The Challenges for October were chosen by Scott Hulst and Ryan Hoss.  Once again, there were wood challenges, a pepper mill challenge, and "Your favorite Tool".  Members were chosen for the November meeting.

Julie Schulz brought several ornaments she turned as part of the wood challenge

Gothard Knuteson turned an angel from the wood he got as part of the wood challenge

Guy Paulson was selected to choose the best backscratcher.  He chose one turned from figured maple.

Keith Kleve selects a square bowl that he liked from the wood challenge

Many items were brought in for show and tell in October:

The demonstration for October was Christmas ornaments.  Ron Williams had a slide presentation where he discussed many of the styles of ornaments you can turn.  One web site that has many photos of ornaments is WoodCentral.

Jim McTavish demonstrated turning a bell style Christmas ornament for the October meeting.  For the actual bell, a piece of maple was used.  A piece that is 2" square and 5" long works well for turning a bell.  The workpiece is mounted in a chuck and trued up.

Once it is in the shape of a cylinder, the bell shape is turned, with the larger diameter of the bell oriented towards the tailstock.

After shaping the bell, hollowing can be started.  A 1/4" bowl gouge can be used for the large end of the bell.  Continue hollowing until the wall thickness is approximately 1/8".  For hollowing the upper section of the bell, a 1/4" round nose scraper works well.  Hollow to a 1/8" wall thickness.

Once you have the inside hollowed, the outside can be finish shaped and parted off.  A trick to finish turn the top of the bell is to turn the bell 180° and tape the bell to the scrap of your workpiece using masking tape.  Using a 3/8" spindle gouge, gently true up the top of the bell.  Once it is trued, use a 3/16" drill bit to drill a hole for the handle.  Leave the bell taped to the scrap, and remove from the lathe so that the handle can be turned.

A piece of walnut that was 3/4" square and about 5" long was used for the handle.  This was rounded and one end was cut for a morse taper so that it could be tapped directly into the morse taper in the lathe headstock with a wood malet.  Be sure it is seated firmly so it doesn't come loose while turning!

Begin by turning one end of the piece down to 3/16" and trial fit this into the bell section.  You want a snug fit so that you can glue this handle into the bell.  Once you have a good fit, continue to turn the handle down to a thickness that looks good with the bell.  Turn the handle to a length equal to the length of the bell.  A piece this small looks obvious if you have any unintentional changes in diameter, so you may want to embelish the handle with small turned beads.  I also put a bead at the top of the handle and then part the workpiece off.

Once the piece has been parted off, remount the bell onto the chuck.  Assemble the handle (without gluing!) into the bell.  You should have a snug fit that will hold together for this step.  Turn the lathe on, and use your fingers from your left hand to act as a steady rest.  Use a 3/8" spindle gouge in your right hand to true up the top of the handle.

Now mount a drill chuck in the tailstock to drill a 5/64" diameter, 1/4" deep pilot hole for a VERY small screw eye.  Once the hole is drilled, the ornament can be superglued together and the screw eye inserted.

Use a finish of your choice to coat the workpiece.  I find that a high gloss finish works best for ornaments as they reflect the lights on your tree.  Have fun!

For those of you who are interested in some on-line articles on turning Christmas ornaments, here is Bob Rosand's web page.

For minutes of the October meeting, click here.