Ornamental Turning
The online resource for "OT" enthusiasts
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Upcoming events
Society of Ornamental Turners Quarterly Meeting
September 13, 2008 – Uxbridge Masonic Centre
Diamond Jubilee Celebration. Membership to the SOT required. Join the SOT
Ornamental Turners International Bi-Annual Meeting
September 26–28, 2008 – Westport Plaza, St. Louis, Missouri
This is your chance to find out first-hand what it's all about! Attend lectures and demonstrations covering a range of topics on ornamental turning techniques, apparatus, retrospectives and history. Meet other turners, enthusiasts, and OT equipment makers. Includes a banquet, awards, trade show and instant gallery. Membership to OTI required. OTI Symposium Details
Society of Ornamental Turners Annual General Meeting
November 8, 2008 – Uxbridge Masonic Centre
The annual general meeting of the Society of Ornamental Turners is always a friendly and enjoyable gathering with usually more than 100 members attending from the UK and overseas. In addition to the formal business meeting, it includes a lecture, competition awards, and auction. Membership to the SOT required. Join the SOT
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News
Current news
The greatest collection of ornamental turned ivory artifacts in the world
Johannes Volmer suggests, "Maybe some of today's ornamental turning enthusiasts would be interested to visit my native town Dresden and its famous galleries and museums—and the Green Vault." The Historical Green Vault (Historisches Gruenes Gewoelbe) was the treasure chamber of the Saxon Electors and Kings in the residence palace of Dresden. The palace was re-opened in September 2006 after the reconstruction and restoration of the old halls and rooms, having been completely burned out and destroyed by the bomb raid of the allied air forces in February 1945 (which Volmer had the chance to survive as a Dresden boy of 15). Today, they exhibit an impressive collection of more than than 100 turned ivory pieces of all kinds, some dating back to the early 17th century.
"The Modern Rose" Turns a Jet Mini Lathe into a Rose Engine
"The Modern Rose" had its world debut at the AAW Symposium in Richmond, Va. June 20-22, 2008. This bolt-on accessory enables a Jet mini lathe to do many of the things a rose engine is known for. It bolts on to the lathe in about an hour yet preserves conventional fixed high-speed operation. Various accessories are planned allowing the ability to turn ovals, cut threads, create a barley twist, and follow a template. Visit The Modern Rose Website
Article and Video on How to Make OT Polychromatic Patterns
"Cutting Through the Layers" by Jon Magill in the summer issue of American Woodturner describes how to use OT techniques to precisely cut through multiple contrasting layers of wood to produce polychromatic patterns. The video "Woodturning Embellishments with Laminated Acrylic" by Ed Davidson demonstrates a similar technique. More info
Nova OT Visualizer Software Now Available
Teknatool is now offering software that illustrates how certain OT patterns will look. Created by James Staley, Nova OT Visualizer can help you visualize barleycorn and other patterns by entering parameters such as the diameter of the work, number of cuts, skipped cuts, and cutter diameter. The software is intended to aid in working with the Teknatool Nova Ornamental Turner tool. Requires Microsoft Excel. Trial version available. More info
John Edwards Launches Ornamental Turning Website
Former president of the Society of Ornamental Turners, John Edwards has launched a new website dedicated to ornamental turning from the viewpoint of a practitioner. The site contains a gallery of ornamentally turned items made by the author, information about the craft of ornamental turning, a treatise on ornamental turning lathes and equipment, advice on ornamental turning techniques, a list of useful books, a catalogue of items for sale and wanted, plus links to other websites of interest to ornamental turners. View Edwards' site
Johannes Volmer Announces Improved Oval Indexer
Johannes Volmer has published an article detailing a new indexer for ornamenting oval turned objects. It is a elegantly simple mechanism, its parts are easily made of sheet metal, and the division accuracy is very high. The indexer can be applied to a traditional elliptical chuck, Steinert's oval turning device, Vicmarc's oval turning device and others.
American Woodturner Features Ornamental Turning
The Spring 2008 issue of American Woodturner, the journal of the American Association of Woodturners, features several articles on ornamental turning. "The Cutting Edge of OT" by Jon Magill details the cutters and cutting frames used in ornamental turning. "Build an Overhead Drive" by Jon Magill details the construction of a basic overhead drive for cutting frames and drilling spindles. "Rose-Engines & Kings" is a brief overview of the recent ornamental turning exhibit at the Wood Turning Center in Philadelphia, PA. All of the articles are illustrated with numerous color photos. American Woodturner is sent to all members of the AAW and is also readily available at bookstores throughout the U.S. Join the American Association of Woodturners