Ray Key Dazzles Again

Overview:

Ray’s home is in Worcestershire, England. His interest in wood dates back to when he was seven years old. He has been turning wood for over forty years – the first seven in industry, the next eight as a hobby and since 1973 as a full time professional turner. He has been a member of the Worcestershire Guild of Designer Craftsmen since 1973 and has served as Secretary, Treasurer, Chairman and President.

A passion for woodturning and a willingness to share his knowledge have resulted in many opportunities for Ray to travel. His making, teaching and demonstration skills are known worldwide. He has participated in seminars and workshops in Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, USA and the UK. Ray has two books in print: The Woodturners Workbook and Woodturning with Ray Key. He also has produced three videos on box making.

Ray’s work can be divided into two distinct areas: first, functional such as salad bowls, cutting boards and platters; second, visually pleasurable such as boxes and containers. He feels that there is a common theme running through his work – namely, elegant simplicity, purity of form, lift, and life. Tactile and aesthetic are his design bywords. These are coupled with thoughts like “keep it simple stupid,” “let the wood speak for itself,” and “if in doubt leave it out.” He loves wood for many reasons: warmth, beauty, color, smell, unpredictability and tactility to name a few. He feels it is his duty to respond to these elements by making objects that hopefully complement and enhance the beauty of one of nature’s recurring treasures. Ray uses hard and dense unusual woods as well as fine figured wood including rippled, burr, quilt, crotch and spalted specimens.

The founding Chairman of the Woodturners Association of Great Britain in 1987, Ray was accorded Life Member status in 1997 and is now President. He was made a Life Member of the American Association of Woodturners in 2001. In 2002 he became a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Turners by Presentation, a rare honor. These awards recognize Ray’s contribution and commitment to his chosen field.

Today’s demonstration marks the third time Ray has demonstrated before the Carolina Mountain Woodturners.

Morning Session:

Ray began his demonstration with a slide presentation of the evolution of his turning techniques. Examples of many of his outstanding pieces were shown. He provided club members with an excellent handout that describes and depicts many of the topics to be covered in the demonstration.

After the slide presentation Ray showed platter rim treatments using a maple blank which he initially roughed to run true. A 55 degree bevel roughing gouge was used. The face of the piece was flattened and a finger grip was turned. A French curved scraper was used to refine the finger grip edge. The center of the blank or disc was trued with a traditional ground gouge. A recess of about one-eighth inch was made in the center to accommodate the chuck. A slight dovetail was given to the recess. This completed the undersurface of the platter so that it could be reversed, chucked and the various rim treatments shown. First, the surface was cleaned and flattened. Ray wants the outer edge to taper slightly in toward the center. The center area was turned away leaving a one and one-half inch rim area. This area was decorated with beads and coves and other design shapes. These are all very well depicted in the handout. Inserted beads always look better when turned in odd numbers. This is an example of the “Golden Ratio” which is pertinent to many design layouts. Cove elements were shown as was how the formation of a cove can give the illusion of changing the grain configuration. Two coves were then turned on the rim. The distances between the coves (flat areas) were decreased going from the rim inward. This gave apparent strength to the rim’s appearance. When sanding the rim elements it is important to not sand away the details such as edges. It is best to sand coves on the upward side of the lathe’s rotation.

Ray then developed rims where the outer edge was lower than the inner edge. These can be further enhanced with either convex or concave rim shapes. It is advisable to complete the rim treatments before removing the center or core of the platter to maintain stability. This completed the morning demonstration.

Afternoon Session:

Ray began turning a box with a curved bar-shaped lid. A piece had been previously glued up with a rectangular piece of cherry between two rectangular pieces of poplar. This was cut into a disc. It was about two inches thick and five inches in diameter. The base of the box was a 2x2x5 inch piece of soft maple. The disc was trued up and shaped. A recess portion was defined. The bar portion was shaped and the surface shear scraped. The core at the center of the bar was removed leaving a spigot which was reinforced with CA glue and accelerator because of the weak end-grain fibers. The piece was then removed from the screw chuck and placed on a jam chuck made to fit the spigot on the bar piece. It was then turned to give the concave shape to the bar’s upper surface. The tailstock was used for support during most of the shaping. It was removed at the end so the center nubbin could be removed and the center refined with the shear scraper. Grain tear-out can be corrected by coating the area with paste wax and further shear scraped. It would then be sanded and polished, taken to the band saw and the center cherry bar-shaped area cut out.

The same procedure was done to form a square top box lid. This was done using the vacuum chuck – not a tenon and jam chuck. The block (2x5x5) was attached to the vacuum chuck and the center recess formed. The square block was rounded, shaped and curved. The piece was then reversed on the vacuum chuck and the concave portion of the square turned. This completed the square box lid.

The chuck was placed back on the headstock and a stebcenter inserted through the chuck into the number 2 MT. The tailstock was brought up and a block of cherry (2x2x5) placed between centers. (This will become the bottom of the bar lid box.) This piece was roughed into a cylinder and a tenon placed on the tailstock end. A second block was roughed and a tenon placed on it also. (This will become the base of the square top box.) The chuck jaws were changed to the one inch O’Donnell Axminster jaws that would accept the tenon on the piece that would be the bar box body. The piece was trued up both on the tailstock end and the cylinder’s surface. (Ray does this with a skew but he also uses a pulling cut with a spindle gouge ground back on one side.) A tenon was formed on the tailstock end to accept the bar previously made that will be the box lid. The shape of the box was defined. The interior was hollowed with a three-eighths inch spindle gouge after boring a center hole with the same gouge. A constant wall thickness should be strived for so that any shrinkage is uniform. A French curved scraper (Radiused scraper) was used to true up the interior wall surface. The base was then parted off. (Ray usually saws the piece off to prevent tearing of the box bottom.) The piece remaining in the chuck was made into a jam chuck to enable the bottom of the box to be refined. The bottom was given a concave shape. This completed the bar top box.

The piece of cherry previously turned into a cylinder was placed in the chuck. The tailstock end was trued and a tenon made to fit into the recess in the square top previously made. The height of the box was determined and the body shape formed. It was hollowed, parted off and the bottom or base finished as was done on the previous box. This completed the square top box.

For the final portion of his demonstration Ray placed a 6x9” pear log between centers and roughed it into a cylinder. A tenon was formed on the headstock end. The thickest portion of the vessel was determined (top or bottom section). Ray decided to make the thickest part nearer the top of the vessel. This facilitated hollowing for demonstration purposes. The vessel was rough-turned, a tenon made on the bottom end, the piece removed from between centers and placed in the chuck. The profile was further refined. Ray placed a piece of electrical tape (he usually uses masking tape) on the outside of the vessel so that when measuring wall thickness he would not mar the surface. The piece was then hollowed with the side grind gouge. (When using wet wood the chuck should be periodically tightened because it compresses the wet fibers.) Ray hollowed the first three inches in depth to about one-quarter inch wall thickness. He shear scraped the interior surface to further refine it and progressed in stages to the bottom of the vessel. In the deeper areas Ray used a one and one-half inch heavy side grind scraper that gave him more stability off the tool rest. Once hollowed, the outside of the lower portion of the vessel was refined and the vessel parted off. Normally the piece would be vacuum chucked and the bottom finished.

This completed a very interesting and informative demonstration which had many humorous moments. Please note that the DVD will be available in the club library in May 2006. Also, Ray’s handout is available on the CMW website.

Bob Gunther

Ray's Web Site