This month Sorby Representative, Chris demonstrated some of the less understood tools in the Sorby line-up.
A point from Chris is that the art of sharpening really should be learned prior to learning to turn. As an assist to a new turner with less than optimum sharpening skills, he offered the Spindle Master as a way to get an exquisite finish. The Spindle Master has a highly polished bevel which gives very clean cuts and to sharpen it, you simply hone the flat top surface.
Next Chris talked about the Stebcenter drive center and demonstrated how you can remove and replace the wood without turning the machine off. He also said it offered better purchase on the wood and would not bore a hole into the end like a normal spur center does when it slips.
Chris briefly discussed a few more tools including the Bowl Gouge, Multi-tip Shear Scraper, and the Sandmaster inertial sander. One question was how best to lube the Sandmaster to keep it spinning freely. Chris said he uses WD-40 on his and spins it at speed to throw off any excess lube before using it on the project. He also offered that a PTFE dry-lube would also work for this without the mess.
Probably, the most interesting aspect of this demonstration was the Threading/Texturing tool. To create a good crisp surface for his textured or spiraled pieces, Chris sands the wood, uses the tool to get the texture or spiral effect he is after, he then uses a brass brush to clean out any loose wood fibers, and last, he coat it with Danish Oil.
For both threaded pieces and textured pieces, Chris likes to frame the patterned area. For textured areas, he placed a grove on both edges to give it more definition. Below is the textured pattern before and after finishing:
Because the spiral is cut deeper into the wood, he uses a shoulder to define the edge of the spiral as shown below:
Video clips on the use of these and other tools can be found under the “Movie Clips” link at: