Review of the Dale Nish demo

[ScottM]

Due to the wonderful weather of Friday night only Andy (CarvedTunes) and I made it to dinner. From there we headed to NCSU.

Dale Nish put on a wonderful turning demo and lecture. For those who do not know of him many folks consider him the father of modern day wood turning. He has taught turning at the college level, has written several books on wood turning, and owns Craft Supplies USA. At 78 he is still an active turner and lecturer. For his demo he turned a nature edge cherry bowl. Some points I took away.

- Speed kills. Most accidents on a lathe are caused by excess speed. Some examples of safe speed are:

5" diameter stock = 1200 - 1800
6" diameter stock = 1000 - 1500
8" diameter stock = 750 - 1000

- He used three tools start to finish. 99% of the bowl was turned with a 3/8th bowl gouge. It does not matter what kind of grind as long as it is sharp. He used a skew to make the foot for the chuck and a parting tool to part it off

- He does not use a face plate but uses a drive center.

- As you start to shape the outside of the bowl don't be afraid to reposition between the drive center and live center.

- For his nature edge bowls he uses stock that includes a heart center and about 1" of additional stock.

- Make all cuts as possible going down hill (outer edge toward center)

- He always dresses up the foot when done. How is up to you.

- He always signs, dates and indicates what kind of wood used. Not because it is a potential museum piece but down the road your children or grand children may end up with that bowl and it would be special to them.

All and all a great demo and evening.


And one more thing. I won a $20.00 Craft Supplies USA gift certificate in their raffle. :eusa_danc:eusa_danc:eusa_danc

 

[Splint Eastwood]

Scott,

Very nice write-up! Brief and to the point!

But, dont be shy to claim you were paid, to write this up (in form of gift cert):gar-La;!

How does it feel to be a paid writer?:rolf:

Kidding aside, sounds like you picked up a few pointers!

M

 

[CarvedTones]

One thing I did differently this weekend was to start using the wheeled grinder frequently for my gouge instead of honing often and occassionaly resharpening on the WorkSharp. I do dull it more than I realized as I could definitely tesll the difference. I didn't do a bowl yet this weekend, but I did do 2 platters (sort of) as part of a scrapping tool organizer I am making for my wife.

I appreciated seeing a world class turner without video editing. He got occasional tool chatter and a couple of very minor catches. I don't mean that as a comment to denigrate him at all; it's just that watching videos I sometimes feel like the old hands have learned to do things to never let those mistakes happen and it is frustrating.

The repositioning of the blank was a very neat trick. He did that to get the sides/ends even because it was a naural edge bowl. I have a cherry log almost the same size. I am going to cut some blanks that way, using about 2/3 of the log diameter instead of trying to split it. Chances of getting a nice bowl out of it seem better.

 

[Henry W]

I came in to the demo quite late (about the point at which he was adjusting the center point to balance the piece), but I'd echo what Andy said:
- it was gratifying to see that he did not create the perfect cut with every introduction of the chisel to wood. His rate of incidence of chatter and catch was certainly lower than mine, but then he has about 35 years more experience than I do.
- The adjustment of center points to balance the piece was something I had never thought of. although occasionally the lack of symmetry in a piece is appealing too.
- Keeping the heart/pith section there to use as a base for mounting is a great idea - especially for these smaller pieces. I did not understand why he parted so much of the base off, and then sanded. That made no sense to me - but he could of just mixed up the order of his steps because he was presenting.
- I was disappointed that the sanding demo was prematurely ended - because as at this point I have a LOT to learn about sanding.

I appreciated his sense of humor, particularly that he was quite humble in his presentation. I too have sharpened tools more regularly after the demo than I was before.

When he finished he predicted that we would not be able to get to sleep, and to call him at 3 AM. I fell asleep fine, but then woke up real early (for me - 5:30), and then could not get back to sleep because I was thinking about woodturning.

Henry