Overview:

Graeme Priddle was born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand in 1960. He moved to Northland in 1986 while working as a radio technician for Telecom. In 1989 he took voluntary severance after twelve years of service and in 1990 began woodturning. Graeme now lives and works on a 100 acre bush block 18 miles northeast of Whangarei with his wife and three children. He has won numerous awards for his turned pieces which have been included in exhibitions in New Zealand, Japan, France, Germany, USA and Canada. Recently one of his creations achieved the distinction of being featured on a New Zealand postage stamp.

Graeme is mainly self taught but has had a lot of advice and inspiration from many other woodturners. In his first four years or so of turning his emphasis was on using very decorative timber and applying simple form so as not to overshadow the natural beauty of the timber. While this is still a dominant factor in some of his work he now spends more time on creating pieces when his design is the dominant factor and using timber and other materials sympathetic to his design. These pieces tell stories about who he is, where he is and the things in life that he is most passionate about. Major influences in his design come from his natural surroundings, especially the sea and coastal environs, dreams and his life experiences.

Morning Session:

Graeme began his demonstration with a discussion of his woodturning and ancestral history. He also discussed the geography of New Zealand and how it has influenced his turning, carving and embellishing work.

He began the turning portion of his demo with "Vessels of the South Pacific" - specifically a vessel that combined sea life, the ocean and sailing. He combines turning, carving and texturing using each to depict a portion of a storyboard which is his vessel. He used a piece of quarter-sawn maple and placed it between centers. Before proceeding Graeme discussed three factors that need to be understood before one can be an accomplished turner and not just produce hit-or-miss results. The first is grain and its orientation in the piece. The second is sharp-edged tools to cut the wood. Without sharp-edged tools one might as well not begin. The third factor is the bevel and how it supports the tool against the grain. Graeme uses primarily three basic tools. All are deep fluted bowl gouges with sweptback sides. One is large, one medium size and one small.

Graeme then discussed his grinding techniques. Before putting a wheel on the grinder he gives it the bell test. He puts a tool through the center hole of the wheel and then taps the wheel. If it gives a bell ringing sound the wheel is sound and safe to use. If it goes "thud,"?? return it for another one because there is probably a flaw in it and it may very well fracture when spinning which could be deadly. When starting up a grinder do not stand in front of it until after it has come up to full speed. Dress the wheel with a diamond dresser and not a star dresser. Graeme rounds off the edges of his grinding wheels so that the sweptback sides of his tools can be more efficiently ground.

Returning to the maple piece between centers: Graeme began rounding the piece and, believe it or not, he placed the tool under the tool rest and ran the lathe in reverse. When turning this way all the shavings go straight down and not all over the shop or studio. He then regained his senses and put the lathe in its normal rotational mode and the tool where it belonged - on top of the tool rest. He then shaped the piece with an aggressive pull cut followed by a more controlled cut using the bevel. He fixes the tool handle to his body and shifts his body to get a more controlled cut. He used the small gouge to further refine the shape. He feels this degree of refinement comes from the fact that a smaller portion of the edge does the cutting at any one moment.

A spigot was created on the tailstock end of the piece to fit into the chuck. Graeme uses a Vicmarc chuck because he feels the dovetail jaws hold the piece more securely. He then turned rings on the piece that would later hold the supporting legs. The areas between the rings were cleaned up and the crispness of the rings made more obvious. The final refinement would be done after the piece is reversed into the chuck. Between stages in the turning process, if there are delays, the piece is placed in a plastic bag. This helps prevent cracking which can occur, especially if the turning is done in several different climate areas (i.e.: Utah vs. North Carolina).

A previously partially turned piece was placed in the chuck and the areas to be carved were determined based on the grain pattern. Using the pin index the leg areas were laid out. An Arbortech mini-carver was used to carve out the areas between the leg attachments. The areas to be carved (waves) were outlined. Then another piece that had been partially carved was placed in the chuck and more details laid out in preparation for rotary carving. Up to this point no hollowing of the vessel had been done. This completed the morning demonstration.

Afternoon Session:

The afternoon demonstration began with rotary carving techniques. Graeme prefers air tools - they are quieter, run cooler and are less expensive. However, moisture is the enemy with air tools and has to be disposed of using traps or, in very humid areas, condensing coils. It is important to be positioned as comfortably as possible when carving and to support the tool and the piece. Light cuts are preferred over heavy cuts. Graeme carves to establish how much hollowing he needs to do to get breakthrough. Only rough carving is done prior to hollowing. Carving is done away from lines or along lines, not up to the lines. Single cut burrs are used for roughing. Double cut burrs are used for refined, smoother cuts.

Next rotary texturing was discussed. Again, an air tool was used. Different cutter heads can be used to vary the texture pattern. The grain pattern needs to be taken into account when texturing.

Once all the rough carving has been done hollowing can begin. First a center needs to be cored out. This prevents getting a nipple in the bottom of the piece that can be hard to turn away because the wood is turning so slowly in the center. Coring can be done with some type of drill bit. To hollow Graeme uses a Rolly Munro hollower - both large and small versions. They have small round cutters that are limited as to the depth they will cut. To find the tool's sweet spot it is slightly rolled or moved up or down. Shavings need to be evacuated so that the cutter does not get trapped. Once hollowed, the wall thickness is refined using the smaller cutter that produces smaller bites. When a breakthrough into a carved area occurs on one side of the vessel the opposite side is further carved to also produce a breakthrough. Further hollowing is done so that all the breakthroughs are achieved and the wave forms are obvious. The interior of the vessel is painted flat black. Inlays are then done using marine two-part epoxy resin - not CA glue. Finishing burrs are used to clean up the carved areas. Once carving is completed hand sanding is done. Graeme uses SandVic metal sanding paper that, unfortunately, is no longer in production. Occasionally it can be found in second-hand stores, flea markets or at estate sales. If you find any buy it. After using the SandVic, regular sandpaper is used progressing through the grits. The final polish is done using ScotchBrite (sold in Home Depot in large square sheets that are used for floor polishing).

Once the piece is completely sanded branding can begin. The edges of sanded areas are masked off using narrow auto detailing tape and the larger areas with ordinary masking tape. To mask off circles Graeme uses punch cutters to cut out masking tape circles. Punch sets can be purchased at Harbor Freight. Large versions can be made using sections of thin walled steel pipe where the edges have been sharpened. Close-grained wood is needed when applying the tape which needs to be firmly pressed onto the wood surface. Circles can be connected using the auto detailing tape. Once the area is masked off branding can begin. It is not done directly up to the tape edge. Keep it back about one-sixteenth of an inch. Once the surface is branded brush off loose carbon with a small brass brush. Then thick acrylic matte black paint is used to apply over the branded areas using a toothbrush. A small paintbrush is used to apply the paint along the tapelines so that paint is not forced under the tape.

Graeme next showed how to make a brand using #18 gauge Nichrome wire. #20 can also be used. The wire is bent around the tip of needle nosed pliers. It is then placed in the hand piece and heated up to orange hot. When hot it can be bent or hammered and it will not break. When cold it will. Hand pieces can be made using terminal strips, PVC pipe, a wooden stick, #12 gauge copper wire and Nichrome wire. Almost any shape can be formed. Also, the wire can be wrapped around small metal objects that transmit the heat and brand to their shapes. A wood burner can be made from a transformer type battery charger and a 600-watt single pole dimmer switch.

Once the "star fish"?? vessel carved earlier is completely sanded and textured the handles are placed on it. #8 wire is used to form the shape of the handle. A piece of wood (mulga) is cut on a band saw into a strip to match the wire shape. It is cut so that there is sapwood at each end. Shaping is done on the belt sander and then final sanding is done by hand. The handles are pinned to the vessel wall with small sections of welding rods. Cut-off copper nails are put into each side of the handles where the pin has been placed. Multicolored thread is then woven around the copper nail sections.

A hammered wood finish was then shown using an air hammer. First the wood surface is oiled to protect the fibers from fracturing. A comfortable position is achieved while hammering and good side lighting is needed. When hammering it is important not to go over areas more than once.

This completed a very interesting, informative and, many times, humorous demonstration. A DVD will be available in the club library next month. Please refer to it for details not able to be included in this write-up.

Graeme's Website