RodMaker Wood Turning Seminar

On May 5th, 2012, rod builders with an eye on learning wood turning met at the RodMaker Offices and Shop in High Point, NC. With one exception, all were first timers at the lathe. And with that one exception, none of the others even owned a lathe.

 

Master wood turner and wood turning teacher Morris Schlesinger instructed the students on a multitude of the craft’s aspects including tool sharpening, spindle turning, sacrificial morse taper mounts, boring, sanding and more.

Each student had access to a lathe for the entire 7 hour session (45-minute lunch break). Two were still turning as we began the clean up that afternoon. To say the students enjoyed the class would be an understatement.

There are few things more valuable in terms of learning a craft than hands-on instruction from a master at the craft. Morris is more than just a master wood turner, of course, he understands and enjoys people and his easy going demeanor and pertinent quips and tips added an additional and valuable element to the class.

As testimony to the quality of the turnings produced by these mostly first time turners under Morris’s instruction, many of the turnings didn’t require sanding – Morris’s instruction on the proper use of the tools produced surfaces that were butter smooth. Some students even spent time practicing their “bead and cove” work – not usually something a first timer would attempt nor succeed at on their first day at the lathe.

Expect to see Morris at the 2013 International Custom Rod Building Exposition next February. And there is some possibility, that we may stage another wood turning class here at RodMaker later this Fall.

 

Tom Kirkman

 

…………………