Month: May 2019

Tonight Gerald Hubbard stood in for the evenings demonstration. He said the decision on what to do was simple bearing in mind the excellent result at Woodworks (see Club Notices page). The practice he put in for the gavel and anvil were ideal preparation for the evening. First he created the handle from a piece of laburnum as a spindle turning between centres, turning the shape and adding decoration as required.

It was sanded and then finished with sanding sealer and a wax finish. The gavel body was turned from a pre-constructed blank with a hole drilled for the handle made from a box wood body with ebony ends bonded to it. This too was set between centres and turned to almost complete, adding embellishments as wanted.

Great care was taken to ensure the body was reproduced as a mirror image either side of the centre hole. The body was sanded but Gerald had to be very careful that the dark wood dust did not contaminated the light colour. To achieve this separate abrasives were used on the different colours. The light wood was sealed with sanding sealer again being careful about contamination. The body was then mounted in wood jaws which were made from pieces of wood screwed to special chuck jaws and then turned specifically to hold the body.

This allowed Gerald to drill a hole in the end for a decorative insert, which were turned and glued into the body. The ends of the gavel were then finish turned and sanded, sealed and finished as required. The anvil black was mounted in a chuck and turned to a pleasing design then finished as required.

The body and the handle could then be glued and assembled. All in all this was a very interesting demonstration and bearing in mind the short time frame for the evening was completed really well. There are lots of techniques and tips that could be taken from the demonstration.

The evening’s entertainment was provided by one of our members Ian George who produced 2 projects for us. The first was an offcentre turned candle stick/ t light holder and the second a small box with brass threaded insert.

The offcentre project was started between centres with the tailstock having the offcentre. This allowed Ian to turn the spigot for the chuck.

Once completed the piece was mounted in the chuck and the body and t light recess were turned.

Unfortunately Ian was thwarted in finishing the piece because of serious woodworm in the log he used, but the principles and techniques were very well demonstrated.

The second project was a box with brass threaded insert which was started using a piece of Box wood mounted between centres.

This was turned to round and spigots created at both ends for the chuck.

The piece was then mounted in the chuck and the lid parted off using a thin parting tool. This meant that the grain match would be the best. The threaded ring was measured and this dimension transferred onto the endgrain of the piece. Ian then carefully turned the recess to fit, taking a small amount off at a time and checking the fit regularly. Once the fit was established he turned out the inside of the box and then sanded and finished it, only then did he glue the threaded ring to place.

The lid was then mounted in the chuck and the same process carried out.

At this point Ian needed to get the grain matched before bonding the ring in the lid (however, he forgot in this instance but never mind). Once both sections of the threaded ring were bonded to place the outside can be finished. Ian had already prepared 2 temporary chucks for this by mounting spare rings on scrap wood. This meant that all he had to do was mount the block in the chuck and screw the corresponding part of the box to it.

The bottom and lid were then turned to a finish.

This was a great project and was a nice change from push fit lids on a box.

The May competition was well subscribed with quite a number of intriguing and well executed pieces. Third place went to Clive Bryant with his pedestal table and goblet and tumbler, Second was Geoff Warr with an intricate segmented vase and first place went to Ted Sargent with a very well executed segmented bowl. Overall this was a really strong competition which we hope will be continued over the following months.