Lyle Jamieson has been involved in both woodworking and turning from an early age. His father was a pattern maker in Detroit and mentored him in the intricacies of wood, both structural and artistic. In recent years, from his studio in Traverse City, Michigan, Lyle has turned his attention to woodturning and has developed a style that is both innovative in design and technically challenging. His technique soon led him to attempt turning the human form. The work is complex, yet delicate and requires a multi-axis approach. The beauty of the human form allows Lyle to elegantly employ the natural wood grains.

Lyles artistic development has been built through a series of symposiums and workshops. He has spent time at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee studying his craft with accomplished artists including Michael Peterson, David Ellsworth and Hugh McKay. He has attended numerous American Association of Woodturners symposiums and participated in workshops with John Jordan, Clay Foster, Christian Burchard and Frank Sudol.

Lyle has developed a tool system for hollow-form turning. This system creates a rest behind the main tool rest which simplifies the hollowing process. A turner can stand beside the lathe and gently guide the cutter into the vessel. Lyles newest advancement has been the use of a laser beam device to accurately measure the wall thickness of the hollow forms.

Work by Lyle has been displayed throughout the country and he wrote articles on woodturning techniques for American Woodturner Magazine in 1995, 96, 97, 98 and 2000. He was recipient of the Editors Choice Award for his 1996 article. 

Lyles sculptures are a celebration of the female form. He says, My goal has been to honor women and lift them up as artists have done for centuries. The fun for me has been the creative process of breathing life, beauty and emotion into the form. The sensual texture of skin is compatible with the look and feel of the grain and color of wood. My intention is to share this beauty with the rest of the world.

The demonstration began with a general discussion of Lyles woodturning history. He stressed the word easy to describe his attempts to master a procedure or technique. He emphasized that he will teach or demonstrate the process of turning and not the final or end results. Your lathe should have a good footprint that provides a level surface and a wide stance. The on/off switch should be positioned so that your body is not in line with the moving piece when using it. A remote switch is a definite advantage.

Lyle showed a longitudinally sectioned crotch piece. Every tree has a crotch piece and the crotch wood may have wonderful grain patterns. The piece you turn can be oriented so that the crotch wood will provide the maximum grain quality and patterns. Size may not always give the most quality - smaller might be better. You need to control the work and not have it control you. Control leads to safety and safety leads to having fun. Lyle always begins turning between centers. This gives him both control and safety.

Using only green wood, Lyle began with a crotch piece, the thicker section containing the pith. Using the thicker section he determined the axis of the piece. This determines the center for turning. He then refined the piece with an electric chain saw. He stabilized the piece prior to refinement between centers. This provided a safe mode for cutting. The three corners of the crotch were cut. Leaving the trimmed piece on the lathe he used a hand held laser to determine the three edges. He then moved the piece to better center it between the three high spots. He then used the laser to determine the three high spots from the side view and further balanced the piece. This will leave the three high spots on the finished piece the same distance from the surface it rests on. Lyle then turned the piece to round it off starting at a slow speed and increasing it as much as possible. He used an Ellsworth grind bowl gouge with a 2, 4, 7 rule for grinding. The 2 is the distance from the tool tip to the jig holder. The 4 is the distance from the grinding wheel center to the bottom of the basket. Using the Wolverine Jig the distance needs to be raised up with a small block of wood. The 7 is the distance from the center of the grinding to the basket. This dimension is negotiable and determines the steepness of the grind. The other two dimensions are non-negotiable. The piece was then quickly rounded using the bevel as the direction finder. This was done using the Bonnie Klein ABC rule. A = Anchor the tool to the tool rest, B = use the bevel and C = Cut. The piece was turned until the three high points were reached. The three high points were again checked to be sure they would be equidistant from the resting surface of the piece.

Lyle then discussed holding wood on the lathe. The headstock threads do not hold the wood. It is the faceplate surface against the headstock that gives stability and power to hold the piece. The power is then transferred from the faceplate to the wood surface. The faceplate is the most efficient way to hold wood on the lathe. The least efficient is the chuck because it permits vibrations and squeezes the wood like a sponge, especially when turning wet wood.

Lyle then turned a concave surface on the bottom of the piece to prepare for a glue block. At this point a significant bark inclusion was discovered so that the piece was not suitable for hollowing and completion. Lyle then discussed the direction of the cut on the piece which is going downhill with the side grain. The bevel is placed at a 45- degree angle so that the wood fibers are sliced off. When scraping the 90-degree rule is used. The tool needs to contact the wood at or less than 90 degrees. If the angle is greater then the tool is no longer scraping and a catch may very well occur.

The previously turned concave surface of the piece was smoothed and the nub was removed. The glue block was previously turned to also have a concave surface (all concave surfaces are very shallow). This eliminates any flat on flat problems and does not permit wood fragments to get between the surfaces. Lyle uses #12 pan head sheet metal screws. These take a #3 Phillips screwdriver head. He uses an impact driver made only for impacting screws (Makita). The glue block is dry wood preferably maple and pilot holes are drilled for the screws. The glue blocks concave surface was trued up. A small dimple or cone was formed on the glue block to determine the exact center and to center the drill bit. The hole was drilled through the glue block to show the exact center on the reverse side. A small hole was scratched in the center of the bottom of the piece. This permits a small section of a wire coat hanger to line up the glue block and the piece. The glue block was sprayed with accelerator after the CA glue was applied to the piece. After placing the two together using the wire to line up accelerator was sprayed around the glue edges. Lyle gives the glue 2 3 minutes to cure before turning. 

The piece was then placed on the headstock. The outer surface was finished before hollowing. Sheer scraping was then done to give a smoother surface requiring only 320 grit to start sanding. Limited hollowing was begun handle down and bevel against the wood downhill.

The afternoon session began with a discussion of tool sharpening and adaptation of the Veritas Jig to the Ellsworth grind. Then Lyle began the inner surface of the natural edge crotch piece begun in the morning session. The bevel controlled the cutting direction. The cut was made from the outer edge to the center of the piece (downhill to the fibers). The glue block was separated from the piece with a chisel. Further development of the hollowing was abandoned due to the previously found bark inclusion.

The demonstration continued with the development of a hollow form. The piece was balanced and firmly placed between centers. A four-prong drive center was used two prongs should not be used because they tend to split the wood and cause cracks. The four-prong should have sharp, steep prongs. The tool rest was placed so that cutting would be done on the center line. The fastest speed possible was used and the piece rounded. The tailstock end was made slightly concave to accept the faceplate. The nub was chiseled off. The faceplate was attached. No pilot holes were drilled. The impact driver was used to place the #12 screws. The piece was then attached to the headstock. The piece was further rounded and shaped prior to the hollowing process. The surface was sheer scraped. The outside of the hollow form is where the design or creativity is the inside is simply boring. You need to keep as much material as possible on the faceplate to maintain stability. Hollowing was begun. A dimple was made in the top to center the drill bit. A hole was then drilled to the determined depth. 

The boring bar attachment was then placed on the lathe bed and the boring bar put in place remembering the 90-degree rule. Any adjustment is done using the lathes dedicated tool rest. The cutter tip must be parallel to the floor. The boring bar should have two flat spots ground on it to prevent rotation one at the holder end and one at the cutter tip end. The piece was then entered with the boring bar. (Lyle waxes (candle) the metal surfaces of the tool rest and the boring bar holder. This permits a smooth motion of the tool with no small hesitations.) Your lathe cannot be against the wall when using this system because you need to work on both sides of the lathe. Initially Lyle followed the drill hole and enlarged it. The interior was then further enlarged& You need to leave the wall thick, especially in the deeper parts of the vessel to maintain support and strength. 

The laser was then set up and a business card used to determine perpendicular wall thickness. The laser, properly applied, gives constant wall thickness. The wall thickness was then determined by setting the laser point in relationship to the cutting tip. (Lyle uses three-sixteenth inch cutting tips.) As Lyle goes deeper into the vessel the perpendicular rule must be maintained and the laser adjusted as different parts of the vessel are thinned. For simply hogging out wood the laser does not need to be utilized. For deeper vessels heavier boring bars need to be used. The thicker bars may need a longer, curved tip. Lyles boring bars are reversible so that a straight tip can be used at one end and a curved one at the other end.

Tool marks were then cleaned up on the inside with a very light sweeping of the cutter tip. The outside of the base was then turned to the final shape. It can be made thinner at this point because the upper wall thickness has been determined. The level of the base was then scribed on the piece, as were the levels of the concave surface and the interior surface. Next the laser was put at the tip of the cutting tip with no gap. This will determine the correct bottom and enable you to continue cutting until you get to the scribed interior line. To eliminate the central nub the cutter has to be on the center line. This is found by scratching a line with the cutter on the bottom of the vessel and then adjusting the boring bar level accordingly.

Lyle then sharpened the cutting tip. The wheel was dressed to have slightly curved edges and then the tip sharpened by holding it against the wheel. This produces a fresh burr. The bottom was then determined with the cutting tip centered in the bottom on the pencil line. The piece could then be reverse chucked and completed or partially parted off and then separated with a saw.

The use of a template was discussed so that vessels or forms could be made without using wall thickness. This technique has only begun to scratch potential uses and there will almost certainly be advances in the near future. 

Lyle then discussed his torso forms. He begins with a large block of wood at least 24 thick. He cuts a block with 90-degree corners. He then lines up the grain to utilize the annular rings to produce desired circles or ovals. This creates very realistic butts and breasts. He then draws the object on the blocks surface using two views. Axis is set up and these determine where the faceplates will be located. Counter balance weights are attached to the piece. Each axis is turned and the template is used to determine the amount of hollowing. This is repeated with each part of the torso. Then the outside is carved away. Lyle prefers to use elm because of stability and desired grain patterns. This entire procedure may take three months or longer.

This completed a very detailed and informative demonstration. An edited tape and DVD will be available at the May 2004 meeting.

--Bob Gunther

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