Month: October 2021

Paul Hannaby conducted the evening’s demonstration and set out to make a straight sided box. The first blank that he started to turn to round proved to have a crack and a knot going through the wood. He decided that he would not continue with that piece and restart with a fresh blank. This emphasises the importance of checking the wood you use to minimise the risk of mishaps.

Paul followed the usual process by turning to round between centres, creating chucking spigots at both ends then remounting in a chuck. The design that Paul followed this time had the male spigot on the lid with the corresponding recess in the main body. He continued to demonstrate the processes and box scrapers he uses to hollow out the box and create the finished box, including how to recover from slight errors during the making process.

To end the demonstration he showed us a quick make of an oyster shell box that is made by alternating the lid and body on the same blank to get a series of boxes without rechucking.

Overall the demonstration was educational, however, we were unable to set up the video system so that may have detracted from the evening as visibility for many was restricted. We can only apologise for this and expect to be back to normal for the next demonstration. 

For this evenings demonstration we welcomed Richard Findley, a well known and respected production woodturner. During his introduction Richard told us about how he got into woodturning and what his work entails. The demonstration was a table leg with a twin start twist which is one of the items he is regularly asked to make.

Richard demonstrated the processes he undertakes and the tools he uses, but more importantly he described in detail the type of cuts with those tools and how to handle them correctly and comfortably. As part of the production process he uses a story board to make sure that all of the important dimensions are the same on each piece.

The explanation of the layout for the twist was fully explained and then shown to us. The finished leg was not completed to the quality that he would usually achieve on his commissions but was sufficient to show us how it could be made.

The evening also included our first competition table for a number of months and the turnout was excellent both in number and quality.

First place went to Geoff Warr with his segmented bowl.

Second place went to David Hartley with his pair of 

Third place was a gravity defying wine glass and bottle by Dave Simms.

This was a fantastic evening, fully entertaining and insightful which everyone enjoyed.