Presented by Kevin Fleming
Written by: Richard Derganc

Kevin delighted us with his skill and his wit. For instance he looks for interesting flaws in the wood he picks and the people with whom he is associated. He thought we were all very interesting!

He warned against doing hollowing as beginning woodturning. Working where you can’t see the blade is inherently dangerous.

He prefers using an in-line tail stock and bowl fixture with three additional holes drilled to get six attachments to the stock. He finds a Delta 12" lathe to be pretty good.

Examine your wood block before cutting; cut through the center of the log vertically, as the tree would stand, avoiding having any of the pith in the final product. In other words use a left or right side of the log relative to a standing living tree. Of course the deeper the bowl desired, the larger the radius of the tree needed. Very small bowls could be turned from a lateral section of a tree, but the rings would tend to delaminate as they dried.

It is always desirable to hold the log or bowl blank between two points, instead of only on the faceplate.

Keep tightening the tail stock as you turn, as the vibration tends to loosen the blank.

Use large tools, ones you can rest on your hip and get a 3-point grip on them (two hands and hip). Trim your blank on a bandsaw or by using a chainsaw to remove the square edges.

Keep your fist against the tool rest; rock left and right to move tool across the blank; use fist as a gauge to control in-out motion. Keep tool at about a 45° angle when removing bark. Also, use your oldest gouge for the rough areas. Tool rest height should be at the approximate centerline of the piece for the bowl gauge or horizontal scraper.

Think about the grain direction, use the soda straw analogy to guide cutting direction.

Kevin prefers a 1-Way Stronghold, 4 jaws, adjustable, approx. $269 each, he has four different sizes. And seven lathes. Perhaps we can rent time from him?

Terminology:

A cut using a bevel is a shear plane.

A cut using a point is a shear cut.

He does not worry about precise angles on his tools, the angles vary for hardwood and softwoods, anyway. His advice is to: Work It, Feel It, Smooth It!

He rough finishes (turns) a piece and then stores it in double paper bags for 2 –3 months of air drying, before re-rounding the piece to its final round shape.

As with any woodworking, keep your sharpening tools handy and use them when you start making powder. Nice long slivers mean the tool isn’t dull. He uses a grinder running at 1750 rpm and 60 and 80 grit wheels.

Make a rounded disk (several sizes) to use as a friction plate when you reverse the piece and put the tenon on the bowl for subsequent live center work (only one supported end).