On March 27th, Bucks Woodturners were honored to host Hans Weissflog. Hans did a demonstration of one of his signature boxes.
Starting with the lid, Hans turned it on center to make a depth marking on the rim, using half the rim thickness as a depth gauge. For this exercise, the measurement was 1.5 mm with the full thickness of the finished lid at 3 mm. After remounting the lid to be off center, Hans starts the initial point and checks the depth with a dull drill bit. He then moves to a thin parting tool to begin making the rings. Each rings is then checked for proper depth. An important point, if your parting tool is sharp, the cut will be even on both sides of the cut. If the tool is not as sharp, the depth will be uneven through the cut.
Once the rings run off the lid across the rim, it is easier to check the depth of the cut by matching it to to the rim.
Hans commented that the precision of this work was due to the finger control he uses on the parting tool for each ring. Taking the time to slowly work the parting tool into the lid with gentle but firm pressure.
After the rings were completed, Hans uses a skew to round over the sharp edges for each ring. After a light sanding, the lid is turned over and placed in a jamchuck and Hans repeats the process, only starting in the center of the lid at this time. When both sides are completed and lightly sanded, Hans uses a toothbrush to brush out and stray fibers between the open spaces, and other implements to achieve a clean piece.
Hans then began to work on the body of the box, turning the inside dimension first and sanding to 1000 grit. When the inside was sanded, the edge was turned down to fit the lid, and the lid remounted onto the body of the box. The box was turned so the outside body of the box matched the diameter of the lid.
The box body was then remounted in a jam check to finish the bottom and complete the piece.
Just as a sidenote, Hans was joined at the meeting with his son Jakob Weissflog and they displayed some of their work. Both Hans and Jakob are amazing artists and I hope you enjoy the small boxes and other pieces they displayed. Thank you Hans, for giving us a wonderful demonstration!
