First Rough Coffee Scoop

[gketell]

Ok, this is only the 3rd non-pen item I have turned and it was planned as a "rough draft" to learn from so I used redwood because it is soft and easy to turn and finished it with several baths of mineral oil (I actually thought it would be a throw-away when I was done with it but my wife wants to keep it).

Things I learned:
1) Making a jamb chuck is a lot harder than it seems.
2) A good jamb chuck is a must for this type of item.
3) Redwood doesn't work well in a jamb chuck because it is so soft it dents.
4) Redwood is so soft that it dents/cracks as the item flies out of the early/bad jamb chucks.
5) Mineral oil sucks as a finish.
6) I need to work (a lot) on turning round beads/balls.

Any thoughts for improvement would be appreciated!!

GK

 

[mwenman]

Your beads on the handle don't look too bad.

The slight out of round scoop portion of this project adds character and is appealing. Atleast now you can say you scooped up a crooked cup of coffee

Overall, I like it!

 

[holmqer]

I just tried the exact same project and had the same problem with my jamb chuck! I made a few screwups and will have to try again. I cut a few maple blanks so I can try again as soon as I find some time.

Yours turned out much better than mine. This was my first experiment with multi-axis turning.

 

[gketell]

Mine too, Holmqer. How'd you like the "whoosh whoosh whoosh" of the "single sided propellor" handle as it spun around? Wheeeee. That and my lathe trying to wander away. Made for exciting turning. Especially before I got the jamb chuck right so that propeller actually took off in flight a few times. [:0] [B)]

GK

 

[holmqer]

I cheated and avoided the scoop taking flight by using the tail stock and a scrap block to hold the scoop in the jamb chuck.

I measured the ball, went down one size and used a Forstner bit to rough out the hole in the jamb chuck. I then used a #7 / 11mm woodcarving gouge to open the hole to fit the ball which was not perfectly circular on that axis.

 

[its_virgil]

Check out the special caliper and collet that Soren Berger developed for turning spheres and which he uses to turn similar scoops. The caliper and collet are sold by Craft Supplies and I think Packard Woodworks. They had just arrived prior to the Utah Symposium and Soren was there in the hands on area doing demonstrations of how they work....it is really neat caliper and collet. The collet come in two sizes for doing smaller and larger spheres and fits in the jaws of a standard bowl chuck. I can post a picture of one of Soren's scoops he gave me after one of his demonstrations. Let me know.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[gketell]

Sadly nothing but his hollowing tool is listed on either site yet.

GK

 

[ahoiberg]

hey greg that looks nice, good job.

i've never tried that style of coffee scoop but if you're looking for a slightly easier version, you could try the raffan-style scoops where you basically turn a small cup and bandsaw off a curved area. scoops are a blast to make though... keep it up!

 

[gketell]

Andrew,

Any links to the raffan-style? I can't find it.

Thanks
GK

 

[its_virgil]

Greg,
You should really contact Craft Supplies or Packard Woodworks and get information on Soren's caliper-calculator and collets. The caliper guides in turning the sphere between centers and then the collet, which fits into a standard chuck, holds the sphere while the final turning is done. He used the collet to hold the sphere with its handle to hollow it out to make a scoop. Take a look at a air of Soren's scoops. http://www.berger.co.nz/showphoto.php?item_id=6

The caliper and collets are now on my birthday list. They just became available and Craft Supplies had their first shipment just in time for the Utah Symposium back on May 21. I really enjoyed watching him turn the scoops and the caliper and collets are really ingenous....or at least I think so.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by gketell

Andrew,

Any links to the raffan-style? I can't find it.

Thanks
GK

 

[ahoiberg]

greg,

surprisingly, i can't find any of raffan's examples, but this is a picture of one that resembles his.

http://www.hartleywoodcraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/bowl_scoop.jpg

i'll try to take a photo of the one i've got laying around the house so i can show you exactly what i mean.

 

[ahoiberg]

greg, sorry it took eons, but i finally got around to taking a few pics of a scoop i made a while back. this is what i meant by the 'raffan-style' scoop.

by the way, i have no idea what kind of wood this is, if anyone has a stab, i'd love to hear it.

 

[gketell]

Those are interesting scoops. Looks more like a flour or sugar scoop to me.

Sorry, no idea on the wood.

GK

 

[bitshird]

I just finished reading the Raffan book Turning Wood, his version of a scoop looks quite a bit easier than yours does, that has to be scary [)][)][)]

 

[gketell]

It was only scary when the one-armed propellor actually took off because my jamb chuck was too shallow. [B)]

GK

 

[meshel]

Originally posted by ahoiberg

greg, sorry it took eons, but i finally got around to taking a few pics of a scoop i made a while back. this is what i meant by the 'raffan-style' scoop.

by the way, i have no idea what kind of wood this is, if anyone has a stab, i'd love to hear it.

Looks a lot like Pomello. very nicely executed!

 

[ahoiberg]

greg, did you get the idea for that scoop from woodturningonline.com ?

 

[gketell]

No, someone posted their bowl of scoops to the turning section of SawMillCreek.org. Since my family are almost all coffee drinkers I thought I would give it a try.

GK

 

[ahoiberg]

i see. and you used a hollowed jamb chuck for the bowl part after turning a handle and sphere? one other question, did you saw off half the sphere before hollowing or just turn it off?

 

[gketell]

I just turned it off. But that was very soft redwood. It might be faster at the saw for harder woods.

GK