Lathe Drilling Jigs

pen inlay
Pen Inlay by Ed Davidson, a.k.a. YoYoSpin
Many woodturners look for ways to add embellishments to their work. This can take many forms, such as coloring, segmenting, burning and inlay.

Inlays can be created by making a recess in the turning and filling with a contrasting material, such as metal powder or crushed stone. The photo inset is one such example of this type of inlay. This was created by Ed Davidson, a.k.a. YoYoSpin. He has a large number of video tutorials on his website, yoyospin.com, as well as offering DVD tutorials titled Yo-Yo Turnings, Closed End Pens and Creating “Outlays” from Inlays. His instructions cover many subjects including pens, pendants, bottle stoppers, rose engine and the Beall Pen Wizard.

oneway drill wizard
Oneway Drill Wizard
So the tutorial for the pen in the photo uses a drill jig made by Oneway called the Oneway Drill Wizard which mounts in the banjo in place of the toolrest. A common electric drill can be mounted to the jig, and utilizing your favorite indexing method, holes can be drilled into the turning that are filled with inlay material.

Many pen turners have a mini-lathe and the 1” post on the Oneway Drill Wizard won’t fit. This got me to wondering if there is an alternative to this jig.

Many woodturners, and woodworkers in general, design and build their own jigs. This is also true for a lathe drill jig, although I had difficulty in finding tutorials for building one. The Sydney Woodturners in Australia have a page with pictures and basic description for building a Lathe Drilling Jig. But other than that, not much on building your own.

robert sorby precision boring system
Robert Sorby Precision Boring System
A little more research brought me to a jig made by Robert Sorby, called the Precision Boring System. Like the Oneway, it mounts in place of the tool rest. Unlike the Oneway, it is available with many different size posts to fit most any banjo.

A quick internet search indicated the the Sorby Precision Boring System was not available in the U.S. A quick email to Robert Sorby in England confirmed this. However, Lindesy Reynolds from Robert Sorby recommended ordering from www.turners-retreat.co.uk

A drill jig can be used for many other operations, the most common of which is drilling turned chair legs.

Jigs / Lathes / techniques

May Demonstrator – Donald Derry

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donald derryDonald Derry was born in 1956 in Othello, Washington and educated at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. His works are in many collections throughout the USA. He has exhibited extensively and has won numerous awards. Don is a member of the AAW and demonstrated at the AAW National Symposiums in 2004 in Orlando, Florida and in 2005 in Overland Park, Kansas.

don derry vesselDonald has been a woodworker for 35 years. Initially he produced fine furniture, cabinets and guitars. In 1993 he began to teach himself the craft of woodturning. In 1994 he attended the AAW Symposium and after viewing the Instant Gallery he noted that two artistic areas were not represented. These were vibrant colors and optical quality finishing which he explored and quite successfully mastered. More often than not his pieces are thought to be Fine Art Glass and not finely crafted wood.

don derry woodturningPresently Don is working with Chinese Elm because the open grain structure and neutral wood tones lend well to the coloring process he is developing. The colors used are aniline dyes and metallic pigments. Don states that “coloring, finishing and polishing easily take more time than the woodturning.”

demonstrator / Membership Meeting

Segmented Woodturners Chapter May Summary

scalloped vessell by dennis kirks
Scalloped Vessell by Dennis Kirks
The Segmented Woodturners chapter of the AAW recently sent out the May club summary to the members. If you are interested in, or are actively involved in, segmented turning this chapter is a great way to acquire and share knowledge about this art.

Here are some of the highlights from the chapter summary:

  • The chapter has launched on online membership renewal page. All memberships expire June 30th, so renewals are due soon. Also, members who renew will receive a Arrowmont commemorative DVD. This DVD is also available to new members.
  • There will be a membership meeting on Friday evening during the AAW symposium. The board will be awarding “Excellence in Segmenting” awards to three segmenters based upon their “body of work” as displayed in the Instant Gallery.
  • The next segmented symposium is tentatively scheduled for mid-October,2012 in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Demonstrator/demonstration suggestions are welcome.
  • Good discussion in the forum on 20″ disc sander attributes and capabilities.
  • Another good discussion on scalloped segmented parts for a hollow vessel with an excellent tutorial by Dennis Kirks (example in photo)
  • The chapter website received 5,055 unique visitors in March and 278,154 page views.
chapter profile / segmented

Jaxturners Videos

jaxturnersThe Northeast Florida Woodturners Association, the AAW chapter in Jacksonville, Florida, started video recording the demonstrators from their membership meetings last January. They have also created a channel on YouTube to share these videos. Topics so far include multi-axis turning, small hollow form, spindle design and turning, and turning a Calabash bowl.

This is another example of how turners are willing to share their knowledge and experience. You can watch the videos by going to the Jaxturners YouTube Channel.

AAW / chapter profile / video / woodturners

Yellowstone Woodturners Symposium 6

yellowstone woodturners logoThe members of the Yellowstone Woodturners, an AAW chapter in Billings, Montana have have announced their 6th Annual Symposium scheduled for October 1st and 2nd at the Billings Career Center. Their demonstrator for the 2-day event will be Stuart Batty demonstrating bowl turning basics.

Stuart Batty is a third generation woodturner from Newcastle, England. He was taught by his father, Allan Batty, who is an internationally recognized woodturner. At 19 he started working for Craft Supplies, Ltd. in England, which was the largest woodturning supplier in the world. During his six years at Craft Supplies he was the in-house woodturning teacher, set up the Craft Supplies first sawmill and developed and tested woodturning tools for Robert Sorby.

Since then, he has taught over 3,000 amateur and professional woodturners. He has demonstrated and taught in twelve countries, including over 180 different AAW chapters across the U.S.

Stuart says his style is greatly influenced by his background as a spindle turner with precise cuts and sharp detail. He uses very simple tools and grinds to create his pieces. His work is “pure” lathe work, with no carving or surface texturing. Stuart’s artwork has been sold through prestigious galleries across Europe and the U.S.

Registration for the two-day event is $95, with a $15 discount if paid by September 14th. More information can be found on the registration form.

woodturning events

SPSW Member Profile – Dan Stromstad

dan stromstadLike many of you I began turning wood in Junior High School. Growing up in Richland, Washington in the fifties enabled me to have a friend for a wood shop instructor. Working with my father we built all of the kitchen cabinets in the process of totally remodeling our home. As a result my fondness for working with wood led me to build a wide assortment of useful things from a grape crusher for wine making to a hydroplane for fun on the river. While visiting an uncle in Southern California he noticed my excitement about wood turning and he gave me a lathe that he never used. With paper route earnings I purchased tools from Sears and my dad and I began turning on our midsized lathe. This ended when I left home for college except for visits home. When my father was gone my lathe came back to me.

After seeing pens in a woodworking store in Port Townsend I said to my wife like so many of you, “I could make that!” Years later I wandered into a store and discovered pen kits and asked how to make them. The owner gave me a three minute lesson and after purchasing the needed extras for the lathe I began my current wood turning adventures.

Delving into the many turnings that could be made on a small lathe with excitement growing a customer came to me for eyewear and I found that he rebuilds lathes as a hobby. We worked out a deal for a larger lathe. It was poor at best and eventually it was sold and a brand new General lathe came home. Borrowing a chuck from my friend Tom Bageant started me on the path to bowl turning. Many folks had told us about this club and Tom and I thought it would probably be a dozen old guys sitting around talking about their past exploits. Finally we decided to give it a try. Wow, were we off base. We were stunned at the quality of turning and vibrancy of the members. We joined that night. After a few sawdust sessions and being befriended by Eric Lofstrom I began turning bowls that were a little better.

The real turning point was Eric giving me a rough turned Madrone burl bowl. That was so exciting to turn. Dave Schweitzer noticed my excitement and asked me to come and see him. He had no idea what he was in for. After a long day at Dave’s he finally got rid of me after six in the evening. This began a marathon of turning wet wood and learning and practicing the techniques that had been shown. Two hundred rough turned bowls later there were signs of hope in my finished bowls. A need for a larger lathe became very important and so the General lathe was sold and a Powermatic came home.

Back to Dave’s and now hollow forms started popping up at home. A day with Roy Lane helped that experience as well. So much to learn and so little time, with lots of practice happiness ensued. Urns, baby rattles and vases appeared, some with dyed and some natural finishes.

The many demonstrators at our club and others continued to teach techniques that were new to me. With practice these new methods became easier to use and enabled me to produce better results. Basically, this club and its members totally changed my life. It continues to get better and better. What else is there to say, this is why I am so excited when the third Thursday of the month comes around.

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