David Walser
11-16-2008, 10:26 AM
Yesterday, Mike Vickery hosted the 3rd or 4th (the exact number is in dispute) annual San Jacinto (Turning) Fest at his garage shop in Gilbert, Arizona. Kevin McPeek and Jason Clark, who live near by, served as co-hosts. In addition to these handsome gentlemen, about eight others showed up to eat donuts, watch demos, and shoot the bull. [I'd mention everyone by name, but, I didn't keep a list. Besides, some may not have told their spouse where they were going and may wish to deny their participation. ("Why'd it take so long to go to Home Depot?")]
Kevin provided his Nova lathe for the demos. Very nice machine. (There was some discussion as to why Kevin needed to bring his lathe given that Mike's full-sized Woodfast lathe was right there in the shop. Speculation ranged from the idea that Mike's lathe isn't working to Mike didn't want everyone to feel bad they don't have as nice a lathe as his Woodfast. It also might have been that, since Mike is fairly tall and one of the demonstrators isn't -- no names, please -- the Nova was needed or someone would need to stand on a box for his demo. Anyway, no answer was given to the question since none of us bothered to ask Mike or Kevin. Speculating amongst ourselves was much more fun.)
Kevin demoed how he puts a CA finish on pens. His demo was very informative and made the process look so easy even I could do it. (I probably can't, but he made it look like I could.)
Jason showed us how he makes a closed end pen. Again, he gave a very good explanation and made it look like something that most anyone could do with the proper chuck. (Mike explained how you could turn your own chuck out of a 3/4" dowel. I think I'd rather buy one.)
Mike showed several ways in which he adds a texture to the exterior of a bowl. I've added the Sorby texturing tool to my list of "gotta haves".
In addition to the demos and information, each participant left with a pen blank from Kallenshaan Woods. Mine is his new "School of Fish" blank for the Sierra pen kit. It consists of a black wood tube with maple (?) fish to be glued into the laser cut fish shapes in the tube. It should make a great gift for my brother-in-law. It was very nice of Kallenshaan Woods to donate these kits to the group.
No pictures, but it really did happen. Jason's the photographer in the group, so I didn't bring my camera. Jason was demoing, so he didn't bring his camera, either.
Thanks again, to Mike, Kevin, and Jason. Thanks especially to Mike's wife for putting up with all of us. It was a great time.
Kevin provided his Nova lathe for the demos. Very nice machine. (There was some discussion as to why Kevin needed to bring his lathe given that Mike's full-sized Woodfast lathe was right there in the shop. Speculation ranged from the idea that Mike's lathe isn't working to Mike didn't want everyone to feel bad they don't have as nice a lathe as his Woodfast. It also might have been that, since Mike is fairly tall and one of the demonstrators isn't -- no names, please -- the Nova was needed or someone would need to stand on a box for his demo. Anyway, no answer was given to the question since none of us bothered to ask Mike or Kevin. Speculating amongst ourselves was much more fun.)
Kevin demoed how he puts a CA finish on pens. His demo was very informative and made the process look so easy even I could do it. (I probably can't, but he made it look like I could.)
Jason showed us how he makes a closed end pen. Again, he gave a very good explanation and made it look like something that most anyone could do with the proper chuck. (Mike explained how you could turn your own chuck out of a 3/4" dowel. I think I'd rather buy one.)
Mike showed several ways in which he adds a texture to the exterior of a bowl. I've added the Sorby texturing tool to my list of "gotta haves".
In addition to the demos and information, each participant left with a pen blank from Kallenshaan Woods. Mine is his new "School of Fish" blank for the Sierra pen kit. It consists of a black wood tube with maple (?) fish to be glued into the laser cut fish shapes in the tube. It should make a great gift for my brother-in-law. It was very nice of Kallenshaan Woods to donate these kits to the group.
No pictures, but it really did happen. Jason's the photographer in the group, so I didn't bring my camera. Jason was demoing, so he didn't bring his camera, either.
Thanks again, to Mike, Kevin, and Jason. Thanks especially to Mike's wife for putting up with all of us. It was a great time.