Overview:

Christian Burchard was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1955. He has been living in the United States since 1978. Building on a foundation laid by a furniture maker's apprenticeship in Germany in the middle 1970's, he studied sculpture and drawing first at the Museum School in Boston and then at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C. In 1982 he and his wife, Micheline, opened Cold Mountain Studio in Southern Oregon. His early focus was on furniture and interiors, but gradually shifted to woodturning and sculpture, moving between vessel-oriented forms and sculptural turning. His work has been included in most of the major turning related exhibits during the last ten years and is exhibited widely throughout the United States. His pieces are part of many public and private collections. He is sought after as a teacher and demonstrator at craft schools, conferences, and related turning events. He currently resides with his wife and two sons in the outskirts of Ashland, Oregon.

Morning Session:

Christian uses mostly green wood especially those that "move" considerably during the drying process. Madrone burl is his primary wood source. He turns end grain. The first piece of this demonstration was a "basket." He glued the work piece to a waste block. (It is important to have very flat, smooth surfaces on each before gluing them together with Super Glue.) Christian wore a face shield and not glasses or goggles. First he flattened the waste block with a standard gouge in preparation for gluing the piece to it. The Super Glue was placed on the waste block and then rubbed against the sanded bottom of the piece. Then the accelerator was applied to the piece and the waste block and the piece pressed together. Some Super Glue was applied to the joint between the two pieces and accelerator again sprayed. This was done for added safety. No tailstock was used. The piece was then trued up. The larger gouge was used first, then the smaller one with the bevel ground away to form a fully rounded gouge. (Christian tries to use the fastest speed of the lathe that is safe. This gives a more efficient cut requiring less effort.) He used his entire body when turning and not just his arms and shoulders. He kept the heel of his hand on the tool rest for greater control. He then shear scraped the outer surface of the basket to give a very smooth surface. He tried to achieve a nice, even flow to the basket outline. Any deviation from the smooth flow of the curve can be best detected by your hand when the piece is rotating. Christian does leave tool marks on his work. He does not leave any tears. The surface was further shear scraped with a large straight scraper. He then produced a groove pattern on the outer surface of the basket. The grooves emphasized the shape of the basket - when the curve is tight the grooves are made closer together - when wide the grooves are further apart. The pointed tool used to produce the grooves was used in a downward position, not upward. This completed the outer shape and form of the entire piece.

The basket was then hollowed. Christian used a coring bar first with the Stewart arm brace. Then further hollowing was done with a straight tool in the Stewart system. This was done down to the base of the previously removed core of wood. He then drilled a hole to the desired depth of the basket and continued hollowing. A light was placed close to the outside of the basket. This permitted the determination of wall thickness. In the lighter colored Madrone burl, because of its 20 percent plus water content, you can see light through the wall when it is three-eighths inch thick. Christian gradually, starting at the opening of the basket, determined the final wall thickness that must be constant. You cannot go back to areas already thinned due to the drying process with its associated warping. Christian worked his way down into the basket in steps - always starting each step at the side of the previously drilled center hole. The most difficult area to achieve a constant wall thickness is in the deeper areas of the basket where the diameter of the piece is narrowing. Many times Christian sprays the piece with water to maintain moisture content, or he may wrap the outside of the piece with Saran Wrap. (Wood chips and dust must be repeatedly evacuated to prevent catches and cutting through the wall.)

Christian then changed to the hook tool with a shear cutter to clean the interior surface. He then switched back to the straight tool to go deeper into the vessel. When he arrived at the bottom of the drill hole the vessel's interior was completed. The piece was then parted off. It is important to stay away from the planned completed form of the piece when parting off. After parting off clear tape was placed around the rim to prevent cracking. (Christian dries his pieces in brown paper bags placed inside plastic bags. The paper bags are changed daily until they appear dry.) During the demonstration the basket was placed in the microwave for varying periods of time (about one minute). After microwaving the opening was oval and you could hear the cells or wood moving if you held it to your ear. This completed the basket.

Next a flower with a long stem was made. This was made using Madrone burl which was glued to a waste block as was done with the basket. The burl was then rounded and the flower hollowed to a very thin wall thickness. The long (6 inch) stem was formed to about three-sixteenths inch thick. The flower was placed in the microwave for about 15 seconds which produced a very distorted shape to the flower but a very effective and pleasing one. This completed the morning session.

Afternoon Session:

The afternoon session began with a very extensive slide show depicting Christian's work and techniques. Many of his turnings, sculptural designs and carvings were shown as were his texturing and sandblasting techniques.

Next Christian turned to ball turning. The wood needs to be of dense grain, with no major cracks and very little moisture content. Wet wood, to be dried later, can also be used. For the demo green holly was used which was about 9 inches in diameter. Christian turns on three axes - repeated over and over again until the ball is a true sphere. The log was placed between centers, the pith running parallel to the lathe axis. It was then rounded into a cylinder. This was axis #1. The center of the cylinder was marked with a pencil. This will be the center of the ball and should not be revisited with the gouge. Each end of the cylinder was roughly ball-shaped. This completed the first axis. It is very important that all components of the lathe be tight, especially the bed and tailstock, if you wish to get a true sphere on completion. The piece was then removed from between centers. An altered or modified live center was placed in the tailstock. This has a small cup on it to fit against the ball. A piece of dense end grain wood was placed on a faceplate in the headstock. This was hollowed out to have a perfect circular opening to accept the other side of the ball. You do not want the ball to touch the bottom of the cup, only the edges. Next axis #2 was set up with the above drawn line between centers. This must be parallel to the lathe axis. The high spots were then removed. The pressure of the gouge is on the tool rest. This gives much better control. Two center lines were then drawn in the center of the ball perpendicular to the lathe axis. This denoted axis #2. The piece was then removed and rotated 90 degrees to axis #3 - again high spots were removed. Rough areas can be felt with your hand when the piece is rotating. Then three lines were drawn perpendicular to the lathe axis denoting axis #3. Because each axis had one, two or three lines each could be returned to for further truing up of the sphere.

Axis #1 was then returned to and further rounded - then axis #2 and then #3. This was repeated as necessary. The shear scraper was then used to clean up the surface. It would then be sanded. Drying would then be done using an oven at 500 degrees. This would produce many small attractive cracks. Grooves were then cut into the ball with the skew. These were quite close together. The ball was then turned 90 degrees and a second set of grooves cut. This produced a limited checkering pattern.

The faceplate was removed from the lathe and 5 of the 6 screws removed. The wood was rotated about one-quarter inch and the screws replaced. This established a new center. The ball was then returned to between centers. If you place the ball a little off center and cut grooves, as above, they will be long and shallow. If you move further off center they will be deeper and shorter. The Stewart arm brace was used with a pointed cutter head to cut the grooves. Grooves cut in the center of the ball will be straight - those cut away from center are curved.

At this point in the demo the edges of the opening of the basket turned in the morning session were burned. This accentuated the opening and produced a pleasing effect.

A jam chuck was then made. Ideally it should be wet wood so that it "grabs" the piece. The chuck was rounded - then hollowed to accept the ball. You only want the ball to jam nearly to its largest diameter. It should not touch the chuck anywhere else. The ball was then placed in the chuck and at this point the ball could be hollowed. When hollowing a ball it needs to be dry wood as compared to a solid ball which is better made from green or wet wood.

The final part of the demonstration dealt with making a very thin, flat disc that could be placed in the microwave - taken out and formed into most any shape. A piece of Madrone burl was glued to an extended or elongated waste block. The burl was then thinned with a bowl gouge that had been ground to eliminate the bevel. The disc was made dish formed rather than flat. This gives it greater strength when very thin. The piece was then parted off, placed in the microwave for 15 seconds, removed and shaped while hot.

This completed a wonderful, informative and detailed demonstration. An edited copy will be available on tape and DVD modes in September 2004.

--Bob Gunther

Christian's Web Site