Announcements Show and Tell Huron Valley Woodturners

Huron Valley Woodturners
Ann Arbor Michigan
Home
Newsletters
Event Calendar
Gallery
Contact Us
Links
2011 Meeting Calendar
August 21st, 2011 Newsletter
Announcements
The business section was short this Month to allow more time for a special Demonstration by Jim
Scarsella. We did take the time to offer five raffel winners some excellent prizes and we had some
wonderful Show and tell pieces.
Show and Tell
Erik brought in several pieces, one from a piece of stock Gary gave him, a nice cherry on cherry
piece and a big walnut root bowl.
Jeff Salter finished a piece in payment for burl he received.
Tom Komarynski had one piece for the Museum project, and one from some of the curly Maple Bill
Anderson provided.
Jeff Braunscheidel made a large oak bowl, from a stump he got for having a trailer in the right
place at the right time.
Bill Anderson had some examples of loom spindles, made with pre-manufactured end pullys.
Gary had a cherry hollow form at 1/4 inch wal thickness, finished with rub on poly satin, and buffed
with the beall buffing system and a Crystal top.
During the pre meeting hands on portion Jeff Salter took it quite literally or so it might appear. Was
that a CA glue in there? Ohhh... Just checking the wall thickness... right.
Special Demonstration:
Jim Scarsella Shared Carving Tools and Techniques with us.
Jim Scarsella took time this afternoon to share with us some of the tools and techniques he uses
to create more interest in his work, and as you can see from some of his work below, he is quite
effective at it. Jim started out gardening and making furniture, and perhaps this helped to open his
designs to more options.
Jim told us that he prefers softer hardwoods like walnut and cherry for his work. He warned us
about the dust issue and said he uses a vent hood. Fans are not prefered due to the direct cooling
effect it has on some of the burning equipment. Jim will rough the shape of the object on the lathe,
allowing thickness for the carving process. He then draws or uses a pattern to transfer his designs
onto the roughed shape, and then the real work begins. Jim uses quite a wide variety of tools to
create the carvings, and a host of others to enhance them by burning, and coloring. Among those
are:
Drafting table padding for patterns.
micro motors with stump cutters.
Brass brushes for cleaning cutters.
Diamond and ruby stones for sanding.
Dental tools (like the powercrafter) with a multitude of tips.
Toothbrush (I assume for cleaning the carvings but if the dust gets bad...).
Auto Detail tape for masking when dying or painting.
Wood burners (fixed tip are preferred.
and other items listed in the handout Jim provided.
Jim discussed in some depth how the shapes are limited by the tools used, and how to use
specific tools to under cut and raise the shapes, as well has how to define them through burning,
and the coloring process. When coloring the works, Jim works from darker to lighter colors adding
depth with each layer.
We quite enjoyed our time with Jim, and now we can aspire to try some works like the one below.
Thank you Jim.
September Meeting
The September meeting will be held Sunday 18th September at 1 p.m. The topic of the meeting
will be Hollowing.