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The evenings meeting was for the 3 impostors, a play on words as alternative demonstrators for the usual 3 Musketeers. The impostors were Ian George, Adrian Finch and Ken Garratt who kept the audience amused with bowls, an old fashioned telephone masquerading as a candle stick and a tea caddy spoon. 

This was an opportunity for members to start demonstrating but in a warm and friendly atmosphere and we will look to continue this over the next 12 months so if anyone is interested please put your name forward. It is a daunting prospect to undertake but is enjoyable, give it a go.

 

Tonight was the turn of Ian George to demonstrate some woodturning, the first item was a mushroom made from a small Yew log. This was started between centres and a chucking tenon established.

Once the piece was mounted in the chuck it was turned to shape and the head undercut using a spindle gouge.

 

Although relatively simple this was interesting to see how the operations were performed.

The second item was a natural edge bowl where a log was mounted on a screw chuck and turned out and a chucking recess created.

Once the outside shape was finished the bowl was rechucked onto the recess and was hollowed. Again this explained the processes admirably and gave many of us inspiration to try something similar. 

The last 10 minutes were filled with a quick T light holder which looked to be a nice fun project for novice turners.

The November competition was once again well subscribed with a wealth of quality projects.

1st was a little box by Gerald Hubbard.

2nd was a cat by Clive Bryant

Equal 3rd was a vase by Roger Gilbert and a pot by Mick Denton

 

This evening was a hands on with 2 lathes set up and a number of people doing little bits and pieces. Unfortunately there were only a small number of members there but we did have an entertaining evening with a good exchange of information, tips and banter.

Adrian Finch made a demonstration tonight and it was his first club demonstration so he was given a warm welcome. His first comment was that he would not tell us what he was making, we had to guess. The first person to give the correct answer would get a Yorkie bar (other chocolate bars are available). The 3 components of his project was a large copper sleeve, a brass plumbing fitting and a sizeable chunk of Ash, which from the look of it showed promise for some good figuring.

Having turned the Ash to round he created a spigot for the chuck and mounted the wood in place. The first diameter was turned down so that the copper sleeve fitted onto it. Over the next part of the evening Adrian stepped down the wood three times. The wood lived up to it’s promise of good figuring, but even at the tea break we could still not work out what it was and, bearing in mind Adrian’s wacky ideas, it was not surprising. Finally Mick Denton blurted out (more in jest than anything else) ‘Telescope’ and that earned him the Yorkie bar.

   

Adrian then worked the project to a finish. Overall we got to have a sense of the unknown, a demonstration of spindle turning and use of materials other than wood. Not only that there was some light hearted banter making the evening very entertaining.

The competition for October heralded a substantial and competitive table, so much so that there was one winner and 4 equal seconds.

First was Bob Green with a pair of plywood bowls.

The four second places went to Bryan Turner, David Hartley, Mick Denton and Arthur Ellis. Congratulations to one and all and thank you for the effort put into the work for the competition.

   

     

Gerald Hubbard undertook this demonstration which was designed to provide instruction and little nuggets of knowledge from a very experienced woodturner.

His first part was to produce a garden dibber which he showed us at normal speed to show how quickly they can be made. He then proceeded to show the process as a step by step guide including use of the skew chisel and a marking out template.

The second part was to make a small lidded box often described as a tooth fairy box. Gerald described it as a one handed fit lidded box. This means that the lid is sufficiently loose to be able to remove it using just one hand. Gerald started this process from first principles and explained actions such as measuring, facing off, hollowing, witness marks, Jam chucks and much more.

The final part was to fill the time so he made a 2 part mushroom.

All in all this was a very entertaining, informative and inspirational demonstration.

This evening was a hands on session which ended up with Roger Gilbert making a lidded box, Duncan Anderson providing a little tuition and Mick Denton doing a sharpening workshop. Many thanks to those contributors to the evening, there were plenty of opportunities to learn something of use.

The evening also hosted the September competition which was well subscribed with many varied projects all of high quality, it was difficult to decide which was your favourite.

1st place went to Geoff Warr with a Laburnum vase

Equal 2nd were Bob Green with a lidded box along with Glyn Jennings also with a box

3rd place went to Clive Bryant with a pen holder in the shape of an elephant and a pen. 

Mick Denton has been experimenting with resin as part of his turning and this evening he regaled us with the progress that he has made so far. This included the errors and mishaps and then the gradual understanding of the process.This was a very interesting and entertaining evening giving an insight into the problems and rewards that resin brings to the turning process.

The demonstrator tonight was one of our members Geoff Warr who said that he wanted to demonstrate the turning of a Femisphere, which had everyone in the room saying “a what?”.

The form required split turning and 2 axis turning apparently. Geoff had made up the blank already and it was held together with double sided tape. We are not sure if Geoff’s comment about the double sided tape always holding was the kiss of death but unfortunately with a heavyish catch the blank split. Without any backup Geoff had to abandon that and continued with creating a candlestick made up in 3 sections. This demonstrated faceplate and spindle turning including making spigots for gluing pieces together.

We also had the August competition which was really well represented this month with a table full of pieces to peruse.

First place was a lidded pot which fittingly was made by our demonstrator Geoff Warr. (The lid was made from a core from the centre of the bowl).

2nd place was a 3 way tie with a pestle and mortar by Clive Bryant, A flask type vase by Bryan Turner and an inside out turned lamp by Roger Gilbert

3rd place went to a nice little threaded thimble box by Gerald Hubbard.

This was a much anticipated demonstration by Emma Cook who proposed to make a LED lit Christmas tree decoration. The several examples that she had on show certainly whetted our appetite for this demonstration. The project consisted of a glass bauble and a string of very small LED lights with finely turned finials. To try to describe everything that Emma demonstrated is not an option, as she covered most of what is involved with spindle turning of finials. There were tips and tricks coming almost continuously with Emma’s running commentary. Needless to say everyone learned something from the night or were reminded of something that they had forgotten. This was an excellent demonstration and all of the attendees appreciated the expertise on show.

This was a hands on evening with 3 lathes set up and all in use plus the sharpening station in place. The members using the lathes were practising their tool skills and also testing out some new tools. The other lathe was being used for instruction by Mick Denton on the art and techniques of creating finials. The sharpening station had some use with instructions on sharpening different tools. Overall this was a relaxed but informative evening with the opportunity to socialise and discuss turning (and non turning) related topics. It is well worthwhile attending the hands on events because there is always something you can pick up on and take away to try yourself.

The July competition table was a little sparse but held some quality pieces which was nice to see. The winner was Clive Bryant with a well constructed and decorative condiment set.

Second was Roger Gilbert with a very nicely presented spalted beech bowl.

Third spot went to one of our newer members (and very aptly named) Bryan Turner with a well crafted and practical lidded box.