Weed Pots
The September Demo by Eddie O'Reilly
Written By Michael Forde
It was not until our eagerly awaited demonstrator "mounted the rostrum" that he told us of his intended demonstration. As well as making a weed pot or bud vase, he would gear his demo towards beginners and tell of his own approach to turning. For a start, protection for face and from dust should be available, and he uses clothing with elasticated collar and cuffs. He went on to discuss how a motor such as a washing machine motor could be used to power a lathe, or a pillar drill driven lathe where up to sixteen speeds could be utilised. So the message is, if one way doesn't work, try another, as he himself had learned back in the good old days.

We were then shown some bud vases that he had made. He uses branch wood mostly, some of which had acquired staining from standing vertically on the ground during seasoning, which is desirable in plain timbers.

Eddie then proceeded to make a bud vase from a sycamore branch. This was mounted between centres,(into the pith) and driven by a ring drive. A 1 1/2" spigot was turned to suit the Multistar chuck which Eddie uses. His vernier calipers was kept close at hand secured to the headstock by a magnet! Secured and driven via the Multistar and supported via the tail stock, the ogee curve was expertly created, mostly using the rouging gouge, and final smoothing done with the skew. Here, the body swing - arms steady- was pointed out and ably demonstrated, similar to when he dances the tango!

The base was then shaped using the skew and the top was next for attention. For this Eddie used a tool of his own design described as a single tooth saw, in shape similar to a saw tooth-with which he delicately shaped the top slightly concave using one side as a scraper while supported by the tail stock. Next the centre hole was drilled at lowest speed (400 revs. approx.) using the Jacobs chuck in the tail stock and -some sound advice here, this hole should be small for bud vases, keep busy fingers out and make it more difficult to explore the finish!

Sanding was then carried out and to minimise dust loss, the abrasives used were kept wet with white spirit. Sanding sealer was then applied before Eddie added some attractive decorations burned on as follows. After bringing up the tail stock again for support and using paper towels at contact points for protection, the two burn mark rings were applied at their most aesthetically pleasing position, one each side of the vase max. girth by locking wire, in previously made skew marks during rotation. Dainty arrows were then burnt between the two lines ( by a soldering gun which had its tip altered to do just that by Eddie) around the circumference. Sanding lightly with 800 grade enhanced the marks to give a sharp eye catching effect.

Eddie waits about 1/2 day before polishing with a mixture of 2/3 carnuba wax and 1/3 beeswax some of it melted then cooled in thin pieces to get into narrow areas easily. Parting off was then done to achieve a slightly concave base that was then sanded and finished.

The portion still in the chuck was flattened and a piece of abrasive paper or abrasive cloth was glued to it. We then had a demonstration of sharpening gouges and skews with impressive edges and minimum expensive material ground away.

At the start of this demo. our chairman introduced Eddie as one of the most innovative turners in our branch, this description he certainly lived up to. Our thanks to Eddie for the work he put into an inspirational and educational demo.
M.Forde