A Saturday With Bob Rosand
Bob Rosand is a Bread and Butter Basics demonstrator. You won't see any That's IMPOSSIBLE! cuts. He's not a High Wire Act that's there to amaze you. He's also not much for "artsy smartzee". He turns things that are affordable for the Average Joe or Jolene.
With the exception of the small bowl and the small lidded vessel nearest the bottom of this photo (more about that later), here's almost all the types of pieces he demonstrated making. A relative newbie to turning will leave his demo thinking "Hell, with what I just learned I CAN make any of those pieces. Not as fast, not as well or as nicely proportioned - but that'll come with practice." and perhaps "I'm gonna go home and make one of those . . ." THAT is what he WANTS to happen. And each piece he demonstrates is a Bread and Butter piece that probably can be sold for $20 to $40. But it's not just beginners who will get their money's worth. Intermediate and even advanced turners will pick up a gem or two - from each piece turned in Bob's demo.
First up was the "icicled" christmas ornament made from free wood. Bob likes free wood. Most of this piece was done with a 3/4", squared off end roughing gouge. Gives you a relatively long cutting edge - nice for cutting long continuous outside curves - and those sharp corners on the sides can get you into some tight spaces. And for hollowing small pieces he uses the three tools shown.
If you've turned some Christmas ornaments you know that you need to drill a very small hole in the top of the "lid" for the small "hanging loop". Most Jacobs Chucks won't hold really small drill bits and screw in "eyes" are too big for small ornaments. To solve the How To Hold Small Drill Bits - use a Pin Vise - available from places like Harbor Freight for under $5 and from lapidary and jewelery supplies stores for a few more bucks. The top example in this photo is actually a little hand drill that works like a Yankee Screw Driver. There are pin vises with a collet on each end, each with a different range of little drills it can hold.
And for the small "eye" for hanging the ornament - Fish Hooks - readily available and cheap. Just snip off what you need and add a dab of CA glue to hold it in the ornament top.
The little Bird House had some little tricks.worth noting. The two holes (one for the little bird and one for the perch) were drilled while the blank was still square. Lot easier than trying to drill a hole in a thin walled, curved surface. Also worth noting, the underside of the "cap" is undercut - which will hide any imperfections in the fit of the lid.
Since the hollowing of the acorn has to be done first, finishing the bottom of the acorn requires making a jamb chuck in the waste block still in the chuck. The walls of the acorn are pretty thin so the neck going on the jamb chuck is pretty delicate so turning the jamb chuck is critical. If it's too tight or tapers you'll split the acorn when it's "jammed" on. So you want to turn it so it's barely snug - THEN APPLY A LITTLE TONGUE OIL TO THE JAMB CHUCK. No, that's not a misspelling of TUNG oil. We're talking SPIT here.When you wet wood the grain expands, in this case just enough to give you some holding power - but not enough to split the acorn. Light cuts with a sharp tool can then be made to finish off the bottom of the acorn.
The little Christmas Tree is another Best Seller.
Quick and easy to make - if you use the right tools - a sharp square end roughing gouge for the shape and a narrow parting tool. To minimize splintering Bob uses a "fluted" parting tool similar to the one shown below. The little "spurs" slice the grain before the rest of the cutting edge gets to it, leaving a pretty clean surface behind. You CAN use a regular old narrow parting tool, but you should probably score both sides of the cuts with a skew first to get cleaner edges.
A small lidded jar is another good seller a newbie can turn. And it lends itself to embelishment. One of Bob's specialties is closely spaced cove cuts done with a small spindle gouge. He lays them out with a pencil compass and leaves behind crisp thin flats between them. The form is a classic and some texturing, pyrography can dress up an otherwise bland bland piece. Again, he uses a jamb chuck to hold the parts for finishing up the parts.
The little ebony pull can also be left with a little tenon on the top - for attaching all sorts of things - a twig or something made from some scraps. Here are some possibilities.
The Ring Holder - you guessed it - another Best Seller - involves several interesting things - starting with the fact that it's turned from a piece of an old baseball bat.
Old baseball bats make great turning stock - straight grained - ash. So when you go Garage/Patio Sale hunting you should be able to pick up an old wooden baseball bat up for a buck - two at the most.
A Ring Holder must have a low center of gravity and a wide basefor stability - so a squashed onion shape is a natural form for them. But this presents several challenges. That delicate pinched neck is - well - delicate. And you need to drill a hole into it for the tenon of the Flame top. And since it looks like a perfume bottle, someone is going to try and pull the top off - and when that doesn't work - will try and twist it off!
So how do you make it delicate LOOKING yet actually quite strong? Reinforce it by putting a LONG tenon on the Flame top.
But that means the pinch neck - before the ebony top's tenon is glued in place - is even more delicate. How the hell do you hold the piece in order to finish the bottom?
ANSWER: With the drill you used to drill the hole. A TINY dab of CA glue in the top of the hole, thread the piece onto the drill bit held in a jacobs chuck mounted in the head stock and you're on your way to finishing the bottom, intially with a live center in the tail stock for most wood removal and some delicate light cuts - with a sharp tool to finish it off.
Now I know you're saying to yourself "OK - so I've got the bottom finished. BUT - I've got a drill glued in the end of my piece!"
Fear not. CA glue is great for resisting relatively gradually applied forces. Fortunately, it sucks at resisting suddenly applied forces. Give a sharp tap to a CA butt joint and the CA will let go. So if you pinch the top of the piece up close to the chuck with one hand, and give the chuck a quick 1/8th turn - the CA glue will let go - most of the time. Hey, there ain't no guarantees in wood turning.
Yet another Bread and Butter piece - a Tea Candle Pot. They're fairly quick to turn - and they sell. And if the wood isn't all that impressive, a little cove cutting, texturing or other embelishments will make it an eye catcher. Ladies LOVE candles!
The handy tip for these - K-Mart and Plastic. Bob's practical and frugal. Rather than buy the more expensive glass inserts for the candles, or the less expensive little metal cans with the candles already in them (and are often not actually round) - he picks up the plastic and candle version at K-Mart (though Artsy Crafty store and discount stores probably have them as well) - for three or four bucks - for 50 of them. A forstner bit for the hole and you're off and running - to fun and profit.
BTW - if, instead of a T candle, you put a watch sized battery powered clock in the hole, and band saw a slanted flat on the bowl . . . (clock inserts are available from Crafts Supply, Packard Woodworks and Penn State Industries for about $10).
The Grand Finale is Bob's take on Rude Osolnik's Candle Holder. As you can see, it's three arcs, the pinch point tangent of the upper two curves is down about a third of the total height, the second tangent point is about a quarter of the remaining distance to the bottom of the piece. While this looks pretty simple and straight foreward - it ain't. Blending two curves together - without any "flat" isn't easy. Blending THREE curves - without any flat - THAT ain't trivial. ANY "flat" or break in the blending of the curves will be picked up by the eye. The brain may not be able to figure out why something looks wrong - but it';; notice that something isn't quite right. And the smoother the finish, the quicker the eye will catch the error(s) because THERE'S NO WHERE TO HIDE A MISTAKE.
He makes these in two inch increments, from 6" to 16" in height - but with the same 2" diameter top and 2 1/2" diameter bottoms and most of the shape is done with a square ended roughing gouge - that's VERY sharp. Here's where that LONG cutting edge really comes in handy.
It was a great way to spend a Saturday and this is only SOME of the handy little tips and tricks you can pick up at one of Bob Rosand's turning demonstration. And who knows, you might make a buck or two from one of those ideas ; )
For more about turning these pieces Bob has more extensive articles on his web site. Click Here For Bob's Articles
And if you're looking for small hollowing tools - like the ones shown