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.
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.
Here we have a selection of pens plus a key ring.Some pens made from Aluminium.
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.
I recently received some pictures from Nick Simpson on the subject of Tricylinders, Nick wanted to know if anyone would be interested to see one being made. I thought this was an excellent idea and Nick agreed to do a time line on the making of a Tricylinder. He also supplied some text with each picture to make it easier to follow, and on being asked where he got the idea this is what he said,
This form consists of three cylinders of equal radius which intersect at right angles to each other. The correct name is a Tricylinder.
In recent years forms involving the intersection and relationship of cylinders have been popularized by the Irish woodworker Max Brossi. I chose to make the tricylinder as a starting point rather than attempt the very much more complex forms with uneven numbers of cylinders which Max Brossi is producing now.
I have not seen a description or timeline for making these forms so what you see here is my approach. I know that others, recently including Alec Mutch, have made a tricylinder but I do not know they achieved the result. Nick Simpson.
I have put Nick’s Timeline into a gallery presentation to keep the text relevant to the picture, I do hope you are able to follow the timeline, and do have a go at making one, if you do send me the pictures.
If you want to see a bigger picture and read the text, click on the picture and follow the timeline.
This entry by Nick is more than welcome, we would be very pleased to see any other timelines being put forward by any of our members, you can do this on any subject you prefer, just follow Nick’s lead and do a timeline of your own, I will post it on line.
Our thanks go out to Nick Simpson for taking the initiative and the time to do this timeline.
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,
This blank of Spalted Beech was Dave’s first entry, you will see there is a large crack through the blank, you will see in the gallery what Dave did about it and how it turned out.
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.
Hello Alec Here is my Showtime entry In 2018 I spent some time experimenting with mathematical spirals as a decoration for bowls and plaques. The method was to follow the arc of various spiral forms by creating off-centre bowls of increasing or decreasing size. Nick Simpson.
Next is an entry from David Ross, David supplied 3 pictures, all can be viewed in the gallery section.
Hi Alec I have two items to show one is this painted bowl the other is an open segmented vase I only have one photo as my daughter claimed it as soon as it was made and a decorated bowl. Regards David Ross.
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.
This bowl was made for a couples granddaughter as a commemorative piece.
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.
Our next meeting should have been this Thursday 1st October 2020, it was to be organised by Mike Day, but with the Covid-19 restrictions still in force this will now be a virtual meeting. The meeting is a Showtime meeting, that’s where you would have been invited to bring along things you have made to show the rest of the members and give a short talk on what you had made. This type of meeting in the past had proved very successful with lots of the members bringing in items to show, we do not want to see a drop off in this just because it’s now a virtual meeting, do try to send in pictures of any items you have made and give me some information about them.
Here are a few pictures of some of the past Showtime meetings, I hope they will encourage you to take part.
These are just some of the items shown at a meeting held on the 30th August 2018.Again from a previous meeting this time it was held on the 15th February 2018.These pictures were from another Showtime meeting held on the 21st June 2018More examples of some of the items shown at a previous meeting.
Do try to take part and remember you are not limited to just one item to show, you can have as many as you like. Send your pictures to me before the end of the day on Friday 2nd October 2020 for inclusion in the next post.
Send your pictures to me at, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com
Our virtual meeting on Thursday 17th September was to be a Bowls night, it was to be organised by John Ruickbie but due to Covid-19 restrictions had to be made into a virtual meeting. John also sends his apologies for not putting forward a bowl, family commitments did not allow him sufficient time to send anything in. However we did get a few of our members to send in some pictures, I am going to deal with them in 2 lots, firstly some individual bowl pictures from Nick Simpson and Dave Line, and secondly a few pictures from David Ross and myself where we are both showing a few bowls from different aspects.
We will start with Nick Simpson’s entry,
This is Nick Simpson’s bowl and here is what he had to say about it.
Hi Alec
Here is an entry for the virtual bowl show.
The picture shows a simple bowl in cherry wood measuring 8” (200mm) diameter. The wavy line though the bowl is the graft of ornamental cherry on to wild cherry stock.I had to keep the lathe speed down because the different densities of the two woods kept the piece well out of balance until the walls were only a little thicker than the final item. It illustrates that even simple turnings can be special if the pattern and figure of the stock is exploited.
Best wishes
Nick Simpson.
Now for Dave Line’s entries, Dave put in 3 bowls.
I am sending in 3, the first is my first attempt at segmented turning. You can see that the segments do not line up, this is due to inaccurate measuring but with practice you get better. It is made from Ash, Sycamore and Sapele and is about 170mm dia and 130mm high. The second is my first attempt at open segmented turning, it is made from Sycamore and Sapele and is about 140mm dia and 80mm high. The burning rings were made with a bit of formica from an old kitchen worktop.The third is just a bowl made from Spalted Beech. The problem I had with this was tearing when turning, this was overcome by sealing with sanding sealer then finishing with a very sharp tool. Dave Line.
For the last 2 lots of entries I have used the picture gallery to show these entries, each picture contains more than one image along with some text. The first 4 are from David Ross, the last 3 are from myself, Alec Mutch.
If you would like to see a larger picture of any of those in the picture gallery, just click the picture, you will also see some text with every picture.
Our next meeting should be on Thursday 17th September 2020 but due to the present restrictions will now be a virtual meeting. This meeting was to be organised by John Ruickbie and I know he was planning something special. Now we will have to wait until we get back meeting again to see what John had planned, however we do not need to wait to see what the rest of you can do as far as bowl turning is concerned, make a bowl, any type of bowl, and photograph it or them, you can present more than one, and I will post it on our web site, do remember to give me some information with any entry.
Bowl work is probably the easiest form of turning to master, so there is no excuse for you not to make the effort to make a bowl or two and send the pictures to me.
Here are a few that may give you some encouragement to take part, you can copy if you wish, or better still come up with your own design.
An Elm bowl I made some time ago, it measured 300mm in diameter by 50mm deep.A natural edged Burr Elm bowl, it measured 350mm across at it’s widest point by about 60mm deep.A Spalted Beech bowl measuring 250mm in diameter by 50mm deep, I kept the turning very simple to show off the spalting to best advantage.An elevated bowl made from Wych Elm, this bowl was 250mm in diameter by 150mm high made from 1/2 a log.
These are just 4 different designs of bowls you can make, lets see how many more you can come up with.
You will have up to Friday 18th September to get your entries to me for publication, so do take part I know the members like to see what everyone has done although the entries have been scarce lately, lets change that this week.
Send your pictures to me at, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com
This week’s virtual meeting on Thursday 3rd September 2020 was to be about making any type of household goods. This meeting was to be organised by John Cheadle but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions it had to be turned into a virtual meeting. The usual request for our members to take part has gone unheeded again, with only one member sending me any pictures or information, that being Nick Simpson, I have put a few pictures together for you all to see along with a very short timeline in the gallery on the making of a Natural Edged Bowl but from a source that you may find interesting.
I urge you all to take notice of our requests for you all to take part in what we are trying to do, and that’s to keep the club alive, your continued lack of interest is wearing us down and that’s not good for the club, we are actively looking at methods to get the club up and running again but we are still under lockdown as far as the government is concerned.
I will start with Nick’s entry, a mortar and pestle.
This is Nick’s Mortar and Pestle and here is what he had to say about it, I called this a ‘handy’ mortar and pestle as it was designed to be used in the hand rather than the usual way on a kitchen surface. Both elements are from Olive wood. The mortar is based on a simple three legged cauldron design. Finish is food safe oil (liquid paraffin). Regards Nick Simpson.Here is Nick’s second picture, this time it’s showing the bottom of the mortar, you can see why he called it a cauldron design.
Now for a couple of items from my own picture gallery,
A bread board made from Lime wood, it measured 330 mm in diameter and the carving was all done with a very fine veining tool in the router.This is a cheese board, complete with tile top and tools compartment underneath the top part. The top part was on a pivot so that when in use on the table the tools were there to cut the cheese then the top part could be closed by moving it over the lower part.
Now for the timeline on a Natural Edged Bowl. This is no ordinary Natural Edged Bowl or at least the part I’m using was not that usual as it comes from the crux of a tree.
I have deliberately kept this gallery short as I know you are all familiar with how to make a Natural Edged Bowl, the part I wanted to show was the fact of using the crux adds a whole new dimension to this type of bowl, it does not have to be a straight log or even half a log, look at what you have and come up with a new way of working it.
If you want to see a larger picture and to read the text, just click on the pictures in the gallery.
I received a late entry for this post from David Ross, there was some confusion with the original email David sent, however here are David’s pictures and text now, better late than never, and thanks David for re-sending the pictures.
Hi Alec Hope I have better luck this time My first item is a cake stand it is 220mm tall the top plate is 160 mm in diameter the bottom plate is 200mm in diameter it is made out of sycamore and finished in 3 coats Chestnut food safe oil. Second item is a spurtle they are approx 260 mm long and 20 mm in diameter they are made from sycamore and have no finish on them as sycamore is a safe wood to use for cooking utensils. Third item is a rolling pin it is 400 mm long the pin is made of maple and in 220 mm long and 70 mm in diameter the handles are made of a wood but I cannot remember what kind they 90 mm long and 25 mm diameter at the widest point There is a rod all the way through the pin and fitted to a bearing at each end of the pin it was then glued into each handle. The handles look to be Wenge, AM.
Our meeting this Thursday 3rd September 2020 was to be about making household goods, it was to be organised by John Cheadle, but as lockdown persists we are having this meeting virtually. Household good give you all a very wide range of items that can be made, things like fruit bowls, candle holders, table lamps, weed pots to name but a few. I have concentrated my thoughts on items mainly to do with the kitchen and to that end I have a few suggestions on thing that could be made. You can of course make something of your own, be it decorative or functional I’ll leave that up to you, but please take part, we want as many of you as possible to make something and then send the pictures to me to upload onto our web site, don’t forget to give me some information on whatever you make.
Here are a few suggestions,
Here we have a mortar and pestle.A tooth pick holder.A selection of wooden spoons.A selection of rolling pins.A wooden scoop.
These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to household goods, I’m sure you can think of many more, do take part in our on line meetings, the site gets a good number of viewers and I’m sure they would like to see what you have made.
Once you have made your items, take some pictures and send them to me for uploading, remember the text, and any other information you care to pass on.
Send your pictures to me at, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com you will have until Friday 4th September 2020 to get your pictures to me.
Our virtual meeting on Thursday 20th August was to be about workshop safety, this could not take place due to Covid-19 restrictions being in place. John Cheadle was to do a presentation on various aspects of workshop safety, this subject will still be approached once some of the restrictions have been lifted.
As a result of the cancellation you the members were invited to put forward anything on any subject, this could have been on safety issues or just what was on your mind at the time, we were looking to get some pictures of things you had made along with some text telling us about what you had made and why. The response was extremely low and most disappointing despite our best efforts to get some more of you involved. I only received one actual entry from Nick Simpson, I did receive another picture from Gordon Leitch along with a question, which I’m going to include in this post, it’s things like this that I would hope you would put forward, if you don’t put forward anything how can we respond to you.
I told you in the last post that I would do a timeline on a bowl I made from an Ash Gall, it will feature in a separate gallery here in this post.
Firstly here is Nick Simpsons submission for this post.
Hello Alec,
This is my submission for this week.
The forms are hollow and mathematically known as tricylinders. Basically they are 6 sided tubes which intersect at right angles.
These have been turned and carved from 4 inch cubes and when finished they were decorated in different ways.
The ‘Rusty Pipe’ is from Sycamore and finished with a mixture of acrylic paint, and artists sand. The ‘shiny’ pipe is also Sycamore and threaded on all 6 ends then finished in Rustoleum gun metal acrylic spray. The ‘Steampunk’ form is from green Ash which was then scorched to fire then wire brushed back and decorated by copper wire and brass cogwheels.
The form was popularized by the Irish woodturner Max Brosi but I have never seen a timeline for construction. I have demonstrated the construction of these so have pieces in the various stages production. If there is interest I will send you a timeline for the next set of postings. Regards Nick Simpson.
I’m sure some of you will want to see Nick’s timeline on the making of one of these tricylinders, do let me know.
Now for Gordon Leitch’s question, this came as a result of some information I put out on fitting a tile into a wooden surround.
Hi Alec I enjoyed your article fitting tile into wood surround I still have the original I got from you way back when you did demos at Ullapool. However could you advise how I can overcome the problem I have fitting clock chapter rings .I have tried exact fitting and also fitting with clearance but get the same result within 3 weeks of fitting( photo enclosed ) the blanks used were well dried and seasoned
Your comments PLEASE Regards Gordon
This is Gordon’s clock as you will see the chapter ring has been pushed out in a bulge between 2 & 3 o’clock.
This was my answer to
Hi Gordon,
Thanks for you comment on fitting a tile into wood, interesting that you still have one of my original information sheets.
The first thing to say is for these items a quarter sawn blank would be preferred, this is where the grain of the wood is vertical to the face of the blank, it should also be from one quadrant of any log, I.E. not using the centre pith, the shrinkage if there is any will only be in one direction, towards the centre with no buckling, and that movement can be catered for in making the fit not too tight.
This problem of movement when using a chapter ring is quite different to that of fitting a tile, the option to remove some of the centre part under the tile is not available when using a chapter ring. Instead of taking material away from under the tile, the opposite needs to happen, remove the material from the back of the surround. You should use a medium length shaft clock movement, that would leave about 4 to 5 mm thickness where the movement gets fitted, but don’t just remove the wood from the centre where the movement goes, the wood needs to be removed on the back right back to the outer diameter of the chapter ring, so you have a fairly large opening in the back that is all 4 to 5 mm thick, the area outside of the chapter ring can be left at full thickness but flat to just a little concave, this needs to be wide enough to carry the brass or plastic hanging plate. On the front (you will need a jam chuck to hold the work peice) mount it on the jam chuck, drill the hole for the movement screw and flatten off the face right across including the area for the chapter ring. You can recess the chapter ring by removing just 2 mm of the thickness where the ring is to go, allow for a little shrinkage, so not too tight a fit, the gluing proceedure is the same as for a tile, 4 x 25 mm x 6 mm strips of silicone placed at 3,6,9 and 12 o’clock. Now the profile on the border outwith the ring can be made, that’s down to personal preference. Sand seal and polish, let me know how you get on, I’m going to do a full set of instructions on this for the web site shortly, so thanks for asking the question.
Regards,
Alec.
Now for my own submission, a timeline on the use of an Ash Gall being made into a bowl.
For a larger picture of any in this gallery just click on the picture, it will be accompanied by some text, there are 14 pictures in all, just start at picture one and follow them through to picture 14. This shows the possibilities of using some weird and wonderful pieces of wood.
Our next virtual meeting will be on the 3rd September 2020, it should have been all about household goods and was to be organised by John Cheadle. Let us see if you can come up with some household items, you are being invited to give me pictures of the things you have made, so lots of them please.
We are still working on a method to get us re-opened as and when the government allows us back meeting again, we are looking at things like better ventilation and trying to increase the floor space for social distancing, the hall committee have been contacted to see if they will agree with some of the proposals we have put forward. More on this as and when we get it.
Remember the clubhouse remains closed.
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