"Scratching the Surface"

Overview: Michael Hosaluk lives and has his studio just outside Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Born in 1954, in Invernay, Saskatchewan, Michael is self-taught and has become internationally recognized as one of the world's most creative "turners." His work covers a wide range of objects and materials including functional vessels, furniture and sculptured pieces. His work is both humorous and elegant. It possesses character and gesture and is full of reference to architecture, nature and culture.

Michael's work has been exhibited throughout Canada, Europe, Japan, China, Australia and the United States. His pieces can be found in the permanent collections of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace; Zhao Xiu, Governor of Jilin Province, Republic of China; Idemitsu Corporation, Tokyo; Los Angeles County Art Museum; Detroit Art Museum; Yale University Art Gallery; Minneapolis Museum of Art and the Royal Ontario Museum. He has demonstrated and lectured extensively throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, Israel, Australia and New Zealand. Michael's work has been profiled in numerous publications including fine Woodworking, American Craft, and Woodwork magazines. He published a book in 2002 titled Scratching the Surface: Art and Content in Contemporary Wood. One of his most notable achievements is that he is a co-founder of the American Association of Woodturners.

Morning Session:  Michael's demonstration began with box making but with a different twist. (Michael chooses straight-grained wood with no knots and minimal figuring and wood that is quite dry.) He began by roughing a cylindrical piece. He used a large detail gouge for roughing and shaping. He also used a large roughing gouge to round the piece. Tenons were turned on each end and the piece was parted off in the center - each end being about eight inches long and three inches in diameter. One piece was placed in the chuck. The tailstock was not used. A one-half inch hole was drilled into the piece to the required depth (about one and one-half inches from the drive center). Furniture wax was placed on the drill bit to make boring easier and certainly quieter. The "female" half of the box was turned first using the hook tool. Michael entered the piece with the hook tool at 6 o'clock and turned to 8 o'clock for cutting. Once hollowed the opening edge was refined with a very slight inward sloping. This allows the lid or "male" portion to always rest on the outer edge of the box. A small ledge was then formed with the skew for the "male" part of the box to rest on. The wall of this ledge should be parallel to the lathe bed. The hook tool was then used to refine the interior and to eliminate the previously formed ledge. The "female" portion of the box was then removed from the chuck and replaced by the "male" portion. As before, a one-half inch hole was drilled to the required depth. The edge was formed to fit into the "female" part. The piece was then hollowed with the hook tool. (The handle of the hook tool was marked so Michael always knows where the 6 o'clock position of the cutter is.) The "male" edge was refined with the skew to give a tight fit. The two parts of the box were then fitted together and the center area where the two were joined was sanded to a final finish. The piece was then removed from the chuck and placed between centers. (Michael uses cup live and drive centers to prevent wood splitting and enable him to work more closely at both ends of the piece.) The shape of the entire piece was then turned into an elongated tapered form - tapered at both ends. The previously sanded center section was not revisited. Other than this area the entire surface was further refined using a scraper and a skew.

The completed box was then cut on the band saw on an angle close to the box opening. Further angled cuts were then made to create the final shape of the box. The angles cut were compound ones. Care must be taken to have very precise, straight cuts with the band saw. An oval box can be made by cutting a center strip out of the box and then gluing the halves together with full strength Titebond regular glue. A round to oval box can be made by not cutting a strip out of the center ring but cutting a wedge out of the tapered distal pieces. The wedge must come to a point just where the ring next to the round one is. For this to be successful extreme accuracy is needed both in centering and cutting.

Once all the rings had been cut (a line for reference purposes had been drawn on the tapered box prior to cutting the rings so that later assembly could be facilitated) the chuck was placed on the lathe and a large sanding disc placed in the chuck. Each piece was sanded to clean up any band saw blade marks. Michael uses 120 grit. If interior texturing is to be done it needs to be done at this stage before the pieces are glued together. Texturing is not done right up to the glue joint. That area is done as each ring is glued up and the glue is dry. This prevents any apparent transition from one section to another.

Gluing: A 50-50 solution of water and Titebond regular glue is applied to the end-grain of each section. This is called sizing end-grain. This is in preparation for final gluing with full strength glue. Sizing is not done on side-grain joints - here only full strength glue is used. Once the sizing is dry the pieces are rubbed together. Full strength glue is applied. Again the pieces are rubbed together until the glue gets quite tacky. They are then pressed together into their final position. The inner part or concave part of each joint is made as true as possible. This is because final sanding is more difficult in these areas where it is much easier on the convex or outer joints. If you are using a natural wood finish and not texturing or painting you can coat the outer surfaces with wax so that when gluing the glue will not enter the grain. Here the reference line is important so that the grain can be matched from ring to ring. The wax can be wiped off with lacquer thinner before final finishing.

On a humorous note: Michael stated, "The more useless I can make a piece the more I can sell it for." This completed a very detailed and interesting morning session.

Afternoon Session:

Spindle turning was discussed and how important it is in production turning. Speed, resistance and tool sharpness are the essentials of spindle turning. A maple block was placed between centers. The piece was roughed and the shape defined - that of a spin-top. A bead was formed using a detail gouge. Various beads and grooves embellished the surface of the spin-top. The piece was removed from between centers and the nub on the top sawed off. The point on the bottom was defined using a chisel. A string was wound around the top and it was thrown making it spin for quite a long time. An off-center top was then demonstrated which jumped while spinning.

Next a baseball was shaped between centers. A 3-inch block of wood was used - the baseball is two and seven-eighths inches in diameter. While turning the ball is observed from two views - the front and from the top. This gives you a better perspective of the ball's shape. The piece was sanded with foam-backed paper (Siasof paper) that can be used wet or dry. It was then parted off and both ends shaped with Aurion rasps (from Highland Hardware). The seams on the ball were laid out using the covering from an old baseball as a template. A woodburner was then used to burn the seam and stitch marks (there are 84 stitches on a baseball).

Michael then demonstrated off-center work. The piece was placed between true centers and a bead turned on one end. The centers were then changed at each end and another bead formed. The detail tool used had a double bevel. Centers were again changed and a third bead formed. Each bead blends in with the one created before it. Original centers were returned to and the top of the piece completed. (Cup centers make off-center work easier.) Michael will turn several off-center pieces and then glue them up to further enhance design and shape. Bending spindles was then discussed, as were other spindle designs.

Next a ladle was made from a single piece of ash. It was placed between centers - the ladle bowl at the headstock end. Ash was used because of its straight grain that makes it amenable to bending. The piece was rough shaped using the detail gouge. The bowl end of the ladle was shaped first into a round form that would fit into a fabricated jam chuck. The handle was then rounded. As the handle was thinned vibrations began. Smaller diameter tools were then used to decrease resistance and thus lessen the vibrations. The handle was then further shaped with the skew giving it a nice taper from thicker at the end to thinner at the bowl end. It was then wet sanded. The distal end of the handle was completed and parted off.

The chuck was placed on the lathe and a wooden fabricated jam chuck was used to hold the bowl of the ladle. A slot was in the chuck for the handle to protrude from. The flat grain of the handle was oriented perpendicular to the lathe bed and slightly aimed toward the tailstock. (When bent it will be bent toward the headstock.) A bowl was then formed in the ladle with the lathe going quite slowly.

Care must be taken to avoid the spinning handle. You don't want the bowl of the ladle to be too thin because the handle is end-grain attached and it might pull apart. Michael used a sharper beveled gouge to define much of the inside of the bowl and a blunter one for the bowl's bottom areas. The piece was then removed from the chuck and placed between centers to turn away the nubs at both ends.

The piece was then prepared to have the handle bent. The handle was wrapped in paper towels and thoroughly moistened. Then it was placed in a microwave for 2 minutes on the highest setting. [Caution: the piece gets hot!]

It was removed and placed in the bending jig and clamped. When it was cool it was removed and the handle had a pleasant shape. The ladle could be finished with one part beeswax to 4 parts mineral oil, mixed and heated in a double boiler, let to cool and then applied.

The bending jig:

Final note: Michael did discuss using acrylic paint to color and embellish pieces. Details of this and a source are available at: www.goldenpaints.com

This completed a most remarkable demonstration. An edited tape will be available in the CMW library at the May 2005 meeting.

Bob Gunther

Michael's Website