Ten-foot Turnings
John,
Thought you might like to see this. These are four columns I have to turn for a building project near London. The pillars are 12"x12"x10" long, of laminated idigbo. They are to be turned in one piece - the lathe will take 12' in length and some 24" in diameter. Should be fun!
I'm also building a lathe which should have a slightly larger capacity. The lathe I'm using now isn't mine. It belongs to my good friend and colleague Vick Tuckett. Vic has just completed his barley sugar turning machine which also does internal threads.
Bertie Somme

Visit Bertie online
(http://www.thefollowingmorning.co.uk)

If the Hat Fits...
And JoHannes Michelsen's hats are actually guaranteed to fit. He started making them about fourteen years ago, and now he teaches others how. If you're a cowboy at heart (he also makes baseball caps), stop by his site and see how it's done.

Visit Johannes online
(http://www.woodhat.com)

Palm software for Segmented Turnings
Turner Kevin Neelley has developed a program for calculating segment dimensions and saw angles for segmented turnings. In addition to calculating segmented ring dimensions for using all three types of miters (stave, flat or compound), it calculates segment dimensions for open segment rings and rings with filler pieces between the segments. Palm Miter Angles software 1.0 is designed for Palm and Palm-compatible PDAs running Palm OS 3.0 or above.Ê The price is $19.95 US through Paypal and Kevin will e-mail the software to you. He'll also accept checks and send it on a floppy.

For more info, visit Kevin online.
(http://www.turnedwood.com/PalmSoftware.html)

Drill Equally-spaced Holes in a Turning
Keith Jeeves is vice president of the Sydney (Australia) Woodturners Guild. He has come up with a jig which allows you to drill accurate holes in a workpiece held in the lathe. The jig holds an inexpensive portable drill guide, is easily adjustable and the angle of the drill to the lathe bed is easily measurable. Consistently accurate holes are achieved, especially when using an index plate to align a large number of holes on a small diameter workpiece, where the drilled holes are almost touching and slight inaccuracies are noticeable. On his Web site, he gives illustrated instructions for its construction. Thanks, Keith!

Visit Keith online

Big... BIG... Bowl!
Oland Craft was started in 1974 by Knud and Lissi Oland and is located in Brasstown, N.C. Knud passed away in 1991 and Lissi has continued the turning business. She offers a variety of turnings in both size, shape and design in local woods, and a line of turning tools as well as instruction in wood turning.
Few people turn pieces as massive as those coming out of Lissi's shop, and even fewer women do. She is a Master Turner, a creative artist and an independent woman. She loves to turn and treats it not only as a profession but as a purpose.
The piece shown here started out with the possibility of being 42" wide, but a couple of wrong cuts with the chain saw, and also some rot (the log had been outside for two yeas) delivered a bowl which ended up weighing 44 lbs, is 15-1/2" tall and 30-1/2" in diameter. The walls are 1-1/2" thick and the bottom diameter is 11-1/4". Lissi applied 4 or 5 coats of Deft and a lot of hand rubbing.

Introduction To Woodturning
A free e-book for beginners
Brian Clifford is one heck of a nice guy! He wrote a book for beginning woodturners, then uploaded it to the Internet so that anyone who shares his passion for turning can share his knowledge. This is an excellent book, too. Mr. Clifford was the editor of Woodturner magazine in the U.K., and also wrote articles for the magazine on woodturning projects and associated topics. He has had a number of articles published in 'Practical Woodworking' magazine and has regularly taught night-school classes and weekend schools. He has given lessons in his own workshop and lectured and demonstrated from time to time.

If you visit him online, please tell him thanks.
(http://www.turningtools.co.uk)