About Fred and Mildred Holder 

Fred Holder lives in Snohomish, Washington, USA with his wife Mildred and has been turning wood since 1988. He specializes in hand thread chasing and making the Chinese Ball, however he continues to experiment with different techniques. He has done quite a bit of segmented work; multi-centered work (using the Robert Sorby Eccentric Chuck and an Escoulin type ball and socket chuck); bowls both regular shaped and natural edge; making regular balls; making the Chinese Ball; hand chasing of threads for boxes, walking stick joints, or any place where a threaded joint is needed; and a lot of other techniques. Fred and Mildred have three wood lathes: a Nova  DVR 3000,  a Vicmarc VL100 evs, and a Oneway 1018, plus a homemade Rose Engine lathe for ornamental turning (Mildred's  plaything).

In October 1996, Fred started the magazine "More Woodturning" to provide as much information as possible to other  woodturners. The magazine has been published continuously from the beginning and is now available by subscription  as a printed copy in black and white or as a PDF file in full color, downloadable from the website. Subscriptions include ten issues per year of a 40 page magazine. The PDF version is recommended for subscribers outside of the United States because of the cost of postage. 

Fred and Mildred have been married since January 1, 2001 and Mildred has been turning since a short time before they were married. Fred has attended the Utah Woodturning Symposium each year since 1997 and Mildred has joined him in attendance since 2001. They have also attended a number of the American Association of Woodturners annual symposiums and Fred has demonstrated at two of them. He has also demonstrated at one Utah Woodturning Symposium.

In 2001, Fred demonstrated the Chinese Ball  at a number of locations in England and Wales; and at 13 locations around New Zealand in 2003. In 2004, he demonstrated on the Norwegian Woodturning Cruise, and in Scotland. He was at several locations in Australia in 2006, at the Irish Woodturning Symposium  in 2007 in Ballina, Ireland, and of course locally in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia as well as a couple of locations in Florida. 

Fred has been a writer and editor since about 1955 when he took a job as a technical writer and has been editing and publishing his own magazines since 1974. He has written several articles for American Woodturner and two of those articles were reprinted in "American Woodturners Techniques & Projects  Booklet". Fred's most recent article for American Woodturner was on making the Chinese Ball, which was published in the July 2011 issue. Fred  wrote the "Letter from America" column for Woodturning magazine (in England) for over six years. He has also written a number of feature stories for Woodturning magazine including one on thread chasing, "Getting the Thread," July 1997 issue, which was reprinted in "Useful Techniques for Woodturners" and one on making the Chinese Ball.  He was the Projects Writer for NZ Woodturner for a couple of years.  He has also written a large number of articles for More Woodturning, a monthly magazine that he has edited and published since October 1996.  His book, "Making Screw Threads in Wood," was published in June 2001 and his second book, "A Guide to Work-Holding on the Lathe" was published in 2004, both published by GMC Publications in England. In 2002, Fred self published his book, "Making the Chinese Ball or 5 Concentric Spheres". Fred's fourth book the Woodturners FAQ Book was published by Linden Publishing in June of 2007. Most recently, Fred has written a book, "The Turning Process", which is being distributed on a CD-ROM, called "Two Books in One" which also contains the latest version of "Making the Chinese Ball" book.

Fred's web site is http://www.morewoodturning.net, which also contains considerable useful information for woodturners.  

 New Elio Drive from One Good Turn & Langer Craftworks

Review by Fred Holder, More Woodturning

 The three piece set of Elio Drive units viewed from the side to hold the wood.

Close up view of all three Drives. Note there are two additional points to stabilize the holding of the wood. There are also three holes for using screws to attach the wood to the drive unit. This makes it a faceplate mounted to a Morse Taper which is mounted in the lathe spindle.

Figure 4 and 5 give two more views of one of the units. You will note that the extension of the center point is also adjustable.  There is a small Allen Wrench included in the box to loosen this set screw.

When I mounted the small hollow form blank with the 2" drive, I was mounting endgrain wood to the drive center. It worked exceptionally well for this between center operation. The wood had three points applied to it: a center pin to keep it centered and two adjustable drive pins that could be screwed into the wood and adusted for an uneven surface. It would have worked just as well for wood mounted to a bowl blank.  I think I will also try mounting the bowl blank for hollowing with some screws. Figure 6 shows the bowl blank mounted between centers using the 2-1/2 inch drive in the headstock.

The Elio Drive is an excellent drive center and is more positive than the smaller drive centers. I found it works very well for spindle turning as well as for bowl turning. I still found that trying to use it as a faceplate is questionable unless you use the tailstock to support the unit in the headstock Morse Taper. 

I'm not sure what the set is selling for now, but at the AAW Symposium Brian was selling the set for $125.00, which I thought was a good price. You can purchase these individually boxed.

To order, please call Brian or e-mail him at: TEL: 780-476-7989, E-Mail: brian@onegoodturn.ca or you can go to Brian's website at: http://www.onegoodturn.ca .

(or Gord's Website at: www.langercraftworks.com )

If you have mounting problems, the Elio Drive may help solve your problems. 

To see the Elio Drive in action watch our You Tube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQI_Zr7bC8 

DVD Review by Brian McEvoy and Gord Langer   

Volume 5 features well known turner Dick Sing who walks you through a beautiful Hollow Globe Ornament.  Kip shows his easy to follow steps in making an intriguing Money Box Ornament.  Rex will show you his technique to turn a Sea Urchin Ornament and also details how to turn a Double Ornament Display Stand.

Volume 6 has the added bonus of Dale Nish who will teach you his method of turning his famous Bird House Ornament.  I have the pleasure of owning one of these and my wife loves it. Kip demonstrates how to turn a beautiful Bell Box Ornament that looks complicated to turn, but with Kip's expert instruction, it'll be much easier than one might think.  Rex takes you through easy to follow steps turning both an Icicle Ornament and a Christmas Bulb Ornament. Both look like fun and rewarding little projects.  Kip also creates a cute Single Ornament Display Stand. 

This two volume series is unique among instructional videos for woodturners.  I also liked the fact that you can use the knowledge learned from these fun projects to extend your base of expertise.  A great example is how Kip walks you through the process to turn a lidded box in his Bell Box project.  The instruction is fast paced, focusing on critical procedures.  Rex and Kip demonstrate a number of chucking methods using both commercial and homemade chucks.  They also offer a number of finishing possibilities.

Another great feature is the fact that PDF line drawings and tool lists are available through their website:  www.learningturning.com . 

Each DVD offers great value for $24.95 and provides two hours of great content. They are available for purchase at www.learningturning.com .