Greetings!

The intern returns! Spencer Hamann is back in Saltsburg for his second of three month-long stints of total emersion in all things complex turning. He has been greatly missed by the Plumier team, as well as members of the local community. We are all thrilled to have him back on Point Street! 

Spencer has not been resting in his studies of complex turning since his time in Saltsburg last summer—far from it. He has continued to make improvements on the homemade rose engine he has overhauled, while also diving deep on the anatomy of patterns it can generate using his beautiful homemade paper chuck. During his last session, he focused heavily on exploring curvilinear rose engine work through the form of custom handles for his luthier tools. He found particular success in segmented construction using both “plain” and rose engine forms in contrasting materials to great effect.

While back to his normal grind (though work as full-time luthier can hardly be described as the classically dull nine-to-five), Spencer has continued to be an energetic champion of complex turning. He has been the among the most active members in the broader online community since he was coming up with ways to do complex patterns on his Logan engine lathe. He has also served as the president of Ornamental Turning International since the fall of 2024. It was this enthusiasm and his quick success last summer that inspired a generous member to team up with Plumier to put together our first custodial rose engine. Spencer brought his custodial LRE home in January and has been studiously making great use of it since.

Gaining machining experience at Plumier has also unlocked a new level toolmaking confidence for Spencer. He recently made two locking nuts to mount a the LRE curvilinear to a Hardinge cross slide. While by his own admission this was not the most advanced machining project, he made full use of his Logan and successfully made the parts to spec. Anyone new to machining will agree that this feels like a superpower. The feeling never gets old as the projects get more advanced. The ability to make custom tooling is a key to success in complex turning.

Spencer came to this month at Plumier with a deeper understanding of the mechanics and aesthetics of complex than he has ever had before, while maintaining that same spark of excitement that he has had since the beginning. It is an excitement that is infectious. 

Spencer is wasting no time in experimenting and challenging himself with new patterns

Spencer has been chronicling his time in Saltsburg since he arrived in daily Instagram posts—follow him to keep with his work and time at Plumier. Consider this a fair warning that his motivation can be contagious. You will be itching to turn something yourself when you read his posts! 

Spencer's recreation of a pattern out of Holtzapffel

The Bonny Doon video series is also a great opportunity to get to know the two instructors of our upcoming class Creative Pressure: Uses of Hydraulic Forming in Craft. This 5 day course is designed for craftspeople of all disciplines to teach them the ability to harness the power of the press to advance their work in efficient and creative ways. The class will be held at the Plumier shop June 8-12. Read our last email on the class for more details and reserve your spot before it is filled! 

Join us for two upcoming Open Shop Saturdays! 

Saturday, May 9 

9AM-5PM at Plumier followed by a special presentation from Seth Gould on his journey in the metal art at the Salt Center from 5PM-6PM 

Member Seth Gould is an extremely talented blacksmith and metalsmith whose work ranges from elegant hand forged tools, to ornamental vessels and lock boxes. Seth studied the traditional art of nuome zogan overlay in Japan, and he incorporates geometric, gold leaf patterns in a striking contrast with his forged iron forms. Seth is teaching a class on hand forged and finished compasses at the Center for Metal Arts down the road in Johnstown before joining us for the Open Shop. Check out his Instagram for more of his work and to see updates on his ongoing clock project—it is coming together as beautifully as you would expect. 

Saturday, June 13 

9AM-5PM at Plumier followed by a special presentation by Lauri Vaher on historic ripple moulding machines at the Salt Center from 5PM-6PM

Lauri Vaher is a woodwork and furniture conservator who does research and lectures at Malmstens, Linköping University in Sweden. He also does work in architecture, sculptural arts, and woodworking of his own. Lauri has particular interests in incorporating historical techniques into contemporary design, and the relationship of mathematics and geometry with art. These interests overlapped when he was introduced to complex turning at Skokloster Castle. He has explored the technique of ripple moulding, which is among the oldest forms of mechanical manipulations that fall into the broader world of complex turning. Lauri is traveling all the way from Sweden to Saltsburg for the opportunity to learn more about complex turning through some hands on experience. 

Both Open Shops and presentations are free for all. Come for an hour or stay for the whole day. Plumier Open Shops are the best way to see our workshop and to meet people with similar interests from a wide range of backgrounds, all conversing and connecting through a shared love of craft. We look forward to seeing you there! 

Plumier member Steve Franke has made incredible progress in his study of custom jewel cutting. While interchangeable and standardized bearing jewels are readily available in the watchmaking world, they are not as common in clocks and nothing is standard in the antiquarian horology. The need to replace jewels in historic clock movements paired with a certain stubborn determination to do things right has lead Steve down a years-long journey of cutting his own jewels.

Synthetic sapphires are second only to diamonds in the Mohs hardness scale. Cutting precision bearing surfaces, therefore, requires diamond tools, mechanical accuracy, and patience. Steve has devised ingenious custom mechanism mounted to his lathes that are able to achieve the necessary tolerances. He has now graduated from mastering the flat pallet stones to boring jewel bearings. This Everest of learning curves has been made slightly less treacherous thanks to some support from the Plumier community of craftspeople. Member lapidary Bryan Drummond has been extremely generous with his knowledge of stonecutting from the very beginning, and watchmaker Denis Carignan has lent his expertise in jewel geometry. This ingenuity of a young, driven craftsperson and the collaborative support of a community are exactly what Plumier exists to facilitate. 

"From boule to jewel"

Follow Steve on Instagram to keep up with his progress and see video of his brilliant mechanisms in action. 

We closed out the month with another successful complex turning class. This was our second time running our intermediate class Before You Make the Cut: Foundations of Accurate Setups, and it was as successful as the first. 

The goal of this class is to learn all the tedium of careful setups that comprise the real work of complex turning, enabling the “fun” part of cutting wonderful patterns and forms. We focused mainly on the elliptical chuck, eccentric chuck, and curvilinear apparatus, but the skills learned are applicable throughout the entire range of typical complex turning tools and beyond. The key is fully understanding the relationship between the workpiece, the cutter, and the spindle of the lathe—everything in complex turning is a manipulation of this relationship. 

The class sharing a meal at the Point Street Tavern

Naturally, it helps to have a good group of students. This class was composed of old friends and new. The camaraderie came through on the first day, as students immediately teamed up to tackle some easily frustrating tasks. Students helping students can be the best way to help information stick. Complex turning is a humbling pursuit, but individual insecurities and uncertainties dissipate in the group setting where everyone is more or less on the same level. One student’s eureka becomes another’s moments later. Varied gaps in understanding become pieces of a puzzle that is assembled by the group by the end of the week. The instructors may provide the reference image on the box and assemble a few of the corner and edge pieces, but it is only through trial and error that true comprehension is found and full picture is completed. 

Depending on what craft experience you come from, the principles of mechanical accuracy found in complex turning can be completely novel and communicated in the foreign language of precision. Mistakes compound and frustrate. Learning to see and understand these errors will make some wistful of when they didn’t know what went wrong and were happy with the results. While the reward for this understanding is inevitably more work and frustration, this process is the true practice of complex turning. And then there’s the added challenge of using these principles to make something that isn’t aesthetically offensive. Before long, it changes the way you approach everything in craft. To those who practice a less mechanical craft than clockmaking, it can inspire innovation like Steve Franke’s jewel cutting setups. For those with a mind of math and engineering, it can reveal a world of aesthetics and creativity. As Spencer Hamann attests, this journey can only be described as a “transformation.” 

Elliptical pattern sample from Holtzapffel

Sincerely,

David Lindow

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