Mineral Inlay and Surface Embellishment class

I spent a week at John Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina in a class with Jan Adams from Bogalusa, Louisiana. Although the course is listed as a wood turning class, the primary emphasis of the week was what you do with a platter or bowl after it is successfully turned. We were primarily studying methods for inlaying minerals, carving designs, or burning designs  into the wood surface. After these steps, the platter could be turned to final thickness and a finish applied. So, we arrived with several thick, turned platters and left to come home to finish the turning and finishing processes.

The first projects were mineral inlay designs. Once the design is chosen,

carving tools (Dremel or NPK) are used to create a 3/16 to 1/4 inch recess. Crushed minerals of various colors are then glued into the recesses. Some larger pieces are used but most of the crushed minerals are granules and powder. Once cured, the design is sanded so that it is flat with the wood surface. This usually reveals voids which are filled with mineral powder and glue and resanded. I completed two projects to this point.

Now that I am home, I can remount the platter on the lathe and reduce the thickness to a more pleasing dimension. The final step will be numerous coats of finish to highlight the inlay and the grain of the wood. The platter shown to the left will have a much more pronounced quilting once the finish is applied.

I also wanted to use the experience of my instructor to begin to learn to use carving and burning for embellishments. I experimented with a NPK Presto carving unit and ended up ordering one to use at home. It is essentially a dental drill which cuts quickly but very quietly. I tested out the carver with several different bits on a maple leaf design in the middle of a platter. Once the design was carved, the slope of the platter needed to be adjusted so that the leaf appeared to float above the surface. The carver made short order of the wood removal and the area immediately around the leaf was accentuated with another bit in the same carver.

My final project was to accentuate a rim using only a wood burner. The edges of the leaves and stems were outlined with one tip while the background strip underlying the leaves was done with the side of another tip. I got so much new information and so many ideas from just the five days. The instructor had many examples of work that he had done using all of these types of embellishments. It was a jam packed week with four other students. While it was listed as an intermediate/advanced class, all of us were new to at least part of these techniques. I have already contacted Great South Gems to order green and clear calcite so that I can try some more projects.

Shop wall goes up

While I have continued bringing small items from the old shop to my new one, the wall dividing my shop from the rest of the basement has been built.
There are two access doors in the wall - one for general entrance and one for a potential bathroom in the basement.
There are also multiple outlets along the area where an additional workbench and wall cabinets will be located and outlets around the area for my lathes and drill press.
This picture shows the wall. I am standing about where my large lathe will be. Behind me are shelving units of turning blanks and current projects.
I will now bring up the fluorescent lighting fixtures from the old shop and position them around work areas. I am close to ready for the move of the big machinery. I am getting excited and still believe the end of January is a good estimate for completion.

A new purpose for a hand-me-down

My parents were both office workers during their work life and both created offices in their home even after they retired. As we moved them from their house into an independent living apartment, we had to dispose of several desks, office chairs, vertical and horizontal filing cabinets, and numerous office machines.

Many of the pieces went to various family members and I got a 27 drawer cabinet which has been waiting for some time to find a purpose in my wood shop. One of the thing that I am learning about my shop as I move it from one location to another is that I have more supplies than I realized. To the point that it was easy to loose sight of what I had or didn't have in stock. So, I thought I could use the 27 drawers to organize something that had been difficult to keep organized before.

So, the cabinet now stores all my various sanding supplies. From my spindle sander rolls, through 2 inch, and 8 inch disks, to sandpaper sheets, scotch brite pads, and steel wool. All organized and labeled. It should hopefully prevent me from buying something I already have. I look forward to using it and remembering my parents as I spend time in my shop.

Wood for the New Year

 

We had three maple trees cut down at our cabin at Lake Buckhorn. By culling just a few trees from the landscape, we opened up the view of the lake from the cabin.  As a byproduct of the tree removal, I gained a lot of fresh cut maple for turning.

So, I spent the last day of 2011 sealing the maple rounds from those three trees. As the pictures show, I gained 28 sections, most 13-16 inches in diameter and 16 to 24 inches in length. I have nine that I sealed on just one end to see if I can start the spalting process. The others are all sealed on both ends to await cutting into bowl blanks of one kind or another.

I would like to cut a number of them for natural edge bowl blanks. My North Coast and Buckeye Woodturning groups may end up with a few of the blanks as raffle items.

I think I will need to do some learning to better determine how to cut these rounds into bowl blanks. I have done some of this in the past but I am not at all confident that I got the best blanks out of the wood. One of the nice things about being a member of woodturning group is the availability of help and advice when you need it. So, I think I will be asking for some guidance in how to best cut these blanks.

I think I have created a lot of fun for myself for the beginning of a new year!