September 2018 Vol. 1 #9

DAWG News September 2018

Our demonstrator for August was John K. Jordan from near Knoxville, TN. John demonstrated how he turns what he calls “Small Squarish Dished Platters.” John did much more than show how he turns the platters, he talked about the wood, the tools he uses, and how he approaches each task. He is big on carbide, especially the Hunter tool. He explained in detail why he uses each tool. I was very interested in his use of negative rake scrapers from Thomson Tools, and his use of cabinet scrapers on the top of the piece. John had partly finished pieces that illustrated the type of surface that resulted from using different tools, that he passed around so we could feel the difference the tool made.

have so anyone who could not be there could make some. He also has a handout on how he makes the platters that can be found at the DAWG Website under Meetings. At the conclusion of the demo, John auctioned off three platter blanks with the proceeds going to the club. John has lots of energy, knowledge, and experience. We thank him for a most instructive and entertaining demo. ●

John K. Jordan – “Small Squarish Dished Platters” By Jared Bruckner

John brought many sizes of templates for cutting blanks for the platters and poster boards so we could make templates for our own use. He left a set of templates for the club to

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DAWG News More Pictures from the Demo Pictures by Tom Barksdale

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DAWG News

The Bring-Back-Box was won by Charles Helton. Previous winner, James Ridley had turned a small lidded hollow form ●

Turning Classes at Woodcraft https://www.woodcraft.com/stores/chattanooga/classes

Intro To Turning Wednesday Oct. 10, 9 AM – 2:30 PM Spindle Turning Thursday Oct. 11. 7, 9 AM – 4 PM Introduction To Pen Turning Thursday Oct. 11. 7, 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM Advanced Bowl Turning Thursday Sept. 27, 9 AM – 4 PM

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Show & Tell Pictures by Tom Barksdale

Joe & Jean Price – Bowl – Dogwood Joe & Jean Price – Bowl – Dogwood

President’s Challenge Pictures by Tom Barksdale

Rule Manning – Square Bowl – Cedar Rule Manning – Covered Square Bowl –

Maple

Jared Bruckner – Square Bowl – Leopardwood

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Show & Tell Pictures by Tom Barksdale

Dieter Kuberg– Bowl – Cherry Janet Spohn – Ornament – Box Elder/2x4 Spruce

Rule Manning – Butter Mold – Poplar/Cherry

Charles Jennings – Cake Plate – Cherry

Joe & Jean Price – Bowl – Dogwood

Donny Lawson – Lidded Box – HDPE Plastic

Charles Jennings – Cake Plate – Walnut

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Show & Tell Pictures by Tom Barksdale

Ken Gano – Bowl – ?

Wood Talk By Lloyd Speer

Sassafras Sassafras Sassafras albidum is in the Laurel Family (not related to the Mountain Laurel and Rhododendrons, but to the Red Bays). Other names for sassafras are White Sassafras, Cinnamon Wood, and Mittenleaf, but it should not to be confused with Blackheart Sassafras, which is an unrelated species native to Australia. Sassafras grows in the Eastern United States–from southern Vermont west through Michigan and Iowa and south to Florida and Texas. It can grow to heights of 50-65 feet and with trunks 2-3 feet in diameter. Sassafras trees are generally too small to be commercially viable on a large scale, but limited quantities of lumber and turning blanks are available. Common uses are utility lumber, fence posts, boatbuilding, and furniture. The bark on mature trunks is reddish-brown, rough and deeply furrowed. Sassafras has a straight grain with a coarse, uneven texture. The heartwood is a medium to light brown, sometimes with an orange or olive hue. Sapwood is a paler, yellowish brown. The wood is easy to work with both hand and machine tools and has a distinct, spicy scent while being worked. It glues, stains, and finishes well. The leaves are 5" long with three main veins from base. There may be as many as one to four leaf shapes on the same tree, or even on the same twig. Some leaves are entire and oval, others may have a lobe at the side–like the thumb of a mitten, and some may have three, or more rarely, four lobes. The sassafras has more leaf variation than any other native tree, with one exception–the red mulberry.

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Sassafras … Aromatic oils in the roots and bark of this tree have been used in many medicinal and cosmetic products. Sassafras roots provided the original flavoring for root beer, and were used until 1960, when certain compounds in the roots were found to be carcinogenic. Root beer is now flavored artificially. The flowers are of two kinds. The male tree bears the more attractive flowers and so is the more ornamental in spring, but it is the female tree which bears the beautiful, shining blue berries set on scarlet, cup-shaped stems. Birds love the berries and scatter the seeds far and wide. Trees also propagate by root suckers, and these are often produced in great abundance. A parent tree may soon have a healthy, prolific family extending in all directions and filling up waste places. The average dried weight is 31 lbs/ft3, with a specific gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .42, .50. The Janka hardness is 630 lbf (2,800 N). Crushing strength is 6,600 lbf/in2 (45.5 MPa) with a shrinkage of Radial: 4.0%, Tangential: 6.2%, Volumetric: 10.3%, T/R Ratio: 1.6 ● Sources used: Trees of the South by Charlotte Hilton Green. The Sibley Guide to Trees by David Allen Sibley. www.wood-database.com/sassafras/ Pictures: A special thanks to Mike Leigher for providing the wood sample of this wood species. Sassafras (sanded) Sassafras (sealed) Sassafras (endgrain) Sassafras (endgrain 10x) Sassafras (turned)

Wood Talk … By Lloyd Speer

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Turning Pages A book review – Jared Bruckner

Woodturning Magic: 12 Ingenious Puzzles to Make

In June 2015, while looking on Amazon for books about woodturning, I ran across Woodturning Magic: 12 Ingenious Puzzles to Make by David Springett. Since I was interested in wood puzzles and owned three other books by Springett, I paid $20.41 and bought the book. When it came, I looked it over a bit, but did not spend too much time with it. Three months later, in September 2015, I ran across another book by Springett called Woodtuning Trickery: 12 ingenious Projects. It cost 3 Cents less than the other book including shipping from the UK. When I got the second book, it looked a lot like the first book and upon closer inspection I found out that they were exactly the same book! Well not exactly as there were a few differences, such as the publisher and ISBN number etc. The content was word for word the same. The Introduction has 5 Chapters: Woods, Tools & equipment, Methods of holding wood, Turning small-diameter spindles, Hand-chasing threads, Split turning, and Finishes. In chapter 3, Methods of holding wood, Springett presents two methods that were new to me. I think that is interesting since I have recently attended two demos where the topic was holding wood on the lathe. (One by Charles Jennings and the other by John K. Jordan.) One method was using a central or offset nut and bolt. The other one was the use of rubber stoppers which expand on a mandrel and hold the piece allowing undercutting on both ends. The rest of the book consists of 12 chapters, one for each of the 12 projects. I would not classify all the projects as puzzles. Two, Grubby Pear and Bottle Imp, are really magic props. The Wood for the Trees is a clever design of the Towers of Hanoi game. The Mouse & Cheese was less of a puzzle and more of a “How did that get in there?” thing. But that still leaves 8 projects that I think result in real puzzles. Only two of Springett’s projects require hand-chasing threads: Isaac Newton’s Orange and Magic Mushroom. I was a bit surprised that in the chapter called Magic Mushroom, Springett did not give credit to Professor Louis Hoffmann for the mechanism used, which was illustrated in Hoffmann’s book Puzzles: Old & New, published in 1893. Although I am interested in all kinds of wood puzzles, I have concentrated on what I call Coin Puzzles, puzzles which have a coin visible and for which the object of the puzzles is to free the coin. I think at least one of Springett’s puzzles might be modified into a coin puzzle, Greek Temple. I may try to make this one, but since it requires making at least 20 small parts, I may not get to it right away. This would be a good book for anyone interested in wood puzzles. If you want to buy the book, get Woodturning Magic, which is currently available at Amazon for $10.45 with Prime shipping. ● Springett, D. (2015). Woodturning magic: 12 ingenious puzzles to make. Newtown, CT: Taunton Press. Springett, D. (2015). Woodturning trickery: 12 ingenious projects. Lewes: The Guild of Master Craftsman Publications.