Denis Tapley

[Denis Tapley]

I'm Denis Tapley. I live in Perth Western Australia but have travelled extensively around Oz and the world. My wife and I are off to Canada and US in Sept this year, cruising from Quebec to New York, then on a bus tour to Washington. Can't wait.
I have been a High School Teacher in the Design and Technology faculty throughout my career, and now retired for the last 7 years. This has been the best time of my life! I just love it
For about 13 years, I have been involved in the Fine Wood Work Assoc. in Perth, WA, specialising in box making. However, about 3 years ago the prospect of woodturning stole my interest and now I find I must tear myself away from my workshop to spend time with my lovely wife. She needs me too! There is so much to do in turning that I find exciting and totally absorbing.
I am delighted to see how well the AAW provides for its members and what it offers in resources and consequently, I am so glad I joined. As a member of the Woodturners Assoc. of Western Australia, I have met people who have been to your International Symposium and loved it. I intend to be there next year in Louisville, Kentucky and look forward to meeting many of you.
Our WAWA has monthly competitions and currently I am working on 2 competition items: a laminated bowl and another bowl with a wide embellished lip. I'll post some pics later when these are complete.
I am now on my 3rd lathe: a Vicmarc VL 240 which I consider a worthy investment. I will also post a pic of a bowl I made this year from Jacaranda and Walnut. It has an offset opening, routered grooves and walnut inserts. Cheers Denis

 

[Mike Johnson]

Denis,
Very nicely done, how does the Jacaranda turn compared to other woods?

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Denis , I would say you are hooked. Welcome to your Fellow Addicts Society. We can support you habit and you can support ours. Yes we are all addicted and proud of it. By the way nice piece , how did you do the router cuts? Oh no secrets here!!

 

[Denis Tapley]

Jacaranda turns beautifully. It’s a medium density timber that doesn’t tear out and in plentiful supply (green) here in Perth, WA. For the grooves, I turned a piece of 16mm thick MDF, hollowing one side to match the curvature of the top surface of the bowl. Using a band saw I cut this to make a fence for each router cut and I used a small router trimmer with a round base to cut the grooves. Luckily, I got all 3 fences from the one piece of MDF.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Welcome to the AAW forum, Denis. That is a very beautiful bowl. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Lamar Wright]

Hello Denis, welcome to the forum. That is indeed a very nice bowl you have....well done indeed.

 

[Denis Tapley]

Thank you gentlemen for the welcoming and the compliments.

 

[Denis Tapley]

Hi Bill. My avatar looks proportional when I check my account profile but it is stretched sideways in this thread. What can I do to amend this? Cheers

 

[Bill Boehme]

You need to crop your avatar to a square image, otherwise it will be squeezed/stretched to fit into a 192 X 192 pixel square space. Your square image can be larger than 192 X 192 ... it can be 300 X 300 for example and the software will automatically downsize it. However, if you use an image that is smaller such as 100 X 100 for example then the software will automatically enlarge it to 192 X 192 pixels ... the results of enlarging an image are usually pretty bad.

The image on your profile page is 192 pixels wide by 259 pixels high so you could just crop off 67 pixels from the bottom and that might get you what you want or you could go back to your original image and take a square crop that is at least 192 pixels per side.

 

[hockenbery]

Welcome,
Look forward to your contributions.
In central Florida I often get locally grown Camphor and red gum eucalyptus both introduced from Australia.
Camphor has become my favorite wood to turn.

Have great trip

 

[Drew Sumrell]

Denis, that is an intriguing piece for sure. Thanks for sharing how you did the routed curves. Did you hollow the piece as usual and then cut the hole out by hand? It appears oval. Really nice work.

Welcome to the AAW forum.

Drew

 

[Denis Tapley]

Hi Drew
Thanks for the positive feedback and the welcoming sentiments.
Initially I turned a spigot (on the bottom of the bowl), mounted it in a chuck then rounded off the top surface. I removed it from the chuck, determined the centre of the offset hole and set it up between centres. I used a parting tool and took a few cuts to make the hole opening but, of course, you can only take out a bit because the live centre is in the way. I then turned a ring of walnut to fit the hole and glued and clamped it in place using epoxy. Back on the lathe between centres, I was able to refine the walnut insert. Then back into the chuck and I hollowed out the bowl. It's a lot like emptying out a hollow form with a 40mm opening. (This is the trickiest bit.) I was able to shape the underside of the bowl to some extent while still in the chuck, then finished off the bottom using a donut chuck. I sprayed it with gloss lacquer - I rarely use gloss but it looked so good when the satin finish was still wet and shiny, that I decided that gloss was (in this case) rather nice. Cheers for now Denis

 

[David Hill]

Welcome from Texas!
Beautiful turning, and thanks for the "how you did it".
Would like to try something like that with Mesquite.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

I'm Denis Tapley. I live in Perth Western Australia but have travelled extensively around Oz and the world. My wife and I are off to Canada and US in Sept this year, cruising from Quebec to New York, then on a bus tour to Washington. Can't wait.
I have been a High School Teacher in the Design and Technology faculty throughout my career, and now retired for the last 7 years. This has been the best time of my life! I just love it
For about 13 years, I have been involved in the Fine Wood Work Assoc. in Perth, WA, specialising in box making. However, about 3 years ago the prospect of woodturning stole my interest and now I find I must tear myself away from my workshop to spend time with my lovely wife. She needs me too! There is so much to do in turning that I find exciting and totally absorbing.
I am delighted to see how well the AAW provides for its members and what it offers in resources and consequently, I am so glad I joined. As a member of the Woodturners Assoc. of Western Australia, I have met people who have been to your International Symposium and loved it. I intend to be there next year in Louisville, Kentucky and look forward to meeting many of you.
Our WAWA has monthly competitions and currently I am working on 2 competition items: a laminated bowl and another bowl with a wide embellished lip. I'll post some pics later when these are complete.
I am now on my 3rd lathe: a Vicmarc VL 240 which I consider a worthy investment. I will also post a pic of a bowl I made this year from Jacaranda and Walnut. It has an offset opening, routered grooves and walnut inserts. Cheers DenisView attachment 30270

Welcome to the forum! I turn 7 days a week on an Australian made lathe, a Stubby 750. In the next few weeks, I'll have my Stubby 1000 ! I know all about addiction!

 

[Denis Tapley]

Thanks David. I haven’t even seen any Mesquite. Sounds exotic. Maybe I can get some when I’m in Louisville KY next year. Cheers Denis

 

[Denis Tapley]

Thanks Emiliano. Yeah, the stubby is a big one. Lucky you being able to indulge yourself every day of the week. I manage to get into my shed (workshop) most days and love the challenge of creating a new design. My wife helps heaps and we make a good team. I like what Stuart Batty said about the untapped potential of multi-axial turning. However, trying to get my head around what the final piece will look like is a problem. I have to suck it and see. All part of the fun.