There are two books widely recognized as essential in the library of a segmented woodturner. The first is Woodturning with Ray Allen by Dale Nish. The second is The Art of Segmented Woodturning by Malcolm Tibbetts.
Segmented woodturning has been around for a long time, but Ray Allen took the art to the next level. After retiring from a 30 year career in the construction industry Ray found his passion in turning. Allen was inspired by Southwestern art and incorporated that into the design of his vessels. His pieces are in major collections throughout the world.
Woodturning with Ray Allen was written by Dale Nish to share Allen’s creativity; not only in the design of the vessels he turned, but also the solutions he developed to create his turnings. This book details many of Allen’s techniques for choice of material, preparation of segments, glue up and turning. There are color photos of many of Allen’s pieces and also a section that details exactly how many of the feature ring designs are created.
There are many great tips in this book and you won’t go wrong by picking up a copy. And good news for SPSW members, we have a copy in our chapter library. Just send a note to our Librarian, Keith Palmer, to check out this book.
