"Pure Turning"
Is What Key Does

The slide show that opened Ray Keys demonstration was an excellent introduction to the work of one of the worlds most renowned turners. The large number of turnings, stacked to dry in his shop, were the production work that was his bread and butter and the elegant finished turnings that indeed are his gallery pieces gave excellent insight to the world of Ray Key. Today his production work consists of salad bowls, cutting boards and platters.

He started his turning demonstration with the premise that pure turning is what he does and emphasized that design is an elusive element.

As a head stock turner, Key works mostly from the front of the lathe, keeps the tool close to his hip and does a great deal of open face work. He rough turns wet wood and leaves it out to dry. It takes eight to ten weeks for his bowls to dry naturally. Sometimes it will go as long as thirteen weeks. Ray system for checking dryness is one that everyone can use. . . weigh the piece when first turned rough and then weigh it again every two weeks until it stops losing weight. Your intuitive skills combined with no more weight loss will normally give you an accurate reading on readiness for final-turning the piece. If it has gone elliptical during the drying process, put it back on the lathe and round it out!

Ray uses a 3/8 bowl gouge, working from the back of the bowl, going from the base to the top. The ability to use either the right or the left hand increases efficiently for production turnings. He is less aggressive with his tools on dry wood, drops the handle of the gouge and rotates up for cross grain work. Mineral oil is his mainstay finish for utilitarian pieces. His production method is so well honed that he turns hundreds of salt bowls, sugar bowls, salad bowls and cutting boards each year. Ray estimates that he turns two to three thousand production pieces annually. When asked how long it takes for him to turn a production piece, he answered 45 minutes for a 10 x 4 bowl, an excellent benchmark for those who wish to turn the Ray Key way.

He spent a portion of the afternoon demonstrating his pagoda box-turning techniques. He keeps about 300 cylinders lying around his shop, ready for production. Ray turns a 5-1/4 x 5-1/2 cylinder, marks and parts off the lid, reverse turns the opposite end, which creates a lid of the next box and therefore becomes the first piece of the second box.

He prefers to use a 3/8 spindle gouge, very sharp, for turning a box. He uses the lowest point of the gouge, holding it flat and moves from outside to the inside, usually holding the tool about ten degrees out of vertical. He uses a skew as a scrapper and a 1/2 gouge for shaping.

It is important to note that Key uses a North European technique in turning. He has the flute of the gouge tilted back and removes 95% of matter with a gouge. A bent scraper is used for finishing cuts on the enclosed boxes. Ray has a sequential process for turning his boxes: remove the top, insert the base, shape/part/shape/part, do chatter work on the top and capitalize on a skew for definition.

On soft woods, Ray recommended using hook and ring tools as they give a far better quality of cut than the gouge he uses would. But, he seldom uses soft woods for boxes as its not the material for such things.

If you have a utilitarian piece or a gallery piece produced by Ray Key, you have a true treasure.