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Current news

OT enthusiast Bob Lynn passes

Woodworker, ornamental turner, author and founder of the Lynn Historical Woodworking Trust Bob Lynn died February 3rd, 2012 at the age of 97. The museum of woodworking and ornamental turning lathes and tools located in Ashburton, New Zealand, houses eleven lathes dating from 1804 including six Holtzapffel, two Gill, one Evans, one Davies, and a Bower rose engine.

John Edwards publishes "Holtzapffel Volume VI"

Highly accomplished ornamental turner and historian John Edwards has now published a compilation of rare and previously unpublished material related to ornamental turning. The current format is an electronic book of more than 900 pages detailing rose engine turning, the geometric chuck, ornamental turning accessories, engineering apparatus, as well as miscellaneous papers and tables. Additional details and purchase info

Ivory turner Bill Jones passes

Born in 1920 in Stoke Newington, London, Bill Jones was a fifth generation ivory and hardwood turner. Over the years Bill wrote many articles for magazines, published a couple of books, taught and demonstrated and inspired generations of budding turners. Bill was a patron of the Society of Ornamental Turners (SOT) and member of many other turning associations. His articles in Woodturning magazine, Notes from the Turning Shop and The Complete Turner informed and entertained readers for many years. Bill died July 31, 2011 bringing to an end the era of the "ivory turner." He was probably the last of this old school of skilled hand craftsmen, his career mirroring the curtailment of the ivory trade.

Auction features rare 18th Century OT lathe

The April 19, 2011 Bonhams "Fine Mechanical Music and Scientific Instruments" includes an important and early ornamental turning lathe by F. Brown. (This is the same item that did not meet the reserve price at an auction earlier this year.) This tabletop lathe features a large brass flywheel, pumping/rocking rosettes, swash, oval, dome and other chucks, set on a mahogany cabinet body with sixteen variously-sized drawers for the accessories including hand tools and chisels, thread chaser faces, dyes, screws and other related and specifically-manufactured pieces of micro-proportions. Wow! View auction item details

3D Rose Engine Surface simulator software available

Bill Ooms releases 3D Rose Engine Surface, a very handy software application for Mac, Windows, and Linux that lets you visualize a dimensional surface cut by a rose engine or ornamental lathe. Yes, 3D! The software can quickly simulate the appearance of a piece based on the number and location of cuts that you input. Once you have a pattern you like, you can print out the details and then go to the shop to replicate it. Bill is generously allowing you to download and try out the software before you purchase. A brief overview video is on YouTube. More info

Ornamental Turning Exhibition at the Wood Turning Center

"Exotic Woods, Metal Cutters and Dale Chase: Ornamental Turning from the Walter Balliet Collection" will be on exhibit at the Wood Turning Center in Philadelphia, PA, from March 4 through July 23, 2011.

The exhibit containes over 200 objects that demonstarte many aspects of ornamental turning. Eighty boxes by Dale Chase will be a special feature of the exhibit. Balliet's donation of Chase's work makes the Center's collection the largest public anthology of Chase's work to date.

From the Wood Turning Center's press release: "This exquisite selection from the Center's museum collection includes wood objects finely decorated via metal cutters fastened to historic ornamental lathes. The objects, recently donated to the Center by ornamental turner Walter Balliet, of New Jersey, reflect decades of meticulous experimentation and collaboration by Balliet and friends. These masterpieces include precious hand-size boxes by the late Dale Chase of California, the largest comprehensive museum collection to date. Other historic pieces, by Balliet and the late Frank Knox, are complemented by contemporary ornamental turning by Fred Armbruster, Paul Cler, and Gorst duPlessis. The exotic woods include over 25 varieties, including African Blackwood, Pink Ivory, and Bubinga. Experimental materials include precious metals, jade, and acrylic. In addition, our Museum Collection & Library space will be highlighting works from the museum collection showcasing ornamental turnings by: Walter Balliet; Dale Chase; Gorst duPlessis; John Edwards; Dewey Garrett; Frank Knox; Dean Malcom; Joshua Salesin; and Jon Sauer."

• Opening Reception
  Friday, March 4th, 5 – 7:30pm
• Gallery Talk with Walter Balliet
  Friday, March 4th, 5:30PM

Visit the Wood Turning Center events page for more details.

View the exhibition online

Auction features rare 18th Century OT lathe

The January 19, 2011 Bonhams "Gentleman's Library Sale" included an important and early ornamental turning lathe by F. Brown. This tabletop lathe features a large brass flywheel, pumping/rocking rosettes, swash, oval, dome and other chucks, set on a mahogany cabinet body with sixteen variously-sized drawers for the accessories including hand tools and chisels, thread chaser faces, dyes, screws and other related and specifically-manufactured pieces of micro-proportions. Wow! View auction item details

PenChuck software free

Bill Ooms releases PenChuck software, a handy Java application that runs on Macs, Windows, and Linux. PenChuck allows you to simulate the effect of different rosettes by putting a pen in place of a cutter. Select from a variety of common rosette shapes and parameters including amplitude and phase. The current version is available free of charge. More info

Translation of Bergeron's “Manual du Tourneur” now available

The Society of Ornamental Turners has released in hardback a translation of Bergeron's Manual du Tourneur. Volumes I and II are text only and contain no plates; the third volume often (called the "Atlas") contains all the Plates referred to in Volumes I and II. Editor Jeremy Soulsby has translated the previously un-translated 239 pages as well as extensively revising the style and content of the earlier works so as to clarify obscure terminology and techniques. He has fully indexed the volume and provided a glossary and extended notes.

As described from the SOT website: "First published during the turbulent times of the French Revolution, Bergeron's Manuel du Tourneur or The Turner's Manual has been admired for over two hundred years as a comprehensive record of all the tools, machinery and techniques required by an eighteenth century amateur wishing to establish a fully equipped workshop for the hobby of turning. This, the second volume of text which uses the 1816 revised and expanded second edition by P. Hamelin-Bergeron, is available for the first time in an English translation. It deals with the more elaborate elements of the subject and gives instruction in the use of the complex lathes of the period which were used to make many of the artefacts now to be seen in museums."

Available for purchase through the Society of Ornamental Turners.