Pete Marken

Pete is well known for his precision designs and flawless finishes.  These areas of expertise will be the focus of his demonstrations in St. Louis.  Pete will show attendees his precision jig for ring centering and alignment.  In another rotation, Pete will share the multistep process he uses for accomplishing the high quality finish he achieves on all his pieces.

Originally from Brooklyn NY, currently living in Calera Alabama about 25 miles south of Birmingham.

Retired from the automotive manufacturing industry.

I have been a wood turner for over 25 years and became a segmented enthusiast about ten years ago.  This includes standard segmented pieces as well as open segmenting and twister style pieces.  My current workload consists of a 50/50 split of traditional turnings and segmented.

I am currently branching out to teaching both styles of turning. I find it invigorating sharing the joy of turning wood.

I am particularly proud of the finish on my pieces and spend the extra time and effort to achieve a high gloss finish.  The finishes that I typically use are spray on lacquer, MinWax wipe on poly and General Finishes WoodTurners Finish (water based poly).  The technique is the same for all of them.

Here are some steps that I use in finishing my pieces.

  • Usually sand wood to 320 grit
  • Apply several coats of sanding sealer and/or grain filler
  • Sand back with 320 grit
  • Apply 8 or more coats of finish – with MinWax I use 4 or 5 coats of gloss and 4 coats of satin on top for a softer finish
  • Allow to fully cure about one week
  • Wet sand with Micromesh (all grits) for a gloss finish or the first 7 for a satin finish.
  • Final buffing is done with a 3” lambs wool (Velcro backed) buffing pad and 3M Finess It polishing compound.

    

6 Responses to “Pete Marken”

  1. Russ Braun says:

    I am looking forward to this finishing demonstration. Anyone who has seen Pete’s amazing work knows his finishes are expert and basically flawless. My work is going to take a huge leap forward after learning how to finish the “Pete Marken” way!!

  2. Tom Lohman says:

    This demonstration should excellent based on Pete’s beautiful projects, looking forward to it.

  3. randy tyner says:

    Pete’s precision ,jigs, and flawless finishes defines his expertise

  4. Mevlin Heuer says:

    Please email me the handout you ran short of at the 2019 SWAT program on Vortex Bowls.

  5. ted rekerdres says:

    Pete – great demo of the vortex bowl at last weeks SWAT in Waco … as you suggested would you also please email me the handout — that in the printed version — ran out on the left side of the room ?

    Thanks very much. ted

  6. Leonard Mandeville says:

    I live in Massachusetts and a fellow turning club member named Wayne Miller (if you went, he organized the segmented symposium in Quincy Ma two years ago) and he mentioned that you make a very precise wedge cutting sled for a decent price. Coule you enlighten me about it and the price.

Leave a Reply to Mevlin Heuer

Categories

March 2024
S M T W T F S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31