Overview:

Clay Foster, from Krum, Texas, is a founding member of the AAW and also a founding member of the Woodturners of North Texas (WNT). He has been and continues to be a featured demonstrator and guest artist at symposiums and conferences around the world.

Morning Demonstration:

Clay began his demonstration by turning a 2-piece hollow form. A piece of pecan (green) was placed between centers and rounded. Tenons were turned on both ends. A shop made wood gauge was used that showed the largest and smallest tenons that could be accommodated by his chuck. Straight wall tenons were formed. The vessel shape was then determined. Features in the wood determine vessel placement. Clay uses a deep fluted bowl gouge (super-flute). The tool rod was five-eighths inch thick and the flute space one-half inch wide. The wings of the flute are ground far back on the sides. This makes the tool quite aggressive and also efficient.

Clay sharpens by hand and does not use a jig. This permits him to grind to the exact configuration he wants and not use a shape determined by the jig. The secret to hand sharpening is to relax and thus present the tool to the wheel with smooth, flowing movements.

The piece (vessel) was formed with the top in the tailstock and the base in the headstock. Clay keeps the cutting edge of the tool parallel to the wood grain. This cuts surface grain wood which comes off easily and quickly. After basic shaping the gouge is turned to rub the bevel and give a finer surface. Cuts should be made on the same side of the tool as the direction of the cut. Clay sharpens before the tool becomes dull. He prefers tools that can be removed from the handle. This makes sharpening easier and smoother. Clay makes his own tool handles. He drills the hole in the handle for the tool. He then cuts four slots into the handle through the drilled hole and uses hose clamps as collets to secure the tool in the handle. When sharpening Clay uses a 100 grit wheel of grey carborundum. The wheel is dressed with a diamond dresser. This is probably more important than the wheel itself. Clay feels that the grey wheel is just fine but if you want to "run with the big boys" you can paint your wheel pink or blue or whatever you want that makes you happy.

After shaping, the surface of the vessel was further refined. Clay rotated the cutting edge of the tool to less than 90 degrees thus making a scraping cut. This eliminates the high spots and gives a pleasing shape and surface to the piece. The piece was then cut in half with a thin blade parting tool. This removes minimal wood and permits better matching of the grain when the two halves are glued back together. After going in about one-half inch with the thin parting tool the kerf is widened so that friction and heat are reduced. Once the tool becomes difficult to control it is removed and the two halves separated with a thin blade saw. The top half of the piece was then placed in the jaw chuck and any out of round material removed. The cut surface of the half was cleaned up. Hollowing was then begun. A box-joint tenon was formed to accept the other half of the vessel. This was formed prior to hollowing. If done after hollowing there would be too much flexing of the vessel wall due to the fact that the wood was green. Hollowing of this half of the vessel was then completed. The area of the piece near the chuck was kept stout to give stability to the piece while hollowing. Once hollowed this area was further refined and the piece removed from the chuck.

The bottom of the vessel was then placed in the chuck. The outside trued-up. The box lid tenon was then formed on this half with the recess on the outside of the piece. By placing the recess on the outside repeated moving of the tool rest to check for fit is eliminated. A snug fit is strived for. Until this fit is achieved grain orientation is not necessary. Too snug a fit may cause cracking when pushing the two halves together. The surfaces of the box lid tenon need to be flush and square prior to gluing.

The bottom piece was then hollowed. The two halves were then fitted together so that grain match-up was achieved. A line was drawn across the halves so that easy match-up could be readily achieved when gluing. Medium CA glue was used. The tailstock was brought up to pressure the two halves together (not too heavy). No accelerator was used. A cabinet scraper was then sharpened by making a square edge with a file and then transforming the edge into a hook shape with a round piece of hard steel such as a wrench or screw driver handle. A gouge was then used in a scraping mode to eliminate the glue line between the halves. The final surface was then achieved with the cabinet scraper. The scraper was supported with the hands and not the tool rest. The scraper does not clog up with the green wood as does sand paper. Scraping was done with the lathe going in both directions so that any raised grain going one way could be eliminated when going the other. At this point we have a hollowed vessel but with a glue line. The glue line is hidden by forming a series of beads with a beading tool. Because the tool is a scraper some torn grain results. A skew is used to eliminate this problem.

The top of the piece was then shaped (tailstock end) into a reverse flare. It was then parted off and a boring bar (hand made using the Stewart System holder) used to open the top of the hollow vessel. This could also be drilled but drill bits can wander and they can only make a straight sided hole. By using the boring bar a flared hole can be achieved. A cone was placed on the tailstock to go in the opening of the top. The base of the vessel was then turned. A tenon was turned on the base (seven-sixteenths inch wide and one inch long). This was then parted off. A tenon was then formed on the waste block which was still in the chuck. This was placed in the opening of the vessel. The tenon on the base was placed in the tailstock live center with the pin or point removed. At this point the vessel was again between centers and the base was refined to produce a small nubbin which was broken off and the bottom cleaned with sand paper. This completed the two piece hollow vessel and the morning demonstration.

Afternoon Session:

Clay began this session with a cylindrical piece of green pecan. This was placed between centers and a tenon was turned on the tailstock end to be later fitted into the jaw chuck. A vessel was formed with waste wood at both ends. The end of each waste wood was chamfered. Before chamfering a diagonal line was drawn across the piece lengthwise and the tool rest positioned perpendicular to this line. Each chamfer was turned parallel to the tool rest. Each end of the piece was marked with lines. Each line was on the same plane and acted as the center for the second set of axes. The piece was then placed between the new centers which were on the chamfer or bevels. Centers should be positioned so that a line drawn around the piece comes close to touching all the way around. This produces a second turning surface that nearly forms a new cylinder. Clay then turned a flat surface in the center of the piece and at the same time turned away opposing chamfers. This enabled the flat surface to be more complete and to better encircle the piece. The bead scraper was then used to form beads on the flattened area. The piece was then removed from between centers and placed in the jaw chuck on the previously formed tenon. The tailstock end was then shaped to form the top of the piece and define the size of the opening that he would be hollowing through.

Hollowing was then begun using a three-quarter inch boring bar with a three-sixteenths inch scraping tool adjusted to various angles. Wall thickness needs to be repeatedly checked because, due to the second axis, the wall thickness is not the same throughout. Wall thickness can be estimated by listening to the tool sounds as you progress into the vessel. At this point Clay pretended the vessel had been hollowed completely. He did not want to bore us with the use of the boring bar. The base was then refined, the tailstock brought up and the base completed as was done at the completion of the morning session.

The morning and afternoon demonstrations of the 2-piece hollow form and the multi-axis hollow form could be combined into a multi-axis, 2-piece hollow form. This would be somewhat time-consuming but interesting. Also more than two axes could be used. Clay suggested that if more than two axes were used that careful notes be kept as to axis locations so that duplication could be achieved if the results are interesting.

Next Clay turned to surface treatments. The first was the egg shell finish. An egg was cracked and emptied of its contents. Fresh eggs are best to use. After cracking, the inner membrane of the egg is removed from the shell. The shell is washed and dried. The egg shell is glued to the wood surface with yellow glue. It is important that dry wood be used so the shells won't pop off from shifting of green or wet wood. The egg shell is pressed to the surface of the wood and cracked or broken in the process. Too much glue should be avoided. Be sure one piece of shell does not overlap another. The ratio of shell to open spaces can be varied. Once the glue is dry the surface is lightly sanded and the spaces between the shell pieces are grouted with acrylic modeling paste (Liquitex) which has been colored with acrylic paint. The paste is allowed to dry and is then sanded. A second coat can be used to achieve a smoother surface. This is sanded to about 400 grit. Coarse grits should be avoided so that scratching does not occur. It is then waxed with a hard wax.

The second treatment is mud resist. Fine dirt is mixed with water to form mud that is of a consistency to squeeze through a squeeze bottle such as a mustard bottle. The mud is squeezed onto the wood surface in any design desired. (This is good for rough designs, not fine designs.) The piece is then burned with a torch – the mud is brushed away and any soot cleaned off with a brass brush then blown with an air compressor. The wood is sealed with Krylon Matte finish. After drying Kiwi shoe polish is used to produce a sheen. This is the final finish.

Clay concluded the demonstration with a slide show of some of his inspirations and works. This completed a detailed, well-delivered, educational and enjoyable demonstration. For details a DVD will be available in the club library in December 2005.

--Bob Gunther

Clay's Website