We had another exceptional demonstration last month with Mark St. Leger. His assortment of pieces and techniques highlight this man's true talents. I especially liked his Fly House segment, which we'll get into later.

Mark has been turning for 13 years and is basically a self-taught turner. Prior to that, he was a career cabinet/furniture maker. For the past 10 years he has been a high school wood shop teacher and considers it a privilege to do so - most days. His affection for his students was evident as he referred to them throughout the day, and shared some of the things they've done together. He receives limited funds ($150.00/year) from the school system and has acquired a lot of equipment and materials through his own initiative. He obviously goes the extra mile for his students, and our schools would be incredible places if there were more teachers in them like Mark.

Mark turns a lot of small objects and uses small, wooden mandrels (glue blocks or taper blocks) to hold the small blanks. The demonstration began by him showing us how he makes a mandrel. He chose a piece of ambrosia maple that was a 5" X 2" cylinder. He stressed that mandrels must be completely dry - less than 6% moisture that he checks with a moisture meter. After he trued up the cylinder, he then used a regular #2 Morse taper as a guide. He marked where the top and bottom of the taper would be on the cylinder, and measured the small end of the taper with vernier calipers. He then established the small diameter with a parting tool, using the calipers to get the proper size. He established the large end the same way. Once both ends were established, he then removed the material between the two, stressing the importance of maintaining a perfect line - no low or high places, which will keep the mandrel from seating properly. He used a straight edge to check for straightness and made slight adjustments. Once the taper was to his liking, he removed it from between centers and seated it into the headstock. In order to protect the face of the mandrels, he uses a wooden adapter over the live center when pressing them in with the tail stock. He then parted off the glue block end to approximately 1" long, and trued up the face with a skew chisel. (An important note: On the small end of the taper, he left it about 1/4" longer, with a smaller diameter, so that the taper itself would not be damaged when using a knockout bar.)

Now that the mandrel was ready, he moved on to show us how he makes a toadstool. Mark used a piece of rhododendron branch about 1 1/2" long by 1" in diameter. He sanded one end smooth on a home-made sanding disk that was held by the chuck. He made several disks with different grits that are about 6" in diameter, with a recesses cut into the back that the jaws expand into. Really ingenious. Anyway, once the sanding was accomplished, he seated the mandrel and glued the branch onto it. (The beauty of the mandrel is that you can really get close to the small pieces and it is much safer than a chuck.) One other valuable tip that he showed us was that he always finds the center of the piece by making a small impression with a skew or small gouge before bringing the tail stock up. This insures the piece is supported accurately in the middle and minimizes vibration. He began forming the top the toadstool with a 3/8" spindle gouge, stressing to let the bevel rub and let the chisel flow to attain a flowing shape. He also stressed the necessity of sharp tools for small turnings. Once the top was to his liking, he formed the trunk of the toadstool and undercut the top with a small skew. He sanded the piece through 600 grit, burnished it shavings, applied two coats of lacquer, and waxed it with Simonize car paste wax! It worked great. He then parted off the piece with a kitchen knife parting tool which allowed him to get into a tight space at the base. He undercut the base as he parted it off, carved off the little nub with his home-made carving tool, and applied finish to the bottom. He ended up with a lovely toadstool. Mark makes smaller ones to be used as earrings and necklaces. He then cleaned up the face of the mandrel, preparing it for a later project.

Mark really blew the next project, it was a whistle. He started with a 3/4" square by 2 1/2" long, cherry whistle blank. He then makes a 30 degree cut, 3/8" deep, approximately 1" from the same end he bore the hole in. After that, he bore a 3/8" whole 1 5/8" to 1 3/4" deep. (It's important to make the saw cut first, and then bore the hole. It keeps the saw cut sharp and the whistle will work better.) He then uses a 3/8" mandrel to hold the "whistle while he turns" the outside shape. He brought up the tail stock up for support, marking the true center first. He then knocked off the edges and formed a nice, flowing outside shaped, being mindful of not turning too deep and going through the piece. He sanded, burnished and finished the exterior, and then showed us the real secret of how to make it whistle. Mark then inserted the "fipple" or reed; a 3/8" dowel that is sanded flat on one side to let the air pass. The secret of making it whistle is that the flat on the fipple tapers up from the outside to the inside, and it comes up just to the edge of the saw cut. This directs the air into the saw cut and makes the whistle, whistle. A flat with no taper will probably turn out to be a dog whistle. Mark adjusted the fipple for optimum performance, sanded it to the proper length, and then glued it in with a little CA glue. It turned out very nice.

Mark then showed us how he makes a fly house. Basically, the fly house looks like a miniature bird house. He uses rhododendron branches for these as well. He starts with a piece approximately 1 1/2" long by 1" in diameter. He bores a 1/2" hole off center of the pith, 1 1/8" deep. He then bores a 1/4" hole through the side 1/2" from the top, and then bores a 1/8" hole, 1/8" below the 1/4" hole, which will accommodate a perch. He then uses a 1/2" mandrel and presses the piece onto it, supporting the bottom with the tail stock. He used a 3/8 spindle gouge to form the fly house, and by the fact that he bored the hole off-center, he was able to create a front porch. Once he was finished with body of the house, he turned the top and small perch out of walnut. The top was concave on the bottom to give the fly house a vaulted ceiling inside - a great selling point. We got to learn a lot from a fly's perspective during this demo and it was quite entertaining to say the least.

Mark then showed us how he makes a nut and bolt. He typically uses cocobolo, and has really perfected the technique he uses to make them. He starts with two hexagon shaped pieces of wood; the nut being 7/8" wide and the bolt being 3 1/4" long. The stock started as a 1 3/16" x 1 3/8" rectangle and he cut the hex angles by tilting his bandsaw to 30 degrees and running them through four times. He first mounted the nut to a glue block that just happened to be 1 3/8" in diameter, which helped him center it. He then bored a 5/8" hole with a Forstner bit, just stopping short of the glue block. He did establish some relief where the bolt contacted the waste block to give the threading tool somewhere to go and not just bottom out against the glue block. He then pulled out the special tool that he uses to create the threads. Since threads spiral around the bolt and nut, he explained that the tool had to be moving to properly create the threads, and that you had to establish a rhythm to be successful. He presented the tool to the nut, pressing inward letting the tool form the threads. After several passes the threads were formed and he put a small chamfer on the shoulder of the nut, and parted it off. He then glued the bolt blank on and rounded up the bolt, leaving left about 1" of the hexagon at the glue block end. He turned the cylinder 5/8" thick aided by vernier calipers. He then presented the tool to the piece and formed the threads by taking small cuts as he moved the chisel from the inner part of the bolt to the end of the bolt. It looked a bit tricky, but you could quickly see that he has made quite a few of them. He then cleaned up the bottom of the bolt head, and put a small chamfer on the shoulder of the bolt making it look like a real bolt. He parted off the bolt and gingerly mounted into a chuck and finished the top of the bolt head. He of course sanded all the pieces to 600 grit, and used a 3 step buffing technique to finish the pieces. They really are eye catchers and he makes them for the purpose of getting people to handle and feel the wood.

The last piece Mark showed us was a multi-axis pen, and due to space constraints it will have to wait for a future journal.

Mark gave us a day to remember. We were very impressed by his simple, but skilful techniques. He imparted a lot of secrets and tips, and encouraged us to try to make the pieces he showed us. Mark is truly a fine individual, and we thank him so much for coming.