1 of 8 More Woodturning's Question and Answer Page This page includes Questions on woodturning and Answers given by Fred

Holder, th e Editor of More Woodturning, or other parties who have responded. This page is included as an "i nformation only page" for your reference. It's contents has been originally published in the pages of More Woodturning. If you have a question on woodturning, we'll be pleased to try to answer it for you or to obta in an answer for you, simply send your questions to our E-Mail address: fred@fholder.com. [Go back to our Hom e Page and select "send us mail".] We'll respond by E-mail and will post the question and answer in More Woodturning if it has a broad enough interest. Getting Started: Question: I am about to acquire my first lathe - have done some turning - rollin g pins, potato masher, mallet, spurtle - etc - any suggestions as to what to start off with? Just practice turn ing or go for something definite? -George Fred Holder Responds: If you haven't been turning for awhile, I would recommend some practice before you attack some project. When I started, I will have to admit that I did make five p rojects before I went into the practice mode. I had a blacksmith shop at the time and made my first five tools, so my first turning work was to make handles for the tools. The first handle I made using the sharpened end o f a rasp tang, the others I made with the first tool handled, which was a "V" tool or pointed tool. As I add ed finished tools to my tool cache, the job was easier. Then, I started reducing my woodpile to shavings. I t urned round spindles. Then I put on beads. Then I converted the beads to coves, etc. When I got to where the beads and coves were coming out pretty good, then I tried making some lamps. My family all wanted set s of lamps. This gave me both spindle experience and faceplate experience and also experience in drilling deep holes. After five or six sets of lamps, I was ready to try a bowl. For what it is worth, I recommend some practice on things where you're not tryin g to make a project but just a shape like a bead or cove. When the tools begin to do what you want them to, the n try a project. A lamp is a very good project and it will be appreciated. Some of my first ones were pretty poor, but my daughters grabbed them in a heartbeat anyway. [Reprinted from February 2001 issue of More Woodturning.] Making a Wood Screw: Question: How would you approach turning a wooden screw of roughly 2" diameter? I know there are screw threading devices; but the ones I've found so far handle about 1.5" maximum. -Pa mela G. Niedermayer Fred Holder Responds: What you want to do is probably best done with a screw box to cut the thread in the wooden screw and a tap for the nut. There has been a lot of good advice about th read chasing and where to get information about it; however, thread chasing over a long distance (length) is not accurate enough for your job. The Klein lathe will not likely cut a long enough thread for you or a coars

e enough thread for you either. Of all of the thread cutting jigs on the market, the Beall Masterpiece Turner co mes closest to doing what you need. If I remember right, it will cut 5 tpi threads over about a 10 to 12 inch long area, but $500 is a pretty steep layout for one 2" diameter wood screw. Now, you say you can't find a ready made tap and screw box for a 2" bolt. I don' t think there is one on the 2 of 8 market for that size. You can however, make your own. I would buy a two inch bol t with as coarse of a thread as you can get, cut off the head, mount it in the lathe and taper the end a bit to make the thread easier to start. Then grind 4 or more flutes in the bolt to make it look like and work like a tap . Also, drill the top for a rod to make a "T" handle to turn the thing with, I would recommend a 3/4" hole to provi de a substantial rod. This will then be your tap to cut the nuts with and to cut the threads in the screw b ox you will have to make. Roy Underhill does a pretty good job of telling how to do this in his book, "The Woo dwright's Work Book." I also tell how to make the screw box in my book, "Making Screw Threads in Wood," which should be available this spring from GMC Publications. I also make reference to Roy Underhill's book in m y book. Finally, what would do your job best is a metal lathe with proper gear ratios to cut the tpi that you need, probably about 4 or 5 tpi, and a rotary cutter mounted on the tool post to do th e actual cutting. Again, unless you have a friend with this set up that can do it for you, the tools would be to o expensive. [Reprinted from February 2001 issue of More Woodturning.] Editor's Note: The following question on drilling lamps was originally posted on the rec.crafts.woodturning newsgroup on the Internet. Although we did not gather all of the answers to this question, we are providing those supplied by our editor and by Soren Berger of New Zealand, who also sent h is posting to us directly. Drilling Lamps: I finally got around to using the lathe I bought last year I decided to try to m ake a few lamps. The question I have is do you drill the center before turning or after? What is the best way to drill the center so that the lamp wire may be run to the socket? What is the best source for the lamp hardware? Th anks for the help. Joe Editor"s Note: There were several postings which described laminating the lamp b lank from two or more pieces of wood and either routing a groove before glueing up or using a dado bla de in the table saw to cut a groove in each piece before assembly; i.e., making the hole before mounting on t he lathe. One posting suggested sawing the blank in half and cutting a v-notch in each half then gluei ng it all back together. He said that if care was taken the glue line simply disappears. One could also drill the hole before mounting on the lathe. In any case, an inset piece on each end would have to be used to properly center the blank on the lathe for turning. Your editor responded with the following answer. Fred Holder Wrote: I've always drilled my lamps after turning. I also drilled ea ch of them from both ends.

This ensures that the hole comes out in the center of both top and bottom of the lamp. With my first lamps, this was done because my drill would not reach completely through the lamp ( I o nly had a 12" drill). Today I do it because the two lamp augers that I own seem to run out slightly over the l ong haul. If you want to drill complete through from one end, start with the top so that your hole is centered where the light fixture is attached, the bottom is not so important. I drilled them by running a drill thro ugh the hollow tailstock spindle. I currently have a tail center with a removable center pin that allows the drill to be passed through and into the wood while still holding the workpiece in place with the cup recess of the cente r, I purchased this from Craft Supplies USA. Craft Supplies USA also has a nice lamp auger that I also purchase d some time back. This combination works very well, but still allows enough slop that the drill may not run true throughout the length of the work, so I still drill from both ends. I have personally bought my lamp h ardware at local stores. You can buy lamp repair kits that have all of the hardware plus a new power cord to fit out your lamp at most hardware stores. The last lamp I made I used hardware from Eagle Hardware, they have a ni ce selection of components available. That last one was a night light so that I needed special bulb recepta cles, etc. so Eagle's selection was very helpful. I believe you can also purchase lamp hardware from Craft Supplies USA. Lamps are fun to make and much appreciated by the various members of the family. We have five children , all married now, who were very appreciative of those lamps that Dad made. 3 of 8 Joe had another Question: I recently asked a question to the members of the grou p regarding how to bore a hole for a turned lamp. I received many helpful responses and I'd like to thank all of you who responded. The problem I have now is many people suggested an auger attachment that passes thro ugh a hollow tail piece. Here lies the problem the Delta Standard Duty Variable speed lathe I own does no t have a tailstock that will allow anything to pass through it. Even if I bought the hollow tailpiece the aug er would not pass through the tailstock. The tailstock on this lathe is very similar to the tailstock on my So uth Bend lathe in that it is tapered for a Morse No. 2 and when you turn the tailstock adjustment wheel clockwise to the end of it's travel it will eject whatever attachment is in the No. 2 Morse taper. Is there anything I can d o that will allow me to use the lamp auger with this type of setup? Delta calls this a standard duty lathe, I pu rchased it about 4 years ago. It weighs about 400 pounds. and it has mechanical variable speed, it sits on a meta l stand and has a 3/4 horsepower TEFC motor. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks. Joe Fred Holder Responds: You only need the tailstock with a special center if you a re turning between centers, which you probably are. In That case, I see two options for you, there are likel y others: Mount the vertical part of the lamp to the base, which is mounted on a faceplate (at least that was the way I made most of my lamps). Glue the spindle part of the lamp into the base us

ing the tail center as a clamp so that the upright part of the lamp is pretty well centered with the tail stock. When the glue is dry, make a build-up of scrap wood that comes up to the height of the tailstock center less 1/2 of the drill diameter. Clamp this build-up to the lathe bed a few inches from the end o f the lamp. Make a pencil mark in-line with the tailcenter point on the top board. Lay a ruler on the boar d and align the edge of the ruler with the mark on the board and the center of the lamp and draw a line on t he board. Now, remove the tailstock from the lathe. This line becomes the guide for your drill. Hand h old your drill, start the lathe, with the drill or auger on the line, start drilling. Make sure the drill stays on the line and pressed down against the board. With a little luck, it will come out pretty well. The second way is to drill off the lathe. I used to drill the ramrod hole in muz zle loading gunstocks by clamping the stock to a board, drilling a hole through a piece of wood that was the right distance above the board the stock was clamped to and then aligning it with the desired ramrod channel. I then used a long drill mounted in a drill motor to drill the hole. It took a quite a bit of set-up to get everything lined up properly, but the process put a hole where I wanted it. That was a deep hole like you need for a lamp. This method would be best used to drill the hole before turning the lamp. Personally, I thing its easier to drill on the lathe. Soren Berger Responded: The easiest method is to drill through the headstock. It works just as well as through the tailstock. First make a wooden insert to fit in the back of your Nov a chuck with a centre hole the same size as your drill, mount your lamp between chuck and live centre. Drill th rough to a little over half way. Reverse lamp and drill from the other end. Sources of Supply for Lamp Parts: Craft Supplies USA 1287 E 1120 S Provo, UT 84606 TEL: (800) 551-8876 Lamp Augers and Hollow tail centers for drilling and Lamp hardware kits. The Lamp Shop PO Box 3606 Concord NH 03302-3606 TEL: 603-224-1603 Wiring kits, h ardware, and lots of lamp shade making stuff. Packard Woodworks P. O. Box 718 101 Miller Road Tryon, NC 28782 TEL: (704) 859-6 762 Lamp Augers and hollow tail centers for drilling. Holding for Turning Endgrain (Some Thoughts on Chucks) 4 of 8 Question: Well, I'm up and turning. After a couple of good candle sticks, turned between centers, I thought I'd try using some of the chucks that came with the lathe - the Record RP3000 Po wer Chuck. The screw chuck mounts in the compression jaws. Things seemed to be going fine, until I tr ied to hollow out the end grain for a goblet. Rather than cutting, the stock started to ride up on the gou ge. The piece came flying off the lathe. Yes, the gouge was sharp. After a couple more unsuccessful tries, I gave up for the night. Any ideas? jw Fred Holder Responds: At the Provo, Utah symposium this last June, there was an

egg cup race sponsored by Craft Supplies USA. At first they were using screw chucks and many people wer e tearing the blanks off the lathe while trying to hollow. I had brought my trusty 3/8" Sorby Long and Strong Spindle Gouge (not so long anymore) and had no problem at all. Many of the people seemed to be trying to ho llow the end grain as if they were hollowing a cross grain bowl; i.e., starting at the outside edge and hollow ing down toward the center. It doesn't work very well. For what its worth, here's how I do it. I drill a hole at the center with the spindle gouge. The spindle gouge works lik e an auger if you push it straight in. Either drill to depth or at least in part way, you can deepen the hole later as the hollowing progresses. Then, I insert the tip of the gouge into the hole and with the left edge of the cutting edge near the tip cutting I lever down with the handle in an arc to the right, the cutting edge sweeps up an d to the left. With minimal tork on the holding device a nice arc is cuts out of the top of the goblet. Don't be too aggressive i-->->your holding device isn't real strong. I've seen others do something different, but this is w hat works for me. You might try it. Another good way to hollow endgrain is to use one of the ring tools such as the Sorby or the One-Way Termite. They work really great on end grain. The Termite is better than the Sor by, but they both work. Again you have to drill a hole at the center to use these. Ian Hirst Responded: I nearly gave up hollowing into endgrain when I used the RP 3000. A screw chuck into endgrain is never very secure, and the Record screwchuck has a tapered thread (a s opposed to a parallel thread). I read the books and tried, but failed everytime. I now only use screwc hucks into crossgrain and never use the RP3000 screwchuck. I found some success using the RP3000 as a spigot chu ck, but when making boxes I found it lacked accuracy - so my lids ended up not being concentric with the base of the boxes. Also it does not grip very well. I use a Robot vantage chuck now which is beautifully ac curate, grips well, but has a limited range of gripping diameters. The RP3000 collects dust. I intend when fin ances are right to go for a four jaw - probably an Axminster, although they are a bit heavy for the RPML-300 which I use. Fred Holder Responds: I've used the Nova on my RPML-300 lathe for several years. It's a good four jaw scroll chuck and holds well. It has always performed well for me. I understand t hat the One-Way Jaws can be used on the Nova and that the One-Way jaws hold a bit better, but I've not tried it out. The four jaw scroll chucks beat the RP3000 on every corner. Ian Hirst Responds: Does the Nova use a keychuck type tool, or two rods in holes ? I have used the latter and find I need three hands to clamp up and adjust the work. The Nova is about t he same price as the Axminster chucks over here (UK) and there is a large range of extras for the Axm inster- but the Nova in the US is very competative. I've always fancied the Cole jaws of the Nova for revers e bowl chucking. Fred Holder Responds: The Nova uses two rods. I've been using mine four or five

years, ever since they first came out. It would be nice if it had a chuck wrench like the One Way Stronghold, but I've been using it long enough that I've developed ways of holding the work while chucking. Sometimes, I bring up the tail center to hold it in place while tightening. Incidentally, I have two of the Nova chucks, I keep one fitted with the 25mm jaws and one with the 50mm jaws. I have the Cole jaws and do use them occasional ly, but I find it about as well to mount a piece of plywood on a faceplate or screw chuck and make a jam fi t chuck for final turning of the foot of the bowl. On natural edge bowls I find it works good to mount a scra p on a screw chuck and turn 5 of 8 it to the approximate contour of the inside of the bowl, put a piece of 1" foam over this then the bowl and then bring up the tailstock with a live center and a small piece of scrap. A little j ockeying and it will run true. You can't do that with Cole jaws. I'm not familiar with the Axminister chuck, but ha ve some of their other items like a live center and the quality is very good on it. Incidentally, when I was at the AAW conference in San Antonio, I saw a new Nova Chuck, which uses a chuck wrench like the One Way Stro nghold. The chuck wrench that was provided was a bit short on one end when chucking a fairly large bowl. This may be available now, I haven't seen a listing on them in any catalog. [P.S. It is now in the Woo dcraft Catalog as of their last catalog, September 1997.] Finishing on the Lathe "I like to finish most of what I make on the lathe while it is still on the lath e and I often use some type of rub on wax. However, often I like a hard finish that is water or fingerprint resista nt. I have used several brush on finishes with less than acceptable results. What have you found that is a good s pray on finish? How much do you use? Do you have a dust free room to spray in? Is your final coat a wax, eve n after the spray on finish? "The final finish often "makes" the item and really makes it stand out, but I sc rew up the finish too often. Ye ole wise men of the lathe, share your wisdom!" Fred Holder wrote: I've come to the conclusion that there as many ways to finish as there are woodturners. Like you I keep looking for a good spray on finish. The urathaynes generally hav e a problem because they react so bad with some fillers and sanding sealers. I recently had a bowl that I had finished with linseed oil. I wasn't happy with it and was about to discard the thing as scrap. I had picked u p a can of Coast to Coast brand spray clear lacquer and decided to spray the bowl to see how the stuff wor ked. Like magic, the bowl came to life. So, I said, wow, I've got something here. I tried it on a bowl str aight from the lathe with no other finish. The stuff just soaked in and looked awful. I removed the finish, and coa ted the bowl with linseed oil, let it dry and then put on 4 or 5 light coats of the lacquer. That bowl was also sav ed and looks real good. It's worth a try. Paul T. Radovanic Responsed by E-Mail: I've found that lacquer requires some kin d of sealer-coat, too - or

the wood will drink it up endlessly. A thin washcoat of shellac will allow you t o proceed faster than if you have wait for linseed or tung oil to dry. Mix up a 1/2# cut of shellac. Apply wi th rag or sponge - really pour it on - then wipe it immediately with a clean rag. 20 minutes later, lightly sand, burnish with shavings, or steel wool/abrasive pad. Remove dust, and spray the lacquer. Works great. Applying the washcoat this way seals the wood evenly, from face grain to end grain. Recently, someone posted his meth od of applying lacquer by rubbing with a paper towel - he said you start at the edge (or the center of a b owl bottom), and make one continuous sweep to the other edge. I haven't tried it yet, but he said it works well, using brushing lacquer. Lace Bobbins Editor's Note: The October 1997 issue of More Woodturning was themed on the subj ect of Lace Bobbins. If you're interested in lace bobbins, this issue may answer some of your questio ns. Question posted on the Internet at rec.crafts.woodturning newsgroup by Will Simp son of Troy, Idaho: The local lacemakers group has enlisted me to turn some lace bobbins for them. I have a problem as to how much to charge them. My problem is two fold. I enjoy making these bobbins (they really help develop my spindle skills) and I like these ladies as they are fun to be around and they re ally stroke my ego. Given this, I should sell them cheap or give them away free. BUT! I am trying to develop a bus iness. I need justification to retire from my day job and take up turning full time. (Mary doesn't understand t he Zen side woodturning. She only sees the economics.) I have so many orders for bobbins now. Bobbins seem to be the only thing I'm 6 of 8 turning anymore. I have moved my price up to $5.00 US for each bobbin or $50 per dozen. Currently I can turn 3-4 per hour, depending on wood and style. None of the lacemakers seem to h esitate when I tell them the price. I fear that my price is well below the market price which is bad for me a nd all woodturners. I believe that when we undervalue our work it affects everyone's ability to price their wo rk fairly. Questions: Are there any lace bobbin turners out there in rec.crafts.woodturning? Does anyone know the market price for lace bobbins? Any tips on handling pricing? p.s.. When people ask me how much I charge for custom projects, I usually tell t hem I get $40/hour for my shop time plus material. I use this figure for off-the-cuff bids. I rarely get t his much per hour as my ability to estimate how long a project takes is bad. Fred Holder wrote: I turn a few lace bobbins, mostly at craft shows, because the y make a nice demonstration item and are properly sized for my Carba-tec lathe. I determined that $5.00 is a price that a standard bobbin will sell for without any problems. Fancier woods, or fancier bobbins will bring more. I believe that David Springett said that his most expensive bobbin cost $31.00 and his price goes dow n to about $11.00. But most of his bobbins are pretty fancy. A lot of them are made out of bone. The Lacemak er in Edmonds, Washington

(they sell lacemaking equipment and give classes) told me that she can buy bobbi ns wholesale from England (good quality I might add) for $3.50 each on orders of 200. She gets some from S weden, Denmark or one of those countries for even less. They looked like they were turned on a duplicatin g lathe, all alike. Anyway, after talking with her, I decided that: I didn't know enough about the product and, I couldn't make them fast enough to sell them at competitive prices. Like you, I can make about 3 or 4 an hour depending on the wood. I've sold quite a few made from Diamond wood, the multi-colored stuff. It turns nice and takes a beautiful polish. As far as pricing goes for a full time buisness, you'll need to get $50.00 to $6 0.00 per hour to make a decent living off of woodturning. When you are a hobbiest, you can charge $25.00 to $40 .00 per hour and make out alright, but when you consider everything that goes into the cost of running a b usinesss, down time, sick time, maintenance, insurance, etc. $50.00 to $60.00 per hour is about minimum. This ap plies to almost any business. So, to wholesale lace bobbins at $3.50 each, you need to be able to turn them fo ur times as fast as you currently can. Retailing them at $5.00 to $7.00, you'll only have to double your speed plus a few extras a day to make a living, providing you have a market for all of your output. Hope this helps. Dee Smith, Central Texas Woodturners Association , Responded also: I would like to add to Fred's comments by pointing out another aspect of the type of bobbins. The ones being s old in the store that Fred mentions are really plain production type bobbins. The lace makers are also big collectors of bobbins and there is a market for fancy and varied ones at a higher price. You might have more suc cess trying to fill that niche than the plain everyday type made on a production copy machine. The Central Texa s Woodturners Association has several women who joined the club because they were lace makers who wanted to learn to turn their own bobbins. One of them will be demonstrating at the National Sympos ium July 18-20 in San Antonio I believe. Her name is Judy Williams. If you are interested in contactin g her, let me know and I will try to get her email address for you. Editor's Note: Judy Williams did demonstrate at the AAW Conference in San Antoni o and did a bang up job. An article on her demonstration will appear in th eOctober 1997 issue of More Wo odturning. Sanding Question 7 of 8 I am fairly new to wood turning. At this point I am progressing well but I have been having trouble finishing projects on the lathe. I can't put a put a finish on anything because my final s anding always leaves something to be desired. I use 220 grit and still have swirls accross the grain. Most of my t urnings involve wood fibers running horizontal to the lathe bed. It was my understanding that 220 grit would get the job done. Any thoughts on how fine a final sanding paper should before any finish is applied. John

Fred Holder Responds: For some things, 220 may be enough, but when possible, tha t is the grit that I start with and then go on down to 400 or 600 grit. Walley Dickerman, who has been turn ing for about 60 years, and who produces some beautiful pieces, goes down to 1200 or finer on his work. He says to put the shine on the piece then just seal it with a finish. I think many of us fall down on the s anding. I personally belong to the , "I hate to sand club." I just bought a new texturing tool from Robert Sorby that helps out in that department, but you still have to have the stuff smooth before you use the texturing tool, b ut good clean tool work with a very light sanding prepares the surface for texturing. But off the subject, 220 is not really fine enough for most work. Tool Stuck in Morse Taper on RPML-300 How does one remove a jammed in drive center? I have the 300c (Record Power RPML -300C, Mini Lathe). It doesn't have a knockout shaft like other lathes. Fred Holder Responds: The Record Lathes come with a thread protector that you us e whenever you are using the Morse Taper. The thread protector is also your drive center extractor. When you are ready to remove the drive center, hold the spindle with your wrench (provided with the la the) and insert the rod (also provided with the lathe) and screw off the thread protector. The thread protecto r pushes out the drive center. Works great! However, if you forget to put on the thread protector, you have a b it of a problem. I only did that once. I wasn't happy with the problem and called Record a few bad names bef ore I got the stuck drive center out of the No. 1 Morse Taper. I finally removed it by clamping a vice-gri p to the drive center and driving a tapered block of wood between the vice-grip and the housing. It took a lot of jockying and firmly reminded me to install the thread protector in the future. Editor's Note: We heard back from the person asking the question. He had purchas ed the floor model of the lathe and some of his accessories were missing. It was not, however, the thread protector. He had a Morse taper drive that did not have a shoulder to catch the thread protector as it was unscrewed. His alternative was the vice grips approach. How does the Spiralling Tool from Robert Sorby work? Fred Holder Responds: The Sorby Spiral Cutting Tool was facinating to watch, so much so that I had to have one. Personally, I didn't think the texturing part of the tool would intere st me at all; however, I found it can provide a texture much like sand blasting that is very attractive. You still have to have the part you are texturing smooth, but not highly polished. So far, I've textured several pieces with very satisfactory results. Sorby says the tool is only limited by your imagination, I'm sort of short on th is item, but it's fun to use and it does a real fine job of texturing. The Spiralling setup is even more fasinating. You push the tool in straight unti l the wheel spins, then tilt it down until the tool starts to cut. You then move it slowly along in the directio n of spiral until you reach the end of your area to be spiraled. At this point, you can check for depth. If you

want to go deeper, come back to the beginning and gently push the tool in horizontally until you feel it grab in to the grooves, then tip it down to cut. You can move it back and forth along the spiralled area to deepen the cut, but move it slowly. The lathe should run less than 500 rpm according to Sorby, but I've been cutting spirals o n bottle stoppers at top speed 8 of 8 on the RPML-300 (about 2400 rpm). I think it does work a bit better at the slowe r rpm's but the tool seems to be speed independent. You can incidentally texture with the spiralling cutters a lso. I honestly don't know how the tool works, but it does. When cutting spirals, the cutter is near horizontal , when texturing, its near vertical. The instructions say that if it is horizontal, it will cut a series of beads. I simply haven't tried that so far, I've been having too much fun making spirals and texturing surfaces. I haven't tried spiralling the outside of a bowl surface, but that is in the planning for the future. [I have now tried the spira l the outside of a bowl. So far, my efforts have been a failure. I'm not sure whether it is the curved surface of th e bowl or the large diameter for the short distance. Texturing works great on the outside of a bowl, but the spri alling is another thing.] As far as sharpening goes, lay the wheel on the grindstone at the proper angle a nd let it spin. Its sharp in a jiffy. Or you can hone it with a diamond hone. I haven't tried, but you might be able to spin the wheel on a piece of rotating wood while holding on the diamond hone. This is about the most versitile tool that I've purchased so far in my turning experience. I sometimes think that I'm a turning tool collector more than a turner, because a lot of the tools I buy don't get used on a regular basis. I be lieve this tool will get regular useage, however. When I ask Sorby if the tool would work inside, because it is s o near to cutting threads, they said no, but they're working on it. If this tool could be made to work on the in side of an area and you had the right cutter, it would cut excellent threads. A real extension of the thread cha ser to be used by everyone. Hope this helps you people who have been eyeing this tool and didn't know whether to purchase one or not. I was in that boat until I saw the tool demonstrated at the Sorby demonstration in Seattl e in August 1997, I was so impressed with the demonstration that I devoted a page on that demonstration in the September issue of More Woodturning. Incidentally, we have no ties to Robert Sorby, other than I've pers onally been using their tools for about 10 years and am rather fond of their tools. Return to More Woodturning Home Page This Page Last Revised on January 24, 2001.