Two for One (John Mascoll and Avelino Samuel) made one spectacular demonstration on May 20, 2006

John, a structural engineer and avid woodturner who specializes in hollow palm vases, brought his unique story telling ability mixed with wood chips covering the cameramen and floor twelve feet on either side of his demo lathe. John brought a piece of box elder which he proudly measured to ensure he was on centers and mounted on the Lathe. John Hill assisted with removal of the bark and the box elder promptly gave off it’s aroma as John Mascoll quickly made the classical form. John explained he also makes the oriental forms which the Japanese tourist get all excited about but he doesn’t know what they are saying.

Nick Cook watching one of John’s early demonstration told John as a demonstrator he needed to talk more. John took Nick’s suggestion literally and although watching a demonstrator do a hollow turning is like watching paint dry, John’s story telling and jokes kept us all alert, as we listened for the punch lines.

John uses a one inch brad drill bit to remove the center of the hollow form and then uses one of the two Stewart arm brace handle with a straight hollowing tool with a machinist bit cutting edge on center line moving from center line out as he warns us and himself not to stroke-up. John uses his fingers on the rest to do most of the movement. The second Stewart arm brace handle was used with a hooker tool to remove the sides the straight hollowing tool can’t reach. John reminds us to work removing all of the wood from the top in sections to allow the vessel to remain supported by the wood remaining in the bottom of the vessel.

John shared a story about an artist questioning him about how long it took him to complete a vase and he replied “about 30 years to get the experience to allow me to make it”.

To lessen vibration John uses a 1-1/8” straight hollowing tool with a reduced shank he had a machinist friend make for him to fit the Stewart arm brace handle. To gauge wall thickness he uses a variety of gauges including a home made gauge. After hollowing half the material out of the vase he switches to a scrapper for smoother finish cuts. John warned us several times about not over cutting while hollowing. He informed us to listen to the “Daytona 500 whining noise that tells him he is approaching the thickness he wants”. John secret for removing the center nub is to place scrapper under the nub, pull up and to the left to remove.

The popdocarpus wood vessel was reverse chucked to finish the bottom of the vessel. See photo of John raising the lip and installing redwood insert which he uses to stabilize piece and attract attention to the top of the vessel. Normally John would use polyurethane glue to attach lip on lid but for DEMO used thick CA glue and water as accelerator. He held the gouge at a 30 degree angle to minimize catching gouge as he opened lip. John used scrape cut on forward motion only from lip (face grain) to end grain join in lid. John followed by sanding to length of middle finger.

John shared his method of identifying sable or cabbage palm by observing the end grain and look for the darker fiber to within two inches of center which indicates more mature palm tree. He also stated it is good to use pocket knife to cut ¼” into end fiber indicating it is also mature enough for use. John uses popular wood with polyurethane glue and clamps of end grain of palm tree to allow him to chuck up the palm. He also cautioned that palm trees need to be used immediately once cut of you’ll need to dye the palm. At this point John turned the DEMO over to Avelino Samuel.

Avelino Samuel’s decision to pursue a career that involved wood works came early and by the end of high school, he knew he would seek higher education. He began at the then College of the Virgin Islands and later transferred to North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University where he eared a BS in Industrial Arts.

Later Avelino earned a MS in Industrial Education from Eastern Michigan University and returned home to Coral Bay, St John where he has been teaching Industrial arts. His job as a teacher has facilitated his full engagement in his craft and active interest in passing it on to the Carolina Mountain Woodturners, and others.

Avelino DEMO spiral carving and showed us various dials and suggested we use a clock dial as a template to make several. The six section dial was installed prior to the chuck with the vessel. First he drew four lines around the circumference of a vessel at ¼” from bottom, 1/8” from top, and 1/3 of the distance of vessel from either end. Avelino used tool rest and dial to draw short lines across the four circumference lines he previously drawn. He suggested use of 1/32” model aircraft plywood to draw layout lines working from the middle out he skipped two lines and using his layout straight edge he marked his spiral lines. To complete the top and bottom lines he first extended the lines freehanded from the middle line to the bottom and repeated same from middle line to the to line. Then using scissors and construction paper he cut a template and redrew the lines and removed any lines that didn’t belong.

Avelino verified thickness of his vessel was the desired 5/16 to 3/8 inch thickness in center and ¼ inch thickness on each end.

Avelino pulled out the chair and Arbortech carver and showed us the two chisels a 60 degree “V” groove and a Flat Chisel he would be using. He started with the “V” groove chisel while sitting and holding the vessel being carved in his hand to control carving technique. He proceeded to carve the spiral following his lines he previously drew. He cautioned not to cut as deep on bottom or top ends that the illusion of how deep they were would come from the sharp contrast. He then proceeded to soften the edge of the lines with the flat chisel. He noted that the right side of the edge cut easier than the left side due to the wood grain configuration.

Avelino continued to soften the edges using a Stanley #92 rabbit plan which he grinded one side of the edge so it wouldn’t extend out and cut the other side of the groove. The sharp line in bottom and top provide illusion that the cut is deeper than it actually was. Avelino suggested we practice on a flat board using the Arbortech carver before attempting a spiral cut.

Avelino advised us to use a profile sander and file grooves first to have sharp lines to work from when sanding the spiral cuts.

John and Avelino have raised the level on hollow turning and carvings with this inspirational fun demonstration that is sure to be a big hit with our CMW library crowd.

Written by: Kenneth L. Dunlap (filling in for Bob Gunther)

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