This was our last meeting before Christmas so was a very relaxed affair with the lathes brought out for anyone to use and an good amount of time just spent chatting and eating – luxuries that we can’t usually fully indulge in with an evening meeting.
By the way, just a reminder that our next meeting will be on Wednesday 15th January 2025 – there is no January 1st meeting.
Roger and Gerald spent some time playing at making fronds on a Christmas tree (peeling cuts to make the wood curl back) while others stood around and watched and, hopefully, learned something.
Mick spent time teaching sharpening techniques and demonstrating how sharp tools make a difference to the ease of turning wood.
With plenty of Christmas grub bought along by everyone, there was a fair bit left over at the end – usually a good sign that everyone had had their fill!
Club member Ian George gave a demo this evening and found himself dealing with a number of issues beyond his control but still managed to get through a varied selection of pieces with a smile on his face.
Mushroom
Ian started off with a piece of boxwood about 75mm diameter x 75mm long, complete with eccentric shape and a split!
He mounted it between centres, formed a chucking tenon and mounted it in the chuck where he turned it to shape, removing the split in the process.
As this only comprised the base and stalk of the mushroom he put a tenon on the narrow end of the stalk, leaving the base as a natural edge.
After checking the fit of a banksia seed pod offcut as the top of the mushroom, he buffed the mushroom with wood shavings and then waxed and polished it before parting it off and assembling it with the banksia seed pod.
Bowl
Ian mounted a piece of gnarly spalted beech about 125mm diameter x 65mm thick between centres and put a tenon on one side before mounting it in the chuck.
He started shaping it put a chucking recess in it before reversing it on the chuck.
Whilst hollowing out the bowl, though, it kept coming off the chuck for reasons that were not entirely clear.
As time was pressing, Ian gave up on the bowl, leaving it to be sorted out later.
He moved on to….
Candlestick Holder
A piece of walnut about 175mm long x 65mm square was mounted between centres and a chucking tenon put on one end.
Mounted in the chuck with tailstock support, it was turned round, being careful to leave the chuck end square to serve as the base.
Next, he bored out the end to accept a brass cup which will hold the candle.
Shaping the outside of the candlestick holder, Ian started having problems getting a smooth cut of the wood. Upon investigation this turned out to be because the chuck insert had come loose and the tool was digging in as the chuck wobbled around. Something else to be sorted out later!
A quick chuck change sorted this problem and he continued shaping, imparting a nice flowing line to the neck.
That was as much as time allowed so Ian finished there, having done very well dealing with the unexpected challenges.
The competition table entries this month were quite a mix as usual.
1st place went to a cup and saucer by Viv Harvey – perhaps getting up to speed for the Daventry Woodworks challenge.
2nd place was for a set of candlestick holders by Steve Marsh.
3rd place was for a nice little vase by Gerry Coles.
Today’s meeting was Hands-On with two lathes set up for members to use for making something or for learning. Tonight, they were largely used by Geoff Warr and Chris Harkin to teach some techniques to those with little or no experience.
As usual help was available on bandsawing and tool sharpening for those that wanted it – ably tutored by Mick Denton.
There was, of course, also time for socialising and drinking tea and coffee whilst scoffing biscuits.
Geoff explaining some basic techniques.
Chris showing the beginnings of a Christmas tree.
Mick demonstrating his method of freehand sharpening – although I’m not sure what he was doing at the exact moment the picture was taken.
Before the demo started, Mick Denton asked those who had ordered club shirts to collect them over the course of the evening.
We once again had a double act tonight with Chris Harkin and Geoff Warr making two very different and unrelated items.
Chris began by showing us his very simple – but effective – jig for making pendants and also showed us Geoff’s far posher equivalent.
Chris’s jig is a simple piece of board with a recess to suit the pendant being made, and a slot along much of its length to allow slight variations in size. This home-made chuck is held in a scroll chuck, with the sides angled to suit the scroll chuck jaws e.g. straight or dovetail. Two grooves cut in each side allow the chuck jaws to be positioned accurately for on-centre or off-centre turning.
To make the pendant, he mounted a piece of yew about 125mm long x 75mm square between centres and proceeded to turn it to a nominal 50mm round.
After this he put a tenon on one end and mounted it in the scroll chuck. At this point he found a split in the wood so he parted off the affected portion, still leaving plenty of wood for the next stage.
Chris now carefully reduced the diameter of the blank to suit the recess in his jig. It must not be undersize so he measured the diameter using vernier calipers with the pointed tips ground off to prevent a catch.
Once the diameter was confirmed as correct, he parted off a couple of discs about 3 to 4mm thick for making the pendants.
In order to mount the jig on the lathe he used a scroll chuck with just two deep jaws fitted. Aligning the edges of the jaws with the centralising grooves, he held it in place, inserted a disc in the jig recess and then tightened up the scroll chuck to hold the disc securely in place.
He cleaned up the surface (the back) of the pendant disc with a gouge and abrasives then reversed it into the recess to repeat the process with the front side. Now for the fun bit, Chris remounted the jig and pendant in the scroll chuck, this time locating the jaws into the “off centre” grooves.
He drilled a hole through the centre and added a few grooves for decoration, and then sanded it down to a fine finish.
Finally, he removed the pendant from the jig and drilled a small hole for the clasp, before fitting the clasp and necklace to finish the job. He buys the clasps and necklaces from eBay or Amazon for pennies, so the completed pendant is very cheap to make, using as it does very little wood. A selection of Chris’s pendants are shown below.
Geoff decided to stick with the approaching season and made an attractive Christmas lamp with an LED tea light. He started with a block of wood that had three holes drilled in it to allow the light to escape. The fourth side will be placed to the back so can act as a reflector.
LED tea lights can be bought very cheaply from the usual online outlets or from Hobbycraft.
With the blank between centres, he put a chucking tenon on one end and turned it to round, taking care as there was a lot of air in way of the holes.
The basic dimensions of the lamp are shown on the annotated blocks of wood below.
Next, holding the blank in the chuck, he used a 38mm Forstner to drill in to the depth of the drill, taking it past the three holes. He then used a 1 3/8” bit to make a shoulder for the tealight to sit upon.
Once done he cleaned up the inside with a spindle gouge and abrasives (using a stick to avoid putting his fingers inside!).
Geoff next shaped the outside and added a few detail lines.
After thishe sanded and applied a wax finish (he would usually apply a lacquer but volatile substances mustn’t be used in the hall for safety reasons).
Reversing the lamp onto a jam chuck, he held it in place with the tailstock and shaped the top end before sanding it and cutting off the end. The ghost of the jam chuck can be seen in the following picture.
A quick hand sand of the nub was followed by drilling a small hole through the top for a hanging cord or wire.
The competition table had an interesting variety this month.
1st place was a hollow “pumpkin” with threaded lid by Gerald Hubbard – deserving of two pictures!.
2nd place was a set of yew natural edge lidded pots by Mick Denton.
3rd place went to a bowl made from a cotoneaster root ball by Arthur Ellis. Rock hard apparently!
Before the demo started, we were told that the club challenge for Daventry Woodworks next year is to be a teaset – teapot, cups, saucers, plates and accessories. This gives plenty of scope for interpretation and opportunity for lots of people to take part. Should be fun!
We had a double act tonight with Mick Denton and Viv Harvey tasked with making the same item in whichever way they thought best. We, the audience, were not privileged to be told what they were making so we just had to be patient and try to figure it out from the two quite different approaches on show.
Mick started off with a cube of oak about 100mm on a side, mounted on a screwchuck.
This he proceeded to bring to round before using a bowl gouge to shape it to a rounded cone with a tenon on the end.
After sanding it he reversed it onto the chuck and centred it before tightening the chuck for a secure hold.
Using a bowl gouge and a carbide tipped hollowing tool Mick hollowed it out and then drilled a hole through the bottom.
After a quick sanding, he took it off the chuck and dribbled some superglue into a crack that had appeared in the wood.
Another block of wood was mounted between centres, rounded, and drilled through before opening up further. Mick used a 10mm parting tool to size the edges to suit the tenon on the larger piece of wood and then drilled all the way through before reversing it.
After adding some detailing and sanding it, he parted it off and then glued the two pieces together with a dab of superglue to hold everything in place while the PVA glue set.
The picture shows the one that Mick made today as well as an earlier practice piece. Starting to get an idea of what it is now?
Viv started off with a block of sapele about 150mm long x 110mm square, mounted between centres.
Bringing it to round with a spindle roughing gouge, he then put a chucking tenon on each end with a bedan/parting tool.
Moving to a smaller piece of wood about 150mm long x 65mm square, he brought it to round with a spindle roughing gouge before drilling out the end and hollowing the opening out with a spindle gouge.
He then brought up the tailstock for support and shaped the outside; all finished off with acrylic sanding sealer and beeswax before parting it (what exactly???) off.
The larger piece of wood was now mounted into the chuck, drilled out and reversed. The now redundant chucking tenon was removed with a parting tool and shaping of the exterior began.
With the shape established, Viv hollowed out the inside with a spindle gouge and then used a scraper to get a clean finish, following up with some abrasive on a stick to avoid catching his fingers.
For aesthetics, he added some detailing and wire-burn lines.
Next, he parted if off and reversed it onto the chuck jaws, using some paper to to protect it from damage as the tailstock was brought up to hold it in place.
With it securely held, Viv finessed the tenon size to suit the other component, applied superglue, and pushed the two items together with the tailstock.
He once again used acrylic sanding sealer and beeswax as a finish and then buffed it up.
So what was this all about?
The picture shows Viv’s offering from an angle that may help you to figure out that these are a pair of funnels, something that we’ve all made at one time or another!
The evening demonstration was held by Bryan Brumfield, one of our established members. His theme for the night was the Banksia Nut which is a seed pod from a species of plant from Australia. It is an item that is often turned into small, interesting looking artefacts. Banksia nuts have a relatively solid core surrounded by a fibrous layer which is an adaptation for the Banksia to survive bush fires as the fibres insulate the seeds.
Bryan first cut the pod into sections and the first section (the biggest) was turned between centres to create a vase which was then mounted on a chuck to allow him to drill out the centre. By doing this the pod became “see through” where the seeds are lodged.
Once finished the Banksia pod was spray coated with sanding sealer. It is Bryans intention to fill the voids with Milliput but as this takes 24 hours to cure he did not do this tonight. The turning was left partially complete so that he could undertake the finishing later.
A second section of the Banksia pod was turned, again between centres, to form a Tea Light holder which when the light was inserted created an effect of the light shining through the voids.
The final piece utilised the point of the seed pod as a mushrom cap with a stalk turned from a piece of ash and this showed that all of the Banksia pod can be used with very little waste.
The night also had the October competition table which was really well represented.
First place went to Bryan Brumfield with his rainbow dish.
Second place was Viv Harvey’s triple candle holder.
Club member Henry Howard gave his first demo this evening, and it was a somewhat unusual one with a humourous background.
He made an (all-seeing?) eyeball mounted on a pedestal, something that he originally did for an opthalmic surgeon who had treated him. Comprised of three main pieces, he carried out the turning on his own lathe, mostly with the aid of small chucks for mounting the wood.
Stem
The square blank, approx 150mm x 25mm was mounted between centres and brought to round, and then a tenon put on one end – the size of which Henry checked in a little test piece that he had brought along.
It was then mounted in the chuck, supported by the tailstock, and a 7mm tenon formed on the end.
With this done, Henry added some shape and detail to the stem before sanding through the grits and applying friction polish.
Base
The blank for this was mounted on a screw chuck, trued up, and the circumference sanded. The disk was dished slightly, as this will be the underside of the base, and he turned a rounded profile for the top edge.
A quick sanding and polish, and the base was reversed onto the chuck where the circumference and top were also sanded and polished. Henry pointed out that you know when the polish is dry when there’s no longer a shadow on the workpiece.
Eyeball
Taking a small round bar of ivory alternative, Henry mounted it in the chuck and used a parting tool to delineate the size of the sphere then drilled a hole in the end – this will be for the pupil and iris of the eye.
Using a simple home-made jig, he drilled a 7mm hole in the side of the blank to suit the tenon on top of the stem.
For this latter drilling operation he locked the spindle to ensure a good clean hole.
Mounting a piece of wood in a chuck, he turned it down to diameter to form the iris and glued it into the eyeball (still a cylinder at this point), using the tailstock to press it into position.
Once this was done, Henry cut off the surplus iris wood and drilled a smaller hole into it. Next, he turned a piece of black wood and glued it into the hole to form the pupil before cutting off the surplus.
With all parts now in place, he rounded over the front of the eyeball and then repeated the operation for the back of the eyeball, using a skew chisel. Happy with the shape, he sanded the eyeball (to 4000 grit!), applied some friction polish and parted it off.
Finally, the stub was removed and rubbed down before assembling the three parts to complete a rather unusual desk ornament!
Club member Gerry Coles gave his first ever demo this evening – and it was a corker!
He made a lovely little earring stand out of three separate pieces of oak – pointing out that this meant that the base and top could be made from crossgrain orientation and the stem from wood mounted conventionally for spindle turning. If made from one piece, such a small stand may end up quite weak at the edges due to the grain orientation.
Base
He started off mounting the blank between centres and truing it up with a bowl gouge before using a home made HSS scraper to make a recess to suit his small chuck. The home made tool has a relief ground into it which allows it to be used with the tailstock still in place.
A similar process was then used to prepare the top before mounting the base onto the chuck.
Gerry shaped the base for aesthetics, leaving a little upstand on the top side to blend into the stem, trimmed with a scraper presented just below centre as he finds this prevents the scraper from tending to walk across.
Next, he put a bead on the upstand, using a home made beading tool, and being careful to leave a shoulder so that the chuck will have a register when reversing the piece. To complete turning the base, Gerry dished the top of it to hold rings and other small items of jewellery.
For finishing, he sanded through the grits and applied boiled linseed oil, wiped off the surplus and then applied beeswax with the lathe running (which blends the BLO and wax), and buffed with a paper towel.
Having forgotten to do so earlier, he drilled an 8mm diameter hole for the stem tenon in the upstand.
Top
This was mounted in the chuck and the underside hollowed out a little, leaving an upstand with a bead and shoulder to match that on the base.
Yet another home made scraper was used to produce a fine finish in the hollowed area and a couple of detail lines added to enhance the appearance before a quick sanding and an 8mm diameter hole drilled for the stem tenon. BLO and wax applied as previously.
The top was now reversed onto the chuck and turned down to a thinner section to make the drilling of the holes easier.
Gerry rotated the lathe to mark the circle of holes and then showed how to use the lathe indexing to mark the exact position of the 36 holes with a pencil held on the toolrest. To speed up the job, though, he carefully placed a pre-drilled template over the wood and held it in place with the tailstock and then drilled the 1mm diameter holes with a Dremel. Without breaking any drills!
With that out of the way, he bevelled the edge and dished the top slightly before sanding, BLO and wax.
Stem
The square blank was mounted between centres and turned to round with a spindle roughing gouge. Gerry used a template to mark out the positions of aesthetic features and tenons accurately – important if making a pair, as any differences will be highly noticeable.
Once marked out, he used a parting tool to set the diameters and turned the stem to shape, and turned a tenon on each end to suit the 8mm holes previously drilled into the base and top.
Finished off with sanding, BLO and wax.
Assembly
Finally, Gerry partially parted off at both ends, added small bevels on the end, and a groove on each tenon for the glue and then sawed off by hand. Dry assembly was simply a matter of pushing the three pieces firmly together, with gluing to be carried out a later time.
Throughout his demo, Gerry explained what he was doing, and why, with a lot of apparently minor steps making the next step easier. I have tried to incorporate those tips in the above notes but if any are missing or in the wrong order – it’s my fault, not Gerry’s!
The competition table entries this month were quite varied.
1st place went to Dave Simms for a slightly startled looking bird.
2nd place was for a natural edge yew bowl by Mick Denton.
Joint 3rd places were for an offset vase with flowers and a protruding test tube by Geoff Warr
We had a slightly unusual demo this evening, with Chairman Roger Gilbert and club member Gerald Hubbard both tasked with producing a natural-edged tazza from two similar pieces of yew.
The yew was still fairly moist so it turned nicely but that also meant that there was a risk of splitting from the pith – and some cracks were already visible. More of that below!
Roger
Roger volunteered to go first and initially mounted the blank between a friction pad in the chuck and a live centre, but this slipped a bit, so he quickly switched to using a steb drive in the chuck.
He started by reducing the area in way of the stem and foot with a spindle roughing gouge, then added a chucking tenon and mounted the wood in the chuck.
Using a continental spindle gouge and with the tailstock brought up for support he further reduced the stem area and then started dishing the tazza.
Carrying on, Roger continued the hollowing, and also worked the back (underside) of the tazza, lessening the wall thickness. Whilst thinning the stem down, he was particularly careful as a crack was propagating from the pith as he removed material.
Once he’d gone as far as he dared, Roger did a few finishing cuts on the foot to form a nice ogee shape. Next was to pull back the tailstock and remove the stub in the centre of the tazza before sanding through the grits overall, applying sanding sealer and wax and parting off.
The final operation was to mount a sanding arbor in the chuck and clean up the underside of the foot.
Overall, a nice little tazza and I think the picture shows the extent of the cracks that Roger had to contend with!
Gerald
Like Roger, Gerald started with the blank between centres (steb drive + live ring centre) but pointed out that he likes to use a bowl gouge for much of the time, due to its greater strength and less chattering when working with a larger overhang.
He reduced the area in way of the stem and foot and did an initial scooping out of the bowl before adding a chucking tenon and mounting the wood in the chuck.
Working gradually, Gerald worked on the underside and continued some hollowing, interspersed with reducing the stem diameter. Aiming for a nice thin bowl, he noted that the wood was moving as stresses were relieved.
He finished off carefully with some light shear cuts.
Sanding the bowl, Gerald reduced the lathe speed to avoid heat checking (there are enough cracks already!) and supported it with one hand.
Once this was done, he moved back to the stem and carefully continued refining its shape and reducing its diameter especially towards the lower end.
Disaster! A chunk came off the stem from one of the cracks leaving him with a “design opportunity” as he put it.
With fewer options now, he recovered well, and narrowed the stem down to remove the area of damage, but kept the shape simple.
This held everything together and he was able to safely sand overall and then improve the shape of the foot before applying sanding sealer and giving it a very light rub over with a grey “scouring pad”.
The final operation was to part it off.
This was a particularly interesting evening as two very good turners dealt with the same challenge in slightly different ways but also had to deal with the vagaries of the particular piece of wood that they were given.
This evening, Ian Ethell gave us a demonstration of how to make a little elephant – of which, his house has many variants apparently!
Ian brought along some examples of his work for us to see.
He also handed out very useful dimensioned drawings showing that the elephant was made up of a number of pieces: head and trunk, ears, body, tail, and legs.
As he’ll be mounting a number of smaller pieces between centres, he mostly used a light pull drive in the chuck. The wood used was sycamore and, for much of the time, he used a 3/8” bowl gouge with a 40-40 grind as promoted by Stuart Batty.
Body
Starting with the body, he showed us that the blank was pre-drilled and oblong rather than square in order to get a flat underside for the legs.
Mounted between centres, Ian quickly formed the initial shape by making a long cove at one end and then rounding the corners off the body before turning the body until the underside flat was the desired width.
He next refined the overall shape and took the neck down to the required diameter, blending it into the cove. At this point Ian made a comment that, with the 40-40 grind, it was important not to put too much pressure on the bevel of the gouge. The body was finished off with minor adjustments of dimensions and an overall sanding.
Head
First, a 6mm hole was drilled in the end, and deepened using a 3mm drill in order to suit the light pull drive. With the blank between centres, Ian brought it to round and started forming the trunk with a long cove before shaping the head and trunk and blending them together.
Once sanded, he marked both sides of the head on the centre line for the ear positions and used a forstner bit to drill at an angle to suit the tenons that will be on the ears.
A final sanding, then parted off with a skew.
Ears
These are essentially cupped round discs with tenons turned on the lathe from a blank that had been previously cut to shape with a saw.
With the blank in the chuck, it was turned to the required diameter and the end cupped, then a tenon put on the back of the ear. This procedure ensures that the wood has support behind it whilst hollowing out.
The back of the ear was then curved down to the tenon, sanded (with care to protect fingers!) and parted off.
Tail
A length of small square blank was brought to round and shaped with the bowl gouge, using a shear cut for a good finish beforesanding and parting off.
Legs
The two rear legs are turned on centre but the two front ones are turned slightly offset in order to point them forwards. He used a home-made three-pin marker for marking out the offsets.
Ian turned the blank to diameter then marked out the legs and tenons along its length before forming the tenons with a parting tool.
The individual legs are made with a slight taper towards the foot, and the foot chamfered slightly. There is also a small undercut at the tenon/shoulder join in order to ensure a snug fit when inserted into the elephant’s body. Each leg was sanded in turn before parting off, and a chamfer applied to the end of the tenon for easy insertion.
Assembly
Ian sanded (50mm sanding disc in chuck) small flats on the head for the ears to sit against and dry assembled the elephant, although there was no time to add decoration. The picture below shows a completed elephant, with “features” added.
The competition table had a good selection of entries this month.
1st place went to Roger Gilbert for a clock inlaid with the ends of shotgun cartridges, and an elegant stand for the clock.
