick and easy. I already owned one of his gouges, so I had him check that I was sharpening it correctly to his pattern.

The real challenge as I learn different styles, is to figure out what works for me. I like his boring tool. Most others have seemed either too agressive or not agressive enough and his seem to hit the sweet spot, though I prefer my Thompson/Clewes gouges over his even though they are smaller sized. While he did make sense on the fact that he is using a 'fractured edge' as opposed to calling it a 'burr' and says that he does not like the CBN wheels, nor does he believe in honing, complaining that you cant hone without dubbing the edge. I think that is just another learnable skill, and that I prefer a 'sharp' edge to a serrated one, though i admit that I do get a good cut direct off the wheel with his tools.

Part of the difference is in the metal I think. I feel that the V10 or better steel in a top of the line cryo tool is probably across the line where honing works on turning tools and M2 is below that point. Softer HSS can be well below the line. Probably also depends on how abrasive the wood you are turning is.

On another point, I made both an articulated and a captured system and have an arm brace as well. None of those seem to suit me well though. The captured/articulated systems seem to mechanical, too much like machine turning, although the 'art' is on the outside and mostly they do not affect it. even so I appreciated his statement that he was not out to 'conquer the wood by mechanical means'.

[jwjerry w kowalski]

Thom, those are some beautiful turnings, I like the Florida rosewood the best, but I would be happy with all three, nice job!

[Michelle Rich]

thanks for sharing these beauties