CLICK HERE FOR OCTOBER 2003 NCWT DEMO

Thanks to Nick Cook who presented a very entertaining and informative demonstration for the North Coast Woodturners. Nick showed many simple projects that will help woodturners learn and hone tool mastery and various turning techniques. The notes and pictures below are not intended to be a Nick Cook educational program, but more of a reminder to those who saw Nick Demonstrate. For those wishing further information or classes by Nick, please see Nick's website. http://www.nickcookwoodturner.com/
Nick Cook put on a wonderful two day demonstration and educational session for NCWT. Many tips and techniques were shared with us. As I entered (unfortunately a bit late returning from Chicago) Nick was entertaining the gathering with some skew lessons and principles.
	Forming balisters takes special care to make certain the stock is perfectly square and that it is mounted on true center. It helps, when working the square end, to start about 1/4" back and work your way into the square. Take each individual design component and work up the spindle. There is a common hazard in wanting to work in too many details. It is good to keep it simple and elegant.
A garden dibble is an ideal way to gain some experience with the skew and make something rather interesting and useful. Nick turns the dibble right and below, and LaMoyne holds the finished product below right.

Another educational project is the honey dipper. Starting with a blank 1 1/16 square (essentially 5/4 material) by 8" long, the dipper is formed by cutting slots with a fluted parting tool. Nick makes 5 parting cuts then goes back and shapes the dipper.

Another simple project is the icicle snowman. The snowman is made from the same blank. Nick uses spindle gouges cut at a 25° angle for this project. At right he shows the two different grinds he uses for his spindle gouges. Note the gouge on the bottom has a much longer grind.
		Be careful when forming the head that you don't cut the rim of the hat off. A piece of tempered masonite is used to burn the hat band and fabric paint for the details. Be careful not to let the snowman roll while the paint is wet (as evidenced on the bottom button!)
- A Nick Tip - For production turning, he uses 150 to 220 grit sandpaper for domestic woods. For exotic harder woods such as cocobolo he sands up to 400 grit.
Nick has another way to make snowmen from 8/4 basswood. He makes the snowmen two at a time and can be made with hat on, or without a hat so a hat made from different wood can be added later.
The next project was a baby rattle. Nick starts with 4/4 stock and cuts the wood to eventually end up square when glued together. (~1 1/2" wide) The stock is routed for the rattle cavity, then 9 dried navy beans are added into the cavity. The stock is glued up (it is a good idea to put a mark on one end to show where the cavity is) and the rattle turned. Be sure to keep the ends of the rattle at lease 1 1/4" in diameter to be baby safe.

And then on to tops. The gouge with the longer grind is used for these projects. The solid top is quick and fun and can spin on the bottom tip, or if you are skillful you can spin it upside down on the handle. The cocobolo tops have a dowel for stem and point. Nick holds the dowel in a collet chuck with a #2 taper and a 3/8X32 threaded hole which he uses to pull the taper in tight with a piece of threaded rod and a wooden handle.

		And as we see below, the collet chuck is also used for Nick's bottle stoppers. It is very effective at holding the dowel without breaking it as drill chucks can do.

Then off to boxes. Nick showed us two types of boxes, one a lidded box and the other a finial box. In reality they both had lids, but made and fit differently.
		The lidded box above is made from a spindle. The lid is parted off and chucked separately, as shown at left, then the lid inside is finished. The bottom is then chucked and the lip for the lid formed into a jam chuck so the parts can be assembled and finished on the outside as one unit. The inside of the bottom is then finished.
On the finial box, the top with finial is formed first then parted off. The bottom is finished so the top will fit into a lipped recess. Quite a nice ring box!
At the end of day one, Nick made for us a tea light holder. Unfortunately the camera batteries were dead at this point in the day. Nick uses a 1 9/16" forstner bit to cut the candle hole in the block, then jam chucks the block onto a waste block. Nick started out day two with a discussion and demonstration of tool sharpening. He shared some of his tips and jigs for insuring that the same grind was applied to his tools each sharpening. Then was the platter. Nick strongly recommends that a beginning woodturner turn platters before starting on bowls. With the platter, you can see the hollowing cut all the way through. With bowls the sightline is obscured. Nick mounts the platter on a screw chuck with a wooden washer to shorten the length of the screw. He recommends that the foot on the plate be about 1/3 the diameter or greater. A bedan is used to cut a recess about 1/8" deep in the bottom of the platter to allow mounting on expanding jaws on the chuck.
		Then was the platter. Nick strongly recommends that a beginning woodturner turn platters before starting on bowls. With the platter, you can see the hollowing cut all the way through. With bowls the sightline is obscured. Nick mounts the platter on a screw chuck with a wooden washer to shorten the length of the screw. He recommends that the foot on the plate be about 1/3 the diameter or greater. A bedan is used to cut a recess about 1/8" deep in the bottom of the platter to allow mounting on expanding jaws on the chuck.
Hollowing out the face, keeping the tool horizontal and as much as possible making the cut in one sweeping movement. The rim of the platter is formed while the center is still relatively thick to support the cut, then the center is hollowed.
Nick also demonstrated the turning of a bowl using these techniques.
A burnt edge platter was a highlight of the demonstration. Nick turned the platter and formed the rim, then used a propane torch to burn the rim of the platter. After the edge was torched, the center was finished, leaving a crisp edge between the burned and unburned wood.
During the demo, some of the NCWT members got to give a try to Nick's techniques.