Alan resides in River Falls, WI. He has been a turner for over twenty-five years. He is also a teacher, writer, exhibition coordinator, demonstrator and was the second president of the American Association of Woodturners. His work has appeared in numerous regional and national shows and he has instructed turning in thirty-five states and four foreign countries including Japan and Germany. He has also taught at the John C. Campbell Folk School and Arrowmont School of Crafts.

The demonstration began with a discussion of the skew chisel. The secret of excellence in using the tool is to have it "scary sharp." Alan then discussed the use of the right angle hook tool for end-grain hollowing. He makes his own using quality carbon steel. A gouge with a limiter was then shown and discussed. For the remainder of the morning demonstration he discussed the various cuts with the skew chisel ground to seventy degrees. These cuts include roughing, planing, peeling, V-cut, shoulder, saucer, pommel and rolling. The curved skew was discussed. The differences between straight and curved are quite subtle. A turner should start with the straight and progress to the curved. Alan feels that practice with the skew will enable turners to be more proficient with other gouges such as the bowl gouge. The straight skew is easier to sharpen. The side edges of the chisel should be rounded, especially the short edge side. The oval profile skew is difficult to grind.

Sharpening was then discussed. Alan uses eight inch wheels of 60 or 80 grit with a grinder speed of 1750 rpm. He uses a coarse wheel initially. He uses an angled grinder platform set at a fixed angle. To get the chisel "scary sharp" he uses a cylinder of quality MDF particle board. This he attached to the headstock with the Morse taper. White buffing compound is applied to the wheel. Alan hones from the opposite side of the lathe because you want the wheel to go away from you -- not toward you. He rubs the bevel, not the edge. When the "mud" comes over the top you are finished. The honing wheel is about the same diameter as the grinding wheel. Alan also uses a fine grade diamond honing bar. This achieves sharpness on all four edges -- the two hollow ground bevels and the two edges to achieve the "scary sharp" points. He hones frequently and grinds infrequently after the initial grinding.

The tool rest must have a clean, smooth surface. This is achieved with a mill file. Alan uses a dead center and not a spur center. This reduces the severity of catches. A live center is used in the tailstock. He sharpens the rim of the dead center and puts three or four scallops in it to make it more effective when turning hardwoods

Next, Alan began demonstrating the various cuts using a piece of fir. A large roughing gouge was used to take the corners off. The peeling cut was used to remove wood quickly. This was done with the curved skew chisel. To plane, Alan uses the short side of the chisel down. The "sweet spot" of the tool is just above the short edge point to just past the middle of the curve. He feels you probably need only two skews ½ and 1 ¼. He places the tool rest higher than in bowl turning.

The V-cut was shown to establish detail and to achieve a finishing cut. Next, the shoulder cut was demonstrated using the long point of the tool with the edge of the tool as the bevel. Alan keeps the tool above center. The saucer cut was done to achieve a concave shape. The skew used as a parting tool gives a cleaner cut than the actual parting tool. This is because it does not tear -- it cuts. The pommel cut was shown after squaring up the piece. A straight and a curved pommel were formed. This completed the morning demonstration.

The afternoon session began with a demonstration of the rolling cut using the curved skew chisel. This is probably one of the hardest cuts to perform especially when forming true beads. Alan formed the bead with the short point of the tool. He then turned two extremely small tops using the curved skew -- both worked very well.

Next, Alan began a poplar box. He first formed a shoulder to place in the chuck. The interior of the box was turned with various tools -- each giving a rough surface. He then used his right angle hook tool. The shape of the hook determines the cutting action. The ring tool by Sorby is also useful in forming the interior of the box. The Termite tool was then used. This was followed by a ring tool and finally a tool with a limiter was used on the inside of the box. All of these tools produced a very smooth interior surface requiring little to no sanding.

Alan then described how to make a hook tool using 3/8 inch 0 #1 drill rod tool steel. Besides the drill rod he uses a mill file, a can of olive oil, needle nose pliers and MAPP gas. He stressed you need the proper tank head for MAPP cylinders. First the drill rod is ground to shape and the end is rounded off. He ground the tool on a belt sander. The tool is placed in a handle for ease and comfort in heating. The tip was then heated using the torch until red hot. It was then bent to form the hook shape. The hook was again heated until red hot and then plunged into the can of olive oil. He then made an offset hook tool. It was first bent -- then offset to the right. Both were washed and sanded. The hook was bent to the left on both tools and the offset to the right. At this point the tools are in a hardened state. They can be tempered in an oven at 470 to 490 degrees for 30 minutes. They are then air cooled and a bronze color forms. For demonstration purposes Alan used a propane torch to temper the tools -- again to the bronze color -- then quenched them in water. They were then ground to sharpness and honed with the diamond bar. When turning, the flute is presented at the 9-10 o'clock position. At 11 o'clock you're looking for trouble -- at 12 o'clock you're in trouble.

The demonstration concluded with the turning of a soft maple box. The piece was placed with the dead center in the headstock and the live center in the tailstock. It was then rounded with a large Crown roughing gouge. A tenon was then turned at both ends of the piece. A coarse hack saw with 18 teeth per inch was used to separate the lid from the bottom. The lid piece was then placed in the chuck and the inside of the lid turned to a tapered shape. A three-eighths inch bowl gouge was used to initially hollow the lid. The hook tool was used to finish the surface of the lid interior. A round nosed scraper was then used to finish the sides of the lid interior. The bottom of the box was then placed in the chuck. The upper part of the bottom was turned so that it would snugly accept the lid. Alan stated that the lid and bottom of the box should be rough turned one day and finished another to let the wood change shape if it is going to. The interior of the bottom was completed using the round nose scraper -- then the hook tool -- then shear scraped. It was then parted off and a jam chuck formed on the piece remaining in the chuck. This was done so that the bottom could be finished. It was given a concave shape and the box was completed except for finishing.

Last in the demonstration was the use of the hustler tool -- a large, three foot tool that was used in the past for forming masts and booms on ships. It has a limiter attached to it. A small log was placed between centers and the tool produced long, six foot shavings -- quite impressive. This completed an excellent demonstration. A video tape will be available in January for further review of Alan's demonstration.

--Bob Gunther

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