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There was an excellent turnout for this evening where we welcomed Gregory Moreton to give us a demonstration. After a brief introduction Gregory started to demonstrate making of a lamp stand in 3 pieces out of Banksia Nut / Seed Pod and recycled Jarra fence post.

The first nut was mounted between centres with the first process was to remove the soft furry outer coating which was turned away using a roughing spindle gouge.

One thing to bear in mind is that with Bansia Nuts the “grain” does not run as a normal log it is across the nut. Effectively it is faceplate orientation and should be turned and processed as you would a bowl blank. The next task was to drill through the centre of the nut using an auger. Tip here was not to drill more than one inch at a time and withdraw the bit to clear the swarf. Only drill half way through then reverse and repeat for the other end. A 1 inch hole can then be counter bored at one end to accept a mating tenon. The nut can then be remounted between centres using the hole and the outside trued up. The base can then be shaped to what you want with the top edge shaped so that the joint with the next nut can be disguised. One thing you will need to do before finishing is to remove debris, seeds and sometimes critters from the holes. The little critter should be killed by the sterilising of the nut but if you get them from a non reputable source they could still be alive. As these nuts come from Australia they could be nasty. However, the risks are low. The fibres in the nut mean that sanding should be done first in forward motion and then in reverse to give the best finish.

Finish with sanding sealer then wax. The final process is to use a brush on the nut to remove the excess wax from the seed holes. Create a 1 inch tenon at the top of the nut and part off.

The second nut is treated in exactly the same way except that the top in this instance is opened out slightly to accept a brass light insert.

The base was made from a piece of recycled Jarra fence post turned in faceplate orientation on a screw chuck with a hole in the top to accept the tenon on the nut. A hole is drilled through the side of the base into the centre hole so that a flex can be inserted. All of the parts should be finished. The whole thing can then be glued and assembled. Gregory showed us a table lamp that he had completed previously. It really did look interesting and different from the usual wooden lamps.

After a cup of tea Gregory showed how he makes a rustic pen pot out of an old fence post, however, instead of boring into end grain the blank is mounted in cross grain orientation and he bores a 2 inch hole onto this. The outside is then turned to the shape you want leaving some of the flat surfaces for contrast and texture. Again this is faceplate work so a bowl gouge is used unless you need to make a sharp V groove when a spindle gouge or skew can be used. However, you need to make a steep cut. The round areas can be sanded but the flat areas need the natural surface texture to be cleaned up. This was done using a draper nylon brush in a Jacob’s chuck or a wire brush by hand.

The chucking marks are cut off as a slice on the band saw. The piece was waxed but the textured areas were brushed using a polishing brush in the Jacob’s chuck.

The last item was a Banksia Nut sphere which was mounted between centres then roughed and prepared the same as previously. The blank was marked so that the diameter and the working length were the same. The blank was roughly turned to the sphere shape then removed from the centres. The 2 spigots were cut down with a saw and the blank remounted between 2 cupped centres. When you spin this you see a solid section with a ghost around it. The solid is the true sphere so the trick now is to remove the ghost image. Light cuts, a bit of patience and moving the blank around gets you to the finished sphere. Sand and finish and there you have it.

The whole evening proved to be interesting, informative and entertaining.

August Competition.

The competition table was full tonight with many excellent pieces.

3^rd place was a platter with laburnum inlays made by Mick Denton.

2^nd place was a clock by Roger Gilbert

1^st place was a lidded bowl and stand by Ken Garratt

Tonight we welcomed Mick Hanbury to the club and after a brief introduction Mick commenced to demonstrate the making of a textured and coloured bowl. A sycamore bowl blank was mounted on a screw chuck and faces and edges trued up. The back face is trued to give a reference to determine the finished depth of the blank. A centre point is also established.

There were to be a number of tips given during the demonstration and the first was to always start with sharp tools and keep them sharp. The outside of the bowl was shaped and accent lines and foot were established. The outside was then power sanded but to keep dust to a minimum Mick used a homemade sanding paste made comprising an oil/beeswax at 80/20 mix with a little lavender oil to make it smell nice. When the sanding is finished you can clean of the residue with a clean paper towel and it does not affect the finish that you want to apply. The abrasive does clog up but a quick brush with a stiffish brush soon clears it.

To texture the face of the bowl Mick used an Arbotech chainsaw toothed angle grinder (a vicious looking beast) to carve lines. He then used a wire brush on a drill to texture the surface further working in line with the grain. Usually the face would then be scorched to remove fibres but in this instance it was brushed with a stiff brush then the face was spray painted with matt black acrylic lacquer. Make sure that all coats are fully dry before applying the next. Mick used a hair dryer mounted from the tool post to speed drying. A clear gloss lacquer was applied after each coat. This means that if the next coat is not what you want you can wipe it off without messing up the previous coat. An application of iridescent paint was lightly made with a sponge brush to the textured area to give a strong base. The next coat should not be an iridescent as it does not combine with the first coat, the next coat was a metallic red-gold applied with the same sponge brush very lightly and not covering the whole area. The last layer was a silver metallic again applied very lightly.

Once the painting is complete accent lines were cut near the edge and near the central bowl. The bowl was then cut and finished again using the sanding paste on a power sander. If you are left with a dimple or a pimple in the bottom of your bowls a tip was to not push your tool through the last bit just let it cut at its own pace.

The bowl was then reverse chucked onto a sponge covered face plate using the centre mark created earlier to centralise the bowl. The chucking spigot was then removed, the pip carved off and the base power sanded with the sanding paste. The finished article was a very nice looking bowl which was remarkable considering that it was made in only a 2 hour demonstration.

Mick very generously donated the bowl to the club, a gesture which was warmly appreciated.

Overall this was a very inspiring, entertaining and interesting demonstration.

Adam Stephens Joined us for this evenings demonstration where he created a recorder. Unfortunately there is no text for this demo but there are a few photos to show the process and his finished product.

Clem Ansell joined us for the evenings demonstration and after a brief introduction Clem commenced to demonstrate the making of a small lidded box that he makes as “Tooth Fairy Boxes” which have proved popular at craft fairs.

The manufacture of this box in sycamore follows the basic principles of box making with the lid recessed into the body. The body was hollowed out to accommodate a £1.00 coin and the largest of the child’s teeth. The outside was shaped to a pleasing form and finished with sanding sealer and carnuba wax which was applied directly to the work in this instance. With larger pieces of work he would not apply it directly as there is a tendency for lines to occur which are difficult to remove. Such pieces would be buffed using carnuba wax on a buffing wheel.

The final flourish was to pyrograph on the outside “TOOTH FAIRY BOX” or whatever other text or picture you want to show. With practice this can become a quick and satisfying project for craft sales.

The next item that Clem demonstrated was a hedgehog which doubles up as a pencil / crayon holder, ideal for a child’s desks etc. This project incorporated off centre turning which was interesting. The square section blank was mounted off centre to start with so that when turned it left a flat spot which will be where the hedgehog lies. (Although on this occasion Clem forgot this part of the process so turned out a cylinder). Once the blank is turned out, the end at the headstock is rounded off to create the rear of the hedgehog. Once sanded and finished the blank was set off centre at the tailstock end approximately halfway from centre to the outside. This is then turned to an angle to create what will be the face.

The nose is left as a button and once complete is sanded and finished. The nose is then blackened and eyes drawn on with a sharpie pen. The final operation was to drill several holes randomly in the back into which pencils can be inserted.

There was a little time left so Clem made another small project of a captive golf ball in a goblet form. The blank was set between centres, turned to round and a spigot created. This was then mounted in the chuck and the end hollowed out roughly to just smaller than the golfball diameter but about 20mm deeper. This will allow the golfball to be inserted fully with plenty of clearance. The rest of the hollowing was undercut to slightly larger than the golfball diameter again for clearance but the opening was only turned out to just smaller than the golfball diameter. This allowed Clem to push fit the ball into the socket. He then turned the outside form. Unfortunately he ran out of time so could not finish the item but it did show how it was made. These have proved popular with golf clubs as trophies for “holes in one”.

Overall, although the projects were small ones, there was plenty of interest and tips that we can take away, practice and hopefully elaborate on.

There was another good turnout for this club meeting and we introduced the well known woodturner Gary Rance as the evenings demonstrator.

Gary started by giving us a brief introduction of his history in woodturning and his experiences.

The first part of Gary’s demonstration was spindle turning with a piece of square section pine set between centres. The first cut demonstrated was the pommel cut using his preferred tool, a round  skew. Gary went on to demonstrate the use of the skew to create V cuts and beads and also, interestingly, he intentionally induced a catch to show what not to do. Funnily enough he had to work hard to produce the catch, whereas most of us find this aspect quite easy. He also showed the turning of a cove using a spindle gouge. His top tip on making the cut was not to hesitate just make the cut, otherwise the risk of a catch increases.

The next subject to be demonstrated was faceplate turning. Gary made a round photo frame which used to be one of his production tasks. From one blank a series of frames in reducing size can be made. The blank was made as a glued up section of beech as this would be more stable than a full width plank. It was also kiln dried to minimise the risk of distortion after finishing. The blank was mounted on a screw chuck and trued up with a spindle gouge. The final cut was a fine shaving with the bevel of the tool rubbing, although it should not have any pressure so Gary prefers the term bevel floating.

The recess for the glass and the back plate was measured and turned out and the back finish sanded. This was then parted off using a thin parting tool used at an angle into the recess. The angle ensured that the frame did not fly off when parted though and remained captive against the chuck. The frame was then reverse chucked onto a scroll chuck in expansion mode although at home he would use wooded jaws. The face was trued up and the centre opened out until the recess was reached. The edge and the face were then decorated with beads and coves. Gary showed a way to quickly create a series of beads using a spindle gouge, not easy to explain but well worth seeing. This would then have been sanded and finished.

To further demonstrate the spindle turning already shown Gary set about making an “idiot stick” which is a 2 part puzzle stick.

This will not be described as it would give away the trick but needless to say it kept a couple of us guessing how it worked until the end.

Part of the decoration was to produce black lines on the piece which instead of burning with a wire were just coloured with a pencil. Does the same job but does not set off the smoke alarm. Gary also said that most production turners do not move the toolpost when sanding but sand from the back of the piece, and then demonstrated the safest technique for doing this.

The final part of the demonstration was a quick rundown of how Gary sharpens his tools.

Overall the demonstration was very informative with all of us taking something that we can use or develop. The presentation was given in a very informal and entertaining way and was enjoyed by everyone.

June Competition.

The June competition ended with a rare event in that there was a 3 way tie for first place. The honours jointly went to Clive Bryant with a vase and flower, Gerald Hubbard with a square edged bowl/dish and Mick Denton with a natural edge bowl. Congratulations to all three.

The Show went well with West Northants Woodturning Club achieving four placings.

There were some competitions over the 2 days and the small box made with a threaded lid by Gerald Hubbard took second place. Another of the competitions was a tiered cake stand made by Roger Gilbert. It was decided that the cake stand should have cakes exhibited on it. This went down well with the judges who nicked one of the cakes. It was worth it though as this took first prize. Unfortunately the whistle made by Roger Gilbert and the scaled down spinning wheel made by Doug Johnson were unplaced, but certainly not for the want of trying.

On our stand was a segmented vase made by Geoff Warr and this lovely piece picked up the second prize overall in the show. An excellent result for a brilliant bit of work. (lot of work).

The final accolade was that we were awarded the best in show and the shield and certificates were presented at the club meeting on the 16^th May.

The full results are shown on the Tudor Rose website.

A great job was done by all of those who helped over the 2 days and in the preparations for the stand. Well done those who made the pieces for the competitions and also thank you for all of those that contributed their work to be exhibited.