Woodturning Demo With Trent Bosch

This past Saturday the Des Moines Woodturners group had Trent Bosch give a all day demo. I've enjoyed Trent's work before and wondered how he accomplished some of it. The demo started at 9am and with only two short breaks other than 30 mins for lunch, the day went to quickly. Trent is a great teacher, explains things in great detail in ways anyone can understand and enjoys doing so as well.

He turned his "Vessel of Illusion" first. I always wondered how he got the vessel inside another vessel...and it really is quite simple to do although there will be quite a bit of trial and error I'm sure. He first turns a hollow form with 2 top edges.

 He then carves and sands the "petals" using air tools.

Then he turns a very thin insert out of a contrasting wood and drops it into boiling water until it drops to the bottom of the pan. He then quickly bends the insert and gets it into the hollow form. Gets the insert where he wants it, blows a balloon up inside the vessel to hold the insert in place and form itself to the interior of the hollow form. After it all drys, he glues it in place with epoxy.

Then he turned and showed us how he carves a platter, again with air tools.  

Finally he turned a large bowl I didn't get any pics of that he used to show several ways he embellishes his work (carving, painting, adding patina, etc.) All in all a great day to spend with my dad and other fellow woodturners. I would highly recommend attending a demo or class with Trent. He also of course makes lots of tools  in his machine shop (I dont' own any, but did handle them at the demo and they are top notch!)and sells videos as well. If you wnat to learn more about Trent, check out his website.

Tips,Techniques and Articles

This list is compiled from friends I've met on web forums and found in my own web searches to enable me to become a better woodturner. Click here to see some articles and pdfs that I have found useful. Please also take a look at my Other Woodturners page with tons of fellow individual woodturner sites. Both pages will be updated regularly. If you have something you'd like to add, let me know.

Online Forums and Blogs
All of these forums are loaded with information on turning. From how to articles to just great banter between fellow woodworkers, try one out you'll be glad you did.







Great all around woodturning sites
These sites have a tremendous amount of insight on woodturning and woodworking in general. Many of the individual links below this section are pulled from these sites. Let me know if you have one you'd like to add.


This site by Darrell Feltmate has tons of tips and ideas for beginners on up to seasoned turning pros. A must see site. He also has a blog called round opinions.

WONDERFUL WOOD
Bill Grumbine has a great site with great pics of technique and how to's. You can also order one of his DVD's as well.

Stu's Dungeon
Stu is a jack of all trades, making many of his tools/fixtures as well as helping to maintain the best woodworking forum on the internet Family Woodworking.org


A great site with tips on getting started, articles, projects and turner sites from around the world. Another must see site.

LaymarCrafts Woodturning
Richard Stapley has this huge and informative website that contains tips, techniques, reviews, how to's and a list of over 3500 international woodturner's websties!

Woodturning Projects For All Skill Levels
This is a huge list of how to's and projects for any skill level.

An Itemized list of what you need to start turning
The folks at WoodNet have come up with a great list of what you need to get started turning...many WoodNet members added there takes as well. Informative and funny!

Turning Techniques
A PDF with diagrams on how to best cut up a log
A list of turning techniques from Darrell Feltmate
Log to bowl in under an hour - A podcast by Brian Simmons
Another nice list of how to's and projects from David Reed Smith.
Wood Magazine has some nice videos online with how to projects.
Vaughn McMillan shows us how to make a bowl out of a root ball.
Turning green wood
How to turn a box
Make a 4 in 1 screwdriver
Confetti Oil Lamps
A great colleciton of turning videos on the Woodworking Channel.

Sharpening
Stu in his Dungeon shows how it's done.
A video by Stu as well.
Darrell Feltmate shows how to make a jig and how to use it.
A great listing of differnt bowl gouge grinds.

Turning Tools

Were to buy
Thompson Lathe Tools - Have heard great things about these and the owner, Doug Thompson
Penn State Industries - For the beginner, this is a great site for quality, but cheaper lathe tools.
Craft Supplies - A highly regarded supplier of everything a woodturner needs .
Woodsmith Store - Not much online for turner's, but the store in Des Moines, IA is a great place to go.
Packard Woodworks - Another great site that has just about everything you need to turn.

How to make
Darrell Feltmate has made many different useful tools.
How to make a hollowing rig
Big list of sites showing how to make turning tools

Shopmade accessories
Darrell Feltmate shows how to make 6 "must have" tools out of scrap you have around the shop
How to make a screw chuck
How to make wooden faceplates
How to make glue blocks
Homemade "cheap" steady rest
Homemade bowl depth gage

Finishing
A discussion on AAW forum about sanding green wood.
A great site explaining different kinds of finishes.
The soap solution technique of green wood drying
How to use DNA (denatured alcohol) with green wood
A recipe for spalting wood
Big list of sites with finishing techniques/formulas

Safety
Bill Pentz's wood dust info and dust collection info.
Laymar Crafts safety page is very informative and very complete.
Wood Art by Dan - a great listing of safety information

General Woodworking Tips
Woodworkers Guide A great woodworking blog dedicated to woodworking tips
WW Photography tutorial by Lumberjocks.