Alec Mutch, Author at Highland Woodturners Club (Scottish Charity SC053651)

07/06/202017/06/2020

Weed pots virtual meeting 11-06-2020

Our meeting this Thursday should have been all about making weed pots, it will now be handled on line by means of a virtual meeting, it was to be organised by myself, what we would like you to do is to make a weed pot or more than one and send the pictures to me along with some text for publication on our web site. These are not difficult things to make and they use up odd bits of wood that would otherwise not be used.

We had a real disappointing entry for the Inside Out Turnings, I hope we can do a whole lot better with this subject.

If you need some guidance on what a weed pot is and how to make it, click the link provided below for a full description on how to make one.

http://howtodowoodturning.com/weed-pot/

The pictures and text need to be sent to me by Friday 12th June at the latest, email them to a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

31/05/202031/05/2020

Report on our “Inside Out Turning” virtual meeting on 28-05-2020.

Our virtual meeting on “Inside Out Turning” was on Thursday 28th May 2020 It was to be organised by myself, I was going to demonstrate the methods used to produce an Inside Out Turning, however as this was not possible due to the lockdown we made it a virtual meeting instead. I was to be the only turner for this demonstration, we were not going to use all the lathes as is the normal practice. On that basis I decided I would handle this more like a tutorial rather than the normal proceedure where we just show some pictures with a little text, I will take you through the making of an Inside Out Turning.

The membership were invited to do an inside out turning to be shown on this post, however I have only received one other entry for the Inside Out Turning, I was hoping for a few more but I do realise that this type of turning may have been a step to far for the some of our members.

I did receive a couple of pictures of other turnings from another member, and they will be shown here, I did invite everyone to enter any piece of turning if they felt the Inside Out Turning was not for them.

First up is the only Inside Out Turning I received from Nick Simpson, this is what he had to say about his picture.

Morning Alec

If you are short of photos this is one I did a while ago.

It is 9” tall and made from sycamore. The inside is spray painted gold and the outside stained with spirit stain and satin lacquer.

Regards

Nick Simpson.

Next are a couple of pictures from Dave Line, not Inside Out Turnings, just items he has made recently, this is what Dave had to say about them,

Hi Alec.

I tried inside out turning after John Ruickbie demonstrated a couple of years ago but the result was a complete disaster so when I saw the programme for this year I was looking forward to this week when Alec would be demonstrating inside out turning so I could have another go.

So no inside out turning but 2 items I have made in the last couple of weeks.

The first is a lamp, 280mm high and 120mm Dia. The body is Ash and the feature rings are Sycamore and Sapele , it is finished with wood wax and friction polish.

The second is a clock of 150mm Dia it is very simple but my first use of millput which I think sets it off quite well, the wood is Copper Beech and finished with melamine lacquer.

Now for my own tutorial on Inside Out Turnings.

For those wishing to follow the tutorial start at the fourth picture and go through them in sequence they are all on a step by step basis for you to follow, and good luck with this, if you don’t try you will never know how interesting it can make woodturning, for a larger picture and the text just click any picture, a full sized picture should appear.

Our next Virtual meeting is on the 11th June 2020, that too is being organised by myself, it’s on a much simpler turning this time, it’s all about making weed pots, now that something that everyone can do and can enter for publication, so get to making weed pots and lots of them and send your pictures to me but don’t forget to tell us all about them.

Remember the clubhouse remains closed.

23/05/202017/06/2020

Inside -out turning virtual meeting 28-05-2020

Our next meeting should have been on the 28th May 2020 but due to the lockdown this meeting will be handled virtually. It was to be organised by myself demonstrating how to make an inside-out or involuted turning. This type of turning usually consisted of 3 or 4 pieces of wood held by temporarily gluing the pieces together (paper joint method) to create a cylinder where the turning that would ultimately be on the inside is turned first on the outside with the ends untouched at this stage, the whole assembly would then be taken apart and reversed so that all the turnings are now on the inside, the pieces would then be glued permanently, allowed to dry and then turned. I have given you a few pictures of one I did myself and one that John Ruickbie did at a demo in 2018, you can follow what we did if you wish or come up with your own idea for any form of inside-out turning, but do have a go at this and send your pictures to me.

This is one I made some years ago, it’s made from Sycamore and has a miniature bottle of whisky inside.

Do have a go at this and send me the pictures, some of them could be as it’s being made along with the finished article and some information to go with it. If you don’t feel comfortable to make one of these turnings, send me pictures of anything else you make instead, we still want to see your pictures, so keep them coming.

All pictures to be sent to me at, a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember that the clubhouse remains closed.

16/05/202016/05/2020

Report on our Platters virtual meeting 14-05-2020

Our Platters virtual meeting took place this week on Thursday 14th May 2020, it was being organised by Peter Lawrence but had to be made into a virtual meeting due to the lockdown. We did get some response from the members, not as much as I would have liked, 9 of our 65 members submitted pictures of their work and for that we are very grateful, however that meant that 56 did not, and that also included 7 of the 12 committee members. It does appear that since we started the virtual meetings that there are a handful of members who are more than willing to take part with the rest taking little interest, this is most disappointing because we are trying to keep the interest in the club alive and that will only happen if you all participate. I do hope that at the next virtual meeting in 2 weeks time there will be a better response, we were also asking for you to put any pictures in of anything you were doing outwith the virtual meetings in for publication on our web site and facebook page, this too seems to have come to a complete halt.

There are a total of 30 pictures submitted by our members along with some text, I will put this into 2 sections, the text being the first section and the pictures in a second as a picture gallery. Here are the text entries.

Pictures 1 to 3 are from Alan Ross.

Platter made from mahogany (not certain)
22.5cm x 3cm
sanded to 400grit, sanding sealer, cut’n’polish then wax 22.

Regards,

Alan Ross

Pictures 4 & 5 are from Bob Chisholm.

A Sycamore Platter measuring 300 mm x 35 mm, it was sanded to 400 grit then sealed with sanding sealer, re-sanded with 400grit and a coat of Melamine applied, it was then buffed to a soft sheen,

Regards,

Bob Chisholm.

Pictures 6 to 10 are from Cliff Sim.

Good evening, Geoff. I attach photos of my recent work. Unfortunately my oak platter had a few breakouts hence the reason it became more of a bob-bon dish instead. I took heart from Alec’s recent showing to finish off my table lamp using two lignum vitae bowls, one cut in half, and the other mounted on top . I drilled a separate piece of odd wood I had tuned as I originally planned to use a metal pipe to connect the lamp holder but couldn’t get a fitting of the requisite size. The other half of the bowl I turned to make a small trinket dish as shown, just like Alec’s, though not nearly so skillfully nor tastefully made. I turned small pieces of contrasting wood to glue in the bases to flatten them and hide the turning recesses. I applied sanding sealer, melamine lacquer then chestnut wax polish to all the items.

Best, Cliff Sim.

Pictures 11 to 13 are from Dave Line.

Hi Alec,

Here are 3 platters I have made.

The 1st is 170mm dia, it is made from Ash with Mahogany insert, the only problem I encountered was getting the mahogany inserts to bend without cracking, also cutting the blank, this has to be done (very accurately) when the blank is still square so that it can be clamped when the glue is drying It is finished off with food safe finish.

The 2nd is 200mm dia made from Ash. The blank is first turned then sprayed with Ebonising Lacquer (cheap mat black spray paint from Aldi) then the blank is rotated at 2000rpm on the lathe when dry and “Butt It” paint flicked onto the blank whilst rotating. The platter is then turned where required to remove unwanted paint and finished off.

The third is only 150mm dia and my first attempt at using Pabeo Prisme paint and as can be seen I need lot’s more practice.

Keep safe Dave Line.

Pictures 14 to 18 are from Errol Levings.

Hi Alec

Two very plain platters from the same piece of Tibetan spruce- still fairly wet with lots of resin. Very soft, some ripple and short grain so kept thickness up. Needed very sharp tools to cut clean. Had hoped the spruce would have been easier to use – some lovely ripple near the bole. These two platters are 120mm by 15mm. Will finish with OSMO foodsafe oil – have only had one coat so far.

Errol Levings

Pictures 19 & 20 are from Geoff Potter.

Alec find attached my platter.

OAK PLATTER

The platter was made from an unpromising thin piece of oak. The wood was thoroughly dry and had a waxed circumference. There was an obvious knot and a section that looked like it might fly off! I used very short screws to attach it to my face plate and used my revolving centre as support until I became convinced it wouldn’t all Frisbee off my lathe. I turned the base including the mortise to suit my chuck. I decided that because of the thin section I would keep the mortise after I had finished so took the opportunity to decorate it with a few grooves. These grooves would probably impress my friends but wouldn’t impress many Woodturners.

It took at least 6 applications of superglue and wood dust at various times to stabilise the knots and cracks.

The top with its very shallow dish looked too plain so I used two small grooves to highlight the rim/dish boundary.

I like the result, the oak has an impressive set of grain and medullary rays. Its finished with sanding seal, sanded to 400 grit, melamine and a wax. The platter is 220 x 15mm. Quite a thin turning for me.

Regards,

Geoff Potter.

Pictures 21 to 23 are from Gordon Leitch.

Evening Alex I enclose photos of 2 platters

One is made of oak

38.5 across

122cm circumference

The other is made of elm

36cm across

115 circumference

Regards

Gordon Leitch.

Picture 24 is from Nick Simpson.

Hi Alec

I haven’t had time to turn a platter this week with gardening and HWC business

I thought members might like this. It is called ‘Reflections of…….’

It is a composition of two adjacent slices through the grafted crown of a flowering cherry.

The frame is just that. It gives the sense of a mirror and, in fact, the judge in the Borders Woodworkers Open competition asked the Borders club chairman why someone would bring a mirror to a competition for woodturnings.

The platters are 7” diameter and textured followed by pyrography.

Kind regards

Nick Simpson.

Pictures 25 to 30 are from Alec Mutch.

I have made 3 new platters this week, also shown a couple of smaller platters I had made in the past, all of them have something different to offer.

1, This is an Elm platter it measured 305 mm in diameter by about 40 mm deep, I brought the bowl through the rim by creating 2 small beads on top of the rim.

2, This is an Olive Ash platter it measured 330 mm in diameter by about 40 mm deep, I decorated the rim using a laser.

3, Another Elm platter, it measured 305 mm in diameter by about 50 mm deep, I cut some Celtic design inserts for the rim and set them in by drilling a series of shallow recesses to accommodate the inserts, I then used some Milliput to fill the recesses before completing the turning, the Milliput was allowed to harden over night.

4, A smaller Ash platter, with a decorated rim. I used some Pebeo paints for this, the base coat was Black Vitrail and the Blue was Pebeo Moon, both were allowed to dry for several days before finishing the turning.

5, Another Ash shallow platter, measuring 250 mm by 30 mm again with a decorated rim, this time the paint is Pebeo Prisme in 3 different colours, these paints are oil based and can be applied at the same time then allowed to dry over several days, in the process they react to each other and produce the formations you see on the rim.

6, I have included a picture of my Laser in operation, it’s a LOBO 6040 CNC machine, it can do engraving or cutting with the use of a suitable computer programme.

Regards,

Alec Mutch.

This is a late entry from John Ruickbie, it’s very relevant to what’s going on at present so I have given it front of house prominence.

This is what John had to say about his entry,

This is a tribute to the work being done combating the virus it is more a plaque than a platter. The centre is the virus which I have given a black centre. Each group is a spear of sycamore piercing the virus. The overall diameter is 290mm and the stand is elm.

Regards.

John Ruickbie.

Thank you john for this excellent piece of work, it’s most befitting the situation we are in at present.

To get a full sized picture of any in the gallery just click the picture, we hope you find the pictures interesting and encouraging, and perhaps on the next virtual meeting you too could have your work posted here. We look forward to seeing what you can do.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

11/05/202011/05/2020

Platters virtual meeting 14-05-2020

This Thursday 14th May 2020 would have been our meeting where platters were on the programme, it was to be organised by Peter Lawrence, however this meeting will now be done virtually over the internet and not at the clubhouse, to take part you need to make a platter or two, then photograph it or them and send the pictures to me along with some information, such as , type of wood used, size of item made and anything that may be of interest to the rest of the members. The platter can be made from any wood in any size and even laminated or decorated if you prefer. Below are some examples of platters that I have made over the years.

This platter was made from a piece of Wych Elm and measured 325 mm in diameter by 50 mm deep, Wych Elm is quite easy to recognize as it has these pale green streaks throughout the wood.

This large platter was made from Spalted Lime and measured 400 mm in diameter by 60 mm deep. The spalting turned this rather plain looking wood into something much more interesting, almost landscape like in appearance.

This platter although quite a bit smaller than the others was made from a piece of Native Cherry, the grain structure was so nice that I kept the design to an absolute minimum, it measured 250 mm in diameter by only 30 mm deep.

You are more than welcome to use any of my designs as an example for your platter but what we really want to see is for you to come up with your own design.

All pictures and text to arrive by Thursday 14th May 2020 and should be sent to me by email at,

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

I have one more piece of information to pass on to you all, after the Prime Minister’s address on TV tonight nothing much in Scotland has changed, we are still under lockdown, our first minister has only relaxed the amount of exercise you can do, we are still all expected to stay home. As the lockdown situation changes we will be advising you of what we are doing to comply with the government regulations in regards re-opening the club. To that end we have already formed a sub committee, a task force to look into how we can open safely again, I am chairing the task force with Geoff Potter recording all meetings as secretary, John Ruickbie dealing with all safety matters as our safety rep, Nick Simpson dealing with all matters medical and Peter Lawrence representing the membership. As soon as we know anything you will be informed.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed and do try to stay safe.

09/05/202009/05/2020

Members pictures 08-05-2020

Just in today a picture from John Ruickbie, John’s usual work is mainly woodturning and that often consists of mainly laminated work pieces, however John admitted to me today that due to the lockdown he was running out of suitable woods for woodturning, this has led him down a different road where he has made use of a lot of very small pieces of wood in a wood craft called Intarsia, for those who are not familiar with Intarsia it’s very similar to that of Marquetry the main difference is that the Intarsia is cut 3 dimensional, where as the Marquetry are all cut very thin and all the same thickness. This is an art that requires a very good knowledge of shape and form and most of all very accurate cutting,

This is what John had to say about his picture,

I have attached a photo of my first attempt at intarsia they are fridge magnets and as you see use very little wood but require very accurate cutting. Some parts are natural wood others are coloured using spirit stain. They are assembled on a thin backing board with rare earth magnets inserted.

Regards John Ruickbie.

These are John’s Intarsia fridge magnets.

These are not woodturning in any way, but we are a woodworking club that specialises in woodturning but not to the exclusion of any other type of woodworking. We are always going to be accommodating to any other type of woodwork that any of you who follow the web site and facebook pages want to show, this will include anyone who is not a member but who follows the online service.

Please keep sending me your pictures and text, I’m sure the members are always looking to see what other members are doing.

Remember the clubhouse remains closed.

05/05/202005/05/2020

Servicing the Super Nova Chuck 04-05-2020

As most of you will be aware some servicing of some of the club equipment has been carried out whilst under lockdown. This is being done by Nick Simpson who brought all the bits of equipment back to his own workshop to do the servicing. Here is his report on the 2nd of the chucks he has serviced, a Super Nova 2 chuck.

Nick’s News – Week 3

Servicing HWC Chucks – #2. Supernova 2

The SuperNova 2 is similar in design to the earlier Nova G2 but has a backplate which keeps the insides relatively free from dust and uses a rack and pinion drive for the scroll. It is important to clean the chuck regularly and re-lubricate. This is a simple process, which is illustrated in the accompanying photographs (SN.1-5). Details of cleaning and re-assembly are shown in the photos G2.D and F from my previous article posted by Alec on 25^th April.

Picture SN.1 shows the rear view of the chuck when removed from the lathe. The backplate is seen in situ and is held in place by a circlip (SN. 2). The next step is to remove the circlip (SN.3). It is advisable to wear eye protection as the circlip is made of sprung steel and can ping off the pliers unpredictably. The back plate should fall out when the chuck is turned over. If it is reluctant to separate there are 2 slots which can be accessed by 2 small slotted screwdrivers and the plate can be levered off. The 2 pinions should now be exposed and withdrawn from the housing to expose the back of the scroll (SN.5). The scroll can now be removed by inverting the chuck. Having removed the scroll, the jaw the jaw carriers may be slid out of their corresponding slots in the chuck housing. Each carrier is stamped with a numbers 1-4. For the SuperNova 2 chuck there is no need to record which slot the individual carrier came from. Now, in a well-ventilated area with nitrile gloves and eye protection, brush off all surfaces with a brass wire brush and then steep the parts in a de-greasing solvent (see G2. D in my previous report). I used paraffin but any solvent will do. Dry the parts on paper towel and leave to fully dry or to speed the process blow with compressed air using the above PPE.

Reassembly is the reverse process with certain caveats. Spray each part with lubricant prior to assembly. My preferred lubricant is PTFE spray, because it is a ‘dry’ lubricant, but any fine oil will do. Do NOT use grease of any grade. With the chuck on its back insert jaw carrier labelled 1 into any slot. Now insert all the other carriers in order 2-4 into slots in a clockwise sequence. Bring the carriers together so that their inner edges form a square and turn the whole over (G2. F of previous). You can now drop the lubricated scroll onto the jaws and with a little ‘jiggling’ it will engage with the carriers. Now replace the lubricated pinions and engage them with the teeth of the rack, replace the backplate locating the recesses over the appropriate pinion and refit the circlip and the job is complete. JOB DONE.

Read the text and then use the corresponding numbered picture to understand what Nick has done.

You may have to look at the post on the G2 chuck servicing to follow the full procedure.

Nick is now working on the Patriot chuck, details of which will follow shortly. In the meantime I would like to thank Nick on behalf of the club members for all his good work on the servicing.

02/05/202002/05/2020

Report on our virtual Showtime meeting 30th April 2020.

Our normal Showtime meeting had to be cancelled due to the ongoing lockdown, however we made it a virtual meeting instead and invited our members to submit some pictures of the items they would have brought to the Showtime meeting. After some initial hesitancy in getting the members to take part, it all came together at the last minutes with 13 of our members submitting some 57 pictures, most accompanied by some text from the members.

I have split this into 2 parts, the first being the text or comments from each member, the 2nd a picture gallery of all 57 pictures.

Pictures 1 to 4 from Alec Macleod.

Hope everyone is well and coping ok in these troubled times. Attached are photos for showtime. Left to right witch elm burr, 10’ x 3.5’. The other two are spalted beech both from the one piece with the help of David Hay’s bowl saver. Large is 11’ x 3.5’ and the small 9’ x 2.5’. Really hope you get enough interest to keep the showtime going as I look forward to seeing what everyone is busy producing. Sorry I didn’t enter for the natural edge as I went through the bottom and ended up with firewood! All the best.

Alec Macleod.

Pictures 5 to 12 from Andy Smith.

Good Morning both of you and I hope you are keeping well.

Until I was furloughed recently along with a large % of the UK work force; in between 4 hours work daily from my “virtual office”, I have spent some time clearing and setting up my workshop, and have managed to produce alongside 2 bags of shavings,

The pieces are in the attached zip files photos. I hope they are good enough to use. ( I may need to send a couple of messages due to their size.)

I have also produced various dibbers for the other half and friends to assist them in the garden during the exceptional weather we have had whilst being locked down.

As you will see there is a theme and these pieces are my first attempts at ” turning and associated wood working ” since my schooldays 50 years ago!!

I have a lot to learn and look forward to getting back to meetings which have been good source of information and knowledge for me.

Keep safe and thanks.

Andy Smith.

Pictures 13 to 16 from David Hutcheson.

Hi Alec,

Totally forgot to send images for showtime as I’ve been busy with firewood etc. I’ve attached a few images for the boys to see. The Sycamore with the pyrography detail is for a child’s stool I’m working on. The detail is hand drawn and then burnt on and finished with melamine lacquer. The set of egg cups are in Sycamore with wire burnt lines and I find these are a great exercise in repeat turning as it’s harder than it looks to get 6 egg cups exactly the same or maybe that’s just me! Finally theres the wee elm hollow form which was saved from the firewood pile. It’s hollowed to about 3/4mm and has ebonised Ash for the stem and finial. The elm is finished with melamine lacquer and the ebonising was achieved by using chestnut finishes ebonising lacquer. I like the way the satin contrasts the gloss. Hope these are of interest and everyone is well and staying safe.

Cheers Dave Hutcheson.

Pictures 17 to 19 from Dave Line.

Hi Alec,

As this Thursday should have been showtime I thought I would show what I would have brought along under normal circumstances..

I made it for the Box competition but when finished decided it was a hollow form and not a box, It stands 150mm high and the lid is 90mm and 140mm Dia.

It is made from Ash with the feature ring beeing Sapele and sycamore..

It is finished with wood wax and friction polish.

Dave Line.

Pictures 20 to 23 from Errol Levings.

Just a quick show and tell from me.

Two knitting bowls (with lids – barrels?) On the left, single piece of pitch pine ex Fort Augustus Abbey, and still smells strongly! On the right, much spalted alder with elm handle. My earlier knitting bowls had narrow slots for the wool thread – after seeing a ceramic knitting bowl recently, I decided the wide slot shape would be better to allow the ball to unwind more easily. These bowls are 130×200 mm and 145x200mm respectively. The barrel still on the lathe as I send these is the next knitting bowl in ash which will be open top. I have left some of the bark on the sides as it looked very attractive, but had to be turned away from the top to avoid snagging the wool thread. it is approx 175 x 230mm and was quite difficult to hollow out. It has helped me sort of master the Big Brother hollowing tool – and another lesson on the importance of keeping the cutting edge very sharp if you want any real control over the cut.
And a bit of decorated fun(gus!) This is from a branched piece of hawthorn that has spalted – it was a bit cracked and quite soft – I can’t recommend it for turning. Maybe fresher piece would be OK for turning and the wood is reasonably close grained, but this one went back to 2007 felling I came across in trying to do a bit of tidying up of my overflowing wood store.

I hope you get some more response from the members. I am not very fond of Facebook or any of the other social media, and I suspect many of the club members are likewise minded. I am happy with emails, though, to alert/remind me to head to the HWC web page!

Cheers

Errol Levings.

Pictures 24 to 28 from Geoff Potter.

Alec 3 photos for showtime 1.

4 weeks ago these pieces of birch were about to break into leaf in my neighbours garden. My neighbour’s chainsaw stopped it in its tracks. He kept a large crotch and a smaller crotch for me which I quarantined for 3 days. I split the pieces with an axe and turned them still green. In fact the sap sprayed the wall behind! I used a screw chuck on the bark top side, turned a spigot or mortise on the base and completed the rough turning all at once. I have left the bases and sides about 15mm thick so I can return to finish them off when they have dried a bit. They have been in and out of a plastic bag since I turned them. They are now much drier and there is no sign yet of any cracking. Green turning is so exciting, the shavings go over your shoulder in ribbons. As usual I got carried away and the bases are a bit thinner than I intended. The bark is still on and they will end up as natural edge bowls. I stupidely turned off the spigot on the smaller ones due to over enthusiasm, so I will need to devise a jam chuck to finish those off!!

Geoff Potter

2 photos for showtime 2. Pictures 4 & 5.

This is the completed jewellery tree which I was making at the Club meeting in January, so long, long ago. The body of the tree is made by off centre turning. The eccentric centres on the revolving centre end are c. 10 to 15mm offset only. The head end is gripped in the chuck and stays there all the way through. I made a softwood practice version to test the looks of the design.

The base has a top recess for earrings. The little arms are for rings and bracelets. The neck can be used for necklaces.

The finished article is completed with sanding sealer followed by melamine.

Geoff Potter

Pictures 29 to 33 from Hamish Stuart.

Hello Alex ,not sure if these are any good for the web but saw your plea for items .All these were made from spare bits of wood that I have been practicing on for a wee while. Have no idea what kind of wood but I’m quite happy with the results. Feel free to put any of these on the site along with any comments .

Regards

Hamish Stuart.

Pictures 34 to 38 from Jeff Buttress.

Attached are my woodturning efforts this week.

The live edge ‘bowl’ is 165mm long x 65mm high from a full laburnum branch at 100 diameter. Due to the small size of the timber I started with I ended up with a spigot rather than a recessed foot. I should have started with a larger diameter log but my lathe doesn’t have the weight to safely hold an unbalanced piece of timber. I will have to leave this type of turning until I have a heavier more robust lathe. I had a bit of a problem sanding the inside wings and finally did these with a bowl sander attachment on an electric drill with the lathe switched off. The two mushrooms were from a yew log I won in the club raffle 70mm diameter x 270mm long and cut in half. I used a hot glue chuck with tailstock support and I’m quite please how these turned out. I did have a bit of a problem with the undercut between the stem and cap, I had a few dig ins! Finally used 6mm parting tool then very light cuts with spindle gouge but I was very apprehensive during this stage, the second mushroom was a bit better in this area. Once parted off I had a bit of a job getting rid of the centre nib, I left it a bit on the large size for cutting off by hand. I’m going to do a bit more work on the bases of the mushrooms to get a better finish. All 3 pieces finished with sanding sealer then melamine lacquer.

Jeff Buttress

Pictures 39 to 45 from John Ruickbie.

For showtime I decided to make a segmented bowl using the Indian blanket pattern as described in the book by Malcolm Tibbets. I have made this design before but thought it would be something different and had some bits of beech and elm which could be used in strips as they weren’t very much use for any other use. This pattern makes quite a large segment so a large bowl is the result. For the feature ring I used wenge and sycamore I took a chance with this combination as the wenge bleeds into the sycamore. I was able to finish the outside with a good cut off the tool leaving minimal sanding but some bleeding occurred on the inside. Another error occurred with the block sizing leaving to little room at each end but I carried on regardless. I have included some pictures during the construction showing the multi lamination method of building the block. The final block consists of two half blocks glued together hopefully the pictures will show this.

Regards,

John Ruickbie.

Picture 46 from Martyn Torode.

Had a go at some toadstools today, got some pieces of what I think is cherry from the stick shed so not well seasoned. The biggest one is 7 inches tall and all finished with wax polish.

Hope you’re well.

Martyn Torode.

Picture 47 from Nick Simpson.

This composite was going to be my entry to Showtime.

It is an armistice tribute made entirely from turned wood in the style of WW1 trench art. It is currently on loan to Poppy Scotland and can (in normal times) be seen at their Inverness office.

It is 1: 1.5 scale as judged by the 9pdr shell casing. The platter is about 7” diameter.

The platter and 9 pdr case are sycamore; the rifle shell cases are holly, the fags are pine and the poppies with the ‘Poppy Scotland’ 4 petals are stained Ash.

Finish was by sanding, ebonizing spray then Rustoleum Gun Metal spray cut back with XXXX wire wool.

The candle was lit only for demonstration as it is not in a metal holder.

Thanks for letting me show this piece.

Regards,

Nick Simpson.

Picture 48 from Tony Wilson.

I sent this to Alec earlier today.I didn’t appreciate you wanted a comment.

Mine would be that these French rolling pins are good for ‘limited’ turners and well received in these times of home baking.The wood was spalted Maple and the finish was ‘Woodsafe’ oil in several layers.

All the best,

Tony Wilson.

Pictures 49 to 57 from Alec Mutch.

My own entries for the showtime are as follows,

1, A candelabra I made for a church, made from Elm.

2, My flock of birds, made from Poplar for the bodies with heads of various darker woods, all the bases were burr Elm.

3, A splated Birch bowl with an element of natural edge left in, size, 205 mm in diameter by 150 mm deep.

4, A very large Burr elm bowl I made for a local couple, the wood came from them, it measured 525 mm in diameter by 240 mm deep.

5, A pair of bowling balls turned into a table lamp and a small bowl, the wood is Lignum Vite.

6, A Beech double compartment bowl, getting the 2 hollows identical is quite tricky.

7, An Elm plate with a Pebeo paint rim decoration, the plate was 300 mm in diameter by 50 mm deep.

8, Candle stick made from Beech, turned then cut and re-assembled, design by Stephen Hogbin from Canada.

9, Triple compartment bowl, made from Sycamore in the shape of a clover leaf, size about 250 mm by 250 mm.

All my work is finished using the same procedure, one coat of sanding sealer rubbed back with steel wool, followed by one coat of Melamine buffed to a soft sheen with a paper towel.

Regards to all,

Alec Mutch.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who took the time to make your work pieces and for sending your pictures to me, I hope this will give you all encouragement to take part in future virtual meetings, after all it’s the only way we can keep in touch at this present time.

Our next virtual meeting will be on the 14th May 2020, that meeting was programmed to be all about making wooden platters, it was being organised by Peter Lawrence. It’s time to start to think about that virtual meeting now, so get your thinking caps on and make something really special for the platters virtual meeting, once made, send your pictures to me and I will upload them to our web site . In the meantime you can send me any pictures of anything else you have made or experienced and we will also accept any pictures from non members who follow us on facebook or indeed this site.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

26/04/202027/04/2020

Showtime virtual meeting 30-04-2020

The showtime meeting scheduled for the 30th April 2020 has now become a virtual meeting, (it will not take place at the clubhouse) we will be treating this meeting on line. We need you all to send in your pictures and some text on the items you would have brought to the showtime meeting, you can send in more than one picture, in fact more the merrier. We had a reasonably good response to the last virtual meeting on Natural edged turnings, we had 44 pictures for that meeting, I want to see at least this amount, preferably more for this virtual meeting, remember it can be of anything you have made turned or otherwise, we are looking for a very good response so please send me your pictures along with a bit of information on each item.

Here are some of the items you brought in for the showtime meeting on 15-02-2018.

These are some of the items you brought in for the showtime meeting on 21-06-2018

Here are some of the item you brought in for our last showtime meeting on 05-09-2019

Get busy in your workshops and produce as many items that you can. we want to see lots of entries.

Send your pictures and text to me by email to a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

All entries to be received by Thursday 30th April 2020, and thank you for taking part.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

25/04/202026/04/2020

Chuck maintenance while closed 25-04-2020

Although we have been closed for over a month now, we have still managed to get some useful work done with some of the equipment. Shortly after the lock down was announced Nick Simpson who is tasked with the maintenance brief offered to pick up all the lathe chucks and take them to his premises and do a full service on all of them. In addition to this John Ruickbie has been checking the premises regularily for security reasons.

Here is Nick Simpson’s report on the first of the chucks.

Nick’s News – Week 2

Servicing HWC Chucks – #1. Nova G2

The Nova G2 chuck has an open back and is therefore certain to accumulate dust in all moving areas. This will lead to stiffness and potential jamming. It is important to clean the chuck regularly and re-lubricate. This is a simple process, which is illustrated in the accompanying photographs (G2. A-F).

Picture G2. A. shows the rear view of the chuck when removed from the lathe. There is a large amount of accumulated dust which partially obscures the teeth at the rear of the scroll plate which engage with the chuck key. The scroll is held in place by a circlip which must be exposed by removing the accumulated dust and debris. A simple way to do this is by compressed air jet as shown in G2. B. PPE is essential with eye protection and a dust mask. The next step is to remove the circlip (G2.C). It is advisable to wear eye protection as the circlip is made of sprung steel and can ping off the pliers unpredictably. Having removed the scroll, the jaw the jaw carriers may be slid out of their corresponding slots in the chuck housing. Each carrier is stamped with a numbers 1-4 (see picture G2.E). For the Nova G2 chuck there is no need to record which slot the individual carrier came from. Now, in a well-ventilated area with nitrile gloves and eye protection, brush off all surfaces with a brass wire brush and then steep the parts in a de-greasing solvent (G2. D). I used paraffin but any solvent will do. Dry the parts on paper towel and leave to fully dry or to speed the process blow with compressed air using the above PPE.

Reassembly is the reverse process with certain caveats. Spray each part with lubricant prior to assembly. My preferred lubricant is PTFE spray, because it is a ‘dry’ lubricant, but any fine oil will do. Do NOT use grease of any grade. With the chuck on its back insert jaw carrier labelled 1 into any slot. (G2.E.). Now insert all the other carriers in order 2-4 into slots in a clockwise sequence. Bring the carriers together so that their inner edges form a square and turn the whole over (G2. F). You can now drop the lubricated scroll onto the jaws and with a little ‘jiggling’ it will engage with the carriers. Now replace the circlip and the job is complete. JOB DONE.

Having now seen the pictures showing all the dust that has accumulated in the workings of the chuck, I think this servicing was long overdue, and I have to thank Nick on behalf of the whole club members for volunteering to do this work at this time. We will be looking at all the club equipment as soon as we get back to anything like normal to make sure the maintenance on all our equipment is carried out.

I will be doing a post shortly on the Showtime meeting that was due to take place on the 30th April, (that meeting will not happen, but hopefully we can have a virtual meeting). Watch this space.

Do remember the club remains closed.