dropped a miniature mirror in the shavings

Re: dropped a miniature mirror in the shavings

Bill Turpin in WNC mountains

John could you have cleaned the shop in less time instead of crawling?

Re: dropped a miniature mirror in the shavings

Alan Zenreich

Dropped mirror, sucked a paint can into the dust collector, hand injury...

We might have to chip in to get you a full time chaperone to follow you around to keep you out of trouble.

Re: dropped a miniature mirror in the shavings

John C Lucas

If I had swept or vacuumed I would have never found it. I found it and finished turning the head. Then dropped the handle when I cut it off. Fortunately I did sweep up last night although I did turn one full size handle so had to deal with those shavings. Fun looking for a handle that is less than an inch long and .090" in diameter.

Re: dropped a miniature mirror in the shavings

John C Lucas

I'm all for a chaperone as long as she,s Swedish 5'2" and 110 lbs. Oooh I'm in trouble now.

Turning a handle

john lucas

Here is a photo of one of the handles as I finished turning it. Trying to turn the small tenon which is .045" takes patience. I turn the beads with the skew shown in the photo. You can't sand these things so the turning has to be perfect.

Drilling the mirror head

john lucas

Drilling the head has always been a hassle. Last year at the 127 flea mkt I found this high quality Dremel drill press. Paid $5 for it. Took very little effort to clean it up and make it work. Now it's a breeze. I just need to rig up a better way to hold the mirror and an easier fine adjustment horizontally. The table moves up to drill the piece. It's extremely smooth.

The ole blue tape bandage!

Re: The ole blue tape bandage!

john lucas

Actually it's holding another bandage in place. I haven't take the time to change bandages today. The damage to my thumb was less than it looked like the first day. Still pretty tender to the touch.

Normally in the shop it's a torn up shop towel and blue tape for a bandage.

Re: Drilling the mirror head

Alan Zenreich

John,

I use a dremel on a drill stand with carbide burrs (with 1/8" shanks) to make very tiny holes in pendants. I hold the pendant in a micrometer stand, which allows me to position it easily, tilts and has padded jaws. I don't know if this would be useful in your case, but you might want to take a look at 6:42 in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoXM5HNU9x4

Re: Turning a handle

John K Jordan

Where do you get glass mirrors that size?

A few weeks ago I sent some things to a beginning woodturning friend on the other end of the country: some American Chestnut, a 3" glass mirror, some hand-written instructions, and a link to the John Lucas mirror video.

He made the mirror and now wants to make more! I wrote yesterday that he found more glass in the hobby shop and can't wait until the shop warms up enough. I think he's been turning about two months and is already becoming proficient with the skew. He broke the first mirror handle but from that learned to pay attention to the grain orientation! Good fun.

JKJ