Yume Kobo

Stuart Ablett

Member
Messages
15,917
Location
Tokyo Japan
Yume Kobo is a turning group started here a while back by some of the local turner guys, who wanted a more casual group than the "Official" AAW affiliated FEWS group.

Most of the members are members in both groups.

We had a meeting on this last Sunday, one of the members gave a lecture on how the Inverters in most lathes using 3-phase motors work, the different types and the advantages. Talk about information overload, but at least we got a text as well. All good stuff.

At lunch time, we all brought out our stuff to sell to each other or two swap for stuff, I got two VERY nice pieces of wood from a guy that comes along and brings NICE wood for GOOD prices.

I think the wood is Hoonoki which is [SIZE=-1] "Magnolia obovata"

Wikipedia says........

[/SIZE]
Japanese Bigleaf Magnolia (Magnolia obovata; syn. M. hypoleuca) is a species of Magnolia, native to Japan and the adjacent Kurile Islands of Russia. It grows at altitudes of sea level up to 1,800 m in mixed broadleaf forest.

It is a medium-sized deciduous tree 15-30 m tall, with slate grey bark. The leaves are large, 16-38 cm (rarely to 50 cm) long and 9-20 cm (rarely 25 cm) broad, leathery, green above, silvery or greyish pubescent below, and with an acute apex. They are held in whorls of five to eight at the end of each shoot. The flowers are also large, cup-shaped, 15-20 cm diameter, with 9-12 creamy, fleshy tepals, red stamens; they have a strong scent, and are produced in early summer after the leaves expand. The fruit is an oblong-cylindric aggregate of follicles 12-20 cm long and 6 cm broad, bright pinkish red, each follicle containing one or two black seeds with a fleshy orange-red coating.

Uses

The wood is strong, light, and easy to work, sought by craftsmen. In parts of Japan the large leaves are used for wrapping food.

I also understand it is used for such things as the traditional wooden shoes, "Geta".

burled_piece.JPG stripped_piece.JPG

Here is a few pics of the space that Sanno San has built, for his company, as storeage and for wood turning.........

yume_kobo_1.JPG yume_kobo_2.JPG yume_kobo_3.JPG

Cheers!
 
Congrats on the new wood. :thumb:

Man, I thought some of the folks here have clean shops. :eek: Sanno San takes the cake. You could do surgery in that place. The Vicmark looks factory new, too.

You sure this guy turns? :p
 
Very nice looking shop space he has there Stu, but it is waaay too clean! And if you think mine looks like it did in that picture Ned took, my wife was looking at the pics and did not recognize the shop! :eek: she wanted to know whose shop that was! :huh: The worst part was, she was serious! But it is back to normal now, with shavings up to my knees.

Nice looking wood too. I will look forward to seeing what comes of it. Is that one piece a burl?

Bill
 
Aside from being Clean.... Stu, How can you work in such a place with windows and natural lighting? I thought you were banned from the light of Day and would melt from the rays, (or was that just on Halloween?)

:rofl:
 
Well, this is his NEW shop/storage building, it has not been standing for long, and he has not done much work there at all, as you can see from the lack of just about everything :D

He also has a shop in his basement of his house, which is about a 20 minute drive from the new place.........

R00106792.jpg


R00106891.jpg
]
R00107191.jpg

That is the turning area, he teaches classes in here as well.

Here is the "Parking/storage" area.....

big_bs.jpg

C1.jpg



and yes, he turns........

B1.jpg


He is fairly well off, owns a printing company with about 60 employees, and he works hard, but his son is taking over the business, letting Sanno san have more time to play.

In this pic.......

IMG_083411.jpg

Where the white van in parked, he bought that lot too, so I think his plan is to sell the house "In town" build a house here, having his workshop across the street, but this is all still in the beginning stages.

If you would like to see something interesting, go to this page <- link

The fellow in that page is a pro turner here in Japan, he is very good. That page shows how he free hand sharpens his tools, and some tools you may not be familiar with (I sure am not :huh:)

Yes the one piece is mostly burl! :D

Cheers!
 
Stu,

I believe Ryuichi Ueda gave the talk on lathe maintenance. He is the fellow that sold the DVR last spring on Yahoo Auction. I have recenlty purchased a couple things from him and the last time he told me about yumekoubo, etc. He also said told me that we had met last spring when Jean-Francios gave the demo at Yumekobou. He told me about the meeting November 4 but it was a little too far for me to go for Vicmarc lathe maintenance. I told him the wood exchange sounded interesting but... By the way last spring when we were at Yumekobou I asked Sano-San if any of that wood on the shelves was for sale. I was eyeing the Black Persimmon but he said no go.
 
Maybe I am paranoid. I greatly enjoy seeing the shop pictures as I learn something from all of them (how to or not to do something). But with all of the discussion on some sites about using real names or "cybernames" is it just me or aren't you all a little concerned about theives knowing your shop tools, worth, floor plan ahead of time before even visiting your shop?
 
Jonathan, we had a discussion regarding this very subject over this past weekend during the Robustfest. There is definitely a risk, and each person needs to think it through before they start posting pictures, etc.

For me, since I am in the business, there is no way for me to avoid a public presence. We have hosted the Five Barns picnic for years, and many hundreds of people have visited our home either through the picnic, as students, customers, or fellow woodworkers and families just passing through the area. We have never had a break in or even problems with unsavory visitors. That is not to say that we will never have that, but we prepare to deal with it as best we can. There is no way to be entirely sure you will not fall victim to crime of some sort. But, we do what we can. The place is alarmed, we have insurance, and if the bad guys show up when anyone - and I mean anyone - is home, they are going to be in for a very rude surprise.

Bill
 
Yep, I hear you Jonathan, but like Bill says, when you are in business, what are you going to do?

Here in Japan, there are thieves, and they do steal stuff, but , so far, I do not think it is nearly as rampant as it is in some other countries, still, as my turning is still a "Hobby" I don't put the address of my Dungeon up.

I is a concern for sure.

Alex, Yes, Ueda san give a dissertation on lathe maintenance, tons of info, very informative too, but NO TURNING :eek: Not what I expected, but still beats a day in the L shop :D

Cheers!
 
Top