This month’s meeting of the Nova Woodturners Guild focused on chucking options, the upcoming Woodturning Week at Lee Valley and a well participated Show and Tell session.
David Wilkins presented an excellent tutorial on the extensive variety of chucking options available to today’s woodturner.
He spoke at length on the four prong spur drive, the two prong center, the Stebcenter, faceplates, faceplate rings, a variety of chuck jaws, worm screws, the Beall spindle tap, live center systems, vacuum systems and chuck keys. Examples of all these items were on hand with some being passed around for closer inspection.
During his talk on the subject of chuck jaws the use of the available whiteboard allowed him to better explain the importance of cutting a dovetailed tenon:
The subject of gluing projects on wooden faceplates with ‘glue sticks’ was also addressed with several members joining in with their preferred techniques and tips on use. These included:
- The darker the glue stick the higher holding power
- Melt the glue stick in a pan and dip the face of the item instead of spot gluing
- In unheated shops it is wise to warm your wood first before gluing
This was an enlightening presentation, to see all of these options assembled in one place. It was evident that there is a solution for whatever shape or size piece of wood that you want to mount on your lathe, and often there are several options! Thanks, Dave!
The meeting opened with Scott Croucher from Lee Valley who gave us an overview of the upcoming ‘Celebrating Woodturning in Nova Scotia’ week. Lee Valley Tools, in conjunction with the Nova Woodturners Guild, will celebrate the state of woodturning in Nova Scotia. There will be a week of hands-on instruction, lectures and demonstrations in the art of turning. The presenters for these seminars are some of the finest turners in the province. There will also be classes with famed bowl turner, Mike Mahoney. The week begins on February 27th and culminates with our Competition Awards on March 6th. This promises to be a fantastic week!
During the Show and Tell sessions members presented and spoke on several beautiful and finely crafted pieces that included pens, platters and segmented forms:
Tonight’s meeting was held at Home Depot with 25 members attending, which was an excellent turnout considering the bad weather that had already dropped 10cm of snow.
Back to the shop…