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Looking for help and advice

T

Todd Lesiege

Joined
Nov 15, 2024
Messages
3
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Location
South Hadley, MA
This is my first post. Apologies if it's in the wrong spot.

I run a wood turning program for veterans called BurlBowl woodturning. Its COMPLETELY FREE. We run mostly off donations and from monetary input from my wife and I.

That being said we are looking for some advice and help. We live in south hadley Massachusetts. These are some of the problems we have.

We are always trying to save wood. We have a laguna 2436 thats the only lathe strong enough to core. We currently don't have enough money to get a coring system yet because of the fact that we mostly turn expensive burls we don't want yo waste the wood. Would I be best served trying to find a local wood turners who may volunteer helping us core the occasional bowl like maybe 1 or 2 a month. Is it not even worth too core them. Any advice would be great.

We need to get ideas for wood turning projects that are great for teaching beginners the skills of wood turning by primary focusing on one tool. So we do it now that we have one project that we mostly use the BG one that mostly uses the skew Ect. Any great leaning projects would be appreciated.

Most of the veterans in our program our here with PTDS and other issues from serving. We have a licensed clinical social worker on staff who is my wife to help them get as many services as possible but money is an issue. We hsve them keep or sell there creations. What are the best ways to help them sell there projects. We do not take any money and the wood is free. We have noticed that many of them have struggled to sell there projects to help suppliment there income and are wondering what has worked for other people

Looking to make a home made ball turning device any idea if it's worth it or is it just worth it to do it by hand and not waste the time and money. We would only use it a couple times a month.

Also if anyone has any questions about the program, wants to join, wants to volunteer any help we accept everything except money. We would love and appreciate any advice or help or anything anyone may share with us. Thanks
 
Todd, it sounds like you all have a great program started and it's also great that you're able to help veterans learn alternative skills to help cope with their PTSD. Just knowing how supportive the turning community is, I'm sure you'll be able to find a volunteer to help with coring. I know our club is always looking for opportunities to help out with community organizations, so there's bound to be someone willing to help out in your area.

As far as the sphere turning jig, one of our club members made a homemade sphere turning jig with scrap metal cutoffs and a carbide cutting tip. It ended up being similar to one of the commercially available jigs, but he turns batches of spheres at once. Since you all focus on teaching and cost is a consideration, I would recommend turning the spheres by hand as a skill building project. You could also show students how to make their own cup centers. It's a pretty approachable process and it's satisfying for students.
 
Thanks for your reply. Finding local people that would help us core projects for people would be great as we would be able to turn a bowl into 2 or 3. Even just getting a small dish would be another 30 plus dollars for someone for essentially free and save a beautiful burl as well.

You are certainly correct thr turning community is a great one.

Although I teach turning i have never had any formal guidance myself except Richard Raffan you tube videos. I am always looking for any guidance myself to pass on skills as I know I am by no means a world class Turner but I do possess enough of thr basics and still want to make turning available to veterans who don't have the money for the expensive equipment and to use any art form to help with mental health and suppliment income. I'd love to find local turners even if they just wanted to give me a lesson or two that I could pass along. Anything helps
 
I’ll just add a bit to what @Walker Westbrook said

F
Todd Lesiege said:
We are always trying to save wood. We have a laguna 2436 thats the only lathe strong enough to core. We currently don't have enough money to get a coring system yet because of the fact that we mostly turn expensive burls we don't want yo waste the wood. Would I be best served trying to find a local wood turners who may volunteer helping us core the occasional bowl like maybe 1 or 2 a month. Is it not even worth too core them. Any advice would be great.
Click to expand...
I suggest you contact local clubs.
Our club supports local vets in several projects.
Coring few bowls would be an hour of somebody’s time.

In general woodturners will go to extreme measure to save a nickel on sanding discs but will give or lend anything in their shop to another turner.


Todd Lesiege said:
Looking to make a home made ball turning device any idea if it's worth it or is it just worth it to do it by hand and not waste the time and money. We would only use it a couple times a month.
Click to expand...

David Springette has an easy to make ball jig in his book. Woodturning wizardry, I think.
Plus a bunch of cool projects. Many based on spheres

You may want to look into turning spheres by hand.
I show an easy layout that mostly results in round balls for advanced beginners.

Here is a set of slides:


Here is a ball in a ball video. The first few minutes show turning the ball
View: https://youtu.be/fmCvOP2Mpmw
 
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Todd Lesiege said:
Thanks for the info. I have tried to find local clubs and have not had any success. Is there a way to find them other than Google. Is there a list on here?
Click to expand...
. The AAW site Woodturner.org has a chapter search. Put mass in th state box you get all the Massachusetts chapters.
You can also search on surrounding states might be something closer across a border
Here a few screen shots that point the way
IMG_2656.jpeg
IMG_2657.jpeg
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IMG_2659.jpeg
 
Todd, this is a great program and we all wish you success. The advice to connect with one or more local clubs is spot on.

For project ideas, I suggest you look at the student teaching materials. Your students are not teenagers, but the projects will give you some ideas and the lesson materials can help you introduce the projects to your vets. Student projects Unfortunately, this wonderful resource has gotten kind of obscure on the AAW web site, which is very unfortunate for those of us who actually volunteer in the local schools.

More obvious is the AAW home page, where you can click on "Getting Started Woodturning" and find out about the other useful resources the AAW has to offer. The Explore video and text database and the Fundamentals materials are great places to get curated info.
 
Todd, Check out the North Bennett Street School in Boston. Several graduates teach there and could offer suggestions.
For my first project, I chose a candlestick with a saucer. I still use it today to guide me through my own darkness.
Thank you for helping be part of the solution and don't hesitate to ask local suppliers for material support.
 
Gregory Hickman said:
I 100% agree with this idea. While they might not offer everything you need, many supplies used in turning might be available from this source of donations.

Gregory
Click to expand...

I would think that Woodcraft in West Springfield might be willing to help. They are a great group of people and community oriented. They might make a great partner. It is worth stopping by and talking with them.

Bob
 
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