Category: Uncategorized

The demonstration for this evening was by Gerald Hubbard. The night had several different items created which gave the members inspiration for making small, quick to make projects.

The first project was an apple which showed us spindle turning for the basic shape then utilising a jam chuck to finish the ends before fitting the stalk and calix. (The calix is the fluffy end where the flower once set). This was a clove which looks remarkably realistic.

The second project was a spinning top made using a blank cut from sycamore using a tank cutter then a spindle fitted in the centre. This was then turned to a finish and coloured.

Although Gerald did not make a nut cracker he did discuss how it was made and showed us the end result.

The next project was a spatula made from an ash plank and turned then the blade was cut to thickness and finished on a home made drum sanded fitted on the lathe.

The final project was an egg cup which Gerald usually makes for craft fairs as a set of 4 or 6.

The competition table was also open for entries and was well subscribed.

1st prize went to Ian Holmes with his box.

2nd place went to Chris Harkin with his roller boot.

3rd place was a bowl by Tony Lack.

For this evenings entertainment Ian George provided a demonstration and the subject this time was a candlestick, the type you associate with Victorian children going to bed with.

The candle stick was made up from 3 parts, a base, a stick and a handle, all of which was made from Yew. Ian started with the base, done as a faceplate turned item initially on a screw chuck, and then re-chucked into the main jaws. 

The stick part was turned in spindle mode with a tenon made so that it fitted into the base. The handle was turned as a ring and then a pin turned that would hold the handle in place. The 3 items were then glued together to create the finished item.

To use up the last 15 minutes of the evening Ian quickly turned a candle. The project provided a really entertaining evening.

The evening was a hands on session where 2 lathes were set up and Mick Denton did his sharpening workshop. He also broke away from this to give some instructions on a lathe. There were several members who also used the lathes for practice and providing experience to people who are new to woodturning. Even though the attendance was down on usual, overall it was a good night.

The February competition table was also open with a variety of projects. Unfortunately the photo’s are pretty poor so below is just the list of the top 3.

First was Roger Gilbert with his Yew vase and daffodils.

Second was Bob Green with his trio of wet turned thin vases / goblets.

Third was Geoff Warr with his Femisphere mounted on a plinth. 

The evenings entertainment was a demonstration by Adrian Finch. The subject was a little out of the ordinary in that it was a replica of a cordless drill complete with drill bit.

This was turned as 3 pieces of spindle turning with the most of the shaping done on the body section. The drill bit required some additional marking out shaping and the final result was very convincing.  

           

The evening ended with Roger Giibert making a couple of announcements, the first being that the AGM date has been set  at 3rd May 2023. The second was that Woodworks show is coming up in May (see the Non Club Events page) and we will be requiring pieces of work for the exhibition stand, about 4 pieces from each person would more than suffice. We would also like people to volunteer for the competition tasks over the 2 days, so if anyone is interested let Roger know.

The first club evening of 2023 saw Geoff Warr providing the entertainment. His project was an ornamental cat assembled from several turned pieces. The body and head were created as spindle turned items providing the sinuous body shape and the oval head.

The ears were then created and sanded to achieve the final shape. The nose was turned and a cross hole drilled so that the whiskers could be threaded through and trapped when the nose was assembled on the head. The tail was made on a scroll saw and then sanded to a round cross section before fitting to the body with 2 bamboo pins to hold it.

The result was very cute and the demonstration showed that your imagination can produce some very interesting work.

To fill in the last half hour Geoff turned the makings of a femisphere which entailed using a 2 part blank joined by a paper joint. It was then turned to a 2 ended cone and the paper joint split. The 2 halves were to be rotated by 90 degrees to create the interesting shape. If you understood that then I didn’t explain it right. You needed to be there to see it.

The competition table seemed to be dominated by bowls of various shapes and sizes.

3rd Place went to Peter Stanton with his bowl.

2nd place went to Ken Garratt with his oak bowl with a simple pyrography embellishment. 

1st place was Roger Gilbert with his Lignum Vitae salt and pepper pots (the only non bowl items on show).

The evening was conducted by Roger Gilbert who decided to reprise a demo he saw some time ago and create a woodpecker door knocker. This was to be made from several turned items and then assembled.

The first job was to create the woodpecker body whichbhe shaped using a template. The next was to create the main support with a hole drilled though the middle for the string. A striker plate was turned and the birds beak and then a top and bottom cap. Once assembled the project looked like this:-

To use up the remaining time Roger created an off set vase made from an old oak gate post, showing how to contend with the offset and the safety when working this way. He did not get to the point of doing the base but the principles were shown very well.

The December competition was well represented yet again and 3rd place went to Bob Green with the jar.

Second place went to Geoff Warr with his snowmen and angel.

There was a joint first place with Roger Gilbert and his angel and Ken Garratt and the jewellery box.

We had a hands on evening with 2 lathes set up manned by Roger Gilbert and Geoff Warr who guided and instructed several of our members and guests in the art of turning. Mick Denton also ran a separate forum on sharpening tools. All 3 were kept fully occupied and overall the evening proved to be a success with most people gaining some insight in our hobby.

The evenings demonstration was done by Ian George who set out to make a Christmas tree decoration that looked like an inside out turned item but wasn’t. He started with a block of wood and drilled holes through 2 sides using a forstener bit.

These holes made the “windows” of the ornament. The last face was drilled with a hole to suit the tenon in the finials. The block was turned to round and shaped and finials then created to make the final article. For the remaining time of the evening Ian made a snowman with a top hat. All very impressive, the only problem is that no photo’s of the items were taken. Sorry about that.

The November competition table was full with many varied and excellent items.

3rd place went to Dave Simms with his 3 piece band.

2nd place went to Roger Gilbert with his 3 cornered bowl.

There was a joint first place with Ken Garratt’s piggy bank and Colin Humphries table skittles game.

The evening demonstration was undertaken by Bryan Brumfield who made a bowl from a piece of sycamore. The outside of the bowl was completed, sanded and finished in the usual manner. The main focus of the demonstration was to show the use of colour on the rim of the bowl inspired by the work of people such as Mick Hanbury. This part was turned flat then sanded to 240 grit to allow a key for the paint to adhere to. The whole of the top surface was ebonised (spray painted with black colour) and dried using a hair dryer. (Not sure his wife knew it was missing though). Once thoroughly dry 3 “Jo Sonja” iridescent colours were mixed with flow medium and daubed quite thickly onto the black surface in random patterns.

A piece of clingfilm was then place over the paint while it was still wet and was then moved randomly around to produce pleasing colour mix and texture effect. The hair dryer was again employed to dry the paints off. In its wet state it looked white but as it dried the iridescence against the black background started to show. Once fully dry the bowl section was turned out and sanded and finished. The whole bowl was then sprayed with clear acrylic lacquer to give a very impressive result.

It was a very entertaining and inspiring evening.

The demonstrator for the evening was Ken Garratt. During his previous demo he showed some principles of turning green (wet) wood to allow it to dry quicker. This demo is a follow on from that, taking a box blank which was now dry through to a finished box.

The October competition was also run with the table having a nice selection of projects on show.

The results were

1st Geoff Warr with his elephant ornament

2nd Roger Gilbert with a spalted beech shallow dish

3rd Dave Simms with a little box in the form of an acorn on a stand