Author: Alec Mutch

Our virtual meeting on Thursday 26th November 2020 was about making lamp bases, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim but due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic had to be changed to a virtual meeting. You were all invited to take part in this virtual meeting but as is often the case very few of you took part, nevertheless we are very grateful to those who did take the time to take part. We ended up with 5 people willing and able to show their work, those were Bill Munro, David Ross, Dave Line, Nick Simpson and myself.

I will give you just a taste of what’s in the gallery from some of the entries, including a timeline from myself on how a table lamp was made from 2 bowling balls.

The following gallery will give you some more detail on all of the items shown here, it will also include the timeline of the lamp made from 2 bowling balls made by myself.

For a larger picture of any in the gallery, just click the picture, this will also allow you to read the text with each picture.

Our next meeting is scheduled for the 10th December 2020, it should have been our Christmas competition and raffle draw meeting, as this cannot happen we will do another virtual meeting on that date, the theme will be Christmas ofcourse, so anything to do with Christmas will be acceptable. Lets make this meeting one to remember and have lots and lots of entries.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next meeting should be held on Thursday 26th November 2020, but due to the Covid-19 restrictions still in place this meeting will now be held virtually. The meeting was to be arranged by Cliff Sim and Cliff’s theme for the meeting was making lamp bases, any type of lamp can be made it’s your choice. Remember there are other types of lamps that can be made and from lots of different sources even recycling from something else.

I will give you a couple of examples on what I mean from recycling,

You are all invited to take part in Cliff’s lamp bases, don’t let him down by not entering, we want to see a very good entry from as many of you as possible.

Don’t worry about making just the base without all the electrical bit and bobs, it’s your idea for the base we want to see, we all know what the other bits look like.

Get your entries to me by the end of the day on Friday 27th November and I will post them on our web site, we need a good response.

Pictures and text to;

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our meeting on the 12th November 2020 had to be made into a virtual meeting due to the Covid-19 restrictions still being in operation. The meeting was to be arranged by Cliff Sim his theme was to be making wooden boxes on the lathe. We kept to the theme when we asked you all to make a box or two for the virtual meeting. The response was very poor with only 4 people taking part, those were David Ross, Dave Line , Nick Simpson and myself.

I will give you a feel for what sent in and a following gallery of all the entries along with some comments from each turner.

Here is the picture gallery of all the entries, just click any picture for a larger view and also for the text attached to each picture.

We do hope this gallery of some of the members work will encourage you to also take part in future posts. It’s not difficult, don’t get too hung up on being perfect with everything, we would just like to see you taking part, I’ll doctor the pictures if needed and also deal with the text that you give me, so please do take part.

The next meeting will also be a virtual meeting again being organised by Cliff Sim and for this meeting Cliff would like to see you making lamp bases, any type, any size. This meeting is scheduled for the 26th November 2020.

Once you have made your lamp base send the pictures to me along with some information on what you have made, don’t worry if you do not have all the electrical parts needed, we all know what they look like, what we want to see is the lamp base you produce.

Our next meeting should be on the 12th November 2020, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions this meeting will now be a virtual meeting. Cliff had wanted the meeting to feature making boxes, we can still make some boxes for Cliff, all you have to do is make a box or 2, any shape any size, once made photograph them and send the pictures to me for publication, give me some info on your box or boxes, things like the size and the wood it’s made from.

I will give you some pictures of the type of thing you could make, the first picture has quite a few boxes you could use for ideas, the second lot of pictures will be in a picture gallery of individual boxes with some instructions on how they were made. Pick a box or 2 from any of the pictures and see if you can make one or 2 similar.

The picture Gallery follows, here you will see 10 different boxes with some instruction on how they were made. Just click any of the pictures to get a bigger picture and to be able to read the text.

Come on everyone make a box or 2 and make Cliff happy, you have no excuse if it’s ideas you need you have them here.

Once you make your box or boxes, send your pictures to me at;

a.j.mutch4321@btintenet.com

You have until Friday the 13th November 2020 to get your entries to me for publication on our club web site. I look forward to seeing them.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our meeting on the 29th October was to be a demonstration by Andy Walter of Black Isle Woodturning, it was being organised by Jim Kelman but this had to be changed into a virtual meeting due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.

As there was no theme to work from we asked you all to make something of your own choosing and send the pictures to me for publication on our web site. There were only 2 people responded to this request other than myself, they are Dave Line and Nick Simpson, so thank you Dave and Nick for taking the time to make and send your work to me.

I will give you just a little taste of what’s in the gallery this week,

The rest of the entries are in the gallery that follows along with some information on all of them.

To see a larger picture of any of the gallery images just click the picture.

Our next meeting on the 12th November 2020 will also be a virtual meeting, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim on the subject of boxes. Lets see if we can all do better for the next meeting, we need you to make a box or boxes and send the pictures of them to me, you have 11 days to do this, don’t disappoint me.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

This weeks meeting on Thursday 29th October 2020 was to be a demonstration by Andy Walters of Black Isle Woodturning, this was being organised by Jim Kelman however with the Covid-19 restrictions still in place this has been changed to a virtual meeting now. Andy will not be demonstrating but we invite you all to send in some pictures of your latest turnings along with a bit of information about each article.

We are not going to put any particular criteria on what to make as long as you make something and then send them to me for publication.

We have a few very dedicated people in the club that send in articles on a very regular basis and we very much appreciate these people, however I would like to see the number of these increase, do remember that you do not have to be an expert on anything you are making, we would like to see them anyway, come on some of you novices to the club and woodturning show us what you have been doing.

We are not asking you to make anything like the Quaich, but we are asking you to make something, anything at all and do send me the pictures.

You will have up to Friday 30th October to send me your pictures, send them to me at,

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Good luck with your turning and do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our meeting on the 15th October 2020 was going to be mainly about making pens, it was to have been organised by Jim Kelman however with the Covid-19 restrictions still in place this meeting had to be moved to a virtual meeting.

I invited all of you to enter a pen or something else if you did not have the kit to make a pen, anything that used a brass tube like a key ring or some other item that made use of some elements of a kit, and failing all of that just to enter something you had made.

The response was as usual very poor, but I must thank all of those who did take part and some who did not take part because I have included some work from them.

You will see in the Gallery I have included some pictures of items made by our members that are clearly not a pen or have anything to do with any kit, I make no apologies for including these items, indeed to the contrary I have included a couple of items I made recently that I felt could be shown.

To see a larger picture on any of the gallery images just click the picture, you will also be able to see the text that goes with each picture.

Our next meeting is due on the 29th October, again being organised by Jim Kelman, he had arranged for Andy Walters of Black Isle Woodturning to give us a demonstration, this will not be taking place, instead we will have a virtual meeting on any subject you prefer, lets see if we can improve on the numbers taking part for this next meeting.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next virtual meeting will be on the 15th October 2020, the subject matter is pens, it was to be organised by Jim Kelman but with the Covid-19 restrictions still being in place this meeting will now be held virtually. You are all invited to make a pen or pens, they can be made from any material you wish, be it wood, acrylic or even metal just as long as you make something. You could also use this meeting to make anything that contains a brass tube, like a key ring holder or an atomizer.

There may be some of you who do not have any of the brass tubing or the pen mechanisms, in which case we would be very pleased to see any entry you wish to put forward.

Here are a couple of pictures of pens made in previous meetings.

Do try to take part in this meeting, we would all love to see your examples.

You will have until the end of the day on Friday 16th October to send me you pictures.

Send them to me at, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our Showtime virtual meeting was on Thursday 1st October 2020, it was to be organised by myself but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions had to be done as a virtual meeting. The response was less than good, with only 4 members taking part, those were Dave Line Nick Simpson, David Ross and myself.

The Showtime meeting have generally attracted a very good response when held in the clubhouse with 15 to 20 members taking part, why it should be so different when it’s a virtual meeting leaves me somewhat puzzled. However we are where we are and I am pleased to see we did get some response, all be it from the usual few members.

I will give you a taste of what’s in the gallery for this meeting, firstly from Dave Line,

Now an entry from Nick Simpson, Nick supplied 6 pictures that can be viewed in the gallery section along with an explanation on all, see below what Nick Had to say about his entry.

Next is an entry from David Ross, David supplied 3 pictures, all can be viewed in the gallery section.

Now for one of my own turnings, I have put forward several for you all to see, these can all be viewed in the gallery section, I have added a bit of information about all of them.

The picture Gallery now follows,

For a bigger picture of any of the items shown in the Gallery just click the picture, you will also see some text about the subject.

Our next Virtual meeting was to be on the 15th October 2020 on the subject of making pens, this meeting was to be organised by Jim Kelman.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.