The wonderful Rory Brown offered to give me a few hours of instruction on the wood lathe and I jumped at the chance. ➡ He is the former president of the Vancouver Secondary Teachers Association and served on the executive of the BC Teachers Federation. He taught high school in Vancouver for 15 years before joining the BCIT Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Rory is currently one of the instructors on the Technology Teacher Education Diploma. Students complete this 2-year course before entering UBC to complete their Teacher Education program (where I am one of their instructors). I’ve been spending a lot of time at BCIT getting to know the cohort of students who are currently completing their TTED so that we can better teach and learn together in September.
Teachers teach; pedagogues teach while also actively investigating teaching and learning.
Taking Rory up on his offer means that I get to learn and practice some more hands-on skills, a great continuation of the introduction I had to the machines in the ➡ Student Machine Shop course ⬅ at UBC.
Rory had chosen a piece of weeping birch that came from a downed tree not far from his home. He introduced the formidable band saw and I cut the piece into a rough cylinder:
(make relief cuts to avoid having to pull the blade out of a curved cut)
Next, I attached it to the lathe and tried to make more uniformly cylindrical and then tapered towards the bottom
feeling confidentfeeling humbledgetting more bowlish
It was a little alarming at first when connecting the tools with the spinning (1000rpm!) piece. I thought I’d gotten the hang of it and then thwunk! the tool dug in, resulting in the shitshow in the middle pic. Next, Rory stepped in and made a tenon at the base so that I could mount the piece on the other orientation and work on the inside (after I’d sanded it with sandpaper [50, 50, 220])
Rory making the tenonpost-sandingstarting on the inside
Next came the slower work of revealing the inside of the bowl; this was very satisfying and I kept thinking of Knopfler’s Monteleone as the shavings and sawdust flew. Eventually, I’d shaped the inside and the lip. Applying beeswax to the inside/outside put a lovely quick finish on the piece. Rory took the base to the belt sander to fix a chip that had come off when the bowl….eh…flew off the lathe at one point. I then finished the base with some more beeswax and ze heat gun.
could have sanded more…finishing with beeswax“Roy’s Bowl”
During the day, I had chats with end encouragement from my future students (h/t Alex MacAulay), some of whom were working on machines close by. I could also see the work of former students around me and consider all the things they learned in SW9 and at UBC and how they are connected.
An important reminder, from the wonderful Haejin
A great day, overall. I look forward to learning more.
(May 3, 2015). “A few good Shakers wanted“ ➡ Last few members hope young African-American novice can revive religion’s communal society
“Joy is a well-made object, equaled only by the joy of making it”
Bill Reid, 1988
May 6, 2024 S02E01
Today, I worked on my second bowl. This one is of Western maple, from a tree that fell in at this spot in Theodosia Arm. With Caverly’s help, Rory moved a large section of the tree to his boat; eventually, it made its way to BCIT.
Rory spent much of today milling boards from the trunk while, with the assistance of some students, I learned some new tricks.
Used the band saw to round out the blank; attached the face plate to the blank and connected it to the lathe.
Rounded out the sides, leaving a rough bottom; squared the bottom so the piece looks like a wheel of cheese; started shaping the bottom of the bowl and made the slot for the mortice connection so that I could flip the bowl and shape the inside [my first bowl, above, used a tenon]
Sanded the outside of the piece: 60, 80, 100, 120, 150
╬
Rory mentioned:
Reaction wood; tension/compression
Conversion of reciprocating motion to rotary motion.
╬
Had to call it a day but will likely finish this on Friday. Came home with pockets full of sawdust but in good headspace; other students have said it – making bowls is addictive.
May 10: S02E02
Today, I learned more about the piece of spalted, quilted, bigleaf Western/red maple (acer rubrum) I have been working with.
Continuing from where I left off on Monday, I needed to round out the sides a bit.I might have spent a little more time working and sanding the piece before using the beeswax to fininsh
Still, it feels, looks, and smells great; not bad for a second attempt though I am starting to get the feel of it a little more so I may be more ambitious (and careful) next time. Note the spalting on the lip at 6 o’clock and the quilting at 11 on the inside.
May 20 onward
I’m popping into the woodshop quite a bit these days. My next goal is to get comfortable using the skew to make beads on a length of wood.
This involves moving the tool (more carefully) through three dimensions and is a lot more challenging (for me) than just using the carbide -tipped gouge.
Yesterday, I tried again ⬇ to get the hang of the skew (& parting tool) and made some progress. Next time, I’ll practice some more and make my honey dipper
Two pics, showing my attempt to make beads; it finally clicked what I was trying to do right before I had to stop. These Eureka! moments on the lathe continue to amaze/intrigue me.
