Al Stirt lives in Enosburg Falls, Vermont. He has been a professional woodturner for nearly 30 years, specializing in open bowls and platters both utilitarian and decorative. Many of his pieces incorporate carving and painting. He tries to emphasize the ideas and feelings behind his work in addition to the technical details. His work is included in numerous public and private collections including the Smithsonian, the White House and the American Craft Museum. Al has demonstrated woodturning in England, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada as well as throughout the United States. In 1997 the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) awarded him an Honorary Lifetime Membership for his commitment and contributions to the field of woodturning.

The demonstration began with an extensive slide show of Al's home and numerous examples of his wonderful pieces.

Al began with a brief discussion of safety, especially the use of the full face shield which he uses all the time. He then demonstrated the returning of a dry, previously rough turned cherry bowl. He began using a jam chuck with the tailstock on the center of the foot. The foot was turned round so that it could be placed in the chuck. The edge of the bowl was then rounded the interior also rounded. The piece was reversed again jam chucked against the tailstock and the outer aspect of the piece rounded. The design of the foot was discussed and the outer surface of the piece refined. Al closed his eyes to feel the form of the piece. He thinks this detects any defects better than simply looking at it. Al further refined the outside with a shear scraper. (Where the outer bowl surface meets the foot is a difficult area to define.) He did this with a small diamond shape parting tool. He formed a small groove which actually extended the shape of the bowl surface. The foot was again rounded to assure an excellent fit in the chuck. At this point Al usually sands the outer surface of the bowl. The piece was reversed the foot placed in the chuck. The inner aspect of the piece was then refined beginning with the rim and just below. Al worked his way down the inside of the bowl in one to one-and-a-half inch increments. This gave more support to the bowl sides as the work progressed. He formed a relatively wide edged bowl with the edge undercut. Al placed his left thumb on the tool and his fingers on the outside of the piece for stability and constant thickness verification. He also measured with a caliper. Once the final wall thickness was achieved Al progressed further into the bowl to complete the hollowing process. The thinnest part of the wall was turned to about one-eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch. This was the mid-portion of the bowl. It was somewhat thicker at the edge and near the base or foot. (Normally the piece would now be sanded.) [When turning, Al tries to balance the grain. This is achieved when the blank is rough and before any turning. This will be discussed in more detail later.]

Al then reversed the piece and placed it on the vacuum chuck in order to turn the foot. The tailstock was kept in place for safety reasons as long as possible. Finally it was removed and the foot completed.

Next a green cherry blank was placed on the lathe in preparation for carving a fluted shape. After the outside of the bowl was defined and refined, Al showed that there are three elements to the piece the foot, the center portion and the top edge. All defined the final shape. Only the center portion would be fluted. [Before fluting the shape must be pleasing because fluting will not change the overall appearance of the form.] The flute design or pattern was then transferred to the rim or upper edge of the piece. The bowl was placed back on the jam chuck with the tailstock in place. A flat tool rest made of wood was used to extend the fluted pattern to the edge of the foot. The wood tool rest prevented any angulations of the pattern. The flutes were formed with a power assisted carving tool. The carving was done with a stone carving air powered tool with the piece attached to a back-up board clamped to the lathe bed to immobilize it.

The afternoon session began with the formation of a platter out of soft maple. The blank was mounted on a screw center. A spacer was used between the chuck and the blank to decrease the screw penetration into the wood. The tailstock was used for security. A wide rimmed platter with a small bowl center was formed. First, considerable wood was removed to decrease the thickness and to rough shape the form on the outer surface. A foot was formed so that the piece could be reversed. The surface was shear scraped. Then a round nose shear scraper was used to make a series of coves on the underside of the rim surface. The coves were then erased and the surface of the rim shear-scraped. A series of shallow beads was then formed on the under surface of the rim with a detail gouge. The piece was then reversed and the foot placed in the chuck and the tailstock brought up. First the rim was turned to final thickness and a shallow bowl roughed out. Again, as in the morning session, the edge was finished to thickness and then the remainder in step-wise manner. The inner surface was then sanded with an electric disc sander using 100 grit and then 150 grit. The inner surface of the rim was then painted with flat black Jesso acrylic base using a foam brush. The paint was allowed to dry. Usually several coats would be used followed by a coat of clear water-based urethane. [Al mentioned that he uses Fun-Foam to cover his jam chucks and vacuum chucks. This is available from Michaels.] The bowl portion of the platter was then formed. First the edge of the bowl was established. A concentric ring was formed around the edge of the bowl portion to accentuate the bowl opening. This ring was about one/sixteenth of an inch from the bowl opening. This completed the bowl portion except for sanding at a later date. The piece was reversed and the vacuum chuck used. The base was finished as was the outer surface of the bowl portion of the platter. The foot was essentially eliminated and as such became part of the bowl. Beads were then formed on the outer bowl surface as had been done earlier on the outer rim surface. The base was then completed after removal of the tailstock. This completed the under surface of the platter except for painting. The platter was then placed in a vacuum chuck attached to a carvers vise. A pattern was placed on the upper platter rim using a water color pencil. A series of angled lines was used. The carving tool was then used to cut the line detail. Another pattern was then used and dots were carved along the line. This was accomplished with a high-speed dental type air tool.

The final portion of the demonstration dealt with the grain alignment in a bowl to give a pleasing appearance, especially in the bottom of the interior. A large half-round bowl blank was placed between centers on a fabricated wood spur center. The center was made with an eight inch round one to one-half inch thick curly maple blank. A center screw was placed as were two sharpened bolts on opposite sides of the spur center. The two bolts were actually the driving force of the piece. The aim was to have growth rings equidistant from the bowl center. [When Al mills blanks he cuts parallel to the bark surface.] He lined up the end grain on a line drawn on the wood spur center edge. He then aligned the blank so that the bark edge was perpendicular to the lathe bed. Once this was done the blank was turned so that the bark edge became the foot of the piece. This was placed in the chuck and the inside of the bowl was rough turned so that the grain pattern could be visualized. At this point the blank would be waxed set aside to dry and completed at a later date. This completed an excellent demonstration by an artist whom even David Ellsworth calls the Master.

--Bob Gunther

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