Feature

 

I subscribe to several You Tube Channels to watch woodturners demonstrate their techniques, ideas, and tools. When it came time for our yearly vacation my wife Linda wanted to go back to Canada where she is from. Springtime is the best time to go there with the trees and flowers all in bloom. One of my favorite woodturners on You Tube also lives there north of Montreal (Pierre Lussier) so I had the idea of contacting him for a visit to see his shop where he makes his videos. To my pleasant surprise he replied and welcomed our visit. That part of Canada is in Quebec and the first language there is French. His You Tube channel is captioned in both French and English and Linda does speak some French so I was not intimidated; woodturners all speak the same language regardless of where they are from. My wife wanted to drive to the Laurentide mountains and that happened to be where he lives. So, on the agreed day to meet we relied upon the GPS to get us through Montreal and by the back roads of Quebec for a 2 1/2-hour drive from Cornwall Ontario to Mandeville Quebec. As a gift we brought a prepared sealed bowl blank in Camphor.

 

Pierre Lussier at the Lathe

 

He and his wife came outside when we drove up and we introduced ourselves. Our wives went indoors to talk and Pierre and I went into his shop. He showed me all his big tools and I mentioned that I was planning a project like the one in his video making a flower from a green tree branch and asked for some tips. He replied that he would demonstrate on his lathe. He had me get on his ATV and he drove around the back of his shop with a chainsaw where he cut some branch pieces off a live but dying tree. Back at the lathe he mounted a branch and began turning a flower from a branch. Taking pictures and asking questions only when he paused, I got all the answers on how to proceed with my own project. When finished he showed me some of his favorite lathe chisels that he used most in woodturning.

We rejoined our wives in the house and they gave us a tour of their house and where he stored his finished wood turnings. We talked a while longer until it was time for us to leave for our next stop. We were asked to stay for dinner but declined because we had to drive some distance and find a place for the night. They were so kind and hospitable that it made a highlight of our vacation.

Pierre Lussier's YouTube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/@tourneursurbois

 

 

Pierre's Turning