A visit with John and Patti Hill - part III

6 July 2008 - This post should really be titled, "Guinea fowl chicks and shop tips." I headed over to Arrowmont just before noon, but the morning was full of fun because the guinea fowl chicks started to hatch. I sure enjoyed my visit with the Hills!




John keeps his egg incubator in the utility room. He heard the peeps from the kitchen. He brought out a transport carton to hold the chicks while he moved them from the egg trays to the upper part of the incubator.









He had to get the top part of the cabinet ready for its new tenants.















The chicks had fallen down to the bottom of the cabinet and had to be captured from there.










Looks like about 6 should be there.











John grabbed them and handed each one to me. They were sooooo cute! They don't stay that way for long, though.








The pipped eggs were transferred to a screened box so the chicks couldn't fall to the bottom after hatching.













Their next home to be was out in the garage.















John spent a bit of time getting everything ready for the chicks to be transferred.









Some feed in a tray. . .











An old towel on the mesh to keep the chicks from having trouble walking there. . .











check the thermostat and heater to make sure it works . . .









water and more feed --- ready for chicks!









Time for some shop tips. The first one is on setting the laser pointer on a hollowing rig. The usual way is to use a card with a line as a guide.











John made a series of jigs out of dowel rods to show the appearance of the laser beam on the outside edge of a turning.









Here's what they look like. You can see the different wall thicknesses represented. You put the flat edge against the tool cutter and set the laser on the curved side of the jig.














Another tip was for protecting the tool rest from parting tools. John made a cover for the tool rest so that it doesn't get chewed up when a catch occurs.








Buffing wheel adaptation - to protect one's knuckles from the nut that holds the cloth wheel into the mandrel.









Yep - that's more finger friendly than a hex nut.













A goblet buffer that goes into a four jaw chuck.










This is a holder for background paper that is used to examine the profile of a turning - especially offcenter work where one has to see the shadow line clearly.









Having the paper upright keeps the shavings from accumulating.












A convenient holder for sanding discs.
















Organization for the sanding rolls, too.










A ball mill for hollowing. I've seen several turners use this kind of cutter for hollowing and it works very well.