This evening was billed as the Three Musketeers with a difference. One of the usual line up was unavailable so the guys called upon a trusty D’Artagnan to help, so the line up was Mick Denton, Roger Gilbert and Geoff Warr. Between themselves they set a task of producing their own individual take on a bottle stopper.
The woodturning principles for each of them was basically the same, using standard spindle turning techniques and tools. However, the designs were subtly different with Mick using a glued up blank to produce a striped pattern, Roger produced a snowman themed stopper for Christmas (yes it is coming around again!!) and Geoff used a golf ball as a finial.
There were also 2 options for the seal for the bottle with the use of drilled corks glued onto a small spigot and rubber seal from drinks optics which had to be trimmed slightly in length to fit snuggly in the bottle. This did not involve gluing but relied on a bead retainer and interference fit. Maybe you can come up with your own ideas on this.
The demonstrations also included the techniques of reverse chucking, wooden jam chucks, finishing with wax sticks, the dreaded skew chisel (although this demo debunked some of the reasons for this fear) along with many other tips and tricks that these experienced turners gave us.
Not only that, there was a nice balance between the serious stuff and the banter and light heartedness that made the evening pass quickly and made it really entertaining.
The June competition was well represented with the result throwing up a tie for first place. The 2 pieces that came first were and inside out turned vase and bullrush made by Clive Bryant and a large salad bowl by Mick Denton. Third place was a dish made by Tony Lack. Well done to all participants and especially to the top three for their excellent work.