NCWT - FEBRUARY, 2003
Guest Turner Mark St. Leger

Mark St. Leger visited NCWT on February 1, 2003 for a two day demonstration. Noticing Mark sitting in the crowd during our short regular business meeting before his demonstration, I realized that he is truly interested in what we were doing and planning. At that point I realized that this is going to be a great demo!!

Mark is a very instructive and personable individual. He is a professional educator, teaching wood shop at the Craig County High School in New Castle, Virginia. He loves to teach turning to his students, and to us as students. His many projects are geared to building turning fundamentals and skills.

Mark reminds us about his two basic rules of woodturning:
1. Have Fun!
2. Share what you do with others!

The following is not intended to be a Mark St. Leger book on woodturning. It is a recap or reminder of the things that Mark showed us during his two days in Cleveland, Ohio.

	The tippy top is a small rounded and hollowed top that flips when it spins. You spin it on the rounded bottom and if made correctly, it will automatically flip to the spin on the stem. First mount the blank between centers and round with a roughing gouge. A tenon with a slight taper is formed on one end so the block can be pushed into the headstock. Mark uses a morse taper jig to get the right diameter and taper.
	Mount the blank into the headstock and turn a handle on the end with a slight chamfer.
	Shape into a squatty sphere. Concentrate on shape because if the shape is not right the top will not flip. Hollow the top by following down the shaft, shear cutting and hollowing at the same time.  Finish off the shape and sand before parting off. Carve off the small nub from parting and sand the top. Spin and have fun.

	The 3" long 2"X2" blank is mounted between centers and rounded to a cylinder taking fine cuts with the skew. "The trick with the skew is to end the cut with the cut in the center (of the skew), never on the heel or the toe. It does take practice."