PnDSWIPES

I had the great honour and a lot of fun giving a cane making demonstration at the Catoctin Area Turners meeting the evening of May 18th, 2017. I liked their method of doing show and tell. A lot of beautiful turnings from a group of obviously talented turners. Thanks to Dave Robinson for the invite, hospitality, shop tour, and philosophical discussion into the wee hours.

SHOP CLEANUP....and playing with the Craftsman Router Crafter to try to duplicate some spindles....and 8,612 A.D.D. side projects.
Oh look, a squirrel !!!

Also known as bannesters, spindles, or stair sticks. This was a VERY overdue project. Due to the nature of the wood (pine) and the thickness (or lack thereof) at 1 3/8 inches the spindles vibrated in the middle terribly and created an interesting dimpled effect that changed spacing depending on how far up or down on the length of the turning I was working. The fix was simple and known...a device called a steadyrest, rollers on support arms that keep the piece steady and prevent the oscillations from occuring. I devoted one entire piece (not shown) to develop the technique for making the small details at the top, and then developed a technique for creating the straigh taper (24 inches long) using a toolrest that was only 14 inches long. The first (practice) piece took several hours. The second tool a couple. The third about an hour and a half.