Rude Olosnik

[Dave Fritz]

My wife and enjoyed watching the DVD done by AAW on Rude Osolnik.

When he was hollowing out the bowl he used what appeared to be a square shafted tool. Anyone know what it was?

BTW, we had a wonderful New Year's Eve visiting with one of the all time greats of woodturning. Pretty exciting aren't we?

Dave F.

 

[robert davis]

tha was a bowl gouge that he made. rudy was a great gift to woodturning. and a great salesman. when you first meet him he would probably sell you a general lathe.

 

[Jack Savona]

General?

Didn't he help design the Powermatic?

 

[KurtB]

Rude Osolnik

Jack, he helped design the 3520 with it's sliding headstock configuration, IIRC.

 

[Dave Fritz]

Thanks for the information. Does anyone have a drawing or picture of the profile? It looked like he used a traditional bowl gauge on the outside of the bowl but a different one for the inside.

Dave F.

 

[john lucas]

It's been a very long time since I saw his gouge but I believe the interior was somewhat similar to our bowl gouges. The nose grind was also similar. The story I heard was this was one of the first HSS bowl gouges and that was simply the shape of the steel that he got. He left the outside the same and just ground out the inside and bevel.

 

[robert davis]

Didn't he help design the Powermatic?

yes, he and nick cook

 

[john lucas]

More lathes should be designed by wood turners. The Powermatic has been a tremendous hit. Most of the things I would change about mine (3520A) they changed on the 3520B. Some lathe designers are listening to us. Oneway ,Robust, Vicmarc and Stubby come to mind.

 

[John Jordan]

Know who did the turning for the public unveiling/open house for the 3520 at Powermatic?


Well ok, it was me. It didn't go real well, but that's a story for another day.

Lathes aside, we miss Rude and think of him often.

BTW, I have one of those square gouges. Ernie Conover made them. I could probably be talked out of it.

John

 

[Jerry Hall]

Smithsonian Oral History

Has a brief section on his thinking on designing the sliding headstock:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/osolni01.htm#top

Also a short video of an interview with him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emP0W4K0YVE

 

[Dave Fritz]

John,

So the shaft was square but the end was a bowl gauge? Wasn't that difficult to work with on the tool rest and still move the gauge to ride the bevel?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the whole process.

Thanks for the information.

Dave F.

 

[Richard Baker]

Jerry,
That was great stuff, especially the transcript of the interview with Rude. Thanks for posting the links.

 

[John Jordan]

John,

So the shaft was square but the end was a bowl gauge? Wasn't that difficult to work with on the tool rest and still move the gauge to ride the bevel?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the whole process.

Thanks for the information.

Dave F.

It's not a deep fluted bowl gouge, but rather a shallow flute in a rectangular bar. I haven't used it in years, but it wasn't really different than any other gouge to roll, although I know it would seem that way.

John

 

[john lucas]

John I remember the day they did the unveiling. The guy handed you a screwdriver to put the faceplate on and you chided him for not having a drill. I don't remember much else. I was to impressed with the whole factory tour.
Rolling the rectangular gouge isn't much different than rolling a rectangular skew. Our former club president had one of those Osolnik style gouges and I remember playing with it.
On my first symposium ever, in fact it was the first demo I ever saw, Rude was doing his candlesticks. He was also teaching the skew usage. He asked if anyone wanted to try it. I jumped at the chance. It was an experience I'll always remember. I ran the video camera any time I could when he was demonstrating and I was present. He would always give me a hard time by moving the tool so it was hard to focus on or purposely blocking the camera with his arm. He was a funny likeable guy.

 

[Don O. Jr.]

Know who did the turning for the public unveiling/open house for the 3520 at Powermatic?


Well ok, it was me. It didn't go real well, but that's a story for another day.


John

OK John, you're not really going to leave us hanging like that are you ?

John Lucas gave us another hint, but inquiring minds want to know. I helps us remember that the "big names" and forefathers of turning are just regular folk and things don't always go as planned.

 

[John Jordan]

Not a huge story. I don't recall there was any planning, and I don't really remember why they asked me, or why Rude or Nick weren't there. I had offered when they were building it to come down and give input. They should have taken me up on it, as there were a number of issues with what should have been a really good lathe-all things that would have been apparent to someone with a little knowledge. I don't think they ever had a woodturner involved beyond the original concept, and there were no woodturners at all at Powermatic. The engineers were Know-it-alls. The lathe wouldn't hold a small bowl blank of green boxelder between centers without the tailstock/headstock slipping. So the demo was a bit of an embarrassment. As I recall, there were dealers from all over.

There were several things like that, and their customer service was terrible as they sold the first lathes. I don't remember exactly when the company was sold, but the lathes were improved after they started making them in Taiwan, and the price went down. I think they are a good lathe and a very good value these days.

That wasn't that entertaining now, was it? I hadn't thought about that in years until this thread. As John said, they gave us a good tour (if it was the same trip). There was an old guy who had been there his whole adult life, and knew EVERYTHING about making all the great tools Powermatic was known for-pretty cool.

John

 

[Don O. Jr.]

Thanks !

I appreciate the story anyway. If only those engineers would listen to the people using what they design

Happy New Year !

 

[Wayne Spence]

What is the correct pronunciation of Olosnik?

 

[KurtB]

Rude Osolnik

Wayne,
The correct spelling is Osolnik; O-sol-nik.

 

[Dave Peebles]

And to further muddy the waters. Rude's first name is pronounced Rudy.

 

[Dave Fritz]

Sorry about the incorrect spelling of Rude name. Pretty lame on my part, no disrespect intended believe me.

Good story on the demonstration. Not all people appreciate the preparation required for a demonstration or teaching a class.

Dave

 

[Wayne Spence]

rude

Dave F.

No need to apologize as far as I am concerned. I have seen the man's name spelled correctly a hundred times and when I saw the one mispelling I immediately couldn't pronounce it and was just confused. I need to get back to more woodturning, it tends to keep the mind sharp, no pun intended.

"I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled."

Wayne