sbwertz
Member
Our pen turning project at Phoenix Center for the Blind has been underway since the first of the year. I just gave them my old drill press (my husband bought me a new Steel City 17" variable speed, 6" quill travel drill press for Valentines day...there is a man who KNOWS his wife!)
The person I've been training down there is in the process of moving house, but when he gets settled in his new abode, I am going to give him my smaller bandsaw. I want him to keep it at home though, and he can use it to cut up blanks. I just think it would be too dangerous to have at the center. Those blades are really sharp. Don't want one of the students to blunder into it. He has my old 10" chop saw down there to use for cutting blanks to length and such. (You can see where all my "hand me down" tools go!)
Andy is trying to get us a second lathe because we have students booked up into July to make pens! They had to fit the pen turning into their regular class schedule, so there are only 3 classes a week, and can only handle one person per class with only one lathe. With a second lathe, we could double our throughput. Now I am trying to promote a slow speed grinder for them. Right now I'm sharpening on a 1" vertical belt sander. The partially sighted students can use the Easy Tools that Woodcraft donated, but the completely blind students do better with a big roughing gouge that they can lay on the top of the spinning blank and slowly draw down until it begins to bite. That way they are never pushing a tool into a spinning blank that they cannot see.
I have to say this is one of the most rewarding things I have done in my life. There are some truly amazing people down there.
They are putting together a YouTube video and when it is up I will post a link.
The person I've been training down there is in the process of moving house, but when he gets settled in his new abode, I am going to give him my smaller bandsaw. I want him to keep it at home though, and he can use it to cut up blanks. I just think it would be too dangerous to have at the center. Those blades are really sharp. Don't want one of the students to blunder into it. He has my old 10" chop saw down there to use for cutting blanks to length and such. (You can see where all my "hand me down" tools go!)
Andy is trying to get us a second lathe because we have students booked up into July to make pens! They had to fit the pen turning into their regular class schedule, so there are only 3 classes a week, and can only handle one person per class with only one lathe. With a second lathe, we could double our throughput. Now I am trying to promote a slow speed grinder for them. Right now I'm sharpening on a 1" vertical belt sander. The partially sighted students can use the Easy Tools that Woodcraft donated, but the completely blind students do better with a big roughing gouge that they can lay on the top of the spinning blank and slowly draw down until it begins to bite. That way they are never pushing a tool into a spinning blank that they cannot see.
I have to say this is one of the most rewarding things I have done in my life. There are some truly amazing people down there.
They are putting together a YouTube video and when it is up I will post a link.