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This is a classic video and a terrific place to start learning the art of wood turning. Del is a great demonstrator--very folksy and down to earth. He demonstrates a wide range of skills from sharpening to design to turning, as well as modifying a lathe to improve its performance. Del's mastery of thin walled turning is amazing and very well illustrated in this video. Camera angles and lighting are all good and effective.
True, there are lots of things this video does not demonstrate--spindle turning, platters, hollow forms--but, it is a good in-depth view of face plate techniques for bowls.
If I have any criticism of this video it is that it is becoming a little dated. For example, Del demonstrates a sharpening/honing technique that might have been totally hip in 1986, but no one is using it today.
Minor faults aside, I highly recommend this video, especially if you're a relative new comer to the craft.
There are many reasons to recommend this DVD. O'Donnell uses some tool grinds that I am not familiar with and am now anxious to try. The tools are all demonstrated well and the sharpening portion of the video goes into particular detail. Prior to this DVD, I had never seen anyone turn with an Irish grind chisel and O'Donnell provides an impressive and convincing demonstration. There are some variations on chucking techniques that I have not seen before either. Also, O'Donnell uses an interesting sharpening jig of his own design which apparently is not distributed in the US.
A highlight of the instructional turning portion of the DVD is the excellent camera work, showing good detail for tool presentation and cutting.
A few notes on what is missing. Only occasionally does O'Donnell talk about appropriate lathe speed, something most beginning and intermediate turners will wonder about. All of the demonstrations are done with green sycamore. And here is where my complaint about nearly every DVD out there arises. All of O'Donnell's work is perfect with impeccable finishes right off the tool, so we never get any suggestions on how to correct problems when they arise. Will these techniques work equally well on green maple, oak, cherry, aspen? Probably not. What do you do when you hit burl or encounter a species of wood that doesn't cut cleanly?
Finally, O'Donnell himself is a bit, well, wooden. While he exudes competence, he doesn't emote over what he is doing, which, after all, is the best occupation anyone could have.
A terrific video-kudos to Mike! Mike has a great teaching style--very approachable. The sample projects he chooses to share are helpful, illustrate a decent range of hollow forms, and are all well explained. The first project is a form from which he cuts out the side so you get a great view of tool presentation and cutting in action. The only caution I'd offer is one project (burial urn) includes a threaded lid. While the threading step is demonstrated as well as all the other techniques, it is a topic that has solicited its own instructional videos. Which is to say, if you pursue the urn project you'll probably want to look up at least one of those thread chasing videos for additional instruction. Easily one of the best turning videos I've seen.
Alan Lacer's skew chisel series have an excellent reputation among turners as a great source of instruction on this challenging tool. The reputation is justified and I would highly recommend this DVD. Production values are excellent. Camera angles provide clear views, often very close-up, that illustrate the points Alan is making. I approached this DVD as something of a veteran turner who does a lot of lathe work and is represented by several galleries. I have been successfully using a 3/4" skew for years. I recently acquired a 1.25" skew and had chronic problems with it, including some monster catches. One run through on this video and I was able to make a slight adjustment in my technique with the larger chisel, and now it is the useful and efficient tool it's supposed to be!
